Department of Natural Resources by State of Minnesota, © 11/2005 •W • • • •I •F • • • VISITOR FAVORITES: m •3 •5 • 6 mikes of paved bike trail m •8 • • •Pi • •2 • • • FEATURES: F PARK STATE L ACILITIES AND hiking trails deck and spotting scope Eastlick Marsh observation Shetek Monument Store Nature Loon Island Koch Cabin Swimming beach Rowboat and canoe rental Boat and canoe launch (1 a winter warming shelter) person capacity Center; 80- Zuya Group camps) (Wilderness Campground) campsites (Prairie 20 rustic walk-in sites 10 rustic Campground) Point 67 electrical (Wolf 78 semi-modern campsites; AKE S nterpretive center nterpretive miles of snowmobile trails camps primitive group ishing ponds cnic area with 2 shelters cnic area ooland, marsh, and prairie iles of ski trails iles of hiking trails HETEK LAKE SHETEK STATE PARK PRAIRIE CAMPGROUND PO1 PO2 PO3 PO4 PO5 PO6 PO7 PO8 PO9 PO10 Lake Shetek PO11 Underlined site numbers PO12 are RESERVABLE PO13 1.4k PO20 PO19 PO18 PO17 PO16 PO15 PO14 Loon Island Webster Marsh 0.4k 0.4k 1.1k WILD2 1.7k Park Fishing Lake Pond WILD1 No.1 Keeley Island Prairie Koch Cabin Fishing Pond Eastlick No.2 Marsh Wolfpoint 3.5 mi. 37 Shetek Monument Forman Acres Boy Scout Camp Smith Lake 37 to CURRIE, 2 miles WINTER TRAILS Cross-Country Walk-in Sites Skiing easy Zuya Group Lake Shetek Center Hudson Acres 0.4 mi. more difficult most difficult Primitive Group Camp Snowmobiling To SLAYTON, 20 miles Amphitheater Observation Deck FACILITIES & Spotting Scope Parking Interpretive 0.4 mi. Center Information/Park Dam Office Trailer Dump Picnic Area Station Des Moines River Because lands exist within the boundaries of this park Beach Private Property that are not under the jurisdiction of the D.N.R., check Public Use Prohibited with the park manager if you plan to use facilities such (except on designated as trails and roads other than those shown. Boat Ramp trails) Monument LOOKING FOR MORE INFORMATION ? Wildlife Management Area Currie Dam The DNR has mapped the state showing federal, Campground state and county lands with their recreational NORTH facilities. Public Recreation Information Maps (PRIM) are 0.1.2.3.4.5 available for purchase from the DNR gift shop, DNR Miles regional offices, Minnesota state parks and major sporting and map stores. 0.1.2.3.4.5 Kilometers Check it out - you'll be glad you did. Visitors enjoy fishing for walleye, northern, perch, HISTORY: The natural beauties of the Lake Shetek area bullhead, crappie, and other species. which attract present day visitors are not confined only Underlined site numbers Koch Restrooms Cabin TRAILS The 1,109-acre park consists of numerous old fields to the 20th century. Long before white settlement ap- are RESERVABLE /Showers which are remnants of pioneer farms and woodlots, of peared in the area, American Indians were settled in the Hiking oak, hackberry, basswood, elm, and ash. These woodlots Lake Shetek area. Undoubtedly the first visitors were Parking became buffers against the winds of the great plains. wandering hunters in pursuit of bison. Because of its FA CILITIES supply of water, bison and those who preyed upon them Interpretive WILDLIFE: Center Before modern agriculture was introduced, were attracted to the Shetek area. Telephone Duluth most of the Lake Shetek area was a treeless prairie that Fish Cleaning • Strictly speaking, the first to settle the area were the contained hundreds of species of wildflowers and Park Office grasses. The prairie was habitat for such animals as peoples of the Great Oasis culture on the northeastern 74e Camping Cabin bison, elk, antelope, wolves, and prairie chickens. Over slope of the Coteau. In the mid 1840s, European and American explorers such as Catlin, Nicollet, Prescot 76e 73e Walk-in Sites the past century, 99 percent of Minnesota’s native prairie 75e 64e Group Camp has been removed and transformed into cropland. and Freemont explored the area associated with Lake 65e Minneapolis/ Shetek and what would later be called Murray County. 77e Amphitheater 67e 63e Group Center St. Paul • The habitats now in the park still support many wildlife 53e species. A quiet hike on one of the park trails can yield The first settlement by whites occurred in 1856. From 78e 69e 66e Boat Ramp the period 1856-1862 a settlement was established. 55e Monument LAKE SHETEK a glimpse of a doe and her fawn, the bubbly sounds 70e of bobolinks in the prairie, or the graceful flight of a Although its population varied, it probably numbered 68e 54e Picnic Area STATE PARK no more than 40 persons at any given time. This settle- e Electrical Sites white pelican overhead. Thirteen-lined ground squirrels 71e 59e 56e 42e and raccoon have adapted all too well to the park’s ment was established from Lake Fremont to Beauty Beach Lake along the eastern belt of land adjacent to Lake 72e 61e 57e 45e Water recreational areas, and are frequent visitors of campers 58e 47e Shetek. The availability of large trees and wood made Dump Station and picnickers. 