Wadena County is a county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,065. Its county seat is Wadena.
The Wing River is a 48.2-mile-long (77.6 km) tributary of the Leaf River in west-central Minnesota in the United States. Via the Leaf and Crow Wing rivers, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed. Wing River Township is named for the river.
The Crow Wing River is a 113-mile-long (182 km) tributary of the Mississippi River in Minnesota, United States. The river rises at an elevation of about 1391 feet in a chain of 11 lakes in southern Hubbard County, Minnesota, and flows generally south, then east, entering the Mississippi at Crow Wing State Park northwest of Little Falls, Minnesota. Its name is a loose translation from the Ojibwe language Gaagaagiwigwani-ziibi. A wing-shaped island at its mouth accounts for the river's name. Because of its many campsites and its undeveloped shores, the Crow Wing River is considered one of the state's best "wilderness" routes for canoeists; although it is shallow, it is nearly always deep enough for canoeing.
Fort Union Trading Post National Historic Site is a partial reconstruction of the most important fur trading post on the upper Missouri River from 1829 to 1867. The fort site is about two miles from the confluence of the Missouri River and its tributary, the Yellowstone River, on the Dakota side of the North Dakota/Montana border, 25 miles from Williston, North Dakota.
The Sauk River is a 122-mile-long (196 km) tributary of the Mississippi River in central Minnesota in the United States. It drains small lakes in Stearns County. In the Ojibwe language it is called Ozaagi-ziibi, meaning "River of the Sauks".
Grand Portage National Monument is a United States National Monument located on the north shore of Lake Superior in northeastern Minnesota that preserves a vital center of fur trade activity and Anishinaabeg Ojibwe heritage. The area became one of the British Empire's four main fur trading centers in North America, along with Fort Niagara, Fort Detroit, and Michilimackinac.
The Leaf River is a 43.6-mile-long (70.2 km) tributary of the Crow Wing River in west-central Minnesota in the United States. Via the Crow Wing, it is part of the Mississippi River watershed.
Crow Wing State Park is a state park of Minnesota, United States, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Crow Wing Rivers. The park interprets the site of Old Crow Wing, one of the most populous towns in Minnesota in the 1850s and 1860s. The entire park was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. A section of the Red River Trails that passed through Old Crow Wing is also separately listed on the National Register.
Madeline Island is an island in Lake Superior. Now part of Ashland County, Wisconsin, it has long been a spiritual center of the Lake Superior Chippewa. Although the largest of the Apostle Islands, it is not included in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. It is the only island in the Apostle Island chain open to commercial development and private ownership.
Michel Cadotte, Kechemeshane in Ojibwe was a Métis fur trader of Ojibwe and French-Canadian descent. He dominated the business in the area of the south shore of Lake Superior.
Old Crow Wing is a ghost town in Fort Ripley Township, Crow Wing County, Minnesota, United States, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Crow Wing rivers. Long occupied by the Ojibwe people, for over a century it was also the northernmost European-American settlement on the Mississippi.
The Red River Trails were a network of ox cart routes connecting the Red River Colony and Fort Garry in British North America with the head of navigation on the Mississippi River in the United States. These trade routes ran from the location of present-day Winnipeg in the Canadian province of Manitoba across the Canada–United States border, and thence by a variety of routes through what is now the eastern part of North Dakota and western and central Minnesota to Mendota and Saint Paul, Minnesota on the Mississippi.
The Snake River Trading Post is a reconstructed fur trade post on the Snake River west of Pine City, Minnesota, United States of America. The post was established in the fall of 1804 by John Sayer, a partner in the North West Company, and built by his crew of voyageurs. The site operated for several years, although its exact period of operation is unknown. It was later destroyed by fire.
The territorial era of Minnesota lasted from the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 to Minnesota's achieving statehood in 1858. The Minnesota Territory itself was formed only in 1849 but the area had a rich history well before this. Though there was a long history of European presence in the area before 19th century, it was during the 19th century that the United States began to establish a firm presence in what would become Minnesota.
The Huntersville State Forest is a state forest located in Wadena County, Minnesota. Around half of the forest is managed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, with the other half controlled privately.
The Lyons State Forest is a state forest located near the city of Staples in Wadena County, Minnesota. The forest is managed by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Lac qui Parle Mission is a pre-territorial mission in Chippewa County, Minnesota, United States, which was founded in June 1835 by Dr. Thomas Smith Williamson and Alexander Huggins after fur trader Joseph Renville invited missionaries to the area. Lac qui Parle is a French translation of the native Dakota name, meaning "lake which speaks". In the 19th century, the first dictionary of the Dakota language was written, and part of the Bible was translated into that language for the first time at a mission on the site of the park. It was a site for Christian missionary work to the Sioux for nearly 20 years. Renville was related to and had many friends in the Native community, and after his death in 1846, the mission was taken over by the "irreligious" Martin McLeod. The relationship between the mission and the Dakota people worsened, and in 1854 the missionaries abandoned the site and relocated to the Upper Sioux Agency.
Réaume's Trading Post was a trading post established on the Leaf River in 1792 in what is now Wing River Township, Minnesota, United States. No visible traces remain at the site, which is on private property, but archaeological investigations have identified several features. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 for having state-level significance in the themes of commerce and historical archaeology. It was nominated for its role in and research potential on the opening of the fur trade in north-central Minnesota.
The Blueberry Lake Village Site is a prehistoric Native American archaeological site in Blueberry Township, Minnesota, United States. It consists of a habitation site, possibly seasonal, whose period and duration of occupation is uncertain. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 for having state-level significance in the theme of archaeology. It was nominated as one of the few surviving archaeological sites in the Shell River basin of northwestern Wadena County, the region's most conducive zone for prehistoric human habitation.
The Fort Flatmouth Mounds form a prehistoric Native American archaeological site in Mission Township, Minnesota, United States. It consists of nine mounds grouped in a rough ellipse and a few additional mounds in close proximity. Early Euro-American settlers assumed the enclosure was built as a fort, hence the name, but it was more likely religious in nature. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 for having state-level significance in the theme of archaeology. It was nominated for its information potential as a unique site in a region whose numerous mound and village sites indicate a long span of indigenous occupation.
