 The city of Saint Paul , Minnesota owes its existence to Fort Snelling . A group of squatters , mostly from the ill @-@ fated Red River Colony in what is now the Canadian province of Manitoba , established a camp near the fort . The commandant of Fort Snelling , Major Joseph Plympton , found their presence problematic because they were using timber and allowing their cattle and horses to graze around the fort . Plympton banned lumbering and the construction of any new buildings on the military reservation land . As a result , the squatters moved four miles downstream on the Mississippi River . They settled at a site known as Fountain Cave . This site was not quite far enough for the officers at the fort , so the squatters were forced out again . Pierre " Pig 's Eye " Parrant , a popular <unk> among the group , moved downriver and established a saloon , becoming the first European resident in the area that later became Saint Paul . The squatters named their settlement " Pig 's Eye " after Parrant . The name was later changed to Lambert 's Landing and then finally Saint Paul . However , the earliest name for the area comes from a Native American colony Im @-@ in @-@ i @-@ ja Ska , meaning " White Rock " and referring to the limestone bluffs nearby . 
