Blood Run National Historic Landmark

Inscription

Blood Run is a sacred site and the ancestral home of the Omaha, Ponca, Ioway & Oto tribes, where they cohabitated from AD 1500-1750. The Oneota traditions were celebrated, and it was an important trade center and city. More than 6,000 people who were growers, artisans and hunters occupied the village. Catlinite was quarried at Pipestone, MN and crafted here to create peace pipes, tablets and other cultural items. The central location was convenient for other traveling tribes. After 1750, the village was unoccupied becoming the “Silent City”. The late 1800s saw westward expansion with the railroad passing through the site, followed shortly after by early homesteaders. Dr. F. W. Pettigrew, from Sioux Falls, an early non-native explorer of the area, created detailed maps and records that still offer invaluable information. The natural beauty of this cultural landscape adds to its historic significance. The tribes who lived here are connected to this land. Please treat it with respect and reverence.

Erected by the Friends of Blood Run and the State Historical Society of Iowa with funding support from the William G. Pomeroy Foundation. 2022.