Three Fires upgraded cabin) An upgraded WPA-era cabin at Lake of Three Fires State Park in Taylor County. The 1,155-acre state park is located four miles northeast of Bedford. Photo by Carson Ode
Jan/Feb 2025 (Volume 17, Issue 1)
By Carson Ode
The Lake of Three Fires is an appealing name for a state park. And, there is a history behind the name but it is a bit confusing. The park’s brochure makes this statement:
The Potawatomi tribe, a large group of Native Americans known as the “Fire Nation,” once roamed the prairies of southern Iowa. According to legend, two other tribes joined the Potawatomi to form a loose confederacy known as “Three Fires.” It is believed the three tribes held a great council meeting to join forces for protection against invading tribes. Runners were sent to wandering Native American nations to tell of the great rendezvous. Smoke from three fires signaled the exact location. The fires were built atop the highest hills so that smoke could be seen from any direction. One such point overlooked the valley now covered by the water of Lake of Three Fires. Three fires were kept burning as long as the three tribes joined together. If any of the fires went out, it meant the tribes had left the area to continue on their own.
Searches on the internet reveal a story of the Three Fires Council consisting of the Ojibwe, Odawa and Potawatomi tribes. According to these accounts, the Three Fires Council tribes lived in northern Minnesota and Michigan. These sources state the Ojibwe and Odawa never set foot in Iowa and the Potawatomi only after relocation. The purpose of the alignment to keep the fires burning as long as tribes were together is consistent in its telling.
The Potawatomi Tribe settled in southwest Iowa during the mid-1800s after the Great Depression and removal from the Great Lakes Region. In the late 1840s the U.S. government again moved the Potawatomi further west into Kansas.
The Council of Three Fires saga aside, the terrain where the story took place is a beautiful section of the forested, rolling hills of southwest Iowa. In 1935 the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) saw the potential for a state park to preserve and provide access to this lovely piece of nature. They added to nature’s amenities by damming a tributary of One Hundred and Two River’s East Fork to form an 85-acre lake.
A photo of Lake of Three Fires State Park in 1952.
Nearby Bedford took the lead in rallying support from area communities to raise funds to buy the land where the park was developed. As the lead community, Bedford raised $10,000. Others followed to raise enough funds to purchase 375 acres.
On Jan. 28, 1937, it was announced, “Taylor County is to have a state park and artificial lake.” The State Conservation Commission, intending to honor early Indigenous peoples, named it Lake of Three Fires State Park. Although some locals questioned it, the name stuck.
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