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Wrecks Discovered in Medicine Lake

Wrecks Discovered in Medicine Lake

Underwater archaeology is having a heyday thanks to improved sonar equipment. This new equipment can record images with increased detail and clarity which eliminates the need to for archaeological teams like those at Maritime Heritage Minnesota to dive on “anomalies” that turn out to be false targets like rocks or trees. In 2016, Maritime Heritage Minnesota completed a survey of 7 suburban lakes using sonar technology. They identified 3 potential wrecks at the bottom of Medicine Lake. This past summer,…

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Three Things You May Not Know About Plymouth

Three Things You May Not Know About Plymouth

Local public news station CCX TV aired the following story on June 28, 2012. Titled “Three Things You May Not Know About Plymouth,” the segment features Gary Schiebe (Plymouth Historical Society) and Mayor Kelli Slavik (City of Plymouth) discussing little known facts about the area.   Archival footage courtesy of CCX TV and YouTube. For more information about Gary Schiebe, please see our Summer 2018 newsletter.

Naming Medicine Lake, Part II

Naming Medicine Lake, Part II

In Naming Medicine Lake, Part I, we explored the origin of Medicine Lake’s name. According to legend, the Dakota named the lake Mde Wakan or Lake of the Spirit. In Dr. Franklin Curtis-Wedge’s The Story of Mission Farms, Medicine Lake Camps, Conferences, and Conventions (Minnesota Historical Records Survey, c. 1942), the author notes: To a Sioux, anything that is spiritual, mysterious, or supernatural is ‘medicine,’ and this was the word they imparted to the Whites as the equivalent for their ancient name….

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Naming Medicine Lake, Part I

Naming Medicine Lake, Part I

According to the chapter on “Plymouth” in Edward D. Neill and J. Fletcher Williams’ History of Hennepin County and the City of Minneapolis (Minneapolis: North Star Publishing, 1881): The lake derives its name from an Indian legend, which says that an Indian in his canoe was capsized by a sudden storm, and the Indians not being able to find his body, gave it the name of Medicine Lake. This story was expanded in Neil O. Nielsen’s “A Brief Look at the Early History of Plymouth,” which explains: Medicine…

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