Bill Would Transfer MN State Park Land Back To Dakota People

ST. PAUL MN — A bill making its way through the Minnesota Legislature would permanently close Upper Sioux Agency State Park and return the land to the Upper Sioux Community.

The park is located in southwestern Minnesota.

The transfer of the land from the state to the members of the Dakota tribe would be at no cost.

"There are points in time where we have the opportunity to do the right thing," state Rep. Zach Stephenson told the Star Tribune. "And this is the right thing, to return this land at this time."

The 1,300-acre state park was built on the site where white settlers refused to trade with Dakota people and allowed them to starve.

"So far as I am concerned, if they are hungry let them eat grass or their own dung," wrote trader Andrew Myrick in 1860, according to the Minnesota Historical Society.

The conflict started the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, which ended with the hanging of the 38 Dakota men in Mankato. It remains the largest mass execution in United States history.