Pitition:

To: Minnesota State Government

Change Mille Lacs Kathio State Park To Mille Lacs Isanti State Park

Petition put forth by:

Thomas Ivan Dahlheimer, founder and director of Rum River Name Change Organization, Inc..

This organization is spearheading the local (MN), national (U.S.A.) and international movement to revert the derogatory and profane name of Minnesota's "Rum" River back to its sacred Dakota name. The badly named "Rum" River runs through the badly named Mille Lacs Kathio State Park, a park located within the sacred ancestral homeland of the Dakota Oyate (people). Therefore, the board of directors of Rum River Name Change Organization, Inc., describe our efforts to change the park's name as a Rum River Name Change Organization related initiative. www.towahkon.org

Request for a Minnesota State bill to be brought about to change Mille Lacs Kathio State Park to Mille Lacs Isanti State Park.

Reasons for bringing about Mille Lacs Isanti State Park:

As stated on a Mille Lacs Kathio State Park interpretive sign, a statement made by Tim Blue, the Education Director at Eci Nompa Woonspe in Morton Minnesota, "The name of this place should be Isanti (E-sawn-tay) State Park, because that is correct, whereas Kathio is incorrect. Isan means "Knife" and Isanti refers to Knife Lake and Mille Lacs Lake people of the Dakota nation."

On another Mille Lacs Kathio State Park interpretive sign there are the words: "The park name is steeped in plenty of history. 'Mille Lacs,' a French term used by early explorers and fur traders, means '1,000 lakes,' and referred to the region. The word 'Kathio' has a more dubious pedigree. Well-known explorer Daniel Greysolon, Sieur duLhut collectively referred to the area as 'Izatys,' a name the Mdewakanton Dakota people gave themselves. Sieur du Lhut's poor handwriting caused a wrong translation of the word 'Izatys'. The 'Iz' was transcribed as a K, and further error caused the name to be Kathio, a word that translates to nothing. 'Kathio' became a name so attached to the area that the park bears that name today."

And on another Mille Lacs Kathio State Park interpretive sign there are the words: "Izatys was DuLhut's phonetic spelling of a Dakota word that was also recorded as Issatis, Isanti, and Santee. These spellings of the same term referred to a collection of villages along Ogechie Lake, Shakopee Lake and Lake Onamia..."

Ogechie Lake, Shakopee Lake and Lake Onamia are located on the headwaters of the badly name Rum River, as is also Mille Lacs Kathio State Park. This area is the ancestral homeland of the Mdewakanton Dakota people. Mille Lacs Kathio State Park's name should be changed in order to show due respect for the Mdewakanton Dakota Oyate (people) as well as to correct a historical mistake that often causes people to believe that Kathio was the name of a collection of ancient Mdewakanton Dakota villages. The Mdewakanton Dakota Oyate's geographical name, the same geographical name of three other bands of the Great Sioux Nation (the Wahpekute, Sesseton, and Wahpeton bands) is not Kathio, it's Isanti. Therefore the Mille Lacs Kathio State Park name is, in a way, an incorrect spelling of the Mdewakanton, Wahpekute, Sesseton and Wahpeton bands geographical name. Therefore, this is another reason why Mille Lacs Kathio State Park should be changed to Mille Lacs Isanti State Park.

More about the name Isanti: reference reference

The Santee Sioux Tribe consists of the members of the Isanti and Ihanktowan divisions of the Great Sioux Nation." "The Isanti or Dakota people are comprised of four bands that lived on the eastern side of the Dakota Nation."

Another reference
The geographical name of four of the seven divisions of the Great Sioux Nation, including the Mdewakanton, Wahpekute, Sesseton and Wahpeton bands, is Isanti/Santee

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Send letters of support to:

Thomas Dahlheimer
P.O. Box 24
Wahkon, Minnesota 56386

Wahkon@scicable.com

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Current support base for this petition:

Rum River Name Change Organization, Inc.

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