Pokegama is a small unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 within Pokegama Township

Pokegama Township, Minnesota

Pokegama Township is a township in Pine County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 2,570 at the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 55.0 square miles , of which, 51.6 square miles of it is land and...

, Pine County

Pine County, Minnesota

As of the census of 2000, there were 26,530 people, 9,939 households, and 6,917 families residing in the county. The population density was 19 people per square mile . There were 15,353 housing units at an average density of 11 per square mile...

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, along the Pokegama Lake. Its name in Ojibwe is Bakegamaang, meaning "at the side-lake", referring to Pokegama Lake's position to the Snake River

Snake River (St. Croix River)

The Snake River is a tributary of the St. Croix River in east central Minnesota in the United States. It is one of three streams in Minnesota with this name . Its name is a translation from the Ojibwa Ginebigo-ziibi after the Dakota peoples who made their homes along this river...

.

Originally an Ojibwa

Ojibwa

The Ojibwe or Chippewa are among the largest groups of Native Americans–First Nations north of Mexico. They are divided between Canada and the United States. In Canada, they are the third-largest population among First Nations, surpassed only by Cree and Inuit...

 village, it housed a Presbyterian Mission

Mission (station)

A religious mission or mission station is a location for missionary work.While primarily a Christian term, the concept of the religious "mission" is also used prominently by the Church of Scientology and their Scientology Missions International....

 ran by Frederick Ayer

Frederick Ayer

Frederick Ayer was an American businessman and the younger brother of patent medicine tycoon Dr. James Cook Ayer. He graduated from The Hill School. In addition to his involvement in the patent medicine business, he is better known for his work in the textile industry...

, claiming to print the first Christian Bible in the Ojibwe language in Minnesota. The estimated population was 70 in 1977.

As of 2004, Pokegama held the Minnesota state record low temperature records for March (-49 F in 1897), November (-45 F in 1896), and December (-57 F in 1898).