Bde Maka Ska
Bde Maka Ska 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 river 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 that slowly grew in the depressions left behind by glacial movement. Between 1911 and 1924, Bde Maka Ska was dredged and these wetlands were filled in. Since human settlement, the water quality of 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 about stormwater runoff, regulations for phosphorus in fertilizer, and targeted sediment management improved the Chain of Lakes' water quality. Bde Maka Ska showed the largest improvement, 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 before contact with European settlers. No permanent settlement was observed before 1828. Between 1829 and 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. The Dakota chief Cloud Man led the village, which by 1832 produced enough corn to trade with the settlers. The Dakota in Ḣeyate Otuŋwe not only traded corn but also shared it with neighboring bands. Ḣeyate Otuŋwe even became a popular tourist destination for white travelers starting in 1835. George Catlin painted 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, writing:
The Pond brothers soon built a cabin on the east side of Bde Maka Ska. Taliaferro hired them to oversee the village, work the land, and "instruct them in the arts & habits of civilised life." Taliaferro also gave the Ponds supplies to continue growing crops. In the summer of 1835, a competing mission on Lake Harriet formed, led by Reverend Jedediah D. Stevens and seeking to build a school that taught Dakota children. Stevens persuaded the Ponds to move away from Ḣeyate Otuŋwe to help with his mission, but by the summer of 1837, the Ponds left Stevens's mission, with Samuel Pond citing Stevens's refusal 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 he killed were related to Cloud Man. This was part of an ongoing escalation in the region of the Dakota-Ojibwe War. In July of that 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. This led to many battles between the Ojibwe and Dakota, 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. Fort Snelling's military leadership 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 trying to convert the Dakota to Christianity.
Residential development and recreation
By the late 1850s and 1860s, Minneapolis was increasing in population, with large swaths of land available for sale. The largest surges in development around Bde Maka Ska began when the Minneapolis, Lyndale, and Minnetonka Railway Company started operating in 1879. Bde Maka Ska was seen as an attractive tourist destination, and many people invested in resorts and property along the lake. The largest of the resorts was The Lyndale, which opened in 1883 but was destroyed by fire in 1885. Even before its destruction, The Lyndale had struggled to compete with resorts on Lake Minnetonka, and it was not rebuilt. Over time, the railway lost money and was sold to the Minneapolis Street Railway in 1887.Despite plans for a resort community on Bde Maka Ska failing to materialize, residential neighborhoods began to arise around the lake. By 1883, a neighborhood known as Cottage City was built to provide small houses for middle-class residents looking to get away from the city. Like much of the early urban development in Minneapolis, a stop on the streetcar line attracted residents. Over time, many of these homes were replaced by larger residences, now part of the Linden Hills neighborhood. East Bde Maka Ska follows parts of the aforementioned Minneapolis, Lyndale, and Minnetonka Railway, with luxurious homes being erected around the time of the railway's existence.
During the time Bde Maka Ska was becoming a residential tourist attraction, many saw the lakeshore, which largely existed as a swamp, as undesirable. This public sentiment led the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board to dredge the Chain of Lakes, including Bde Maka Ska. This dredging formed much of the landscape around Bde Maka Ska today. In 1906, the MPRB began connecting Cedar Lake, Lake of the Isles, and Bde Maka Ska with channels. When the project was completed in 1911, over 100,000 people celebrated its opening. After the channels opened, the MPRB began renting rowboats to residents and running cruises between the connected lakes.
Even before the lake was dredged, the lake was commonly used for sports and recreation. By the late 1870s, boating clubs regularly hosted regattas on it. Sailing, a common activity on Bde Maka Ska today, was formally organized as early as 1901 by what was then called the Calhoun Yacht Club.
Lake and surrounding area
Bde Maka Ska 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 trails connect to the larger trail system via connections to Lake of the Isles and Lake Harriet. In addition, the Midtown Greenway Trail is just north of the lake and Lake Street. The lake itself is popular for canoeing, kayaking, and windsurfing, and 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. Bde Maka Ska Park and the surrounding parkland offer parking, picnicking, volleyball, and athletic fields. It also hosts the Minneapolis Sailing Center, local high school teams, and the University of St. Thomas sailing team. A pavilion on the lake's northeast side has outdoor seating, a restaurant, a small performance stage, all-gender restrooms, bicycle parking, and a boat launch.
File:Lake Calhoun, by Upton, B. F., 1818 or 1824-after 1901.jpg|thumb|Stereoscopic image of the lake by Benjamin Franklin Upton
In 2019, the Bde Maka Ska Public Art Project was completed on the site of Ḣeyate Otuŋwe. A plaque on the lake's east side 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.