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Rumors of Ghost Dance by Ojibwe caused Roseau County settlers to flee in 1891

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When more than 700 white settlers flooded into the Roseau River valley in 1889, they found the Ojibwe who had lived in northwestern Minnesota for generations “peaceful and friendly,” according to a 1943 history of the area.

But two years later, during the frigid days of January 1891, hundreds of those settlers loaded ox carts and fled south from their homes in Roseau County. It was the start of the so-called Indian Scare of 1891.

Rumors had spread that nearby tribes were performing the Ghost Dance — a trance-inducing religious ritual believed to conjure dead leaders who would help them push white settlers off their native land.

Just a month earlier along the border of North and South Dakota, Sitting Bull had been arrested and fatally shot after refusing to quell the Ghost Dance among the Lakota. Two weeks later, U.S. soldiers slaughtered some 300 Lakota along Wounded Knee Creek in southwestern South Dakota.

“Load after load” of wagons and sleighs had departed, officials in adjacent Kittson County wrote in a February 1891 dispatch to Gov. William Merriam. “Between 300 and 400 people, men, women and children left their homes, most of them in a complete state of destitution, poorly clothed and without … sufficient food, which in the severe weather we are now experiencing means death and disease to many.”

More than 50 Roseau County residents telegraphed Merriam, requesting 300 rifles with ammunition and insisting that “an outbreak is imminent.” They began to build a stockade to defend themselves.

Erick Holm, a settler, went to Hallock to alert authorities and came across “sixty teams of refugees on the sand ridge in a most miserable plight,” according to J.W. Durham’s 1925 history of Roseau County. “He said that never had he seen such a sight. The trouble was that in the great hurry to get away a very scant supply of clothes were taken along.”

Amid the anxiety, however, authorities quickly realized the so-called Scare of 1891 was baseless. “The whole matter was a false alarm” that nearly de-populated the region, according to Durham, a settler and Roseau County’s first sheriff.

The Kittson County authorities, in their report to the governor, said: “The whole business seems to have been started either by some idiot as a practical joke or by some evil-disposed persons for their own purposes. The consequences have been lamentable.”

One local historian blamed “several ill-intentioned whites” for the scare. Other fingers pointed at a woman with mixed white and Indian heritage “who resented the intrusion of the whites,” according to Earl Chapin’s 1943 history of the Roseau Valley.

However the panic started, the phony rumors quickly spiraled out of control. One report claimed 300 Indians in war paint had passed by a white lumber camp just across the Manitoba border; that number soon grew to 3,000 Ojibwe preparing for war. “Later investigation revealed that three Indians actually passed the camp!” Chapin wrote.

One Ojibwe leader, Mickinock, emerged from the chaos as a hero for saving the livestock abandoned by the freaked-out settlers. According to Warren Upham in his 1920 book, “Minnesota’s Geographic Names,” Mickinock was considered “intelligent, sociable and honest.”

“Mickinock especially did well,” Durham wrote in his book “Minnesota’s Last Frontier,” adding that without help from Mickinock and other Ojibwe, “there would have been big losses” in livestock.

Mickinock, sometimes spelled Mikinaak, was known among his Pembina band as Ba-Ba-Gush-Ki-Bung, which translates as Mud Turtle. Called Charlie by the settlers, he was a respected peacemaker who raised four children, lived in a dugout south of Roseau near the village of Wannaska and wound up being the namesake of a township in Roseau County.

According to Durham, Mickinock “came in one day and reported that all whites seem to have gone out on a visit, and that the stock is just wild for water and hay.” He laughed when he learned the settlers feared an outbreak.

Durham wrote that the Ojibwe leader had a great sense of humor, often delighting white children with his imitation of “a hapless rooster” that “got the youngsters as well as the older folks roaring” with laughter.

“Such little jokes made him the favorite of the women and children,” Durham wrote. “Thus Mickinock was never turned away when he came for a visit.”

Durham also credited the women who’d stayed behind during the scare of 1891 as “quite a help, they buckled right into work. Their courage and bravery I know inspired the men in many instances to stay.”

In the end, no deaths were reported among those who fled.

“After all the settlers were back, February saw the smoke rise from the valley homes,” Durham wrote, “which was a sort of proclamation that all was well with the settlers. The hardship and agony we had passed through was soon forgot.”

