Town file
White Earth, Minnesota
White Earth, Minnesota (Becker County, Minnesota) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 123, "Bees, Syrup & Leeches" (13 June 2019). White Earth is a small town in Becker County in north-western Minnesota, about three hours and 45 minutes from Minneapolis and an hour and ten minutes from Fargo, North Dakota.
- Town
- White Earth
- County
- Becker County
- State
- Minnesota
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 123
- Approximate location
- 47.101, -95.857
Episode 123 / 13 June 2019 / 157 min / full
Bees, Syrup & Leeches
"We're going all the way up to White Earth, Minnesota; this is in Becker County, Minnesota here." about 0:06:09
The case: Murder of Chad Swedeberg (April 13, 2007). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2019
- Population
- 548
- Median age
- 28.6
- Median household income
- $20,547
- Median home value
- $90,900
- Cost of living
- 77
- Religious
- 68%
- Property crime
- ▼ about 10% below average
- Violent crime
- ▼ about half the average
History, in brief
- The White Earth Reservation was created in 1867 by a treaty between the United States and the Mississippi Band of the Chippewa Indians, and is one of seven Chippewa reservations in Minnesota. about 0:10:56
- The reservation is spread across three counties in north central Minnesota. about 0:10:52
- Becker County was named for General George Loomis Becker of St. Paul in 1857; he was one of the three men elected as members of Congress from Minnesota. about 0:12:00
- For the ten years after Becker County was established there were no white people there, only Chippewa Indians; the Sioux also had part of the area near a lake. about 0:13:05
- Colonel George Johnston was the founder of Detroit Lakes, the nearest sizeable town. about 0:13:28
- Detroit Lakes was incorporated as Detroit in 1881; Detroit is French for strait. about 0:14:11
- By the 1880s Detroit had a hotel, an opera house, a newspaper and an ice company that bottled and sold spring water, the first industry there. about 0:14:38
- It was renamed Detroit Lakes in 1926 to stop mail being confused with Detroit, Michigan. about 0:14:53
- In 1941 the state fire marshal called the courthouse a very serious fire hazard and a menace to public safety, and it was sold to a wrecking company for $531. about 0:15:52
- The tribe is legally contesting title to a large amount of government-owned land within the reservation boundaries. about 0:16:41
- Joe Guyon, Joseph Big Chief Guyon, a Native American athlete from the area, played for the Canton Bulldogs, Washington Senators, New York Giants in 1927, Kansas City Cowboys and Cleveland Indians, and is in the Pro Football and College Football Halls of Fame; he died in 1971. about 0:16:55
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- unknown, Minnesota15 miles
- Moorhead, Minnesota45 miles
- Gardner, North Dakota52 miles
- Valley City, North Dakota102 miles
- Cooperstown, North Dakota109 miles
- St. Cloud, Minnesota135 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.