Ojibwe oral tradition identifies Little Round Hill, a small elevation on the banks of the Crow Wing River, as the location of a late-1700s French fur trading fort and a skirmish between Ojibwe hunter-traders and Dakota warriors. Located in Old Wadena County Park at the confluence of the Partridge and Crow Wing Rivers, it was the site of the first intensive archaeological excavation within Wadena County.
Wadena is an Ojibwe word meaning "little round hill." During the eighteenth century, this area was just north of a contested zone between Ojibwe and Dakota territories. For this reason, it was a risky area for travelers to pass through. However, the presence of fur-bearing animals and the many Ojibwe people in the area made it appealing to eighteenth-century fur traders, especially independent ones.
In 1852, historian William Warren related the story of a leader of the Ojibwe band of Pillagers. The leader, whose name was Eshkibagikoonzh (Flat Mouth), said that when he was a child he had been at a trading house when it was attacked by a large party of Dakotas. The trading house was occupied by an independent French fur trader known to the Ojibwe as Awashtoyaa (the blacksmith) who traveled with several traders and ten-to-fifteen Ojibwe hunters and their families.
Wadena County bought the Little Round Hill property in 1968, and archaeologist Douglas Birk first visited it in 1972. Based on his observations, the site was nominated for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Sites. There were two other known archaeological properties in the area, including another fur trade site, the winter encampment of Jean-Baptiste Cadotte.
The first excavations were done by Douglas Birk and the Institute for Minnesota Archaeology in 1992. The materials they discovered supported the idea that the site might be related to the story of Awashtoyaa.
In that excavation, a number of historic artifacts were found. They included two small white glass seed beads, which were popular trade items, and a small piece of ferrous sheet metal that appeared to have been reworked to form a hair pipe. Also found were a small piece of mirror glass, a small misshapen lead musket ball, and a modern 22-caliber shell casing.
Some of the most important materials discovered through excavation were animal bones indicating a place where food had been prepared and consumed by a large number of people. Most of the identified bones were from white-tailed deer and elk.
Birk concluded that enough artifacts had been found to give some preliminary ideas about the content, preservation, and internal structure of the site. There were identifiable ancient American Indian components. The collections of raw bone and historic materials he found seemed to support the idea of an occupation, such as the one described at Awashtoyaa’s winter camp. In Birk's opinion, nothing was found that refuted the story. Further excavations were recommended.
In addition, years earlier, a number of artifacts had been found at Little Round Hill by a relic hunter using a metal detector. They included an iron ferule, a piece of fire steel, a rosehead nail, a fragment from the bottom of a kettle, and an axe head.
In 2009 and 2010, another series of excavations were carried out at the request of the Wadena County Historical Society. This time, Dr. Katherine Hayes and students from the University of Minnesota spent two years studying two historic sites at Old Wadena County Park: the Little Round Hill site and the trading post of Jean-Baptiste Cadotte.
The Little Round Hill site showed evidence of pit-style dwelling depressions and an activity area centered between the dwellings which comprised a hearth feature. There were also many artifacts, including faunal materials, lithic debris, and European trade items such as musket balls, glass beads, pipe fragments, and a small number of imported ceramic sherds.
Some of the items found during the excavations were displayed as part of a First Contacts exhibit at the University of Minnesota’s Bell Museum in 2011. Items included knives, rings, trading beads, and other artifacts that had been retrieved from the site.