Over at Dunlap Island Park, the city of Cloquet and the Fond Du Lac people held a ribbon cutting ceremony. The celebrated several new signs enshrining the Ojibwe culture and history. Each sign features several Ojibwe words and translations along with other beliefs they hold sacred.

One of the Fond Du Lac’s elders Rick Defoe says this is a significant step for the tribe. “We have our proficient speakers here. Wwe want to thank those who put the time and effort into sharing our beautiful language with the greater community here,” Defoe said.

Before Cloquet was a settlement for timber and fur trading there were several different tribes who traveled the Northland. Jeff Savage the museum director for their reservation says sharing stories is a big part of their culture.

 “Even before the Ojibwe were here, there were the Lakota. In time of the past, there’s a lot of creation stories of other tribes like the Cheyenne, the Mandan, the Arikara, the Assiniboine, the Cree, who all lived and came through this area. That’s the kind of history that we would like to share,” Savage said. “So that folks don’t forget how long that people have been living in this area and that we can share our common history,”

Common history became the root that brought together the fond du lac band and the residents in Cloquet together. Carol Klitzke the director of the Carlton County Historical Society says the people who created the seven different signs in Dunlap Island Park were divided into two groups, half non-native culture, and half Ojibwe. Although both of the groups had different ideas on what aspects of Ojibwe culture and history should be told.

“When we got back together, I noticed that the themes from my group were more about places and events. The themes from the Ojibwe group were more about environment and the natural world,” Klitzke said.

Of course the signs wouldn’t have been built without the projects funds from the Blandin Foundation.  Mary Magnuson, with the foundation says the collaborative efforts with the Fond Du Lac people and the city of Cloquet will continue to help the Ojibwe people within the Northland.

“These new signs are beautiful. They show everyone who visits, both local folks and out of town guests, the creativity, resourcefulness and can-do attitude that rural places like the Fond Du Lac and Cloquet people have in spades. Yet I see more in these signs,” Magnuson said. “I see a community ready, willing and able to change. To not just say that some community history was missing from this place, but to work together to bridge that cultural gap.”

Jeff Savage also says he hopes more people take in interest in American Indian history. “Our history becomes your history too. That it isn’t separate,” Savage said. “It didn’t start in 1492, and it doesn’t stop in 2025.”

For more information about other events happening in Carlton County you can read more here. Also for other stories with the Fond Du Lac Band you can read more here.