Lower Sioux site closing

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

ST. PAUL -- In announcing Friday the closing of the Lower Sioux Agency historic site, Minnesota Historical Society Director Nina Archabal stopped just short of saying what the society will do with the site once it is closed.

Citing a $4.3 million reduction in the Society's budget, Archabal said it was necessary to close June 30 the historic site which the Society had operated since 1970.

However, she noted the Lower Sioux Community "has been involved with the site for many years and has been instrumental in keeping it open." In fact, the site would have closed during the past 12 months, had it not been for an $85,000 contribution from the Lower Sioux Community, she said.

"We are grateful to the Lower Sioux Community for their support and look forward to ongoing dialogue with them and other concerned citizens. The Society believes that the Lower Sioux Community will bring new vitality to the site," Archabal said.

A bill authored by Sen. Dennis Frederickson, R-New Ulm, allowing the Society to transfer the historic site, near Morton, to the Lower Sioux Community passed the Minnesota Legislature and was signed into law by Gov. Tim Palenty. Then, on June 2, the Lower Sioux Tribal Council, MHS staff members and area state legislators met with the Sherman Township Supervisors and Redwood County Commissioners to discuss the site's future.

"We care deeply for this important place and want to preserve it an keep it open for all Minnesotans. We have been interested in operating the Lower Sioux Agency site for some time, and we are proud to work with the Society and county and township governing boards on this potential transfer," said Ann Larsen, Lower Sioux Community tribal chair.

However, both the Society and Frederickson have been criticized for setting the wheels in motion the mechanism for transferring a public historic site into the hands of the Lower Sioux Community.

In an open letter to the Redwood County commissioners and Sherman Township supervisors, historian John LaBatte of New Ulm, having both white and Indian ancestry, called upon these boards to keep the historic site in public hands.

"This site was established by the 1851 Treaties with the Dakota Indians. This was a US Government site. Mostly white people lived and worked here. This was not an Indian site," he wrote.

LaBatte cited the Harkin Store, northwest of New Ulm, as an example of cooperation between the historical society and a local government entity, Nicollet County, to keep a site open under public ownership.