60e 43e it attractive for settlers and pioneers. The western 48e 31e Toilets LAKE SHETEK 62e 44e The wooded shorelines of Lake Shetek provide cover shores of Shetek were largely prairie and thus offered 51e for a variety of woodland species. Notable animals no appeal to the first settlers. 46e 33e STATE PARK include white-tail deer, fox, mink, beaver, fox squirrels, 49e 35e 32e muskrat, woodchuck, and coyote. The woods also Most of those who came in the 1856-62 period were 50e 18e taking advantage of then Governor Ramsey’s lenient 37e 34e provide cover for many birds including cuckoos, 52e FOR MORE INFORMATION land regulations which permitted them to claim land 38e 20e bunting, warblers, and hawks. 40e 19e 01e Lake Shetek State Park after seven years’ occupation if they cleared sufficient 36e 02 Several wetland areas in the park offer visitors an land area for a farm. 39e 21e 163 State Park Road 24e 04e opportunity to view waterfowl, reptiles and amphibi- 41e The promise of the first white settlement of Shetek 25e 22e Currie, MN 56123-1018 ans. At Eastlick Marsh, interpretive signs and an ob- 27e 03 servation deck with a spotting scope allow for close- came to an end during the Dakota Conflict of 1862. On 29e 06e (507) 763-3256 August 20, 1862 three war bands of Dakota braves 23e C01 W02 up viewing and easy identification of coot, grebes, 07e ♦ 26e 05 16 ducks, herons, and pelicans. Many species of waterfowl descended on the Shetek settlement. Fifteen settlers 28e W04 were killed in the attack and the rest scattered. After 09e can be seen nesting in and around the park in spring 30e W06 Department of Natural Resources the conclusion of the Dakota Conflict on September 26, 11e 15 W01 W08 and early summer. 08 14 W03 W09 Information Center 1862, Shetek lay abandoned for all practical purposes. W05 A large portion of the park consists of abandoned farm It was not until the 1900s that further settlements were 10 13 W07 500 Lafayette Road NORTH fields. In an effort to restore the natural prairie com- envisioned for the area. Families from Ireland were 12 St. Paul, MN 55155-4040 munity, carefully managed prescribed burns, weed tempted to settle at Avoca and nearby towns through control, and other techniques are used in these areas. generous grants and loans: however, the difficulty of Lake W10 (651) 296-6157 (Metro Area) Although it will take decades to even partially restore farming soon doomed many of these efforts at further Shetek the prairie, many species of prairie grasses and wild- settlement. Added to these distresses were severe Min- 1-888-646-6367 (MN Toll Free) flowers can now be found in the park, Blazing star, nesota winters, blackbird and locust infestations. black-eyed susans, coneflowers, vervain, sunflowers, LAKE SHETEK STATE PARK TDD (Telecommunications and bottle gentian are a few of the showy wildflowers Shetek never had any chance of developing a subsis- WOLF POINT CAMPGROUND Device for Deaf) again growing in the park. tence farming economy and thus, with the lack of economic integrity, it never became a community as (651) 296-5484 (Metro Area) GEOLOGY: Lake Shetek lies in the Coteau des Prairie thriving as Sioux Falls or Sioux City. However, the SO EVERYONE CAN ENJOY THE PARK . 1-800-657-3929 (MN Toll Free) “highlands of the prairie” region of Minnesota, a beauty of Lake Shetek still remains. As it was beautiful •Park permits are required on every motorized vehicle This information is available in geological area which separates the Minnesota River in the eyes of the Native American and the white settler, entering the park. alternative format upon request. DNR Web Site: www.dnr.state.mn.us from the Missouri River watershed. This Coteau region so it remains beautiful in our eyes too. • Pet waste deposited in mowed or maintained areas was often inundated by glaciers that moved across INTERPRETIVE PROGRAM: Lake Shetek’s interpretive must be immediately cleaned up by the owner and Minnesota two million to 11,000 years ago. During deposited in an appropriate waste container. the last period of glaciation (Wisconsin), the Des programs offer many activities relating to the natural “Equal opportunity to participate in and benefit from Moines lobe covered this area with deep deposits of and cultural features of the area. The naturalist leads • Edible berries, fungi and legally taken wild animals programs of the Minnesota Department of Natural LAKE SHETEK STATE PARK is located 14 miles north- glacial till (rock debris). hikes to view wildlife and wildflowers, offers demon- are the only things not protected by law in state parks.