Ta-ku-wa-kan ti-pi = "Dwelling place of the gods" : the Dakota homeland in the Twin Cities metropolitan area

44 Pages·1982·3.328 MB·English

by  Durand, Paul C.

TA-KU-WA-KAN Tl-Pl
“DWELLING PLACE OF THE GODS”
- DAKOTA HOMELAND
IN THE TWIN CITIES
METROPOLITAN AREA
BY PAUL C. DURAND
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TA-KU-WA-KAN Tl-Pl
“ DWELLING PLACE OF THE GODS”
THE
DAKOTA HOMELAND
IN THE TWIN CITIES
METROPOLITAN AREA
by PAUL C. DURAND
15341 Red Oaks Road
Prior Lake, Minn. 55372
Illustrations by
Rene E. Durand
To the fond memory of Clem Felix, hiking companion and teller
of tales whose ancestors were the Santees and the French Cana­
dian trappers. Clem was born 1892 on the Niobrara, Santee Reser­
vation, Nebraska, and attended Pipestone Indian School. As a boy
his parents returned via horse-drawn wagon to their original
homesite near Prior Lake. Much like the apostolic succession, he
was our connecting link with the distant plains, the far mountains
and the wild West of our imagination. After raising a large family
and farming for many years he became disabled, ironically, by
a horse and so retired. Many happy days were spent with this
eminently friendly, modest man exploring the lower Minnesota'
River Valley and its tributaries until his death at Shakopee in 1973.
Preface
As a boy in Minneapolis, it was a simple matter to hike to the sur­
rounding countryside. Of the string of lakes to the west, Cedar
and Brownie were still in a partial state of wildness; Glenwood,
Twin and Sweeney Lakes were to us the last frontier. Prairies to
the south were not far beyond Minnehaha Creek. The Falls, col­
orful sandstone cliffs, springs, and caves along the way to Fort
Snelling were our raison d’etre. And the fort, with the wide, blue
Minnesota Valley beyond fading into the sunny quiet of an after­
noon, would conjure up images of long ago. But wait! Is this not
an old Indian trail to Good Road’s and Shakopee’s? And that
sound, the throb of a distant drum!
Through the means of these place-names, the land will be made
to give up its silence—to speak out, to tell of a land peopled by
spirits and monsters, alive again with laughing children, tipis, and
dusky warriors on the warpath. These names are a witness to the
sound of the flute, its folklore and spiritual beliefs.
My thanks to many good friends in thejr contributions: the late
Clem Felix of Prior Lake; F^ene Durand, outdoorsman and artist;
Mrs. Lena and Irving Campbell of Prairie Island, both deceased;
Mr. and Mrs. Alex and Lily Ross of Granite Falls, both deceased;
Louie Garcia, historian and alter ego, Devil’s Lake, North Dakota;
to Rev. Ray Kruger of the First Presbyterian Church of Shakopee,
heir apparent to the ministeries of Samuel and Gideon Pond, who
generously made office facilities available; to the enthusiastic aid
of Alan Woo I worth, Research Fellow, of the Minnesota Historical
Society; and lastly to David D. Naas, Jr. and Sr. of Burnsville and
Edina who have so open-händedly made grants available.
Pronunciation Guide
a has the sound of “a” in father
c has the sound of “ch’ in chop
e has the sound of “a” in face
fi has the sound of “ch’ in German ach
i has the sound of “e” in me
o has the sound of “o” in go
s has the sound of “sh’ in shine
u has the sound of “u” in rule
Copyright 1982
VAU 31-546
All Rights Reserved
Library Of Congress
The Study Of Indian Place Names Of The Minnesota Region
Hundreds of distinctive eye catching Dakota and Ojibway Indian place
names are in daily use in Minnesota and neighboring states. Although
they are little understood by many people, these names are a meaningful
portion of the complex American Indian heritage in our pluralistic socie­
ty. And it is only now after more than 300 years of Euro-American ex­
ploration and settlement that these materials are being compiled and
analyzed in a comprehensive manner by a dedicated local scholar.
Our lives can be enriched too by reading the comments of previous place
name students who have revealed some of the endless fascination in
collecting and studying these evocative remnants from the past. Mary
W. Berthel, long time editor at the Minnesota Historical Society, wrote
of them in these imaginative phrases:
“Many of the Indian place names are also descriptive, and they
have the further appeal of euphony, an aura of romance, a sug­
gestion of the wilderness . . . These names delight our ears and
they excite our imaginations with the thrill of the unknown.”
Melvin R. Gilmore, a leading regional ethnobotanist and student of the
Plains Indian tribes, enthusiastically wrote of place names when review­
