Madisons Lake Mendota has been home to urban and agricultural runoff called non-point pollution, for many years. The effects from this runoff can be seen and smelled when around the lake, or for that matter, among all the lakes of the Yahara Watershed; including, Lake Monona, Lake Waubesa, Lake Kegonsa, and Lake Wingra, respectively.The Winnebego Indian name for Lake Mendota is Wonk-shek-ho-mik-la, meaning, Where the man lies, while the Prairie Potawatomi named the lake Manto-ka, meaning, Snake maker, referring to the early abundance of rattlesnakes along the lakes shoreline, in earlier years. The name Mendota was actually given to the lake in 1949 by a man named Frank Hudson, whom was a local land surveyor; actually, Mendota is a Sioux Indian name meaning, The mouth of the river, because it feeds the rest of the lakes in the Yahara Watershed. And before Lake Mendota was given the name Mendota, people referred to the lake as the Fourth Lake (1). Back in 1829, James Duane Doty traveled through Madisons Isthmus and was so pleased with what he saw he decided to buy 1,200 acres of the land for $1,500. At this time he plotted out all of the roads surrounding the Isthmus, in which he later named after the signers of the United States Constitution. After deciding the name Madison from the fourth President of The United States, James Madison, Doty convinced the territorial legislature to designate (his) Madison as the site for a new capital. At this time, Madison became more and more populated and with that came more farming, logging and industrialization (3). Since the evolution of Madison, more and more farmers and businesses were planted in the area. This, of course, was good for the citys economy; however, bad for Madisons lakes; including Lake Mendota. In these earlier years Lake Mendota was used for industrial dumping and release of sewage, which added nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen to the water among other pollutants, ...
