All about the Shakopee Tribe

Before European Contact

The Minnesota River Valley has been home to the Dakota for hundreds of years, and the existence of our ancestors was sustained by their relationship with the earth and their surroundings. For generations, Dakota families fished from the river, gathered rice from area lakes, and hunted game on the prairies and in the river valley woodlands. Along the banks of the lower Minnesota River, leaders of the Eastern Dakota including Sakpe, Mazomani, Chaske, and Wambdi Tanka, established villages. From these home sites, the Eastern Dakota traveled for hunting, gathering, and meeting with other bands of Dakota.

The Treaty and Reservation Era
Beginning in 1805, a series of treaties forced on the Dakota nation over the next 50 years would see their lands taken away, their ability to provide for themselves destroyed, and an increasing reliance upon the government’s promises for payments and goods. The traditional Dakota way of life was largely replaced by confinement to reservations.

In 1862, the Dakota finally tired of the mistreatment. After another winter of starvation and a spring and summer spent listening to the agent’s lies about the arrival of annuity payments and provisions as promised by treaties, the Dakota could tolerate no more and decided to fight. Our ancestors battled for their lands, their way of life, their culture.

Aftermath of The Dakota War
The events of 1862 culminated with the largest mass execution in United States history when 38 Dakota were hanged at Mankato on December 26, 1863. As a result of the war, the United States Congress abolished all treaties with our ancestors and decided that the Dakota were to be removed from Minnesota. The majority of Dakota were sent on barges to Crow Creek, South Dakota, and eventually removed to Santee, Nebraska. Other Dakota traveled to Canada and settled there. Some Dakota never left their ancestral lands.

Those Dakota who remained in Minnesota spent many impoverished years attempting to gain support and help from the federal government and people in Minnesota. Unlike those living on the reservations in South Dakota and Nebraska, the Mdewakanton Dakota in Minnesota were not given lands or annuities from the federal government. It wasn’t until the early 1880s that Congress finally began to acknowledge the strong Dakota presence in Minnesota, and finally in the late 1880s land was re-acquired for the Mdewakanton Dakota in Minnesota. For the next 50 years, life for our people on the Minnesota reservations was one of poverty and hardship. Children were sent away to Indian boarding schools, and the government’s policy to destroy Dakota culture continued.

Twentieth Century Life
In the 1950s and 1960s Dakota families living on trust land in Prior Lake fought hard to make ends meet and to put food on the table. Quality health care, educational opportunities, and steady employment were not readily obtainable. In 1969, after years of persistence in dealing with the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community was given federal recognition and began the difficult process of creating a government and economic system that would support Community members. The struggle for economic security was difficult and there were many obstacles. During the early 1970s, Community members depended on food subsidies. Low paying jobs were still the norm. The economic reality of life on the reservation proved difficult. But, Mdewakanton Dakota families did not give up. Through a number of tribal initiatives, members created a health care program, a childcare facility, and a home improvement program. All of these programs began to change life on the reservation.

The Arrival of Indian Gaming
In the 1980s, the economic future began to look brighter. In 1982, the Little Six Bingo Palace opened and it proved to be popular. This new source of economic opportunity brought many changes to the Community. Tribal Government services expanded and business opportunities for the tribe and its members increased.
During the 1990s, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community continued its transformation from an economically distressed reservation to one of the most economically self-sufficient Indian tribes in the United States. In this new era of self-sufficiency, the Community was able to use its inherent sovereign rights and growing economy to purchase additional lands and to radically improve its economic base. In 1992 Mystic Lake Casino opened and the positive impact was incredible and immediate.

In 1993 a new Community Center was built and dedicated to the children of the Community. The Community began to diversify its economy by opening Dakotah! Sport and Fitness, the Shakopee Dakota Convenience Store, Dakota Mall, Playworks, Dakotah Meadows RV Park, and adding the hotel to the casino complex. Throughout the 1990s the infrastructure of the Community went through major improvements, with new sewer and water systems and roads. New subdivisions offered major changes in housing for Community members. The natural surroundings were improved with major tree plantings and wetland restorations.

Twenty-First Century
Now in a new century, the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community continues its growth. Since the year 2000, the SMSC has dedicated the Tiowakan Spiritual Center, added second and third hotel towers, opened a storage facility, completed the Playworks LINK Event Center, built parking decks for Mystic Lake Casino Hotel, opened a cultural gallery, rerouted Dakotah Parkway, redesigned the Hotel lobby, opened a Mystic Lake retail store at The Mall of America, completed Phases II and III at Dakotah Meadows RV Park, opened The Buffet at Mystic Lake, and opened The Meadows at Mystic Lake Golf Course. Construction was completed on a Water Reclamation Facility that utilizes European biologically aerated filter technology to treat water for reuse on the golf course. A new 1,000,000-gallon water tower has been constructed to better serve the Community and its guests.

The SMSC also has developed Mdewakanton Emergency Services: a full-time, professional fire department staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The department opened its new fire station in 2002 and now responds to an average of 200 calls a month, providing mutual aid to area departments on request. In October 2004 ambulance service was added with 60 transports per month now the average. The success of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community’s enterprises has allowed the Community to create and provide numerous education, health, and social service programs for Community members, staff, and Native Americans in Scott County.

Evidence of the huge positive economic impact of the Community’s enterprises can also be seen outside of the Community. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community is proud to be a leader in sharing its prosperity with other Tribes and Communities by making charitable donations. Over the past nine years the SMSC has donated more than $95.5 million to charitable organizations and Indian Tribes.

The SMSC also provides much needed employment opportunities for more than 4,140 Indian and non-Indian people from the surrounding area. Millions of dollars are pumped into the area’s economy each year as a result of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community’s successful business enterprises.

Today, Mystic Lake Casino Hotel is known as one of the largest and most successful Indian-owned casinos in the United States and is one of the largest tourist attractions in the Upper Midwest. It is in the forefront of gaming technology and is a leader in the hospitality industry.

To honor our ancestors and continue our Dakota traditions, the Community engages in a variety of cultural activities in addition to our annual Pow Wow. The Community works to preserve cultural sites. Children and adults are learning the Dakota Language, song, and dance. The SMSC story is being told to a wider audience through the distribution of videos, commercials, informational and town hall meetings, the Internet, and kiosks.

The Shakopee Mdewakanton Dakota are proud of our accomplishments, and we honor our ancestors, for it is because of their strong sense of survival and pride in being a Dakota, that we have the ability to prosper today.

For more information please visit the SMSC website: http://www.shakopeedakota.org