There was a story about a medicine man at Fort Snelling who somehow had a drum. He sang a song and broke the chains on the gate and the gate opened just to show the people that the land was still there. Nothing had changed. To give them hope. Of course the soldiers quickly closed the gate again. But he did that one single act to show that all of creation was still there and what was happening was only a moment. So what happened at Fort Snelling? You’d have to be raised in a spiritual life that you’re not familiar with because the land talks to you. The memories of all the old people are still present in the land so you get a lot of information. There’s no way one person, a group of people, a diverse group of people could say exactly what happened at Fort Snelling. It’s something that should have never happened.
The gate opened just to show the people that the land was still there.
The gate opened just to show the people that the land was still there.
Mr. Ross talks about Dakota survival and hope at the prison camp at Fort Snelling after the U.S.-Dakota War.
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Chapter 1
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Dallas Ross. "The gate opened just to show the people that the land was still there.." https://www3.mnhs.org/usdakotawar/stories/contributors/dallas-ross/1096
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Oral History- Interview | Narrator Dallas Ross Interviewer Deborah Locke made at Granite Falls, Upper Sioux Community, MN | Sunday, May 1, 2011
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Citation: Minnesota Historical Society. U.S. - Dakota War of 1862. The gate opened just to show the people that the land was still there.. May 23, 2025.

Other Stories by Narrator
- Akicita
- A lifetime of learning for a minute of understanding.
- You can’t be around old Dakotas without learning about the spirituality of things.
- They are looking there and they don’t really truly understand what happened.
- “We did this in a manner that was good. Why is this happening to us?"
- The gate opened just to show the people that the land was still there.
- It’s probably one of the saddest places in this local area.
- Even in my family there were differences.
- Dakota is a way of life, a manner in which you walk through this world
- Unless you have something better to offer, then you cannot judge people
- A place where a spirit used to be but the spirit is gone
- They don’t see colors in people; they just see people in people