Lake Calhoun

Bde Maka Ska ( , previously named Lake Calhoun) is the largest lake in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, and part of the city's Chain of Lakes. Surrounded by city park land and circled by bike and walking trails, it is popular for many outdoor activities. The lake has an area of and a maximum depth of .

Geology

Bde Maka Ska and other lakes in the Chain of Lakes were formed by glacial activity 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. Long before Bde Maka Ska took shape, interglacial rivers created valleys in the Twin Cities region potentially 100 to 250 meters deep, which were gradually filled in by glacial movement. According Myrbo et. al, some of these valleys " overprinted on the deeper ississippiriver paleochannels." The final recession of the Laurentide ice sheet, mainly the Superior lobe, deposited sediment and glacial ice blocks in these valleys, eventually forming kettle lakes like Bde Maka Ska. Bde Maka Ska is the deepest member of the Chain of Lakes and Minneapolis lakes as a whole.

Before human settlement, Bde Maka Ska and the Chain of Lakes were mostly surrounded by bogs and marshes which slowly grew in the depressions left behind by glacial movement. Between 1911 and 1924, however, Bde Maka Ska was dredged and these wetlands were filled in. Since human settlement, water quality on Bde Maka Ska and the Chain of Lakes has declined. The Chain of Lakes watershed was polluted by 19th century agricultural development and 20th century storm sewer drainage systems. This increased phosphorus concentrations in the lake, leading to eutrophication. In 1990, restoration efforts in the Chain of Lakes watershed began due to public pressure over poor water quality. Over the next decade, public awareness campaigns around stormwater runoff, regulations for phosphorus in fertilizer, and targeted sediment management led to improved water quality in the Chain of Lakes. Bde Maka Ska showed the largest improvement in water quality, reaching phosphorus levels only slightly above pre-settlement conditions.

History

Ḣeyate Otuŋwe

Bde Maka Ska and the wetlands surrounding it provided game, fish, and wild rice for Dakota in the years leading up to contact with American settlers. However, no permanent settlement was observed prior to 1828. Between 1829–1839, Bde Maka Ska was the site of the Bdewákhathuŋwaŋ Dakota agricultural village known as Ḣeyate Otuŋwe. This village began as an effort by Indian agent Lawrence Taliaferro to encourage Dakota living in the area to adopt European agricultural practices. A Dakota chief named Cloud Man led the village, which by 1832 produced enough corn to trade with American settlers. The Dakota in Ḣeyate Otuŋwe not only traded corn, they also shared it with neighboring bands. Ḣeyate Otuŋwe even became a popular tourist destination for white travelers starting in 1835, with painter George Catlin painting the village in 1836.

In 1834, missionaries Gideon and Samuel Pond arrived at Fort Snelling with the goal of learning the Dakota language to convert the Dakota to Christianity. There, they met Lawrence Taliaferro, who asked them to live at Ḣeyate Otuŋwe. Taliaferro believed that agricultural life was a necessary precondition for the Dakota to convert, stating:

The Pond brothers soon built a cabin on the east side Bde Maka Ska, with Taliaferro hiring them to oversee the village and work the land, all while "instruct ngthem in the arts & habits of civilised life." Taliaferro would also supply the Ponds with supplies to continue growing crops. In the summer of 1835, however, a competing mission on Lake Harriet led by Reverend Jedediah D. Stevens formed, seeking to build a school that taught Dakota children. Stevens persuaded the Ponds to move away from Ḣeyate Otuŋwe to help with his mission. By the summer of 1837, however, the Ponds left Stevens's mission, with Samuel Pond citing Stevens refusing to let him preach as a layman.

Throughout this time, Ḣeyate Otuŋwe grew in population and was producing higher crop volumes. On August 8, 1835, village leadership requested funds from Taliaferro for winter crop storage, making note of the many children who had come to Ḣeyate Otuŋwe with fathers who were officers at Fort Snelling and abandoned them. In April 1838, Ojibwe chief Hole-in-the-Day of Crow Wing killed several Dakota in revenge for a previous attack; some of the Dakota killed by Hole-in-the-Day were related to Cloud Man. In July of that same year, some members of Cloud Man's band retaliated by killing a member of Hole-in-the-Day's band. Tensions between the Bdewákhathuŋwaŋ Dakota and Ojibwe culminated in a June 1839 meeting at Fort Snelling, where after an apparent peace was reached, a surprise Ojibwe attack was launched near Lake Harriet, killing Cloud Man's son-in-law. These events led to multiple battles between the Ojibwe and Dakota, ultimately putting Ḣeyate Otuŋwe under constant threat of attack. This instability led Stevens to abandon his mission on Lake Harriet, and after August 1839, Taliaferro resigned from his position as Indian agent, leaving Ḣeyate Otuŋwe with little support from Fort Snelling or local missionaries. Military leadership at Fort Snelling also forced Native American settlements such as Ḣeyate Otuŋwe to move elsewhere. Ultimately, Ḣeyate Otuŋwe was abandoned by Cloud Man and its inhabitants in favor of a site known as Oak Grove, on the banks of the Minnesota River in Bloomington. The Oak Grove mission was started by Samuel and Gideon Pond, who joined Cloud Man to continue their efforts of converting the Dakota to Christianity.

Lake and surrounding area

The lake is part of the Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway, connecting with Lake of the Isles on the northeast, Cedar Lake and Brownie Lake on the northwest, and Lake Harriet on the south. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board trail system has a trail around the lake for bicyclists and skaters and a trail around it for pedestrians. Both of these trails connect to the larger trail system via connections to Lake of the Isles and Lake Harriet. In addition, the Midtown Greenway Trail is located just north of the lake and Lake Street. The lake itself is popular for canoeing, kayaking, and windsurfing, and it has three swimming beaches.

