# Mendota *A city in Dakota County, Minnesota, and the site of the 1851 Treaty of Mendota.* Mendota is a city in Dakota County, [[Minnesota]], at the meeting of the [[Minnesota River]] and the [[Mississippi River]].[^1] The name is a mispronunciation of *bdóte*, the [[Dakota]] word for the place, which means the mouth or junction of one river with another; in Dakota tradition the site is the center of the world.[^1] The 2020 census counted 183 residents.[^1] Dakota County, created in 1849 as one of the nine original counties of [[Minnesota Territory]], says in its published history that it is named for the Dakota people, and it calls Mendota "the first European settlement in Minnesota."[^2] On August 5, 1851, the [[Treaty of Mendota]] was signed at [[Pilot Knob]] in Mendota. Under it the [[Mdewakanton]] and [[Wahpekute]] bands ceded "all their lands and all their right, title and claim to any lands whatever, in the Territory of Minnesota, or in the State of Iowa."[^3][^4] With the [[Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, 1851]], the Mendota cession opened about twenty-four million acres at roughly seven and a half cents an acre.[^5] [[Alexander Ramsey]] served as a United States commissioner at both treaties.[^3][^6] A federal investigation, the [[Young commission]] of 1853, made an adverse finding on the 1851 treaty funds, and the U.S. Senate exonerated Ramsey in 1854.[^7] ## When European-American settlement at Mendota began in the 1830s, in the same years [[Fort Snelling]] was established; the stone Sibley and Faribault houses and other American Fur Company buildings at the site date from that decade.[^1] [[Henry Hastings Sibley]], later the first [[Governor of Minnesota]], arrived in Mendota in 1835.[^1] On July 29, 1837, an Ojibwe treaty was signed at present-day Mendota; the Dakota treaty of September 29, 1837, signed in Washington, routed $90,000 to fur traders for claimed debts.[^8] Hypolite Dupuis, who clerked for Sibley, arrived between 1840 and 1842 according to the city's Wikipedia history section; its list of notable people gives 1842.[^1] Dakota County was created in 1849.[^2] The Treaty of Traverse des Sioux was signed on July 23, 1851, with Luke Lea, Henry Sibley and Alexander Ramsey as U.S. commissioners. According to MNopedia, all but two Dakota leaders also signed the [[traders' paper]], which was "never read aloud or translated."[^6] Thirteen days later, on August 5, 1851, U.S. commissioners [[Luke Lea]] and Ramsey signed the companion Treaty of Mendota with [[Little Crow]] (Ta-oya-te-duta), [[Wabasha]] and roughly eighty other Mdewakanton and Wahpekute leaders.[^3][^4][^9] The Young commission's adverse finding on the treaty funds came in 1853, and the Senate's exoneration of Ramsey followed in 1854. The project's validated record reports that MNopedia describes the Senate as "ignoring evidence uncovered in its own investigations."[^7] The Dakota County seat moved three times in four years: from Kaposia in 1853, to Mendota in 1854, and then to [[Hastings]] in 1857, where it remains.[^10] Also in 1854, Dupuis built the Dupuis House, Mendota's first red brick house, for his wife, Angelique (Renville) Dupuis, and their family.[^1] The Mendota Mdewakanton Dakota Tribal Community traces its present community to congressional appropriation acts for the "Sioux in Minnesota" in the 1880s and 1890s. The community is not federally recognized and has sought recognition since 1996.[^1] On October 13, 2025 ([[Indigenous Peoples' Day]]), Mdewakanton "half-breed" descendants of the [[Lake Pepin]] tract filed suit against the United States in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. They seek about $5 billion and federal recognition; their counsel is [[Erick Kaardal]].[^11] The tract was set aside by the 1830 [[Treaty of Prairie du Chien]]. According to the project's validated record, the suit is grounded in that treaty and in the 1851 Traverse des Sioux and Mendota treaties, which the record says removed the tract's protections.[^11] ## Where The treaty site at Pilot Knob lies inside the boundaries of present-day Dakota County.[^3][^12] Census Bureau figures reported by Wikipedia give the city 0.30 square miles in all, of which 0.27 square miles is land and 0.03 square miles is water.[^1] The neighboring city of Mendota Heights borders Mendota on three sides, and Fort Snelling State Park lies close by. State Highway 13, named Sibley Memorial Highway, is the principal road.[^1] The Sibley Historic Site within the city holds two of the earliest known stone buildings in Minnesota.[^1] For schooling, Mendota belongs to the West St. Paul-Mendota Heights-Eagan School District, whose middle and high schools stand in Mendota Heights.[^1] ## How much The two 1851 treaties together transferred about twenty-four million acres at roughly seven and a half cents an acre.[^5][^6] The 1837 Dakota treaty directed $90,000 to fur traders for claimed debts.[^8] The 2025 Lake Pepin suit seeks about $5 billion.[^11] ## How many The city had 197 residents and 80 households in 2000, and 198 residents, 78 households and 52 families in 2010, with a median age of 37.8 years. In 2020 it had 183 residents.