Location
Swan Lake is in Nicollet County Nicollet Creek, flowing south through Nicollet Township to the Minnesota, is the outlet of the large Swan Lake, which Nicollet mapped as Marrah Tanka (for maga, goose, tanka, great), the Dakota name of the swan. William H. Keating, in the Narrative of Long's expedition in 1823, wrote of this lake, "The Indian name is Manha tanka otamenda, which signifies the lake of the many large birds." Two species, the trumpeter swan and the whistling swan, were formerly found in Minnesota. The first nests here, but the second, which yet is rarely seen in this state, has its breeding grounds far north of our region. From: Upham, Warren. Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, First edition 1920. Third Edition 2001. Print.
