The Lake Koronis Maiden: The Origins of a Legend Part I

Paynesville, 1886:

Paynesville was changing. For thirty years it was little more than a frontier settlement along the Crow River. The town had grown from an Indian camp in 1856, to a fully fledged village by 1886. It was destroyed by Indians during the Sioux Uprising, was home to a U.S. army outpost, and beset upon by swarms of Rocky Mountain locusts that devoured the countryside.

By 1880, it looked as though the worst was behind the community and a period of calm lay ahead. The dangers of the frontier era seemed to have passed and only remnants remained of wilderness that the first settlers lived in. For more than a decade the community had to adapt to a frontier lifestyle, but now a new era was coming, one where civilization reigned over the wilderness that once dictated frontier life.

In just six years the transformation would be complete, the frontier era in Paynesville would be gone forever and a new age would emerge. With it the community would transform itself and create a new identity, one that would capitalize on the arrival of the most innovative and life changing technology of the 19th century, the railroad.

Much like the 4-lane highway 23 bypass of today, the railroad changed the course of Paynesville history. Two lines would come through the area, but both diverted around the town site. As a result, homes and businesses began to leave the town and relocate to one of two communities growing along the lines, Jim Town and North Town.

In these two communities, especially Jim Town, the local economy had evolved from businesses catering only to the subsistence lifestyle of the frontier to one that somewhat lent itself to visitors traveling by rail. In a matter of a few years, Jim Town was home to a number of hotels, restaurants, and even a bus service that accommodated temporary residents traveling by rail.

Though Paynesville was evolving to a more modern community, the town alone was not enough to draw visitors. The Lake, however, was a somewhat untapped resource that could open the door to an entire industry that would put Paynesville on the proverbial map.

For much of Paynesville’s first thirty years, the lake was referred to as Cedar Lake, attesting to the growth of cedar along the shores and islands. During the early years, the lake was used primarily for sustenance and some recreation by locals. The fish, the ice, and the game that existed around the wooded shores provided the community with the essentials for frontier living.

It’s no accident that the lakes name, and usage began to change around the same time the railroads came to Paynesville. Numerous articles in newsprint from neighboring communities began to appear that attested to the beauty and peace that could be afforded on Lake Koronis.

In just a few short years the lake is the landing spot for fisherman coming by rail, a steamboat that takes visitors from shore to shore, a couple of resorts for visitors to stay, local fishing guides, campsites, and a legend of an “Indian Princess” who took a tragic leap into the lake and thus gave it its name.

The question of where the legend originated has never been fully answered, and no one knows the truth behind it. Though the origins of the story have been discussed in recent years, there is no clear cut answer to how Lake Koronis got its name.

Though I can’t pretend to have the answer, I can tell the story of an ancient legend from an ancient land; one that’s been all but lost to history and one that tells the tale of a Princess. Her story is strikingly similar to our local legend and may finally offer the insight we’ve been looking for.

Her name was Koronis…and her story will be continued.