Coldwater Springs

Coldwater Springs (translated Mni Owe Sni) is a traditional gathering and ceremonial site for the Dakota and for many other nations, too. Mni Owe Sni has been a place of healing and peace for centuries. It was a meeting and camping site. Anishinabe/Ojibwe people camped here when conducting business at Fort Snelling. Just after contact with white people, soldiers building Fort Snelling relocated to this site for the health benefits of the springs. (This is one of several reasons why Mni Owe Sni is sometimes called ‘the birthplace of Minnesota.’) For decades after that, Dakota people, white people and other nations peaceably visited and lived near the site, living next to each other, intermarrying, and conducting trade. Road construction and land use conflicts around Mni Owe Sni have engendered much controversy, but the spring itself remains a site of peace and ceremony to this day. There is much information about the site, its past, the conflicts about the immediate area to be found on the web. Visiting the site, and developing your own relationship to the place will teach you things not found in books or on the internet.  Visit, be quiet and respectful, and your learning will be deeper

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