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===Original settlement=== The name "Mountain Lake" is usually attributed to early settler William Mason. The city's official website recalls, "the first white settler to the area, William Mason, found a shallow 900-acre lake with three islands. The two smaller islands just broke the water's surface. The third much larger, higher island looked to Mason like a mountain rising from the lake. He named the lake Mountain Lake and the island Mountain Island."<ref name="mountainlakemn.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.mountainlakemn.com/ |title=mountainlakemn.com |access-date=August 20, 2015}}</ref> The top of the island was covered with trees, and could be seen for miles around, thus serving as a landmark to early settlers.<ref name=Upham/> The story continues that in 1871 the St. Paul & Sioux City Railway had selected "Midway" as the name of the village, since it was located midway between [[Saint Paul, Minnesota]] and [[Sioux City, Iowa]]. However, Mason insisted that the village being platted be named "Mountain Lake".<ref name=mountainlakemn.com/> [[File:First Org Train.jpg|upright=1.1|thumb|Locomotive with the St. Paul & Sioux City Railway]] Demand for more tillable farmland and construction advances led to the draining of the original lake in 1905β1906,<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Kaye|first1=Janelle|last2=Meshbesher|first2=Samuel|date=March 21, 2019|title=Mountain County Park and Historic Site|url=https://www.mnopedia.org/place/mountain-county-park-and-historic-site|access-date=January 7, 2022}}</ref> which was located in [[Mountain Lake Township, Cottonwood County, Minnesota|Mountain Lake township]], southeast of town. However, in 1937β1938 a dam, bridge, and outlet were constructed by the [[Works Progress Administration]] at a new site in [[Midway Township, Cottonwood County, Minnesota|Midway township]] to create a new Mountain Lake. This lake, located on the north edge of town, also has an island.<ref name="mountainlakemn.com"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://livingnewdeal.org/projects/mountain-lake-dam-bridge-mountain-lake-mn/ |title=the Living New Deal |access-date=August 20, 2015}}</ref> The large island of the original lake β now just a hill amidst the surrounding cornfields β became a county park which has since 1973 been listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/MN/Cottonwood/state.html |title=National Register of Historic Places| publisher=NRHP |access-date=September 8, 2015}}</ref> Archeological evidence suggests that early settler William Mason was not the first to appreciate the unique qualities of the original lake's island. Artifacts unearthed in a 1976 dig indicated evidence of habitation as early as 500 BC, thus making the location the oldest human habitation yet to be discovered in the state of Minnesota.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.co.cottonwood.mn.us/county-departments/parks/county-parks/ |title=Cottonwood County Parks| publisher=Cottonwood County, Minnesota| access-date=September 8, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mountainlakemn.com/index.asp?Type=B_BASIC&SEC={C31658AE-5068-4353-8BA1-06B7F2931935}&DE={70046939-EF8F-43D1-89A7-EE92B4CB2B66} |title=Archeology Site at Mountain Park | publisher=Mountain Lake, Minnesota |access-date=September 8, 2015}}</ref>
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