2-15 A Prayer for Mother Earth

April 13, 2014

Lakes Mendota & Monona

Madison, WI

In the midst of war fever, on the hunt for an enemy first engaged only hours before, there fell to the soldiers a sight so breath-taking that they momentarily set aside their lust for blood and took it in.  I will share, uninterrupted, the writings of John Wakefield, surgeon’s mate, as he recalled the sight of the lakes for which the Four Lakes region is famously known.

“Here it may not be uninteresting to the reader, to give a small outline of those lakes.  From a description of the country, a person would very naturally suppose that those lakes were as little pleasing to the eye of the traveler, as the country is.  But not so.  I think they are the most beautiful bodies of water I ever saw.

“The first one we came to [Lake Monona], was about ten miles in circumference, and the water was as clear as crystal.  The earth sloped back in a gradual rise; the bottom of the lake appeared to be entirely covered with white pebbles, and no appearance of its being the least swampy.

“The second one that we came to [Lake Mendota] appeared to be much larger.  It must have been twenty miles in circumference.  The ground rose very high all around; - and the heaviest kind of timber grew close to the water’s edge.

“If those lakes were anywhere else, except in the country they are, they would be considered among the wonders of the world.  But the country they are situated in is not fit for any civilized nation of people to inhabit.  It appears that the Almighty intended it for the children of the forest.

“The other two lakes we did not get close enough for me to give a complete description of them; but those who saw them, stated that they were very much like the other.”

* * * * * * *

I am a former long-term resident of the Four Lakes region in Madison, WI.  During my lifetime, I watched as the lakes gradually declined in both health and beauty.  As a child, I swam, sailed on, and played in these lakes, which were clear to great depths, spending my summers turning my skin brown and my hair blonde.  Now when I return to Madison, I cannot imagine swimming or playing in those waters, especially in the late summer, when visitors are greeted not with crystal clear waters and forested hillsides, but with floating masses of mold growing directly on the surface of the lake, with dangerous algal blooms nourished by fertilizers, and with the stench of choked and rotted fish.

Native Americans lived in this area for thousands upon thousands of years, in harmony and balance with nature, leaving Mother Earth exactly as they found her.  In a few hundred years, European settlers have covered this continent with 300 million people, consuming all available resources at a staggering rate.  In less than 200 years, we have turned the Four Lakes of De Jope from one of the natural wonders of the world to a cesspool unfit for use.


Sometimes, I lose hope.

Makataimeshekiakiak - How many tears must Father Sky shed before the memory of mankind’s abuses are washed away? All the rain for a thousand times a thousand years may not be enough.  But Mother Earth will be here forever, long after man has been wiped from the planet, and forever is a very long time.  The earth is patient, and she will shine again in all her glory.  Ah-ho.

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(Key Terms: Ma-Ka-Tai-Me-She-Kia-Kiak, Black Sparrow Hawk, Black Hawk, 1767, Saukenuk, Pyesa, Rock Island, Black Hawk’s Watch Tower, Black Hawk State Historic Site, Hauberg Museum, Sauk, Sac, Meskwaki, Fox, Rock River, Sinnissippi River, Mississippi River, War of 1812, British Band, Great Britain, Treaty of 1804, Treaties, Ceded Land, William Henry Harrison, Quashquame, Keokuk, Fort Armstrong, Samuel Whiteside, Black Hawk War of 1832, Black Hawk Conflict, Scalp, Great Sauk Trail, Black Hawk Trail, Prophetstown, Wabokieshiek, White Cloud, The Winnebago Prophet, Ne-o-po-pe, Dixon’s Ferry, Isaiah Stillman, The Battle of Stillman’s Run, Old Man’s Creek, Sycamore Creek, Abraham Lincoln, Chief Shabbona, Felix St. Vrain, Lake Koshkonong, Fort Koshkonong, Fort Atkinson, Henry Atkinson, Andrew Jackson, Lewis Cass, Winfield Scott, Chief Black Wolf, Henry Dodge, James Henry, White Crow, Rock River Rapids, The Four Lakes, Battle of Wisconsin Heights, Benjamin Franklin Smith, Wisconsin River, Kickapoo River, Soldier’s Grove, Steamboat Warrior, Steamship Warrior, Fort Crawford, Battle of Bad Axe, Bad Axe Massacre, Joseph M. Street, Antoine LeClaire, Native American, Indian, Michigan Territory, Indiana Territory, Louisiana Territory, Osage, Souix, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, Ottawa, Ho-Chunk)