A Groundswell Of Support

There is a groundswell of support, especially in Isanti County, for the effort to change the derogatory and profane (faulty-English-translation) name of Minnesota's Rum River. Evidence of this groundswell of support can be witnesses by the number of sites that have recently been named "Spirit River" or "Wakan River".

Below, there are links to websites where there is information about several businesses, a community medical clinic, a nature area, a trail, a youth club, a substance abuse treatment center and a city street named after Chief Leonard Wabasha's originally chosen new name for the badly named Rum River, it being Spirit, which is the correct English translation for the Dakotas sacred name for the river (Wakan).



(1.) Spirit River Dr S

City Street in Cambridge, Minnesota - Spirit River Dr S. Here is a link to an article about Spirit River Drive South.

(2.) Spirit River Recovery

Substance Abuse Treatment Services at Cambridge Medical Center - Spirit River Recovery in Princeton, Minnesota - located in Mille Lacs County.

(3.) Spirit River Photography

Business - Spirit River Photography - in Isanti, Minnesota - located in Isanti County.

(4.) Spirit River - Gallery & Exchange

Business - Spirit River - Gallery & Exchange in Anoka, Minnesota - located in Anoka County.

(5.) Spirit River WyldLife

Youth Club - Spirit River WyldLife, a youth club in Cambridge, Minnesota - located in Isanti County.

(6.) Spirit River Engineering

Business - Spirit River Engineering in Princeton, Minnesota - located in Mille Lacs County.

(6.) Spirit River Community Clinic

Community Health Clinic - Spirit River Community Clinic in Princeton, Minnesota - located in Mille Lacs County.

(7.) Spirit River Nature Area

Nature Area - Spirit River Nature Area in Cambridge, Minnesota - located in Isanti County.

(8.) Spirit River Farms LLC

Business - Spirit River Farms LLC in Princeton, Minnesota - located in Mille Lacs County.

(9.) Spirit River Studio

Business - Spirit River Studio in Cambridge, Minnesota - located in Isanti County.

(10.) Spirit River Community

Religious Community affiliated with the United Methodist Church - Spirit River Community in Isanti, Minnesota - located in Isanti County.

(11.) Spirt River Trail

Spirit River Trail: The Cambridge-Isanti Bike/Walk Trail is part of a large ancient trail connecting the Issati villages on Mille Lacs with the Rice Creek Chain of Lakes, St. Anthony Falls, St. Paul and the Minnesota River. The Manomin Trail was a logger’s segment connecting Anoka and Brunswick. Using canoes, the native Issati used the Great Spirit River as their main connection between Mille Lacs and the area around St. Anthony Falls. trail map ..article

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Kriste Ericsson, the coordinator of Friends of the Rum River, is a supporter of the effort to change the name of the "Rum River". I occationally correspond with her. She wrote: "There's also a few more sites named 'Spirit' or 'Wakan' in our area than that (see above list) - a creek going into the 'Rum' at the south end of the city of Isanti, a community church meeting in the Isanti Lion's Club, and others with variations on the Dakota name itself - Wakenen Ct. NE - up by the old Oxbow Bridge/Co. Rd. 14 on the 'Rum'."

More sites named "Spirit" or "Wakan" will be added to this list in the future.

...Rum River Name Change Movement website