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Menahga Area HISTORY OF MENAHGA The name “Menahga” was derived from the Indian word for blueberry. The wild fruit grew in abundance throughout the area and Native Americans and pioneers alike used to sell and trade blueberries through local merchants in the early days of the town. The area of Menahga was settled by immigrants of Scandinavian and European descent, as well as many Finnlanders, as land was cleared by loggers. Menahga is part of the Louisiana Purchase bought in 1803 from Napoleon. In 1849, Minnesota was organized as a territory and became a state in 1858. Very little is recorded of this area from the early 1800’s, but it is known that the Sioux and Ojibway (Chippewa) Indian tribes used it for hunting grounds. These tribes were semi-nomadic and followed the seasonal development of food sources. They traveled from sugar camps to fishing, to garden villages, and to hunting. Their diet consisted mainly of meat derived from whitetailed deer and fish. Wild rice was harvested from the marshy shores of area lakes and the abundance of blueberries in those early days became their main fruit item. The Homestead Act of 1862 brought many people to the Menahga area, via railroad and the
