Fond du Lac Band to Oversee Burial Ground Recovery Along Highway 23

Mission Creek MnDOT project has been delayed two years after burial ground was disturbed

DULUTH, Minn. – The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa will now oversee the remaining burial ground recovery efforts at the Mission Creek bridge project.

That MnDOT project has been on hold since 2017 when crews found native burial remains while digging on a hillside near Highway 23 in Duluth’s Fond du Lac Neighborhood.

$4.5 million has already been spent on the Mission Creek Project that was supposed to cost about $3.1 million.

The bridge and highway aren’t expected to be done for years, but MnDOT officials hope to have most of the burial ground recovery work done this summer.

Now, the Fond du Lac Band will be the lead contractor on the recovery.

Because a contract with Hamline University is set to expire this month, groups involved believe it will be easier to move forward with the tribe as the only employer on the project.

The Fond du Lac Band had been working with Hamline at the site.

According to MnDOT, twenty-four workers plus six supervisors will work on the site this summer.

“Right now they’re in a position that they can gather up the staff and put a very large effort on working this summer, working really hard this summer,” said MnDOT Project Manager Randy Costley.

Last summer, it was reported that twenty percent of the burial grounds had been processed.

MnDOT tells us they are now very close to completing one major stockpile that was displaced.