Rum River - Definition and Overview

The Rum River is a slow, meandering channel that connects Minnesota's Lake Mille Lacs with the Mississippi River. It runs through the farming communities of Milaca, Princeton, Cambridge, and Isanti before ending at the Twin Cities suburb of Anoka, roughly 20 miles northwest of downtown Minneapolis.

Naming Controversy

The current name is a mistranslation of the one given to it by the local branch (Mdewakanton) of the Dakota (see Lakota) tribe. They called it Mdoteminiwakan, meaning (very roughly) "Sacred Water River's Mouth." Late 18th-century Europeans interpreted the Dakota word element -wakan ("sacred" or "spirit") to mean spirit in an entirely different sense ... and ever since it's been known as the Rum River.

There is a nascent movement to return the river to its previous name, on the basis that the current one, as a "corruption" of the name's original intent, is an affront to native sensibilities (the Dakota word for "Great Spirit" is, for instance, Wakan-Tonka). While the movement has the endorsement of many tribal and native organizations, it is doubtful that such a change will be affected, since the modern usage is so entrenched with communities along the river.

History

The early Explorer Father Louis Hennepin is credited with being the first European to lay eyes upon the Mdewakanton/Rum. He was taken to see it during the spring of 1680, while under the captivity of a party of Dakota. He referred to it as the St. Francis river in his published journals, although obviously the name didn't stick.