Lake Shetek - History

History

The earliest humans around Lake Shetek were likely following the bison that came there to drink. Archaeologists identify the first permanent inhabitants as members of the Great Oasis culture.

French explorer Joseph Nicollet camped beside the lake for three days in 1838. He noted that the region's Dakota people called the lake Rabechy, meaning "place where pelicans nest." However his journals and maps opted for the Ojibwe language equivalent, which was already in use by voyageurs.

Pioneers established a small settlement along the east shore of Lake Shetek in the late 1850s. However the Dakota War of 1862 broke out and 15 settlers were killed and a dozen taken captive at Slaughter Slough. Euro-American settlement was dampened for a while, but within a decade Archibald and Neil Currie built a flour mill and a general store near the lake's outlet, from which grew the town of Currie.

Two summer resorts opened on Lake Shetek in the early 20th century, Tepeeotah on the east shore and Valhalla Pavilion on Valhalla Island. Two excursion boats carried visitors around the lake. To protect fishing and recreation interests, locals prompted the state Game and Fish Department to stabilize the water level with a dam in the mid-1920s. This initial tourist economy peaked in the Roaring Twenties and subsided with Valhalla Pavilion burning down in 1928 and the onset of the Great Depression.

To combat unemployment during the Depression, the federal government authorized several job creation programs to conduct public work projects. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) arrived in 1934 with an ambitious plan to build a road system across Lake Shetek and a state park on the wooded eastern shore. From their camp on Keeley Island the WPA men built five causeways running from island to island. However the program was disbanded in 1940 with the sixth and final causeway incomplete.

The Tepeeotah Resort closed in the 1960s just as housing subdivisions burgeoned around the shore of Lake Shetek. Although the shoreline was greatly developed, better runoff management practices throughout the watershed improved Shetek's water quality.