[^1] Roughly eighty Mdewakanton and Wahpekute leaders signed the Treaty of Mendota alongside Little Crow and Wabasha.[^3] The Lake Pepin tract at issue in the 2025 suit covered about 320,000 acres.[^11] ## In the at-issue record At-issue item AI-Dakota-089 sets the 1851 signing at Pilot Knob beside the county's property record. It states that every land title in Dakota County descends from a document signed within it. That is the project's framing; the cited historical sources establish the signing and the cession, not the full title chain.[^12] At-issue item AI-Dakota-097, drawing on Dakota County's own published history, sets the county's description of Mendota as "the first European settlement in Minnesota" beside two other facts. The first is the county-seat sequence of 1853–1857. The second is the dating of European claims to the region to [[Nicholas Perrot]]'s 1689 assertion of French possession of Dakota lands.[^10][^2] At-issue item AI-064 pairs the acquisition price of the 1851 treaty lands, about seven and a half cents an acre, with Hennepin County's 2024 output on that ground, given as $193.6 billion. The item cites Minnesota Historical Society and FRED data.[^13] The record sets the two figures side by side; it does not establish a causal relation between them. The project anchors all three items to a May 2026 White House presidential action.[^12][^13] ## Notes [^1]: Wikipedia contributors, *Mendota, Minnesota* (revision 1378518556, retrieved 2026-10-27) — etymology, 2020/2010/2000 census counts, area, location, Sibley Historic Site, Dupuis House, Sibley's 1835 arrival, tribal community and school district. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mendota,_Minnesota [^2]: Dakota County, *History* — county created 1849 as one of nine original counties of Minnesota Territory; named for the Dakota people; Mendota "the first European settlement in Minnesota." https://dakotacountymn.gov/government/about/history [^3]: Minnesota Historical Society, *Treaty of Mendota* — signed Aug. 5, 1851 at Pilot Knob; commissioners Luke Lea and Alexander Ramsey; Little Crow (Ta-oya-te-duta), Wabasha and roughly eighty other Mdewakanton and Wahpekute signers; cession text. https://www.mnhs.org/usdakotawar/stories/history/treaty-mendota [^4]: Charles J. Kappler, *Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties*, Vol. II, *Treaty of Mendota* (August 5, 1851) — treaty text. https://dc.library.okstate.edu/digital/collection/kapplers/id/26443 [^5]: Minnesota Historical Society, MNopedia, *Treaty of Mendota, 1851* — with Traverse des Sioux, about twenty-four million acres at roughly seven and a half cents an acre. https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/event/treaty-mendota-1851 [^6]: Minnesota Historical Society, MNopedia, *Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, 1851* — signed July 23, 1851; commissioners Luke Lea, Henry Sibley, Alexander Ramsey; ~24 million acres at ~7½ cents an acre; traders' paper "never read aloud or translated." https://www.mnhs.org/mnopedia/search/index/event/treaty-traverse-des-sioux-1851 [^7]: Project record, *The Instrument No One Will Name* (densified, 2026-06-18), n. 6 — Young commission adverse finding (1853); U.S. Senate exoneration of Ramsey (1854); MNopedia phrase quoted; printed Senate Executive Journal not yet pulled. [^8]: Treaties Matter, *1837 Ojibwe and Dakota treaties* — Ojibwe treaty July 29, 1837 at present-day Mendota; Dakota treaty Sept. 29, 1837 in Washington; $90,000 to fur traders for claimed debts. https://treatiesmatter.org/treaties/land/1837-ojibwe-dakota [^9]: MNopedia, *Treaty of Mendota, 1851* — the 1851 Mendota treaty as the companion Dakota cession to Traverse des Sioux. https://www.mnopedia.org/event/treaty-mendota-1851 [^10]: Project at-issue record, item AI-Dakota-097 (*Dakota_Founding_Instruments_2026-09-02.md*, §VII; source domain dakotacountymn.gov) — county seat at Kaposia 1853, Mendota 1854, Hastings 1857; Perrot's 1689 assertion. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/05/restoring-integrity-to-americas-financial-system/ [^11]: Project record, *The Instrument No One Will Name* (densified, 2026-06-18), n. 46 — Lake Pepin descendants' suit, U.S. Court of Federal Claims, filed Oct. 13, 2025; ~$5 billion and federal recognition; counsel Erick Kaardal; ~320,000-acre tract under the 1830 Treaty of Prairie du Chien. [^12]: Project at-issue record, item AI-Dakota-089 (*Dakota_Founding_Instruments_2026-09-02.md*, §VII) — signing at Pilot Knob inside present-day Dakota County; the project's root-of-title framing. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/05/restoring-integrity-to-americas-financial-system/ [^13]: Project at-issue record, item AI-064 (*Freeman_Apex_Dossier_2026-09-02.md*, §VI) — seven and a half cents an acre; Hennepin County 2024 output $193.6 billion; sources fred.stlouisfed.org and mnhs.org. https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/05/restoring-integrity-to-americas-financial-system/