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1819
U.S. Outpost

The U.S. government wants to strengthen the American fur trade in the Northwest. That means keeping British traders out and keeping peace among the Indians. The Fifth Regiment of Infantry arrives to build Fort St. Anthony (later Fort Snelling)--the northern-most outpost in a string of forts protecting the northwest frontier.

Lieutenant Colonel Henry Leavenworth leads 98 soldiers, some with families, to the site of the new fort. They build temporary quarters on the lowland by the river. Their supply of food runs short, and much of what they have is spoiled. More than 30 people die over the winter.

From the quarrying of the stone to the last coat of paint, it takes five years to construct Fort Snelling. The soldiers who build the impressive fortress earn an extra 15 cents a day.

Colonel Josiah Snelling designs and supervises the building. A tough but fair-minded commander when sober, Snelling is given to drunken rages which turn his officers against him. In 1827 he leaves the fort named after him under a cloud of controversy and dies a year later.

Photograph of Ft. Snelling
 Minnesota map highlighting Hennepin County.
Beginning of want more section. related links start below
Adventure Online
  		• Find A Brief History of Fort Snelling on its State Historic Sites page.

    Investigate Further
  		• Page through William Watts Folwell's A History of Minnesota (4 Volumes). (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1956)
  		• Read June Drenning Holmquist (editor), They Chose Minnesota: A Survey of the State's Ethnic Groups. (Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1981.)
  		• Read Rhoda R. Gilman's The Story of Minnesota's Past.
  		• Read Steve Hall's, Fort Snelling: Colossus of the Wilderness
  		• Read Marilyn Ziebarth and Alan Ominsky's, Fort Snelling: Anchor Post of the Northwest
  		• Read Evan Jones', Citadel in the Wilderness: The Story of Fort Snelling and the Old Northwest Frontier
  		• Read Kern O. Pederson's, The Story of Old Fort Snelling
  		• Children ages 9 and up should read Gwenyth Swain's, Dred and Harriet Scott
  		• Read Megan O'Hara's, Frontier Fort: Fort Life on the Upper Mississippi, 1826
  		• Read Barbara K. and John C. Luecke's, Snelling: Minnesota's First First Family
  		• Read Samuel H. Morgan's, "Old Fort Snelling: Its Birth, Death, and Reincarnation and the Story of Fort Snelling State Park" in Ramsey County history. Vol. 28, no. 2 (summer 1993)
  		• See Northern Lights: The Stories of Minnesota's Past, the new curriculum published by the Minnesota Historical Society. Minnesota History written for Grades 5 Through 8
  		• Use the Visual Resource Database to search and view some of the Society's 250,000 images.
  		• Search PALS, the MHS online card catalog, to find books, archives, manuscripts, maps, and some of the Society's vast object collections.

    Go There
    Leave your computer and visit the real thing.
  		• Take a trip to Historic Fort Snelling in Saint Paul.
  		• Meet George Nelson, a clerk during the fur trade. You can ask him about the fur business as he roams the galleries of the History Center. Or invite him to your school.

    1942

    Hollywood Victory Caravan

    1834

    American Fur Leader

    1819

    Indian Agent

    1805

    U.S. Buys Land

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