According to oral traditions, the Ojibwe first lived on the Atlantic coast of North America. About 500 years ago, the ancestors of the Mille Lacs Band began migrating west.

By the mid-1700s, the Ojibwe had established themselves in the region around Mille Lacs Lake in what is today Central Minnesota. They supported themselves by hunting deer, bear, moose, waterfowl and small game; fishing the area's lakes and streams; gathering wild rice, maple sugar, and berries; and cultivating plants.

But it wasn't long before the Mille Lacs Ojibwe's self-sufficient way of life was affected by a new presence in their homeland. Europeans started arriving, and as their numbers grew, they began taking more and more of the Mille Lacs Band's land and natural resources in violation of treaties, statutes and agreements.

Because of new diseases and federal policies, by the end of the nineteenth century, only a few hundred Ojibwe remained on the Mille Lacs Reservation. Band members' religion was banned, the teaching of their language and culture was often forbidden, their right to govern themselves was virtually taken away, and their traditional means of making a living was made nearly impossible.

Over the next century, the Mille Lacs Band struggled with poverty and despair. Finally, in the early 1990s, the Band opened Grand Casino Mille Lacs and Grand Casino Hinckley. Since then, casino revenues have allowed the Mille Lacs Band to strengthen its cultural identity, return to economic self-sufficiency, rebuild its reservation, and increase the prosperity of the entire region.


Important Events in Mille Lacs Band History

The following timeline will place the material covered in A Hero's Voice in a broad chronological context.

1640 - The first written record of contact between Europeans (French fur traders) and Ojibwe occurs at what is now known as Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan.

1659 - Daniel Duluth negotiates an agreement of peace between the Ojibwe living near the south shore of Lake Superior and the Dakota people who lived near Mille Lacs Lake. Under the terms of the agreement, the two nations agree to share hunting territory in the area that would eventually become Western Wisconsin and Eastern Minnesota. This agreement encourages the Ojibwe to continue their western migration.

1727-1745 - Competition for trade with the French leads to conflicts and warfare between the Ojibwe and the Dakota.

1745-1750 - The Ojibwe arrive in the area around Mille Lacs Lake and force the remaining Dakota, who have already begun migrating west and south, out of the area. The Ojibwe establish their permanent homeland on and around the shores of Mille Lacs Lake.

1783 - The Treaty of Paris ends the American Revolution and establishes the boundary between Canada and the United States, placing the homeland of the Mille Lacs Ojibwe in American territory.

1825 - A treaty council is held at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. More than 1,000 leaders representing Ojibwe, Dakota, Sauk, Fox, Menominee, Iowa, Winnebago and other tribes gather with Indian agents and commissioners to settle intertribal conflicts. Boundaries are established between the Dakota and Ojibwe, and treaty provisions give mineral exploration rights on some Ojibwe land to the U.S.

1837 - With faulty maps and other misunderstandings of the geography involved, the Mille Lacs Band signs a treaty ceding its homeland to the U.S. government. The Treaty of 1837 protects the rights of the Mille Lacs Ojibwe to hunt, fish and gather on the ceded lands, but allows the land to be settled by non-Indians.

1855 - The Mille Lacs Band signs a treaty that sets aside 61,000 acres as its reservation on and around the south end of Mille Lacs Lake, including the southern part of the lake and southern islands. The Treaty of 1855 also opens up land just north of the new Mille Lacs Reservation to the advancing timber crews.

1858 - Minnesota joins the union.

1862 - During the Dakota War, Mille Lacs Band warriors defend non-Indians from aggression by neighboring Ojibwe bands.

1864 - In recognition of its "good conduct" during the Dakota War, the Mille Lacs Band receives a guarantee in a treaty with the U.S. government that Band members will not be forced to leave the Mille Lacs Reservation.

1879 - Despite the Treaty of 1864, the U.S. Interior Department proclaims the Mille Lacs Reservation available for purchase by timber companies and others. Congress later reverses the proclamation, but not in time to prevent non-Indians from squatting on the reservation and stripping large areas of pine trees.

1880s - The U.S. government adopts a policy of assimilation, declaring that Indians must conform to the lifestyles of non-Indians.

1884 - The Band's leaders receive assurances that the presence of non-Indians on Mille Lacs Band land would be investigated and resolved..

1889 - Congress passes the Nelson Act, which seeks to move Ojibwe populations to allotments of land on the White Earth Reservation in northern Minnesota, but also allows them to take allotments on their own reservations.

1902 - Government representatives visit Mille Lacs to negotiate an agreement for damages done to Mille Lacs Band members by settlers. During this negotiation, Band members discovered that the promises made to them in 1889 have been broken. Many Band members abandon hope of fair treatment from the U.S. government and move to White Earth. Others are harassed into moving over the next few years as their property is sold out from under them. However, a small group of Band members led by Chief Migizi and Chief Wadena refuse to leave their land.

1911 - The village of Chief Wadena is burned by a sheriff's posse and its residents are forcibly removed so that the land they live on can be claimed by a developer.

1914 - Chief Migizi obtains a promise from Congress to purchase 40-acre home sites for the landless Band members. By the time the sites are distributed 12 years later, they have been reduced to 5 acres.

1915 - Many Mille Lacs Band members join the U.S. Armed Forces to serve and defend America during World War I.

1924 - American Indians are recognized as U.S. citizens by an act of Congress.

