Historic Area

The region between Lake Poinsett and Oakwood Lakes was a summer hunting area for the Sioux for over one hundred years. The Sioux who frequented the area used various names for the different features in this area. • • • Oakwood Lakes was “Tetonkaha,” the place of the great summer lodge or tipi. The Big Sioux River was called “Tchankasandra,” the thickly wooded river.

Lake Poinsett was called “Unkceota,” the lake of the prickly pear, for the type of cactus found along the shore that made walking barefoot or in moccasins difficult. The April 19, 1858 treaty with the U.S. Government was signed by sixteen Yankton delegates led by Chief Struck-by-the-Ree. It ceded all land between the Big Sioux and Missouri Rivers for the promise of $1.

6 million in annuities. Some disagreed with the treaty. Chief Smutty Bear (Mato Sabi Ceya) led opposition to the treaty though he signed it. Erected in 2008, by the Lee and Karen Larsen Family Foundation in memory of Ann O’Byrne who lived for 43 years at Lake Poinsett and operated Arlington Beach and Ann’s Cabins.