Barbee Lake is a

fresh water Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salt (chemistry), salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include ...

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

located in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The Barbee chain of lakes was formed by retreating

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

s during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...

era as were most of northeast Indiana's lakes.

Location

The greater Barbee lakes are located just west of

Indiana State Road 13 State Road 13 (SR 13) is a north–south state road in the US state of Indiana. The southern terminus is at an intersection with U.S. Highway 36 (US 36) and SR 67, in the town of Fortville, and its northern terminus is at the Mic ...

, approximately south-southeast of

Tippecanoe Lake Tippecanoe Lake ( ) is a large, glacially created lake in Leesburg, Kosciusko County, Indiana and, at deep, is the deepest natural lake in the state. Location Tippecanoe Lake is about two miles west of the town of North Webster, Indiana, and ...

and southwest of Webster Lake.

The lake chain

Barbee Lake is composed of seven interconnected and natural lakes (Barbee Lakes chain): *Barbee Lake *Little Barbee Lake *Kuhn Lake *Irish Lake *Sawmill Lake *Sechrist Lake *Banning Lake

Inflow and outflow

Inflow via Grassy Creek feeds Barbee (Big Barbee), Little Barbee, Irish, and Sawmill. Shoe Lake flows into Banning Lake while Heron Lake flows into Kuhn Lake. Banning and Kuhn Lakes have the best water quality in the chain because their small watersheds contribute fewer nutrients. Water leaving the Barbee chain heads north and feeds

. Some 75% of the

watershed Watershed may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, an area of land where surface water converges (North American usage) Music * Watershed Music Festival, an annual country ...

agricultural Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...

Residential

The chain of Barbee lakes has approximately 2,300 residences spread throughout the lakes with the highest concentration near Barbee's north end, Sechrist, and Little Barbee Lake.

Recreation

All of the lakes support

bluegill The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or, in Texas, "copper nose", is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and wetlands ea ...

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus nigricans'') is a carnivorous, freshwater fish, freshwater, ray-finned fish in the Centrarchidae (sunfish) family, native to the eastern United States, eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada an ...

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samuel Latham Mitchill fr ...

catfish Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...

, and

crappie Crappies () are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Pomoxis'' in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers. Etymology The genus name ''Pomoxi ...

. The Indiana Department of Natural Resources maintains a boat ramp on Kuhn Lake's north side. Access to Tippecanoe is possible for boats and shorter in length through a manually operated lock.

References

Lake Lubbbers: Barbee
*http://www.barbeelakes.org Lakes of Indiana Lakes of Kosciusko County, Indiana Tourist attractions in Kosciusko County, Indiana {{KosciuskoCountyIN-geo-stub