A lawsuit brought by a group of Dakota leaders claimed that Federal Indian law was being violated in regards to the sacred oaks. A State judge ordered MnDot to conduct a preliminary study of the historical importance of the site, delaying construction through the spring and early summer. MnDOt contracted a consulting firm to prepare a Cultural Resource Assess}ent (CRA) of the proposed reroute.

Leo Ronneng, Vice-Chairman of the Mendota Dakota, says he0wasn't optimistic about the results of the study when he heard that Louis Berger and Associates had been hired to conduct it. "85% of their income comes directly from road projects. That's why they were chosen in the firstplace. They're not going to bite the hand of MnDot that feeds them." Indeed, the CRA report concluded earlier this summer that "the four bur oak trees...lack historical significance."

"The study that MnDot did was just another smoke screen," Ronneng says. "They took sixteen hours of testimony from elders then completely disregarded it."

Joel Wainwright and Morgan Robertson of the University of Minnesota and Wisconsin-Madison's Departments of Geography, authored a book analyzing the CRA's conclusions. Their critique of the study, released July 13, 1999,found "the indigenous claims have been marginalized ...by spurious representations of soil and hydrogeomorphic data, the near-libelous excerpting of Native elders' testimony, and the distortion of [information]to suit the state's claims. Notwithstanding the report's conclusion, could the same data lead one to the finding that the four oak trees are sacred? The answer is an empathic yes."

The two authors point out:

The CRA report cited Clyde Bellecourt, founder of AIM, with saying: "I didn't even know that this spring existed then until Earth First! and the Mendota Mdewakanton people came down here...never knew anything about this spring until we knew it was going to be under destruction..."

"This claim," say Wainwright and Robertson, "appears to undermine the credibility that this site is well-known. The quote, however, is not referenced. Since we are left wondering where the authors found this quote, it is worth considering another statement by Bellecourt" that wasn't in the report.

Bellecourt: "Spiritual Elders such as Chris Leith from Prairie Island, a member of the Golden Eagle Society; Gary Cavender, a member of the State if Minnesota Indian Affairs Council from Shakopee; Harry Charger from the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota; and Larry Cloud Morgan, spiritual elder of the Anishinabeg Nation among others, have all come tothis place and recognized how sacred the land is, and the spiritual nature of the struggle to save this land from being paved over. This is the last remaining bur oak Savannah along the Mississippi River...we realize that most of the bones of our ancestors have been dug up and removed. What we are asking for, demanding, is that what remains of our culture, our sacred site, and our dignity be preserved. There is no justification to continue this 500 years of genocide just so commuters can get from downtown to the Mall of America three minutes faster."

"The CRA report's authors ignore or erase indigenous voices that counter their claim," say Robertson and Wainwright. "Indigenous oral testimony is edited to exclude all but the barest statements about the four trees and Coldwater Springs."

"The case of Dick Black is particularly illustrative. In the CRA report, Black is cited only as 'Dick Black, Iowa Tribe.' An unsuspecting reader might guess that Black is a member of an indigenous 'tribe' in the state of Iowa, and writing an affidavit because he is sympathetic to the Dakota cause. What the authors do not reveal, however, is that Black is the Repatriation Representative for the Iowa tribe of Oklahoma and currently employed as a field inspector for the National Congress of American Indians, for whom he ensures enforcement of Federal indigenous rights laws (Black also teaches Repatriation law at the University of Missouri Law School). Access to this information would surely change the way a reader considers his testimony," say Robinson and Wainwright.

Dick Black (not cited in the CRA report): "It is my opinion and belief that in the ground under or near the path of the proposed Highway 55construction, are burial remains of ancestors of the Iowa tribe. My opinion is based on numerous cultural and historical factors. The Oneoteculture - which came to be part of what was later labeled by the United States government as the Iowa tribe, used to live [in] Minnesota...There were burial remains which were discovered near the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport and the Veterans Hospital which belong to the Iowa and Dakota people...I am certain that the Iowa tribe would have set-up a village around Camp Coldwater because it has always been part of our tradition to set up villages around natural springs."

"The authors frame the statements in such a way as to minimize their power as evidence, and as statements delivering a particular truth," say Robinsonand Wainwright. "In one case, that of Larry Cloud-Morgan, the authors chose not to cite the following passage that indicates a continuous oral history identifying the site as a location of a historic event."

Cloud-Morgan explained: "My grandparents and other elders told me about the history of Fort Snelling and the Dakota people who lived in the surrounding area. My grandparents traveled to various Dakota Indian locations around Minnesota, including the area near Fort Snelling, for tribal celebrations. Significantly, they visited ceremonies at the time of Little Crow near the present Mdewakanton encampment. Through my grandparents...I am privy to the oral tradition regarding sacred sites in the area slated for destruction if the highway is rerouted."

THE EXACT CENTER OF THE EARTH

The CRA's authors relied heavily on writing and maps left behind by European colonists to make their determination of non-sacredness. While entirely discounting Native testimony, the report gives weight to evidence such as an 1857 military map. The map lacks scale and detail, yet a hand-drawn circle over a vacant section of map, labeled "Approximate Location of Four Oaks," is cited as proof of the four oaks' non-existence during the time the Dakota say they served as a scaffold.

The authors rely only on those colonists that agree with their conclusions. Missionary Gideon Pond is cited as saying that west of Mdewakanton country at Lac Qui Parle, the Dakota buried their dead in coffins by the middle ofthe 19th century.

"Do colonial citings of cultural practices in Western Minnesota have any bearing on those 250 miles east? The implied assumption is that is the colonial record captured all evidence of Dakota cultural practices," write Robertson and Wainwright.

At the same time the CRA report ignores the records left by early European settler Joseph Nicollet. A map-maker by trade, Nicollet left a wealth ofletters, journals, and notes on the Dakota. He was the first to create an accurate map of the lands between the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. His journals record his love for the prairie, his respect and understanding of the Dakota Indians, and his fears for their future. "The Mdewakanton people have always considered the mouth of the Minnesota River to be the middle of all things, the exact center of the earth," Nicollet wrote.

Transportation Commissioner Elwin Tinklenberg praised the CRA as "an objective report," at a press conference organized for its release. A few weeks later, as Tinklenberg was on the radio announcing plans for further destruction, dozen of cops descended on Minnehaha park. "We have attempted to ensure that the best possible information is available in guiding our work in this corridor. And we continue to be open to on-going discussionof a sincere and thoughtful nature but we will move forward," Tinklenberg said.

Coalition member Susu Jeffrey says she and her comrades have a better idea. "This place is unique in all the world and must be preserved. This is the Grand Canyon of the Midwest, the only true gorge in the 2300 mile length of the Mississippi River. Oak savannah used to cover 10% of this area. Now we have .02%. This project seeks to destroy the last grove of bur oak trees in Minneapolis. We will not let that happen," Jeffrey says.