Sports and Recreation | Page 21

View of old "mountain" island, Mountain Lake

Mountain County Park

Mountain County Park in Cottonwood County, July 2, 2014. Photograph by Wikimedia Comons user McGhiever. CC BY-SA 3.0.

Mountain County Park and Historic Site

Cottonwood County’s now-dry Mountain Lake was the site of Indigenous villages and encampments over the course of 3,000 years. The area has provided clues—some of the oldest evidence of human habitation in present-day Minnesota—about the lives of a group of people who remained relatively isolated from Upper Mississippi trade networks. In the 1970s, the site was developed into a public park operated by Cottonwood County.

Map of county parks in Cottonwood County

Map of county parks in Cottonwood County, undated. Talcot Lake Park is at the lower left. Provided by and used with the permission of the Cottonwood County Historical Society.

Map of the Des Moines River State Trail

A map of the section of the Des Moines River State Trail in Cottonwood County between Windom and Talcot Lake. Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, Division of Parks and Trails, September 2011.

Talcot Lake

Talcot Lake, in Cottonwood County.

Talcot Lake County Park

Talcot Lake County Park, a forty-acre piece of land situated in Cottonwood County on Highway 62 between Windom and Fulda, offers visitors a place to appreciate the wildlife and natural beauty of Southbrook, the county’s southwestern-most township.