Bois Forte Indian Reservation

Bois Forte Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation formed for the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa (or Zagaakwaandagowininiwag (Men of the Thick Woods) in the Ojibwe language).

Sections

The reservation is composed of three sections in northern Minnesota, United States:

• The Nett Lake Indian Reservation (Ojibwe: Asabiikone-zaaga`iganiing, "At the Lake for Netting"), located at 48°05′31″N 93°11′12″W / 48.09194°N 93.18667°W / 48.09194; -93.18667, is the primary reservation holding, containing the unincorporated community of Nett Lake, MN. The area of 162.872 sq mi (421.838 km²) surrounds Nett Lake in Koochiching and St. Louis counties. This section comprises Nett Lake, Koochiching County plus Nett Lake, St. Louis County.

• The Deer Creek Indian Reservation, at 47°51′15″N 93°31′52″W / 47.85417°N 93.53111°W / 47.85417; -93.53111, the second-largest section, comprises 35.109 sq mi (90.931 km²) in Effie unorganized territory in Itasca County, just east of the city of Effie. This reservation was originally set aside for the Little Forks Band of Rainy River Saulteaux. Today, as the population have all relocated onto either the Nett Lake or to the Lake Vermilion Indian Reservation, this reservation is kept as a natural resources reserve for the band.

• The smallest section is the Lake Vermilion Indian Reservation (Ojibwe: Onamanii-zaaga'iganiing, "At the Lake with Red ochre"). It consists of 1.623 sq mi (4.205 km², or 1,039 acres) of land at 47°49′11″N 92°20′07″W / 47.81972°N 92.33528°W / 47.81972; -92.33528 in southeastern Greenwood Township on Lake Vermilion just west of the city of Tower in St. Louis County. Set aside by executive order, originally for the Lake Vermilion Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, today this reservation is one of the most accessible reservations for the Band. Consequently, the band operates Fortune Bay Resort Casino, The Wilderness at Fortune Bay golf course, and the Atisokanigamig (Legend House) Heritage Center out of this reservation.

There are additional scattered parcels less than 40 acres (16 ha) in size associated with the reservation. The reservation's total land area is 199.605 sq mi (516.974 km²).

Demographics

As of the 2000 census,^[1] the reservation had a total population of 657; the Nett Lake section had 328, the Itasca County section had 157, and the Lake Vermilion section had 172. The Bois Forte Indian Reservation is a member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, who in July 2007, reported 3,052 people enrolled through Bois Forte.

History

The community first entered into a treaty with the United States in 1854 that set aside an undefined region around Lake Vermilion as a reservation. The regions at Nett Lake and Itasca County were officially established in an 1866 treaty, and the Lake Vermilion lands were defined in an 1881 executive order. Following the Nelson Act of 1898, the lands were surveyed and subdivided, but the U.S. federal government did not force tribe members to move to the White Earth Indian Reservation.

50% of the reservation is wetland, and the 7,300 acre (30 km²) Nett Lake is said to be the largest producer of wild rice in the United States.

References

External links

• Official website

Indian reservations in Minnesota Bois Forte Fond du Lac Grand Portage Leech Lake Lower Sioux Mille Lacs Prairie Island Red Lake Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Upper Sioux White Earth

Municipalities and communities of Koochiching County, Minnesota, United States County seat: International Falls Cities Big Falls International Falls Littlefork Mizpah Northome Ranier Unorganized territories East Koochiching Nett Lake Northome Northwest Koochiching Rainy Lake South Koochiching Unincorporated communities Birchdale Bramble Central Craigville Ericsburg Forest Grove Frontier Gemmell Grand Falls Indus Island View Lindford Loman Margie Pelland Pinetop Rauch Ray Silverdale Wildwood Indian reservations Nett Lake Indian Reservation‡ Red Lake Indian Reservation‡ Ghost towns Fairland Footnotes ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties

