Statement of Significance (as of designation - July 19, 1964):
Occupied from Archaic to historic times (3000 BC-1750 AD), this was the ancestral homeland of the Dakota Sioux at the beginning of the hisotric period. In 1679, French explorer Sieur de Luth noted the existence of 40 Sioux villages in the vicinity. In the mid-18th century, the Chippawa, pressured by the westward expansion of European settlers, drove the Sioux from this area to the west and south, where the Sioux later figured prominently in the history of the Plains and Rocky Mountain states.

Planning for the proposed four-lane expansion of US Highway 169 has been discontinued for lack of funds and is not expected to be resumed until 2030. National Park Service staff had been active participants in the Federal Highway Administration's Environmental Streamlining Comittee along with other stakeholders, including the Minnesota Departmtent of Natural Resources and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe. Mille Lacs-Kathio State Park maintains the Kathio Landmark Trail, which was established with Federal assistance in 2004, and has completed planning for extending the trail, restoring native forest cover, and installing additional interpretative signage.