For over one hundred years, the region between Lake Poinsett and Oakwood Lakes was a summer hunting area for the Sioux. The Sioux who frequented the area used various names for its features: Oakwood Lakes was Tetonkaha, the place of the great summer lodge or tipi; the Big Sioux River was Tchankasandra, the thickly wooded river; and Lake Poinsett was Unkceota, the lake of the prickly pear, named for the cactus along the shore that made walking barefoot or in moccasins difficult. On April 19, 1858, sixteen Yankton delegates led by Chief Struck-by-the-Ree signed a treaty with the U.S. Government ceding all land between the Big Sioux and Missouri Rivers for the promise of $1.6 million in annuities. Some disagreed with the treaty, and Chief Smutty Bear, Mato Sabi Ceya, led opposition to it though he signed it.