I would like to express my appreciation to Deborah Morse-Kahn, Regional Historian, for pointing out these local references regarding Eden Prairie, Minnesota.In Eden Prairie, Minnesota there are records of a boulder at Red Rock Lake that was sacred to the Dakota. Its description has many close parallels to descriptions regarding Newport, Minnesota's Sacred Red Rock and other boulders of the Upper Midwest. Eden Prairie is a city south of Minneapolis in Hennepin County.
The following appears in Helen Holden Anderson's book "Eden Prairie: The First 100 Years" (1979) Viking Press: Eden Prairie MN, :
"Red Rock Lake: There was a red rock, held sacred by the Sioux Indians, on the west shore of this lake. The Indians used to sit in council around this rock, which was on the Indian trail going north, before and after their battles with the Chippewas" (Anderson 1979:18).Anderson cites James Stewart, from the Hennepin County Review November 7, 1929 for the following autobiographical information which included information about the boulder:
"It was the year of the Indian Outbreak of 1862 when I came up the river from St. Louis with my parents, the John Stewarts. . . . I was married to Emma Mitchell in 1889 by Rev. Samuel Pond of Shakopee who married most of the early settlers on the prairie, including my wife's parents, the Samuel Mitchells, who came in 1854. . . . We made our home on the southside of Red Rock Lake near an Indian campground. One of our rarest relics is a pipe-stone pipe which lay in the ground for over seventy years according to the judgments of the oldest settlers and probably was the property of Chief Red Rock whose grave was located on our farm. Indians came every year to mourn the death of their chief and each year painted red a large rock which marked his grave. The body of this Sioux chieftain was moved to the area of Birch Island Lake north of Glen Lake about 1890 after the historic red rock had been stolen from our farm" (Anderson 1979:11).From Hennepin County History, Winter 1981-82 issue, Hennepin County Historical Society, p.13: "Woodhill Road was called School Road because of the elementary school on the corner facing Excelsior Boulevard. This road was removed by Minnetonka Township around 1925 and Marion Stewart recalls that event: 'During the excavation a skeleton was unearthed. It was buried in a shallow grave on a promontory. I think it was probably the grave of Chief Red Rock. It has been told that his body had been transferred from a grave in Eden Prairie to a hill north of Glen Lake and overlooking it. White men buried their dead in deep graves, but the custom of the Indians was to bury their dead in shallow graves to allow the spirit to leave. Representatives of the University of Minnesota Department of Archaeology came out and took the remains away, and that is the last anyone ever heard about it.' The University and the Minnesota State Historical Society advised us that they have no knowledge or record of the skeleton, and unfortunately, the Historical Society cannot research this matter at this time. Nor could the City of Minnetonka shed any light on the skeleton as the old township records are stored in a vault, but are not indexed, and research, therefore would be impossible. So the mystery of the skeleton remains completely unsolved."
Historical Sources regarding Red Rock
Dakota religion and sacred boulders
Inscribed and Painted Boulders in the Upper Midwest
Distribution Maps of Inscribed and Painted Boulders of the Upper Midwest and North America
Shamanism and Minnesota Rock Art
Thunderbird Petroglyphs of the Upper Midwest (article)
Kevin Callahan's Home Page (several other articles on rock art)
Common Motifs and Symbols in Minnesota Rock Art
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