The idea of designating the Little Sioux River as a water trail began in the 1980s when conservation boards in District 3, which includes Clay County along with 15 other counties in the state’s northwest corner, came together and created the Inkpaduta Canoe Trail.

The headwaters of the Little Sioux River begin in southwest Minnesota before winding 258 miles down to the Missouri River. The Inkpaduta Canoe Trail includes a section of 173 miles of the Little Sioux.

The ICT winds its way through Dickinson, Clay, Buena Vista, O’Brien, Cherokee, Ida & Woodbury Counties before reaching the Missouri.

A diverse set of groups oversee the Little Sioux River and it’s watershed which includes management collaboration between state and local entities.

This includes: 3 in Dickinson, 4 in Clay, 2 in Buena Vista, 3 in O’Brien, 11 in Cherokee, 1 in Ida, and 7 in Woodbury.

Inkpaduta was a prominent leader of a band of Wahpekute Dakota whose lifeway was intimately tied to the river and surrounding watershed. During the early to mid 19th century increasing ecological change and conflict with Euro-American settlers forced many Indigenous Iowans from the state.