Crow Wing County Stream Remains Unnamed

The Crow Wing County Board voted unanimously against the proposed name of “Crow Wing Creek” on Tuesday, November 24th.

The watercourse flows from Mine Lake and eventually reaches the Mississippi River. In between its start and stop point, it travels in and out of Crow Wing Lake and through Ditch 14, one of Crow Wing County’s agricultural ditches.

Randy Bunney started this movement stating, “[the watercourse] shapes how we live, work and play and where we build our roads.” He added historical references to further make his point by saying, ” … It connects us to our history. We know how important waterways were to the Ojibwe who encamped at Crow Wing village about 2 miles from present-day Mine Lake.”

Not everyone was on board with the name change, however. The battle of if it’s a creek or a crick came forth. Bill Jordan claimed most people refer to the watercourse as a crick and not a creek. “My circle of people knew it, if we went and said to meet at the crick, that was it,” Jordan said. “On the north end of the lake was the inlet. Guess what? Those people surrounding it called it the crick also. They, too, knew what that meant.”

Paul Koering, a commissioner of the Crow Wing County Board, made the motion to deny Bunney’s petition to change the name and all commissioners followed.