Oneota Nature Preserve
History
2005-05-02 Purchased from Richard Rickert for $12,000
Oneota:Shell-tempered ceramic jars, triangular arrowheads, and numerous end scrapers are features that distinguish this culture. Between 950 and 700 years ago, the Oneota established several large mound and village complexes on high terraces near Red Wing. There they hunted deer, elk and bison. They also relied heavily on the Mississippi River floodplain for fish, turtles, clams and plant foods. The Oneota cultivated fields of corn, beans and squash with hoes made of bison shoulder blades.
From about 750 to 650 years ago, the Oneota shifted downriver to new settlements at LaCrosse. For the next two centuries, Oneota occupation of LaCrosse was intensive. However, just before French exploration along the Upper Mississippi River, the Oneota abandoned LaCrosse. Perhaps due to agricultural failure from the Little Ice Age, disease, population pressures from the East or the lure of bison hunting, the Oneota left the Mississippi River Valley and moved west into Iowa and southern Minnesota. It was in these areas that the French first made contact and recorded them as the Ioway Tribe.