Anoka County/Rum River may flow back to it roots

Activist seeks to restore its Dakota name of Wakan

By Brady Gervais
Brady Gervais
Article Last Updated: 03/09/2008

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."

Tom Dahlheimer
Director of Rum River Name Change Organization, Inc.
Email
Phone: 329-495-3874
Cel: 320-279-3010
Website: Towahkon website

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March 2008 News Reports

Last updated on March 16, 2008