Big Stone Lake () is a long, narrow

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

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 ...

and

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

on the border between western

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

and northeastern

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

in the

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 ...

Description

The lake covers , stretching from end to end and averaging around wide. At an elevation of , it is South Dakota's lowest point. Big Stone Lake is the source of the

Minnesota River The Minnesota River () is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 332 miles (534 km) long, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It drains a watershed of in Minnesota and about in South Dakota and Iowa. It rises in southwestern ...

, which flows to the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the main stem, primary river of the largest drainage basin in the United States. It is the second-longest river in the United States, behind only the Missouri River, Missouri. From its traditional source of Lake Ita ...

. Flow from the lake to the Minnesota River is regulated by the Big Stone Lake Dam, built in 1937 at the lake's southern end. Although modest, the dam controls a maximum capacity of 205,000 acre-feet. It is owned and operated by the state of Minnesota. At its north end, the lake is fed by the Little Minnesota River, which flows through the Traverse Gap. Big Stone was formed at the end of the last

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

, when glacial

Lake Agassiz Lake Agassiz ( ) was a large proglacial lake that existed in central North America during the late Pleistocene, fed by meltwater from the retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet at the end of the last glacial period. At its peak, the lake's area wa ...

drained through the gap into Glacial River Warren. The valley of that river now holds Big Stone Lake. The lake is shown on the 1757 edition of

Mitchell Map The Mitchell Map is a map made by John Mitchell (1711–1768), which was reprinted several times during the second half of the 18th century. The map, formally titled ''A map of the British and French dominions in North America'' &c., was used ...

as "L. Tinton", referring to the

Lakota people The Lakota (; or ) are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people. Also known as the Teton Sioux (from ), they are one of the three prominent subcultures of the Sioux people, with the Eastern Dakota (Santee) and Western D ...

, also known as ''Tetonwan'' ("dwellers of the prairie"). Big Stone Lake was named for nearby rock outcroppings. Two

state park State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "Federated state, state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on accou ...

s are at the lake: Big Stone Lake State Park in Minnesota and Hartford Beach State Park in South Dakota. They have picnic, boat launching, trail, and camping facilities. An educational center is part of the Minnesota park. Several vacation resorts are along the shores of Big Stone Lake as well. Visitors are attracted to the lake especially for its

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the walleyed pike, yellow pike, yellow pikeperch or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern ...

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (pikes). They are commonly found in brackish water, moderately salty and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). T ...

, and

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 ...

s are all popular

game fish Game fish, sport fish or quarry refer to popular fish species pursued by recreational fishing, recreational fishers (typically angling, anglers), and can be freshwater fish, freshwater or saltwater fish. Game fish can be fish as food, eaten aft ...

with anglers, and the lake contains over 30 other species. There are 12 public accesses for fishing use. The lake is stocked every two years with 7,000,000 walleye fry. The communities of Ortonville, Minnesota, and Big Stone City, South Dakota, are at the lake's southern tip. Browns Valley, Minnesota, is at the northern tip.

References

Sources

"Big Stone Lake"
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Retrieved July 29, 2005.
"Big Stone Lake"

United States Department of Transportation The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the president of the United States a ...

. Retrieved July 29, 2005.
Big Stone Lake Area Chamber of Commerce
Viewed July 29, 2005. * . Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved July 29, 2005. * Spading, Kenton (January 2000). .

United States Army Corps of Engineers The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is the military engineering branch of the United States Army. A direct reporting unit (DRU), it has three primary mission areas: Engineer Regiment, military construction, and civil wo ...

External links

{{authority control Borders of Minnesota Borders of South Dakota Dams completed in 1937 Dams in Minnesota Dams in South Dakota Minnesota River Reservoirs in Minnesota Reservoirs in South Dakota United States state-owned dams Lakes of Big Stone County, Minnesota Lakes of Roberts County, South Dakota Bodies of water of Grant County, South Dakota

Description

See also

References

Sources

External links