The Minnesota History Center for two years has been intensely researching the six-week conflict in 1862 and what led up to one of the most heart-breaking chapters in state history, KARE 11 reports. Research of the complex episode included interviews with direct descendants of settlers and native people. The culmination of the work will be on display beginning Saturday, in time for the 150th anniversary of the war.

On August 17th a century-and-a-half ago the first victims of the U-S Dakota War were killed in the Minnesota River valley. The conflict lasted six weeks and killed about 600 settlers as Dakota bands tried to reclaim their ancestral homelands. Gov. Mark Dayton has declared a Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation, with flags flying at half staff.

A piece of southwestern Minnesota prairie that witnessed the final battle of the Dakota Conflict of 1862 will soon be preserved as a memorial to the warriors and soldiers who fought there. A conservation easement with the landowners caps a six-year effort to protect the site.

Minnesota ATV and Jetski fans are going to love this – a four-wheel, single-rider ATV that at the push of a button converts to a water ride. The Quadski will be available by the end of the year for $40,000 from Michigan-based Gibbs Sports Amphibians Inc., the Associated Press reports.