Lac Courte Oreilles

Coordinates: 45°53′N 91°25′W / 45.883°N 91.417°W / 45.883; -91.417
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Lac Courte Oreilles
Odaawaa-zaaga'igan (Ojibwe)
Lac Courte Oreilles is located in Wisconsin
Lac Courte Oreilles
Lac Courte Oreilles
Lac Courte Oreilles is located in the United States
Lac Courte Oreilles
Lac Courte Oreilles
LocationSawyer County, Wisconsin, United States
Coordinates45°53′N 91°25′W / 45.883°N 91.417°W / 45.883; -91.417
Basin countriesUnited States
Max. lengthapprox. 6 mi (9.6 km)
Max. widthapprox. 2 mi (3.2 km) at widest
Surface area5,039 acres (2,039 ha)
Max. depth90 ft (27 m)
Water volume168,800 acre-feet (208,200,000 m3)
Shore length125.4 mi (40.9 km)
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Lac Courte Oreilles (

Grindstone Lake, a short distance away to the north. An outlet on the southeast shore of the lake leads through a very short passage to Little Lac Courte Oreilles, then via the Couderay River to the Chippewa River, and ultimately to the Mississippi River at Lake Pepin
.

Lac Courte Oreilles is located approximately eight and one-half miles southeast of the city of

Grindstone Lake, and Round Lake) located to the south and east of the city. There is a small unincorporated residential community on the north side of the lake commonly referred to as Northwoods (or North Woods) Beach. The eastern part of the lake is located in the Lac Courte Oreilles Indian Reservation
. The shore of the lake is principally occupied by seasonal lake cabins and homes.

The lake has an abundance of

Minneapolis-St. Paul, Milwaukee and Chicago
metropolitan areas.

Origin of name

The name Lac Courte Oreilles is shared by the nearby

Ojibwe language, the lake is called Odaawaa-zaaga'iganiing, meaning 'Ottawa Lake,'[3] after another of the Anishinaabe peoples. It was referred to as such (or as "Ottowaw Lake") in early English-language descriptions of the area.[4][5]

French

Ottawa Anishinaabe peoples living in the area. The French believed they cut off the edges of their ear lobes, so referred to them as the Courtes Oreilles, or 'Short Ears.' An alternative explanation is that some tribes in the region had a practice of distending their earlobes by earrings or other ornaments, and the local people's ears looked short in contrast. But the Indians of the Lac Courte Oreilles area did not practice that custom and had naturally shaped "short" ears.[6]

History

Prior to European exploration, the area of Lac Courte Oreilles was inhabited by the

Ojibwa Indians. The first known visit by Europeans to the area was around 1660. Pierre-Esprit Radisson and Médard des Groseilliers travelled from Chequamegon Bay on Lake Superior southward through the area in 1659 and stayed for a period at an Ojibwe village on a lake that has been identified as Lac Courte Oreilles.[7]

The English explorer

Grindstone Lake, Windigo Lake, the Namekagon Portage, and the Namekagon River) and thence northward to Lake Superior.[8] In describing their visit to the Lac Courte Oreilles Indian village, Carver and another member of the expedition, James Stanley Goddard, said that they were the first white people to have visited the area.[9] They likely did not know about the travels of Radisson and Groseilliers
to the area about 1660, more than one hundred years before, and were not likely to have been reading French sources, if available.

The 19th-century United States Indian agent in this area,

Grindstone Lake.[10] Schoolcraft visited the Indian village on Lac Courte Oreilles and described it as being located at the outlet of the lake.[11]
From Carver's and Schoolcraft's descriptions, the Ottawa village appeared to have been located on either side of the channel between Lac Courte Oreilles and Little Lac Courte Oreilles.

Lac Courte Oreilles and this village were well known to traders and explorers of the time, and the village was one of the larger Indian settlements in the area. Schoolcraft listed its population as 504 persons in his report based on his 1832 exploration to the sources of the Mississippi River. This meant that it was one of the largest Indian settlements in the region.

Grindstone Lake, Windigo Lake, and over the Namekagon Portage to the Namekagon River in the St. Croix River
watershed.

References

  1. ^ Miss Pronouncer: Hear how to pronounce; The Wisconsin pronunciation guide for cities, counties, Indians & lawmakers
  2. ^ Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Website lake map (see external link below)
  3. ^ Ojibwe Dictionary. Freelanguages; Retrieved 2007-04-14
  4. ^ See, for example, John Parker (ed.). Journals of Jonathan Carver. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1976, p. 127.
  5. ^ Philip P. Mason (ed.). Schoolcraft's Expedition to Lake Itasca. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1958, pp. 6, 87, 341.
  6. ^ See Philip P. Mason (ed.). Schoolcraft's Expedition to Lake Itasca. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1958, p 98, footnote 8.
  7. ^ The Explorations of Pierre Esprit Radisson; ed. Arthur T. Adams; Ross & Haines, Inc.; Minneapolis; 1961, p. 128-130. The editor indicates that Lac Courte Oreilles was identified as the location of the Indian village by Father Chrysostome Verwyst in Parkman Club Papers (No. 11), vol. II, pp. 1-24. Adams argues that the visit occurred in 1661 rather than 1659, the year normally ascribed to the visit.
  8. ^ John Parker (ed.). Journals of Jonathan Carver. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1976, pp. 127-129.
  9. ^ John Parker (ed.). Journals of Jonathan Carver. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1976, pp. 128, 129, 190.
  10. ^ Schoolcraft's Expedition to Lake Itasca; ed. Philip P. Mason; Michigan State University Press; East Lansing; 1958, p. 6.
  11. ^ a b Schoolcraft's Expedition (1958), p. 115.
  12. ^ Schoolcraft's Expedition (1958), ed. Mason, p. 160

External links

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