Municipalities and communities of Itasca County, Minnesota, United States County seat: Grand Rapids Cities Bigfork Bovey Calumet Cohasset Coleraine Deer River Effie Grand Rapids Keewatin La Prairie Marble Nashwauk Squaw Lake Taconite Warba Zemple Townships Alvwood Arbo Ardenhurst Balsam Bearville Bigfork Blackberry Bowstring Carpenter Deer River Feeley Good Hope Goodland Grand Rapids Grattan Greenway Harris Iron Range Kinghurst Lake Jessie Lawrence Liberty Lone Pine Marcell Max Moose Park Morse Nashwauk Nore Oteneagen Pomroy Sago Sand Lake Spang Splithand Stokes Third River Trout Lake Wabana Wawina Wildwood Wirt Unorganized territories Bowstring Lake Deer Lake Effie Little Sand Lake Northeast Itasca CDPs Ball Club Inger Unincorporated communities Alvwood Bass Lake Bear River Bergville Blackberry Bowstring Dora Lake Dunbar Goodland Grattan Houpt Jessie Lake Mack Marcell Martin Max Orth Pengilly Pomroy Rosy Spring Lake Suomi Swan River Talmoon Togo Wawina Wirt Indian reservations Deer Creek Indian Reservation‡ Leech Lake Indian Reservation‡ Footnotes ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties

Municipalities and communities of St. Louis County, Minnesota, United States County seat: Duluth Cities Aurora Babbitt Biwabik Brookston Buhl Chisholm Cook Duluth Ely Eveleth Floodwood Gilbert Hermantown Hibbing Hoyt Lakes Iron Junction Kinney Leonidas McKinley Meadowlands Mountain Iron Orr Proctor Rice Lake Tower Virginia Winton Townships Alango Alborn Alden Angora Arrowhead Ault Balkan Bassett Beatty Biwabik Breitung Brevator Camp 5 Canosia Cedar Valley Cherry Clinton Colvin Cotton Crane Lake Culver Duluth Eagles Nest Ellsburg Elmer Embarrass Fairbanks Fayal Field Fine Lakes Floodwood Fredenberg French Gnesen Grand Lake Great Scott Greenwood Halden Industrial Kabetogama Kelsey Kugler Lakewood Lavell Leiding Linden Grove McDavitt Meadowlands Midway Morcom Morse Ness New Independence Normanna North Star Northland Owens Pequaywan Pike Portage Prairie Lake Sandy Solway Stoney Brook Sturgeon Toivola Van Buren Vermilion Lake Waasa White Willow Valley Wuori CDPs Mahnomen Nett Lake Soudan Unincorporated communities Alborn Angora Ash Lake Bassett Bear River Bengal Brimson Britt Burnett Burntside Buyck Canyon Celina Central Lakes Cherry Clover Valley Cotton Crane Lake Culver Cusson Eldes Corner Elmer Embarrass Fairbanks Florenton Forbes Four Corners French River Gheen Gheen Corner Glendale Gowan Greaney Idington Independence Island Lake Kabetogama Keenan Kelsey Linden Grove Makinen Maney Markham McComber Meadow Brook Melrude Munger Palmers Palo Paupores Payne Peary Petrel Peyla Prosit Ramshaw Robinson Rollins Saginaw Sax Shaw Sherman Corner Side Lake Silica Skibo Sturgeon Taft Toivola Twig Vermilion Dam Wahlsten Wakemup Whiteface Wolf Zim Unorganized territories Angleworm Bear Head Lake Birch Lake Camp A Lake Crab Lake Dark River Gheen Hay Lake Heikkala Lake Hush Lake Janette Lake Leander Lake Linwood Lake Marion Lake McCormack Mud Hen Lake Nett Lake Northeast St. Louis Northwest St. Louis Pfeiffer Lake Picket Lake Potshot Lake Sand Lake Slim Lake Sturgeon River Sunday Lake Tikander Lake Whiteface Reservoir Former CDP Arnold Ghost towns Costin Village Elcor Fermoy Spina Indian reservations Fond du Lac Indian Reservation‡ Lake Vermilion Indian Reservation Nett Lake Indian Reservation‡ Footnotes ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties