“Oakwood Lakes State Park Breastworks”
(Note: any text in italics has been taken from the official SDSHS records.)
Marker Text
Probably built by two companies of the 2nd Infantry, under command of Capt. D. Davidson in June-July 1859. Parapets were then about 5ft. high. A log house once stood in the center, but was razed long ago for firewood. Cannon were mounted in the NE and SW corners. Lt. Joseph
H. Porter probably bivouacked here with his detachment of Brackett’s Battalion (Minnesota), which located here in the winter of 1864-65 to keep Indians from drifting back into Minnesota.”
Oakwood Lakes State Park Te-Tonka-Ha
“The Sioux called these lake Te-tonka-ha, (Place of the Great Summer Lodge) probably because they made seasonal visits to live on the fish and game which abounded here. About a mile north of this spot are several large mounds where it is presumed that many of their number are buried.”
Oakwood Lakes State Park Nicollet and Fremont
“The first white men to visit this area where J.N. Nicollet and J.C. Fremont who wrote in their journal on July 8, 1838, “Wood is not so rare here and it is found on every tongue of land which separates the lakes from one another and by which they communicate their waters with one another. The landscape is full of grandeur and beauty, the soil excellent, the trees of pretty growth, and several villages could be established on their shores. But there is no soul expanding it life here.
Location
Brookings County, SD Highway 30, four miles west of Bruce at Oakwood Lakes State Park main entrance (2006)