Editing History of Minnesota (section)

=== 19th century ===
In 1817, Major [[Stephen Harriman Long]] headed a military excursion up the Mississippi River to the [[Falls of St. Anthony]] near the confluence with the [[Minnesota River]]. As a result of his recommendations, the Army established [[Fort Snelling]] to guard against Indian incursions against settlers in the [[Upper Mississippi Valley]]. Long recorded his experiences of the expedition in a journal, which was first published as ''Voyage in a Six-Oared Skiff to the Falls of St. Anthony'', by the Minnesota Historical Society in 1860.<ref name=ColumbEE>{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Stephen_Harriman_Long.aspx |title=The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, sixth edition |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia.com |year=2008 |access-date=2011-08-09}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Long |first=Stephen Harriman |author-link=Stephen Harriman Long |title=Voyage in a Six-Oared Skiff to the Falls of Saint Anthony In 1817 |year=1889 |url=https://archive.org/details/voyageinsixoared00longrich/ |location= |publisher=Minnesota Historical Society |page= |isbn=}}</ref>

In 1822 the [[Earl of Selkirk]] acquired a controlling interest in the [[Hudson's Bay Company]]. Through the Company he acquired {{convert|116,000|sqmi}} of land that today (2021) make up [[Manitoba]] and the northern portions of North Dakota and Minnesota. Until 1818 the [[Red River Valley]] was considered part of [[British North America]], and several colonization plans were mounted to the region, such as the [[Red River Colony]]. The boundary where the Red River crossed the 49th parallel was not marked until 1823, when Long returned to the region to conduct another survey expedition.<ref name=CorpsHist1>{{cite web |url         = http://www.topogs.org/History.htm |title       = A History of...(1818-1863) part 1 (Reestablishment) |publisher   = U.S. Corps of Topographical Engineers website, quoting from Beers, Henry P. "A History of the U.S. Topographical Engineers, 1813-1863." 2 pts. The Military Engineer 34 (Jun 1942): pp.287-91 & (Jul 1942): pp.348-52. |access-date  = 2011-08-06 |url-status     = dead |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20140926122419/http://www.topogs.org/History.htm |archive-date = 2014-09-26}}</ref> When several hundred settlers abandoned the Red River Colony in the 1820s, they entered United States territory along the Red River Valley, going south to Fort Snelling.{{sfn|Lass|1998|pp=114–15}} The region had been occupied by [[Métis people (Canada)|Métis people]], the children of voyageurs and Native Americans, since the middle of the 17th century.{{sfn|Risjord|2005|p=41}}

Several efforts were made to find the source of the [[Mississippi River]]. The true source was found in 1832 when [[Henry Schoolcraft]] was guided by a group of Ojibwa headed by ''[[Ozaawindib]]'' ("Yellow Head") to a lake in northern Minnesota. Schoolcraft named it [[Lake Itasca]], combining the [[Latin]] words ''ver'''itas''''' ("truth") and '''''ca'''put'' ("head"). The native name for the lake was ''Omashkooz'', meaning [[elk]].<ref>{{cite web| work=TimePieces |title= 1832: Mississippi source| url=http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=453| publisher=Minnesota Historical Society| access-date=February 17, 2007| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222023553/http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=453| archive-date=February 22, 2012}}</ref>{{sfn|Radzilowski|2006|p= 55}} Other explorers of the area include [[Zebulon Pike]] in 1806,{{sfn|Lass|1998|pp=82–83}} [[Stephen Harriman Long|Major Stephen Long]] in 1817, and [[George William Featherstonhaugh]] in 1835.{{sfn|Lass|1998|p=91}} Featherstonhaugh conducted a geological survey of the [[Minnesota River Valley]] and wrote an account, entitled ''A Canoe Voyage up the Minnay Sotor''.{{sfn|Lass|1998|pp=91–92}}

[[Joseph Nicollet]] scouted the area in the late 1830s, exploring and mapping the [[Upper Mississippi River]] basin, the [[St. Croix River (Wisconsin–Minnesota)|St. Croix River]], and the land between the Mississippi and [[Missouri River]]s. He and [[John C. Frémont]] left their mark in the southwest part of the state, carving their names in the [[catlinite|pipestone]] quarries near [[Winnewissa Falls]] (an area now part of [[Pipestone National Monument]], in [[Pipestone County, Minnesota|Pipestone County]]).<ref>{{cite web| work=TimePieces |title= 1830s: Upper Mississippi maps| url=http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=457| publisher=Minnesota Historical Society| access-date=February 17, 2007| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222023611/http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=457| archive-date=February 22, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.mnhs.org/places/historycenter/programs/players/joseph.html | title=Joseph Nicollet | access-date=July 6, 2006|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060906113723/http://www.mnhs.org/places/historycenter/programs/players/joseph.html |archive-date = September 6, 2006|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Henry Wadsworth Longfellow]] never explored the state, but he did help to make it popular. In 1855 he published ''[[The Song of Hiawatha]]'', which contains references to many places in Minnesota. The story is based on Ojibwa legends carried back east by other explorers and traders (particularly those collected by [[Henry Rowe Schoolcraft]]).<ref>{{cite web| work=TimePieces |title= 1855: The Song of Hiawatha| url=http://events.mnhs.org/TimePieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=438| publisher=Minnesota Historical Society| access-date=February 17, 2007| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222023020/http://events.mnhs.org/Timepieces/EventDetail.cfm?EventID=438| archive-date=February 22, 2012}}</ref>