 From 1815 to 1821 employees of the Hudson 's Bay Company and the North West Company engaged in various territorial conflicts known as the " fur trade wars , " including the famous Battle of Seven Oaks at what is now Winnipeg , Manitoba . As a result of these conflicts numerous Métis migrated from the Red River area to central and eastern Minnesota , particularly in the vicinity of Saint Paul . This " Red River Exodus " became a major source of francophone immigration into Minnesota during the territorial era . The Métis and other mixed @-@ race groups were often regarded as French Canadian " whites " rather than " Indians " . 
