Sandy Lake Fur Post

Sandy Lake Fur Post is a Minnesota historical marker in Sandy Lake, Aitkin County.

Trunk highway 65, sec. 1, T. 49 N., R. 24 W., Sandy Lake · location approximate

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On what is now Brown's Point just east of here, the Northwest Company about 1794 built one of the most important fur trading posts in the northwest. It controlled the Savanna Portage connecting the St. Louis and Mississippi river systems, and retained its importance until after the war of 1812.

Verbatim 1940 text, presented as a historical record, not current interpretation. Minnesota now calls the 1862 conflict the U.S.-Dakota War and has since replaced the wording on some of these signs.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

Historical maps covering this location

1817 · North Western and MichiganTerritories. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1835 · A Reconnoissance Of The Minnay Sotor Watapah = St. Peter's River to its sources (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1852 · Wisconsin (Cowperthwait, 1852) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1859 · Colton's Minnesota & Dakota (1859) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
1870 · Burritt's Sectional Minnesota (1870) (Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)

Colton's Minnesota & Dakota (1859), 1859, covering the location of Sandy Lake Fur Post, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — Colton's Minnesota & Dakota (1859), 1859, covering this location. Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries. The pin is ours and the location is approximate.

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What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

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The marker isn't at this spotOur pin may be off. If you know where it stands, tell us.I couldn't find the markerWe record what the source recorded. We have not been to look.The sign reads differentlyExpected here. This page shows the older published text, and some signs were recast later. Telling us still helps.The historical map looks wrongThe period map behind the pin, not the marker itself.Something else

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Marker data: Minnesota Historical Records Survey Project, Work Projects Administration, Guide to Historic Markers Erected by the State Highway Department Cooperating with the Minnesota Historical Society (1940)

Sandy Lake Fur Post

Historical maps covering this location

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