The Bettenhausen family shared this photo of a moose cow and calf approaching one of the islands on West Pope Lake back when they introduced the idea of naming the islands.
On May 5, 2016 the U.S. Board on Geographic Names in Reston, Virginia, met and approved proposals to apply new names to two islands located on West Pope Lake.
From now on what has been called Little Island will be Moozoogitagaanesing Island, which in the Ojibwe language means “a small garden to protect young moose.”
Big Island will forevermore be called Moozoogitagnaaning Island “a safe garden for moose and their young” in the Ojibwe language.
The names have been entered into the Geographic Names Information system, which is the nation’s geographic names repository.
West Pope Lake is 84 acres in size and is near Whisker, Iron and Mayhew Lakes near mid-trail of the Gunflint Trail.
Tom Bettenhausen who has a home on West Pope Lake originally brought the idea for the name change forward. At a public hearing in August 2012, Bettenhausen said his family felt the islands deserved a name that would honor all the moose that had used it for safety over the years. Allen Aubid of Grand Portage assisted in finding Ojibwe names that were fitting.
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