Page 108 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

Minnesota
Saint Paul, the capital city of Minnesota
Founded 1838 Incorporated 1854 Elevation 702 ft (214 m) Population 285,068
Metro 3,495,176 (US: 16th)
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of Minnesota. The city lies on the east bank of the Mississippi River where the Minnesota River joins it. Today it is continuous with Minneapolis, the larger of the “Twin Cities” .
108
For thousands of years Native American peoples lived here. The Hopewell peoples built many mounds to bury their dead, and these can still be seen at Indian Mounds Historic Site. Later the Dakota people took over the site.
Saint Paul as a settlement by Europeans was founded close to Fort Snelling (founded in 1818 and first called Fort Saint Anthony), located at the furthest point navigable on the Upper Mississippi. The fort was essentially a remote and wild fur trading post. Of course, it attracted
all kinds of people who wanted to make
money, and in particular, whiskey distillers. The fort then banned these
kind of traders and manufacturers
from the fort area, forcing them to find somewhere else to stay. In 1838 a retired French Canadian fur trader and whiskey distiller called Pierre Parrant went about 5mi/8km down river and started a new settlement, at that time known as “Pig’s- eye”. This is the origin of Saint Paul. Other French Canadians settled with him. In 1840 Saint Paul was just a collection of nine ramshackle cabins. In 1841 it was called by the more respectable name