Pike's Island is an island located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers, just below the cliffs that hold Fort Snelling. The area is now a part of Fort Snelling State Park. It is very close to the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport. In fact, the planes land and take off right over it. But not many people know that the land, that later became part of both cities, was actually purchased by Zebulon Pike from the Dakota Indian leaders, while on his famous trip to explore the Louisianna Purchase territory, just after the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Starting at St. Loius, he traveled up the Mississippi River as far as St. Anthony Falls, then camped on this island. This was as far north up the river he traveled. After this, the team went back down the river and up the Missouri River. Pikes Peak in Colorado is named after him.

This poem is written in abcb rhymed quatrains with an 8-6 meter. This format is typically called the ballad format.

These photographs were taken by the author himself on May 1, 2016.

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