Lake Traverse is an lake along the

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

between the U.S. states of

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

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 ...

, and is the southernmost

body of water A body of water or waterbody is any significant accumulation of water on the surface of Earth or another planet. The term most often refers to oceans, seas, and lakes, but it includes smaller pools of water such as ponds, wetlands, or more rare ...

in the

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay, sometimes called Hudson's Bay (usually historically), is a large body of Saline water, saltwater in northeastern Canada with a surface area of . It is located north of Ontario, west of Quebec, northeast of Manitoba, and southeast o ...

watershed of North America. Lake Traverse is drained at its north end by the northward-flowing Bois de Sioux River, a

tributary A tributary, or an ''affluent'', is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream (''main stem'' or ''"parent"''), river, or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries, and the main stem river into which they ...

of the

Red River of the North The Red River (), also called the Red River of the North () to differentiate it from the Red River of the South, Red River in the south of the continent, is a river in the north-central United States and central Canada. Originating at the confl ...

. A

U.S. 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 wor ...

dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

at the outflow regulates the lake's level. The Mustinka River flows into the lake just above the dam.

Lake Traverse Indian Reservation The Lake Traverse Indian Reservation is the homeland of the federally recognized Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, a branch of the Santee Dakota group of Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans. Most of the reservation covers parts of five ...

of the Dakota Sioux lies on the west shore of the lake. The Traverse Gap, a low

continental divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

and part of the

Laurentian Divide The Laurentian Divide also called the Northern Divide and locally the '' height of land'', is a continental divide in central North America that separates the Hudson Bay watershed to the north from the Gulf of Mexico watershed to the south and ...

, separates the south end of Lake Traverse from Big Stone Lake. Big Stone Lake is the headwaters of the south-flowing

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 ...

, part of the Mississippi River System. Prehistorically, the south end of Lake Traverse was the southern outlet of 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 ...

across the Traverse Gap into Glacial River Warren; that river carved the valley now occupied by the present-day

. The town of Browns Valley, Minnesota lies within the gap between the two lakes. The Browns Valley Dike was constructed in 1941 at the south end of Lake Traverse to prevent flooding south into Big Stone Lake and the Mississippi watershed. However, the Little Minnesota River, which flows into Big Stone Lake, passes within of Lake Traverse. In case of flooding of the Little Minnesota River, its waters can pass through culverts within the dike, and across the divide into Lake Traverse. This prevents flooding of homes in the Browns Valley area. Lake Traverse is an Anglicization of ''Lac Traverse'', a French name meaning "across the lake".

External links

US Army Corps of Engineers Lake Traverse website

References

{{authority control Traverse Traverse Borders of Minnesota Borders of South Dakota Traverse Traverse Minnesota placenames of Native American origin

See also

External links

References