Curt Brown’s tales about Minnesota’s history appear every other Sunday. Readers can send him ideas and suggestions at mnhistory@startribune.com. His latest book looks at 1918 Minnesota, when flu, war and fires converged: strib.mn/MN1918.



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Snow and rain on Halloween

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Rain and potentially heavy snow are on tap Thursday around the Twin Cities, just before families set out for Halloween trick-or-treating.

Temperatures were expected to drop throughout the day, creating conditions for flurries. A winter weather advisory is in effect from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. covering the Twin Cities metro area and parts of south-central Minnesota. Steady rain drenched the Twin Cities on Thursday, making for a soggy morning commute.

“As colder air begins to move in this morning, the rain will transition to heavy snow from west to east with snowfall rates of an inch per hour at times into early afternoon,” the National Weather Service in Chanhassen said in a weather advisory.

The Twin Cities and surrounding areas could get between 2 and 4 inches of snow, according to the weather service. The winter weather advisory is expected to affect Anoka, Chisago, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, Washington and Le Sueur counties.

It’s unclear how much of the snow will actually stick, with warm surface temperatures likely leading to melting on contact in many areas.

“Exact totals will depend on snowfall rate, surface temperatures, and melting — which increases uncertainty with the snow forecast,” the weather service said in an early Thursday briefing.

“Thundersnow possible!” the weather service emphasized.

The good news for Halloween revelers is that the snow and rain are expected to wrap up in time for trick-or-treating, though temperatures will remain in the 30s with a sharp windchill.



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Alcohol use suspected by off-duty deputy in injury crash in Afton, patrol says

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An off-duty Washington County sheriff’s deputy caused a head-on crash while under the influence of alcohol and injured a couple in the other vehicle, officials said.

The crash occurred about 10:40 a.m. Sunday in Afton on Hwy. 95 at Scenic Lane, the Minnesota State Patrol said.

Campbell Johnston Blair, 58, of Hastings, was heading north in his Subaru Crosstrek, crossed into the opposite lane and collided with a southbound Ford Expedition, the patrol said.

Blair and the other vehicle’s occupants, 38-year-old Erik Robert Sward and 36-year-old Heather Lynn Sward, both of Lake Elmo, were taken to Regions Hospital with non-critical injuries, according to the patrol.

The patrol noted the alcohol use by Blair was involved in the crash.

Blair, who was driving a private vehicle at the time of the crash while off-duty, has been a deputy with the Sheriff’s Office since 2020 and is currently assigned to our Court Security Unit.

The Sheriff’s Office has been asked for reaction to the crash involving one of its deputies.



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3 questions St. Cloud, MN-area voters will see on the ballot next week

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ST. CLOUD – On Tuesday, St. Cloud voters will be asked to make decisions on a new fire station and moving city elections to odd years, and — for those who live in Stearns County — how to fund a new county jail.

Here’s a look at the three referendum questions that are on St. Cloud-area ballots this year.

Ballot question: “Shall Stearns County be authorized to impose a sales tax & use tax of three-eighths of one percent to finance up to $325 million, plus associated bonding costs, for the construction of a justice center facility, consisting of law enforcement, judicial center and jail? The sales tax would be used solely to finance construction, upgrades and financing costs for the justice center and remain in effect for 30 years or until the project is paid for, whichever comes first. These services and facilities are mandated by the state of Minnesota to be provided by counties.”

Stearns County officials are planning to build a new $325 million justice center complex that includes a 270-bed jail, a judicial center with courtrooms, and a law enforcement center that houses the Sheriff’s Office. In the summer, Stearns County board members voted to move those facilities out of downtown and to a new location with more space. That site has yet to be determined.

The question before voters is how to fund that center.

County Administrator Mike Williams said a common misconception he’s heard at recent town halls is residents think voting “yes” gives permission to the county to build the facility, and if they vote “no,” the county won’t spend the money to build it.

“People [think they] are voting on the project — and they’re not. They’re voting on how we are going to fund it,” Williams said.

If voters approve the ballot question, the county will impose a sales tax to fund the project. If they vote it down, the county can instead pay for the project with property taxes.



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