By STACI LOLA DROUILLARD
If you asked someone in Northern Minnesota for directions to Asin-badakide-ziibi, you might get a blank stare, or perhaps more questions than answers. But Asin-badakide-ziibi is not only a real place; it’s also one familiar to visitors and residents on the North Shore of Lake Superior.
In the Ojibwe-Anishinaabe language, Asin-badakide-ziibi means “Standing Rock River,” which echoes the tall, perpendicular rocks where the river meets Lake Superior. Located in Lake County, this river runs through Tettegouche State Park in Beaver Bay.
Kurt Mead is a naturalist at Tettegouche and came across the river’s Ojibwe name several years ago, when a geologist friend living in Texas thrifted a two-volume set of old books by Dr. Joseph Norwood called Geological Map of parts of Minnesota and Wisconsin, designed to show Portions of the Rock Formations now concealed. The set included a detailed bird’s-eye view of Lake Superior’s North Shore, complete with technical geological drawings. The cartographer also documented many Ojibwe place names along the North Shore collected from the people living there in 1848. That was the year that David Dale Owen and his crew were exploring the North Shore in search of lead ore and coal.
Recognizing the map as an extraordinary piece of history, Kurt reached out to Miskwaa anang — Erik Redix — the language and environmental education coordinator for the Grand Portage Band of Ojibwe. Erik recruited a team of language teachers and historians to work through the extensive list of place names on the map, from the Pigeon River (Omiimii-ziibi) in the north to the Nemadji River (Namanjii zibi, or “Left-Hand River”) in the southeast — a river that outlets into Lake Superior at Superior, Wisconsin. Incidentally, the Ojibwe name for Superior is Gete Oodenaang, which literally means “old town.” Indeed, Superior was once the location of a birchbark canoe–building operation and has served as a hub of activity for a very long time.
The information on the 1848 map has now been translated and converted into an online language tool that includes Ojibwe names and corresponding audio pronunciations for 22 different river names. You will find some literal translations on the map in which the name reflects a prominent feature of the place. A good example is Zhigaagomizhiikaani-ziibi, or Abundant Wild Onions/ Leeks River. The old name “Onion River” has carried over to the present day. And yes, wild onions still grow there. Another literal translation from the Lutsen area is Gaa-maanazaadikaa-ziibi, or Place of Abundant Balsam Poplar River, which is still known today as the Poplar River.
The shape-shifting of names in Ojibwe country can help us experience the beauty of the North Shore in deeper ways, while helping illuminate the sometimes complicated history of the places we live and explore.
The Ojibwe language is a beautifully descriptive form of communication, and in every case, these names on the map give us fascinating clues about what it was like, back when the Owen expedition team was navigating through the region in birchbark canoes (perhaps built in Gete Oodenaang), and speaking with Ojibwe-Anishinaabe people directly at the source. As the language team discovered, some of the Ojibwe river names are linguistically miles away from English. Such as Oginekan zibi, flowing about 10 miles west of Grand Marais. The Ojibwe name means “the place of abundant Rose Hips River.” The road sign in English calls it “Fall River.” And yes, wild roses do continue to grow in abundance along the banks of this beautiful stream.
Another very descriptive name for a popular North Shore river is Spirits Going Along on the Ice River — Manidoo-bimaadagaakowinii-ziibi. This is a popular trout stream that outlets into Lake Superior between Gichi-onigamiing (Grand Portage) and Gichi-biitoobiig (Grand Marais). The river tumbles downstream through steep canyons before emptying into the deep water of Gichi-gami — Lake Superior. My family and many other North Shore families fish for salmon or steelhead trout at the mouth of Manidoo-bimaadagaakowinii-ziibi. And in winter when the ice and snow form a solid crust, the river gorge can be explored on cross-country skis or snowshoes.
I grew up believing that the English version of the name — Devil’s Track River — was derived from a story about an early settler with a peg leg who went for a walk on a frozen lake in the winter. The Ojibwe people in the area, upon seeing these strange tracks in the snow, named the lake and the associated river “Devil’s Track.” This is the origin story that you might find in some local history books and shared by old-timers. But the origin of the name precedes the first European settlers, because it is clearly named on the 1848 David Dale Owen map, which was recorded six years before the Treaty of 1854 allowed for white settlement on the North Shore.
The shape-shifting of names in Ojibwe country can help us experience the beauty of the North Shore in deeper ways, while helping illuminate the sometimes complicated history of the places we live and explore. Historically when place names in English include a “witch” or “devil,” it is likely that the name was converted from the original (Spirits Going Along on the Ice River) to one that has a negative association. Sometimes this renaming of a place was done on purpose, to strip Anishinaabe people of our spiritually important places, and diminish the Ojibwe-Anishinaabe cultural imprint on an area.
For this reason, the work done by Erik Redix, Kurt Mead and others has the effect of being welcomed into a cultural worldview that is as old as it is beautiful. Part of the effort to bring the original names home was the installation of new signs along Highway 61 and elsewhere, bringing together the English and Ojibwe place names for the first time. And with each name, there is the added benefit of story and history telling — an invaluable part of the natural and human history of the North Shore.
Learn Ojibwe
RIVERS ALONG THE NORTH SHORE, FROM NORTH TO SOUTH
Gaa-ministigweyaa-ziibi (Place That Flows to Islands River), Kaministiquia River
Omiimii-ziibi (Pigeon River), Pigeon River
Mashkiigwagamaa-ziibi (Cranberry Marsh Lake River), Reservation River
Gaa-bibigwewanashkokaag-ziibi (Place of Abundant Flute Reed River), Flute Reed River
Wiisaakode-ziibi (Burnt Wood River), Brule River
Manidoo-bimaadagaakowinii-ziibi (Spirits Going Along on the Ice River), Devil Track River
Oginiikaan-ziibi (Abundant Rose Hips River), Fall River
Gaa-giishkingwe–ziiibi (Place of Cut Face River), Cascade River
Gaa-maanazaadikaa-ziibi (Place of Abundant Balsam Poplar River), Poplar River
Zhigaagomizhiikaani-ziibi (Abundant Wild Onions/Leeks River), Onion River
Gaa-wiimbashk-ziibi (Place of Hollow Reeds River), Temperance River
Ina’oonaani-ziibi (Bestowing River), Cross River
Niizhwagwindeg-ziibi (Two Islands Floating River), Two Island River
Adiko-ziibi (Caribou River), Caribou River
Gaa-gichiwaaniniwangaag-ziibi (Place of a Great Round Sandy Shore River), Little Manitou River
Manidoowiishiwi-ziibi (Spirit Lair River), Manitou River
Waaginokaming-ziibi (Domed Earth River), Little Marais River
Asin-badakide-ziibi (Standing Rock River), Baptism River
Gaa-giizhikensikaag-ziibi (Place of Abundant Little Cedars River), Beaver River
LAKE SUPERIOR
Gichi-gami (Lake Superior)
Animikii-wiikwed (Thunder Bay)
Minong (Isle Royale)
TOWNS
Gaa-bibigwewanashkokaag (Hovland)
Nishkwaakwaansing (Chippewa City)
Gichi-biitoobiig (Grand Marais)
Gaa-nishike-pikwadinaag (Tofte)
Gaa-giizhikensikaag (Beaver Bay)
Onigamiinsing (Duluth)
Gichi-oodenaang (Superior)
Animikii Wajiw (Fort William First Nation)
Gichi-onigamiing (Grand Portage)
Zhaaganaashiiwaki (Canada)
Gichi-mookomaan-aki (United States)