Posts Tagged ‘American Indian Arts Festival’

What”'s in a Name?

By Peter Molenaar 13,000 years ago the great glacier, which had covered these parts for many thousands of years, began to recede.  Giant ice boulders left among the drift created the holes which became our lakes.  One such lake would come to be called Mde Maka Ska. The people migrated northward with the receding ice.  Those who remained in this neighborhood began to alter the landscape with the repeated use of fire.  Forest undergrowth was reduced.  Pockets of prairie and oak savannah were expanded.  Buffalo befriended the curious deer. Time passed”¦ In 1803, the United States purchased “ownership” of this area from France.  In 1805, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike acquired from the Dakota the site which would become Fort Snelling.  In 1817, the then Secretary of War, one John C. Calhoun, sent in an army to survey the surroundings.  Having located Mde Maka Ska, the troops decided to call her “Lake Calhoun”. (more…)