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 Upper Sioux Agency State Park - Granite Falls, MN Posted by:  msrubble
N 44° 44.226 W 095° 27.621
15T E 305201 N 4956690
Rustic state park at an important historical site, eight miles east of Granite Falls.
Waymark Code: WMGB6T
Location: Minnesota, United States
Date Posted: 02/08/2013
Views: 4
Upper Sioux Agency State Park is at the confluence of the Yellow Medicine and Minnesota Rivers in Sioux Agency Township, Yellow Medicine County. With just under 1300 acres, the park has room for hiking, horseback riding, picnics, and camping.
The park is available for hiking and geocaching year round. There is a horse camp, along with two other campgrounds. Some campsites have electricity. An unusual feature of this state park is that they have two tipis set up for camping. There is a boat ramp on the Minnesota River.
The visitor center includes a small gift store. Volleyball equipment and horseshoes can be borrowed from the park office. They sell firewood, and rent canoes. Upper Sioux Agency State Park is a demonstration park in the state parks' geocaching program; visitors can borrow one of the park's GPS units at no cost.
In winter, the horse trails are closed but there are groomed trails for snowmobiling, cross-country skiing, dog sledding, and skijoring.
Upper Sioux Agency State Park has a lot to offer visitors interested in Minnesota history. The park is on the site of the Yellow Medicine Agency, also called the Upper Sioux Agency, a government outpost set up in 1854 to administer the terms of the Traverse des Sioux treaty. The buildings were burned during the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. The historic site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
State park vehicle permits, good at any Minnesota state park, are $5 per day, or $25 per year.
Park Type: Day Use and Overnight
Activities:
Hiking, fishing, geocaching, volleyball, horseshoes, cross-country skiing, camping, horseback riding, snowmobiling, snowshoeing, dog sledding, skijoring. Swingset, picnic area, sliding hill. Canoeing.
Background:
Geologically, this area was formed by glaciers. The land is on glacial drift, and the Minnesota River is what is left of the huge glacial River Warren.
In recent history, this site is significant as the location of one of two Indian agencies overseeing the Dakota reservation on the Minnesota River. The government outpost went up in flames in the 1862 Dakota Conflict. A government employee duplex was reconstructed while the Minnesota Historical Society administered the historic agency site. The Historical Society is no longer involved with the park, but the agency site is listed on the National Register.
Date Established?: 1963
Link to Park: [Web Link]
Park Fees: Not listed
Additional Entrance Points: Not Listed
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