Location
Maple River is in Blue Earth County Government surveyors also named the Maple River, which the Dakota called the Tewapa- Tankiyan River (meaning big water-lily root), and the Big Cobb River, which bore a Dakota name, Tewapadan (little lily root). The names used by the Indians, copied thus from Nicollet's map (1843), referred to the roots that they dug for food in the shallow water of these streams and their tributary lakes. On the township plats the Big Cobb and Little Cobb Rivers were spelled without their final letter, though probably named for some member or acquaintance of the surveying party. From: Upham, Warren. Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, First edition 1920. Third Edition 2001. Print.
