Lake Sherburne is located in the

Many Glacier Many Glacier is an area within Glacier National Park (U.S.), Glacier National Park in the U.S. state of Montana. The Many Glacier region is located north of the Going-to-the-Sun Road, on the east side of the park. Lake Sherburne is the large lake ...

region of Glacier National Park, 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 ...

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

. The lake is a

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 ...

, formed by Lake Sherburne Dam, which held back Swiftcurrent Creek and was constructed between 1914 and 1921. The construction of the dam filled up several small lakes and highly productive river transition and

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

areas, and due to its fluctuating water levels, the surrounding area supports little vegetation. However,

trumpeter swan The trumpeter swan (''Cygnus buccinator'') is a species of swan found in North America. The heaviest living bird native to North America, it is also the largest extant species of waterfowl, with a wingspan of 185 to 304.8 cm (6 ft 2 in ...

s are often observed along the lake in the spring and fall. The lake stretches nearly when full. The reservoir is the principal water storage component of the U.S.

Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a List of United States federal agencies, federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it ...

's Milk River Project, which provides irrigation water to north central Montana farms. The name Lake Sherburne is derived from an early settler and businessman in the area, Joseph H. Sherburne. He settled in the area (Browning) in 1896 and was the proprietor of the Sherburne Mercantile Company which had stores in towns in the area Browning,

Babb Babb is surname of mostly English origin which has been documented as far back as 1322 in Devon County, England. While the name appears to have originated in the Devon area, Y-DNA Genetic testing has revealed a number of distinct lineages throughout ...

and East Glacier. During this time he had a cabin for summer use by his family on the shore of what became known as Sherburne Lakes (plural). Once the dam was built in 1919 the name was revised to Lake Sherburne.

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, ...

along the lake is less than spectacular, but

brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada. Two ecological forms of brook trout h ...

and

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 ...

can be caught there. A boat is generally required for fishing, but since there is no boat dock along the lake, it is usually necessary to park alongside the road and walk down to the lakeshore.

References

{{authority control Sherburne Sherburne Sherburne Sherburne Infrastructure completed in 1921

See also

References