For centuries, Dakota people have considered the area of the island to be a sacred place known as Bdóte, where they moved with the seasons to find food and resources.

[6] The U.S. government wanted to build a fort to protect American interests in the fur trade in the region, and Pike negotiated the treaty.

[6] In 1819 Colonel Henry Leavenworth invited Jean-Baptiste Faribault, a French Canadian, and his family to settle on Pike Island near the new fort to help promote the fur trade.

During this time more than 1600 Dakota women, children, and old men were held in an internment camp on Pike Island under the cannons of Fort Snelling.

[11] In May 1863, the survivors were forced aboard steamboats and relocated to Crow Creek in the southeastern Dakota Territory, a place stricken by drought at the time.