author
Henry M. (Henry Mower) Rice
1816–1894
A fur trader turned power broker, he helped push Minnesota toward statehood and became one of its first U.S. senators. His career also reflects the harder side of that era, with treaty work and business deals tied to the dispossession of Indigenous communities.
1 Audiobook
Collections of the Minnesota Historical Society for the Year 1867
by Charles Edwin Mayo, Henry M. (Henry Mower) Rice, A. J. (Alfred James) Hill, Gideon H. (Gideon Hollister) Pond
About the author
Born in Waitsfield, Vermont, in 1816, Henry Mower Rice built his career on the northern frontier. He worked in the fur trade, became deeply involved in business and land interests around St. Paul, and emerged as one of the most influential figures in early Minnesota politics.
Rice served as the Minnesota Territory’s delegate to Congress and later as a United States senator after statehood. Historical accounts credit him as an important force in winning Minnesota’s admission to the Union and shaping its early development.
At the same time, modern histories present a more complicated picture of his legacy. Alongside his political success, Rice was involved in treaty negotiations and policies that advanced his own interests while harming Indigenous peoples in the region. He died in San Antonio, Texas, in 1894.