By the (Disappearing?) Shores of Silver Lake

Fans of the Little House on the Prairie children’s books may recall Laura Ingalls Wilder’s description of how “the sun came up beyond Silver Lake, flooding the sky with wonderful colors while the flocks of wild geese flew dark against them, how thousands of wild ducks almost covered the water, and gulls flew screaming against the wind above it.” Silver Lake still exists, but other shallow lakes in the Prairie Pothole Region are now unrecognizable, converted to row crops of corn or soybean.