Location
Zumbrota is in Goodhue County ZUMBROTA, settled in 1854, organized in 1858, received the name of its village, platted in September 1854, on the Zumbro River, which flows across the southern part of this township. The Dakota named this river Wazi Oju, meaning Pines Planted, having reference to the grove of great white pines at Pine Island, before noticed; and it bears this name on Nicollet's map, 1843, and the map of Minnesota Territory in 1850. It was called Riviere d'Embarras and River of Embarrassments by Pike, 1805-6, adopting the name given it by the early French traders and voyageurs; Embarrass River by Maj. Long, 1817; and Embarras, the more correct French spelling, by Albert M. Lea's map, 1836. From the reminiscences written by Lea in 1890 of his explorations, we learn that the French name referred to obstruction of the river near its mouth by a natural raft of driftwood. Pronounced quickly and incompletely, with the French form and accent, as heard and written down by the English-speaking immigrants, this name, RiviFre des Embarras, was unrecognizably transformed into Zumbro, which is used on the map of Minnesota in 1860. The village and township name adds a syllable, the Dakota suffix ta, meaning "at, to, or on," that is, the town on the Zumbro, being thus a compound from the French and Dakota languages. From: Upham, Warren. Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, First edition 1920. Third Edition 2001. Print.