1930s - Many Mille Lacs Band children are sent to government boarding schools where they are forbidden from speaking the Ojibwe language in an attempt to assimilate them into mainstream society.

1934 - Congress passes the Indian Reorganization Act, which formally recognizes Indian self-government and is intended to restore Indian self-determination and tribal cultures. The Minnesota Chippewa Tribe is formed as a political union of six Ojibwe bands, including the Mille Lacs Band.

1941-45 - More than 25 Mille Lacs Band members serve in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II. Many Mille Lacs Band families move to large cities to work in war-related industries.

1946 - Congress passes the Indian Claims Commission Act as part of an effort to resolve land claims between Indian tribes and the U.S. government.

1952 - The U.S. government adopts the Indian Termination and Indian Relocation policies, which seriously erode the notion of Indian self-government. The idea of assimilating Indians into mainstream society is once again supported by government policy.

1960 - Sam Yankee is elected chairman of the Mille Lacs Band's tribal government. Under his leadership, modern homes, public buildings, health services, educational opportunities, and social programs begin to appear on the reservation.

1972 - Arthur Gahbow is elected chairman of the Mille Lacs Band's tribal government. Gahbow leads the Band toward self-determination by advancing economic development on the reservation, pursuing land claims to expand the reservation's land base, and overseeing a restructuring of the Band's government system.

1975 - Chairman Gahbow is instrumental in forming the Mille Lacs Band's Nay Ah Shing School following a walkout by reservation children from a public school in nearby Onamia.

1981 - The Mille Lacs Band moves closer to self-governance by adopting a "separation of powers" form of government with executive, legislative and judicial branches. The move strengthens the Band's ability to deal with the U.S. on a government-to-government basis.

1988 - Congress passes the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act which recognizes that Indian tribes have the right to own and operate casino gaming businesses on reservation lands.

1991 - The Mille Lacs Band opens Grand Casino Mille Lacs, fulfilling a dream of Chairman Gahbow, who was instrumental in its creation. The opening ushers in a new era of prosperity on the reservation and in the surrounding region.

1991 - Marge Anderson is appointed to replace Chairman Gahbow, who dies suddenly while in office. Under Anderson's leadership, the Band uses casino revenues to strengthen its culture and begin rebuilding its reservation.

1992 - The Mille Lacs Band opens Grand Casino Hinckley.

1992 - Marge Anderson is elected to a four-year term as Chief Executive of the Band.

1994 - Based on the success the Mille Lacs Band and other tribes have shown in self-governance, President Bill Clinton signs legislation turning the Self-Governance Demonstration Project into a permanent project. Under the law, the Mille Lacs Band and other tribes sign compacts with several federal departments allowing an even greater degree of self-determination.

1996 - Marge Anderson is re-elected Chief Executive.

1996 - David "Mosey" Sam retires from his position as District I Representative, and dies soon after. He is remembered for being one of the Band's strongest advocates of treaty rights, adequate housing, educational opportunities for youth, and the preservation of the Ojibwe language and culture. Myron Garbow is elected to succeed him as District I Representative.

1998 - Herbert Weyaus is elected the Band's Secretary/Treasurer, Harry Davis is elected District III Representative, and Marvin Bruneau is re-elected District II Representative.

1999 - District I Representative Garbow dies while still in office. Garbow is remembered for his hard work in making possible the new community center and new ceremonial center in District I, and for his strong belief in community involvement. Suzanne Merrill is elected to serve the remainder of his term as District I Representative.

1999 - The United States Supreme Court rules that the Mille Lacs Band retains the right to hunt, fish and gather on lands it ceded to the federal government through the Treaty of 1837 under tribal regulations. This decision ends the Band's nine-year legal battle to have its 1837 treaty rights recognized.

2000 - Melanie Benjamin is elected Chief Executive; Sandra Blake is elected District I Representative.

2002 - Herbert Weyaus is re-elected the Band's Secretary/Treasurer, Harry Davis is re-elected District III Representative, and Marvin Bruneau is re-elected District II Representative.

March 2004 - The United States Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals finds that Mille Lacs County's lawsuit against the Mille Lacs Band failed to show that the Band's reservation boundaries have harmed the county. The court's dismissal of the lawsuit does not confirm or change the reservation's boundaries, but it does affirm that the county was "unable to point to any definite controversy that exists from the Band's purported expansion of tribal jurisdiction over the disputed portion of the reservation." The dismissal comes after a two-year legal battle that cost the county approximately $1.2 million.

July 2004 - Melanie Benjamin is re-elected Chief Executive, Alicia Skinaway is elected District I Representative.

November 2004 - The U.S. Supreme Court refuses to hear Mille Lacs County's lawsuit challenging the existence of the 61,000-acre Mille Lacs Reservation boundaries.  The case had previously been dismissed by a U.S. District Court chief judge and the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals.  The nearly three-year legal battle cost the county approximately $1.3 million.

February 2005 - the Mille Lacs Band commemorates the 150^th anniversary of the Treaty of 1855, which created the Mille Lacs Reservation.

July 2006 - Herbert Weyaus is re-elected the Band's Secretary/Treasurer, Harry Davis is re-elected District III Representative, and Marvin Bruneau is re-elected District II Representative.

July 2008 - Melanie Benjamin is re-elected Chief Executive, Sandra Blake is elected District I Representative.

October 2008 - Herbert Weyaus is appointed Interim Chief Executive.