Fort Snelling and the Confluence of the Rivers

By Tim Griffin, Tom Fisher and Bahareh Shahsavari 

At the confluence — or Bdote — of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers lies a place where history, ecology, and identity converge. A place of cultural significance whose future remains uncertain. 

The area now called Fort Snelling is an unincorporated area overseen by a patchwork of landowners: city, county, state and federal governments, the Minnesota Historical Society, the Boy Scouts, and CommonBond Communities. As both the site of Dakota origin stories as well as an anchor for Minnesota history, the confluence is home to a complicated mosaic of cultures over time. 

It is no small irony that in modern times it sits on the periphery of three large cities — without a comprehensive vision about what it is, what it could be, with no blueprint showing how to plan for its future responsibly... more below.

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