It was nearly 19 years ago that Elitta Gouge mentioned to other newly elected members joining her on the Upper Sioux Community’s tribal board that they should seek the return of the land where her great-great-grandfather Mazomani lies and that she knows as “a land of memories and spirit.”

“Who is crazy enough to do that? Who would dare, and then who would be that courageous?” said Gouge to applause Friday as her question was answered.

The Upper Sioux Community celebrated years of work to transfer Upper Sioux Agency State Park back into their hands from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources on Friday, March 15, 2024.

Tribal chair Kevin Jensvold and members of the Upper Sioux Community’s board of trustees joined with Gov. Tim Walz , Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, and Commissioner Sarah Strommen of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources for a formal ceremony on Friday to transfer the ownership of the former Upper Sioux Agency State Park to the Upper Sioux Community,

“Mission accomplished,” said Gouge before an audience that filled the community’s gymnasium-sized, multi-purpose building. The audience included elders from the community of more than 500, as well as its youth, all wearing T-shirts emblazened with the message: 161 years.

It was in reference to the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 and the taking of tribal lands along the Minnesota River following the conflict. –From a report by Tom Cherveny in the West Central Tribune.