ing Warren Upham’s Minnesota Geographic Names in 1920 as follows:
“but every name carries its story of wonder, of beauty, of romance,
or of devotion and sacrifice or heroism; or on the other hand, a name
may tell of sordidness, meanness, grasping avarice, or vulgar vacui­
ty of mind in those who first affixed it.”
The recording of Indian place names in the Minnesota area began about
1660 with the coming of the French trader-explorers, Radisson and
Groselliers; continued with the captive Franciscan Father Louis Hennepin
in 1680; and Pierre Charles Le Sueur around 1700. Little new material
was added until some two generations later when the Yankee adventurer
Jonathan Carver made substantial additions. He was followed by Lieute­
nant Zebulon Pike in 1805 and many others in the nineteenth century.
Outstanding among this later grouping were Joseph N. Nicollet, Ste­
phen R. Riggs, Alfred J. Hill and Newton H. Winchell.
Little attention was given to the publication of Indian place names until
they aroused the interest of Newton H. Winchell and other members of
the Minnesota Geological and Natural History Survey toward the close
of the 19th century. Winchell published a “Historical Sketch of Explora­
tions and Surveys in Minnesota” in 1882 which inevitably led him into
regional place names. In 1885 and 1887 he published two valuable studies
of Dakota and Ojibway place names in the 13th an 15th annual reports
of the survey. Most of the readily available data on geographical place
names was compiled and published by Warren Upham under the title,
Minnesota Geographical Names: Their Origin and Historical Significance
by the Minnesota Historical Society in 1920.
Copyright 1982
VAU 31-546
All Rights Reserved
Library Of Congress
The Study Of Indian Place Names Of The Minnesota Region
Hundreds of distinctive eye catching Dakota and Ojibway Indian place
names are in daily use in Minnesota and neighboring states. Although
they are little understood by many people, these names are a meaningful
portion of the complex American Indian heritage in our pluralistic socie­
ty. And it is only now after more than 300 years of Euro-American ex­
ploration and settlement that these materials are being compiled and
analyzed in a comprehensive manner by a dedicated local scholar.
Our lives can be enriched too by reading the comments of previous place
name students who have revealed some of the endless fascination in
collecting and studying these evocative remnants from the past. Mary
W. Berthel, long time editor at the Minnesota Historical Society, wrote
of them in these imaginative phrases:
“Many of the Indian place names are also descriptive, and they
have the further appeal of euphony, an aura of romance, a sug­
gestion of the wilderness . . . These names delight our ears and
they excite our imaginations with the thrill of the unknown.”
Melvin R. Gilmore, a leading regional ethnobotanist and student of the
Plains Indian tribes, enthusiastically wrote of place names when review­
ing Warren Upham’s Minnesota Geographic Names in 1920 as follows:
“but every name carries its story of wonder, of beauty, of romance,
or of devotion and sacrifice or heroism; or on the other hand, a name
may tell of sordidness, meanness, grasping avarice, or vulgar vacui­
ty of mind in those who first affixed it.”
The recording of Indian place names in the Minnesota area began about
1660 with the coming of the French trader-explorers, Radisson and
Groselliers; continued with the captive Franciscan Father Louis Hennepin
in 1680; and Pierre Charles Le Sueur around 1700. Little new material
was added until some two generations later when the Yankee adventurer
Jonathan Carver made substantial additions. He was followed by Lieute­
nant Zebulon Pike in 1805 and many others in the nineteenth century.
Outstanding among this later grouping were Joseph N. Nicollet, Ste­
phen R. Riggs, Alfred J. Hill and Newton H. Winchell.
Little attention was given to the publication of Indian place names until
they aroused the interest of Newton H. Winchell and other members of
the Minnesota Geological and Natural History Survey toward the close
of the 19th century. Winchell published a “Historical Sketch of Explora­
tions and Surveys in Minnesota” in 1882 which inevitably led him into
regional place names. In 1885 and 1887 he published two valuable studies
of Dakota and Ojibway place names in the 13th an 15th annual reports
of the survey. Most of the readily available data on geographical place
names was compiled and published by Warren Upham under the title,
Minnesota Geographical Names: Their Origin and Historical Significance
by the Minnesota Historical Society in 1920.