On October 18, 2006 the Mille Lacs Messenger, Mille Lacs County’s official newspaper, published the following letter to the editor.
Gaining ground
On October 3 an article about my movement to change the name of the Rum River as well as more that a dozen other derogatory geographic
place names that are offensive to Native Americans was published in the Star Tribune.
The Star Tribune article mentioned that: "According to Dahlheimer - and a number of historical documents - "Rum" was the white man’s derogatory
perversion of the river’s Dakota name, Watpa Wakan, or Great Spirit River. The 59-year-old activist has garnered support from an eclectic group,
including Indians, politicians and religious groups, but until recently, he has had little to show for his efforts.
"Last month, the Cambridge City Council took its own stand in Dahlheimer’s crusade, voting to rename West Rum River Drive to Spirit River
Drive. Along with the Cambridge campus of Anoka-Ramsey Community College and the Isanti County Active Living by Design, the city also has
named a part of a new community trail system Spirit River Nature Area.
"’We understand we can’t rename the river on our own, but we wanted to at least recognize the Native American history of this area," said
Stoney Hiljus, Cambridge’s city administrator.
"Dahlheimer, of Wahkon, Minn., has found another potential ally in a legislator, State Rep. Mike Jaros, DFL-Duluth.
"Jaros, a 30-year representative, has ordered the drafting of a bill that would change offensive names on more than a dozen geographic features
in the state, including the Rum River and its tributaries. He plans to present the bill next session.
"’It’s a good idea not to offend anybody,’ Jaros said. We should wipe out any of those derogatory and negative things that we have in our
history about Native Americans. The least that we can do is accommodate the first Americans by not using offensive names.
"Dahlheimer’s website lists scores of supporters, including many Indian groups. It’s another derogatory term,’ said Jim Anderson, cultural
chairman and historian for the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Community. "Naming a sacred river after what they were binging up to our people
is wrong. We’re in favor of the name change."
Why haven’t the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe given their support to change our states derogatory names?
Historical documents reveal that the ancestors of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, after receiving gun powder from white settlers, attacked
the Mille Lacs Lake Dakota people, and using the white man’s gun powder in a horrific way, drove the Dakota from their sacred Mille Lacs
Lake area homeland.
Therefore, I believe that the Mille Lacs Band’s leaders are thinking that if they were to come out in public support for the effort to change
the Rum River name, their support would created a lot of interest in the Rum River name-change issue, an issue associated with rectifying an
injustice against the Dakota people; and that that increased interest could lead Mille Lacs Lake residents to discover other local injustices
being committed against the Dakota people. (I have found several of them already.) And when it comes to rectifying Mille Lacs Lake area
injustices against native Americans, I believe that the Mille Lacs Band’s leaders (selfishly) do not want to be in competition with the
Dakota Indians, and that this is the reason why they have not yet come out in public support for the effort to change the Rum River’s
derogatory name.
What kind of native people would not support the effort to change profane geographic place names that desecrate their sacred lakes and rivers
as well as, in some cases, refer to native people as savages, redskins and snakes?
Thomas Dahlheimer
Wahkon