Ojibwe Place Names in the St. Croix valley?

We don't want to write about how cold it is or how it was even colder this morning. We don't want to write about how our windchill was worse than that at the South Pole. We don't want to write about dogs who refuse to wear boots and so freeze their paws in this weather. We don't intend to point out that the Postal Service's motto ["neither rain nor snow nor dark of night"] doesn't include bitter cold. We also don't want to mention a very large utility that asks some (but not all) of its customers to turn down their thermostats in the midst of the bitterly cold spell we're not writing about. We don't want to point out that the heated bird bath has an ice floe floating in the middle of it.

heated birdbath in Minnesota January

Photo by J. Harrington

In the face of all we don't want to write about, we'll return to Native American place names in the St. Croix River Valley. We've reviewed the list (see below) of Ojibwe place names that's on the web site We Look In All Directions and can find none that appear to be specific to the St. Croix valley. If any readers have a differing perspective, please share it in the comments. Just because none seem to be in this listing, doesn't mean there aren't any. We'll continue to check through our other resources. But, for today, the trail seems to have gone cold. (Sorry, couldn't resist!)

Glossary of Ojibwe Place Names Ojibwemowin Place Name English Translation Modern Place Name Asabiikone-zaaga'iganiing net-shining lake Nett Lake (lake & res.) AWASAAKIING beyond the hill Wausaukee BEMIJIGAMAAG where the route crosses obliquely Bemidji BOOJWIIKWEDONG horn (-shaped) bay Green Bay GAKAABIKAANG falls (square-hard) Minneapolis GAKAABIKAANSING little falls Little Falls Gaa-miskwaabikaag red rock Red Cliff (res.) GAA-MISKWAAWAAKOKAAG place of red cedar Cass Lake GAA-NAMEGOSIKAAG place of lake trout Chicaugon Lake GAA-NIIZHOGAMAAG twin lakes Nay-Tah-Waush Gaa-waabaabiganikaag white earth White Earth (res.) Gaa-zagaskwaajimekaag where leeches are Leech Lake (lake & res.) GETE-GITIGAANING old garden/field Lac Vieux Desert GETE-OODENAANG old town Superior GIBAAKWA'IGAANSING little dam Onamia Gichi-onigamiing big portage Grand Portage (res.) GICHI-WIIKWEDONG big bay Ashland Gichi-wiikwedong big bay L'Anse (res.) MADAABIIMONG landing-place Redby Mashkii-ziibiing marshy river Bad River (res.) MAANANOONSING Ironwood (hop hornbeam) Ironwood Misi-zaaga'iganiing lake spread out all over Mille Lacs (lake & res.) Miskwaagamiiwizaaga'iganiing lake of red liquid Red Lake (lake & res.) MOONINGWANEKAANING place of yellow flickers La Pointe Nagaajiwanaang where the river stops Fond du Lac (res.) NEZHINGWAAKOKAANSING little place of pines Ponsford OBAASHIING windy point Ponemah Odaawaa-zaaga'iganiing Ottawa lake Lac Court Oreilles (res.) ODOONAAGANING her bowl Ontonagon OGAAKAANING place of walleye Red Lake (village) Onamanii-zaaga'iganiing lake of red clay for painting Vermilion Lake ONIGAMIINSING little portage Duluth OZAAGIIZIIBIING Sauk river St. Cloud WAABANONG east Waubun Waaswaaganing jack-light Lac du Flambeau (res.) Wenji-maajiijiwang where the river begins from source of the Mississippi ZHEDE-ZHIIBIING pelican river Rhinelander Reservation Names In Ojibwemowin Bois Forte (Nett Lake = Asabiikone-zaaga'iganiing) Fond du Lac = Nagaajiwanaang Grand Portage = Gichi-onigamiing Leech Lake = Gaa-zagaskwaajimekaag Mille Lacs = Misi-zaaga'iganiing Red Lake = Miskwaagamiiwizaga'iganiing White Earth = Gaa-waabaabiganikaag Bad River = Mashkii-ziibing Lac Courte Oreilles = Odaawaa-zaaga'iganiing Lac du Flambeau = Waaswaaganing Red Cliff = Basaabikaang (or Gaa-miskwaabikaag) Mole Lake = Zaka'aaganing St Croix = ************ Bay Mills = Gnoozhekaaning Grand Traverse = ********** Keewenaw Bay = Wiikwedong Lac Vieux Desert = Getegitigaaning Saginaw = *********** Sault Ste Marie = Baawitigong Cold Morning Eamon Grennan Through an accidental crack in the curtain I can see the eight o’clock light change from charcoal to a faint gassy blue, inventing things in the morning that has a thick skin of ice on it as the water tank has, so nothing flows, all is bone, telling its tale of how hard the night had to be for any heart caught out in it, just flesh and blood no match for the mindless chill that’s settled in, a great stone bird, its wings stretched stiff from the tip of Letter Hill to the cobbled bay, its gaze glacial, its hook-and-scrabble claws fast clamped on every window, its petrifying breath a cage in which all the warmth we were is shivering. ******************************************** Thanks for visiting. Come again when you can. Please be kind to each other while you can.