Crooked Lake is a lake that feeds the Crooked River. Located within Emmet County in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, it is the southwesternmost point of the recreational

Inland Waterway A waterway is any navigable body of water. Broad distinctions are useful to avoid ambiguity, and disambiguation will be of varying importance depending on the nuance of the equivalent word in other ways. A first distinction is necessary bet ...

. This watercourse uses locks to connect Crooked Lake with

Lake Huron Lake Huron ( ) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French ex ...

at Cheboygan. The discharge of water from Crooked Lake is controlled by the Alanson Waterway Locks located near Alanson, Michigan. The lake is a remnant of the postglacial

Lake Nipissing Lake Nipissing (; , ) is a lake in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It has a surface area of , a mean elevation of above sea level, and is located between the Ottawa River and Georgian Bay. Lake Nipissing i ...

. Its convoluted shape is the outcome of the glacier-cut topography through which its water drains, which includes lateral

moraine A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and Rock (geology), rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a gla ...

s, recessional moraines, and at least one

kettle A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a device specialized for boiling water, commonly with a ''lid'', ''spout'', and ''handle''. There are two main types: the ''stovetop kettle'', which uses heat from a cooktop, hob, and the ...

gouged by melting ice. Three small lakeside communities,

Conway Conway may refer to: Places United States * Conway, Arkansas * Conway County, Arkansas * Lake Conway, Arkansas * Conway, Florida * Conway, Iowa * Conway, Kansas * Conway, Louisiana * Conway, Massachusetts * Conway, Michigan * Conway Townshi ...

, Oden, and Ponshewaing, reflect the historic operations of depots of the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad that once brought residents and visitors to and from the lake. Today the north shore of the lake is served by U.S. Highway 31, and a continuous strip of development joins together the road and lake.

References

{{authority control Lakes of Michigan Lakes of Emmet County, Michigan Kettle lakes in the United States

See also

References