American Indians called the Lakes Region home for thousands of years, drawn by tallgrass prairie that supported abundant buffalo and elk, lakes that served as a flyway for migratory birds including trumpeter swans, more than 40 varieties of fish, and a prairie landscape covered with wildflowers. Early European explorers traded with the Oneota (Ioway & Otoe) and the Dakota Sioux Nations in the region, and arrowheads and other Indian artifacts are still found on the lakeshore and surrounding areas. Hunters and trappers came before settlers who arrived in 1856. In 1857, 42 of the lakes' first settlers were killed in a conflict known as The Spirit Lake Massacre. Thirteen-year-old Abbie Gardner survived three months' captivity and later returned to the area to share her story. The Gardner log cabin still stands, along with a pioneer burial plot, a 55-foot-tall granite monument, and a visitor center, and the cabin is located two blocks west in Pillsbury Point State Park.