On March 10th, 2008 the Saint Paul Pioneer Press, a Minnesota state-wide daily newspaper,
published an article about the effort to change the name of the Rum River.
The following article was posted on Indigenous Peoples Literature (IPL). IPL is a site where
internationally renowned indigenous activists articles are often posted. The following IPL posted
article can be viewed and read by clicking Rum River may flow
back to its roots
Lake Traverse Reservation is located in South Dakota and is home to 10,840 Sisseton-Wahpeton
Sioux (Dakota) people. It is composed of descendants of the Isanti people. Isan means "Knife" and
Isanti refers to the Knife Lake and Mille Lacs Lake people of the Dakota nation. In the
month of April, 2008 C. D. Floro, the editor of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux (Dakota) Tribe's
weekly on-line newspaper
Sota Iva Ye Yapi
published the following article in Sota Iva Ye Yapi.
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Anoka County/Rum River may flow back to it roots
Activist seeks to restore its Dakota name of Wakan
By Brady Gervais
St. Paul Pioneer Press
March 9, 2008
In the Dakota language, Wakan means "Great Spirit" or "Great Mystery." It is what indigenous
people called the river that snakes from Lake Mille Lacs to the Mississippi River.
Today, it's called the Rum River, likely the result of a mistranslation by white settlers
in the 1700s of what spirits the settlers found great, say a few historians.
Centuries later, there is a small movement to correct the 145-mile-long river's name.
Activist Tom Dahlheimer is leading a push to rename the north suburbs waterway the
Wakan River. Its current name and its alcohol reference is demeaning, he said.
"It's about restoring the fundamental human rights of indigenous people," said the
61-year-old Dahlheimer, who lives near Lake Mille Lacs in Wahkon, Minn. It's been a
project of his for more than a decade. But lately, he's gotten some face time with
several key leaders to discuss the idea.
He has lobbied city and county officials up and down the river. Now, he has expanded
his campaign to the Legislature.
Anoka Mayor Bjorn Skogquist met with Dahlheimer just over a week ago, at the latest
of several meetings on the name change during the past few years. Skogquist said he
won't take a stance on the proposal, but he also won't stand in Dahlheimer's way.
"I believe the community needs to make the decision," he said.
The city of Anoka is already considering a name change for a 200-acre conservation
easement without an official designation but dubbed the Rum River Nature Area,
Skogquist said. It's hosting a naming contest.
“It may become the Rum River Nature Area again," the mayor said. "It could become
something else."
A longstanding Name/Renaming something in Minnesota can be a tricky process. Typically,
at least 15 registered voters in the county where the river, lake or other feature is
located must petition that county's board of commissioners. A public hearing is held.
If the county adopts a resolution supporting a name change, the issue goes to the state
Department of Natural Resources for approval and then to the U.S. Board on Geographic
Names for a federal OK.
It gets even more difficult for the Rum River. Backers of a change would have to work with
officials in each of the counties the river flows through — Anoka, Isanti, Sherburne and
Mille Lacs — for approval, even holding a joint hearing among them, said Pete Boulay,
assistant state climatologist at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources who
oversees geographic features.
And due to the river's longstanding name, it could be "very difficult" to change it,
Boulay said.
"The longer the name has been in existence and the more prominent the feature would play
into that," he said. "We would be very reluctant to change a name that has been in existence
40 years or more."
The exception, he said, is if the meaning is derogatory. It is that route that
Dahlheimer is pursuing.
Bill Going Nowhere/Prodded by Dahlheimer, state Rep. Mike Jaros, DFL-Duluth,
introduced a bill in the Legislature last May that suggests changing the names of
14 rivers and lakes in Minnesota, and offers new names for each.
"(Dahlheimer) wants to change offensive names, and I'm all for it," Jaros said.
"I don't think we should have anything offensive against anybody."
The bill has yet to get any committee action.
Jaros said he needs a supportive resolution from the state Indian Affairs Council
before he can take the legislation further. On his Web site, Dahlheimer has posted
a draft resolution that he wrote for the council. That's as far as the effort has
gone.
Even with that council's support, the bill's current language might have to change,
Boulay said. The state Constitution says the Legislature can't pass a special law
changing the name of a person, place, lake or river.
In 1995, the Legislature passed a law eliminating the word "squaw" from 19
geographic place names because of its offensive connotation. That case was
different, Boulay said, because the Legislature didn't specify how the names
should be changed.
'A Double Marathon'/Dahlheimer has been at his mission for 11 years. Skogquist
thinks there's still a long road ahead of the activist. But the mayor pointed to
the city of Cambridge as a place where Dahlheimer's efforts have succeeded.
The Cambridge City Council named a nature area in the Isanti County seat the
Spirit River Nature Area instead of the Rum River Nature Area, Skogquist said.
The community has also changed several street names.
Jim Anderson, historian and cultural chair of the Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota
Community, supports Dahlheimer's quest and has helped him lobby for the change.
"I look at it as helping our children," he said.
Adds Skogquist: "A movement takes time. It takes energy. Some peter out. Some are
successful. He's in for probably a double marathon here. And if he's successful,
it's because everybody wants it changed."