The three beaches are North Beach on the north side of the lake, 32nd Beach on the east, and Thomas Beach on the south. There is Bde Maka Ska Park and surrounding park land offers parking, picnicking, volleyball, and athletic fields. It is also home of sailing, hosting the Minneapolis Sailing Center, as well as local high school teams and the University of St. Thomas Sailing Team. A pavilion on the northeast side of the lake, which finished a 15 month reconstruction in October 2023, features outdoor seating, a restaurant, a small performance stage, all-gender restrooms, bicycle parking, and a boat launch.

In 2019, the Bde Maka Ska Public Art Project was completed on the site of Ḣeyate Otuŋwe. A plaque on the east side of the lake commemorates the mission station built by Samuel and Gideon Pond where they created the first alphabet for the Dakota language at Cloudman's Village. On the west side is The Bakken, an old mansion with medicinal gardens and a library and museum devoted to medical electricity and the history of electromagnetism. The Como-Harriet Streetcar Line operates between the lake and Lake Harriet.

Naming

Historic names

The Dakota originally called the lake (standardized Lakota/Dakota spelling ; English approximation: ''Be-DAY Mah-KAH-Ska'') meaning 'Lake White Earth', or 'Lake White Bank', a name that probably was given by the Ioway who inhabited the area until the 16th century. Another Dakota name for the lake may have been , which was the name initially adopted by settlers, either as ''Lake Medoza'' or in translation as ''Loon Lake''. The Dakota also described it as , meaning 'the set back lake'.

Calhoun naming

The United States Secretary of War, John C. Calhoun, sent the Army to survey the area that would surround Fort Snelling in 1817. Calhoun had also authorized the construction of Fort Snelling, one of the earliest American settlements in the state. The surveyors named the water body "Lake Calhoun" in his honor, and the Fort Snelling Military Reservation survey map of Lt. James L. Thompson in 1839 shows that name for the lake.

Calhoun–Bde Maka Ska naming dispute

Calhoun's legacy as a slaveowner and pro-slavery politician led critics to question whether he was the best person to be honored. In 2011 the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board (MPRB) visited the issue. Their legal counsel concluded that the board could not legally change the name, as state law gives that power to the Commissioner of Natural Resources, and then only in the first 40 years after the name was designated. Following the Charleston church shooting in June 2015, a fresh drive to change the name started via an online petition and the Park Board indicated it would look into whether they could change the lake's name through state action. At the time, the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'' published an article quoting Calhoun's views on the black race (see 1840 census controversy):

The number of deaf and dumb, blind, idiots and insane of the Negroes in the States that have changed the ancient relations between the races nd are no longer slavesis one out of every ninety-six; while in the States adhering to it lavery it is one out of every six hundred and sixty-one; being nearly six to one against the free blacks in the same state

as well as his actions in ordering the flogging of one of his own slaves.Furst, Randy
"John C. Calhoun, namesake of a Minneapolis lake, beat his slaves and trumpeted slavery"
, ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', July 11, 2015. In fall 2015 the board added the Dakota name to signage below the official name. In March 2016, an advisory group decided by majority vote to urge the MPRB to restore the lake's former name. There was also a proposal to rename the lake for Senator Paul Wellstone, who is buried in nearby Lakewood Cemetery.

In 2017, the Minneapolis Park Board voted unanimously to recommend changing the lake's name back to Bde Maka Ska and the Hennepin County commissioners agreed. In January 2018, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) made Bde Maka Ska the official name in Minnesota. To change it at the federal level, the state submitted materials to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names, which approved the change in June 2018. Park signs around the lake use only the name Bde Maka Ska.

On April 29, 2019, the Minnesota Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the DNR, holding that a name that had been in use more than 40 years could only be changed by the legislature. The MPRB stated they would continue to keep the signage of Bde Maka Ska at the lake and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said, "I will continue to call Bde Maka Ska by its rightful name. That was the lake's name before people who look like me renamed it to honor a slavery apologist and as far as I'm concerned that is still its name today". The DNR appealed the court decision, and also released a statement confirming that the federal Board on Geographic Names (BGN) had adopted Bde Maka Ska as the lake's official name. Executive secretary of the U.S. Board on Geographic Names Lou Yost said, "State legislation (or court ruling) is not binding on the Federal Government. The name at the Federal level will remain Bde Maka Ska as was approved at the BGN's June 21, 2018 meeting". The Minnesota Court of Appeals decision was appealed to the Minnesota Supreme Court, which heard oral argument November 13, 2019. On May 13, 2020, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources had the authority to rename Lake Calhoun as Bde Maka Ska, ruling that the law restricting renaming only applied to county boards, not to the DNR.

Wildlife

The lake contains black crappie, bluegill, bowfin, common carp, hybrid sunfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, pumpkinseed, tiger muskellunge, walleye, white sucker, and yellow perch. Some fish consumption guideline restrictions have been placed on the lake's bluegill, crappie, largemouth bass, northern pike, walleye, and white sucker due to mercury and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid contamination.

In 1991, the then-Minnesota state record tiger muskellunge at was caught in the lake. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation website lists the lake as one of the best in the city for ice fishing walleye, northern pike, and crappies.

Zebra mussels, an aquatic invasive species, were found in the lake in 2018.

See also

* List of lakes in Minneapolis
* List of shared-use paths in Minneapolis

References

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External links

{{Commons category, Bde Maka Ska

Minnesota DNR Lake Information Report

Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board: Bde Maka Ska Park

Bde Maka Ska
Parks in Minneapolis
Shared-use paths in Minneapolis
Dakota toponyms
Minnesota placenames of Native American origin