Silver Lake is a

glacial lake A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,0 ...

, later a

reclaimed Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ...

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

, located immediately east of De Smet, on the north side of

U.S. Highway 14 U.S. Route 14 or U.S. Highway 14 (US 14), an east–west route, is one of the original United States Numbered Highways of 1926. It is about long. It is roughly parallel to Interstate 90 (I-90). The highway's eastern termin ...

. Big Slough is a

marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...

connected to the southwest end of Silver Lake.

History

Silver Lake and Big Slough were written about extensively by

Laura Ingalls Wilder Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder (February 7, 1867 – February 10, 1957) was an American writer, teacher, and journalist. She is best known as the author of the children's book series ''Little House on the Prairie'', published between 1932 and 1 ...

in her novel ''

By the Shores of Silver Lake ''By the Shores of Silver Lake'' is an autobiographical children's novel written by Laura Ingalls Wilder and published in 1939, the fifth of nine books in her Little House series. It spans just over one year, beginning when she is 12 years ol ...

''.

Caroline Ingalls Caroline Lake Ingalls (); ''née'' Quiner; (December 12, 1839April 20, 1924) was an American schoolteacher who was the mother of Laura Ingalls Wilder, author of the ''Little House on the Prairie, Little House'' books. She is depicted as the char ...

named the lake for the silvery appearance of its surface. The Ingalls home (currently, a

museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...

) and Surveyor's House are very close to it. The lake is a "prairie pothole," a depression in which rain and snow-melt collect without any outlet that regulates its level. A drainage ditch to nearby Lake Henry was built in the 1920s with the support of local land owners to prevent the lake from fluctuating and flooding the surrounding land. The dry lakebed was used as a rubbish dump, although a portion of the lake has since filled again with water. A concrete walking path to the area of the lake was built in 2008 to allow visitors to DeSmet to experience it. As of 2023, an observation tower near Silver Lake is being constructed with the aid of the National Park Service and various local agencies to allow tourists to better observe the landscape described in Wilder's books. As of 2022, planning was underway for the construction of additional hiking trails and boardwalks in Big Slough.

References

External links

''Fws.gov''DeSmet on ''The Google Maps''
Former lakes of the United States Lakes of South Dakota Marshes of South Dakota Lakes of Kingsbury County, South Dakota {{SouthDakota-geo-stub