Did you know the cottonwood is sacred to the Lakota people? If you’re anything like me, that’s a bit of a surprise. Cottonwoods are famed as softwood, messy, weedy trees. They drop sap and fluff on everything. They grow very tall very fast, and then drop branches during storms, requiring constant maintenance in an urban setting.
I pondered this as I wandered with my family through Black Hawk State park, visiting “cottonwood point” and driving through a hall of hundred foot high cottonwoods. It struck me that these trees may be messy, but they are also majestic. Their leaves shine in the sun and turn on their stems, glittering in the slightest breeze. Their fast growth allows for quick shade and a quick windbreak - important on the exposed prairie. Their windfall branches are always available for a fire. Softwoods dry quickly and burn easily. I realized that there was more to this tree than what my mind, trained for neatness and order, originally thought.
I thought about this as we explored Black Hawk State Park, and I wondered what the area may have looked like when Black Hawk was chief of the Sauk tribe, and what their life was life as they were pushed west to this area, and eventually further. The lake is the southernmost glacial lake in Iowa. That means it was created as a large piece of ice fell from the Des Moines Lobe, the name of the glacier that pushed south over a third of Iowa, leaving it full of poorly drained depressions and large amounts of fertile soil. This was the land that Black Hawk and his people earned a living from, and still supports the current people of Iowa.
When I visited Black Hawk State Park, the lake was murky, full of farming sediment, runoff, and nitrates. The swimming areas were closed. I couldn’t imagine eating any fish that came out of this shallow lake, but I saw many fishing. The park used to house a hatchery which is now abandoned, an interesting experiment in the wild taking over again after the land being developed. There were many trails to explore. The atmosphere was quiet and peaceful.
I could imagine camping here, cooking over a fire, and enjoying a placid lake view. A retreat to live for a weekend in a way that people in past centuries always lived: overshadowed by huge cottonwoods that provided shade, shelter, fuel, and beauty, surrounded by birdsong.
