Mille Lacs Lake
Encyclopedia
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. It is located in the counties of Mille Lacs
Mille Lacs County, Minnesota
As of the census of 2000, there were 22,330 people, 8,638 households, and 6,003 families residing in the county. The population density was 39 people per square mile . There were 10,467 housing units at an average density of 18 per square mile...
, Aitkin
Aitkin County, Minnesota
Aitkin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2010, the population is 16,202. Its county seat is Aitkin. A portion of the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation is in the county.-History:...
and Crow Wing
Crow Wing County, Minnesota
Crow Wing County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2010, the population was 62,500. Its county seat is Brainerd.-Geography:...
, roughly 100 miles north of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.
The name of Mille Lacs is French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
for "one thousand lakes"; the 's' in 'Lacs' is pronounced when referring to the lake in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. In the Ojibwe language
Ojibwe language
Ojibwe , also called Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of the Algonquian language family. Ojibwe is characterized by a series of dialects that have local names and frequently local writing systems...
the lake is called Misi-zaaga'igan ("grand lake").
Physical features
Mille Lacs is Minnesota's second-largest inland lake at 132516 acres (536 km²). The maximum depth is 42 feet. 20- to 38-foot depth ranges cover much of the main lake. The northern half contains most of the lake's mud flats. GravelGravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
and rock bars cover the southern half of the lake. Shallow reef-top fishing exists on all sides of the lake. Deep-water angling
Angling
Angling is a method of fishing by means of an "angle" . The hook is usually attached to a fishing line and the line is often attached to a fishing rod. Fishing rods are usually fitted with a fishing reel that functions as a mechanism for storing, retrieving and paying out the line. The hook itself...
takes place on the southern deep gravel and rocks as well as on dozens of mud flats in the north half of the lake. Shoreline break fishing on varied bottom types occurs all around the lake. The weed line is at nine to twelve feet.
The lake has many species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
including walleye
Walleye
Walleye is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the northern United States. It is a North American close relative of the European pikeperch...
, northern pike
Northern Pike
The northern pike , is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus Esox...
, muskie
Muskellunge
A muskellunge , also known as a muskelunge, muscallonge, milliganong, or maskinonge , is a large, relatively uncommon freshwater fish of North America. Muskellunge are the largest member of the pike family, Esocidae...
, jumbo perch
Yellow perch
The yellow perch is a species of perch found in the United States and Canada, where it is often referred to by the shortform perch. Yellow perch look similar to the European perch, but are paler and more yellowish, with less red in the fins. They have six to eight dark, vertical bars on their sides...
, smallmouth bass
Smallmouth bass
The smallmouth bass is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of the order Perciformes. It is the type species of its genus...
, largemouth bass
Largemouth bass
The largemouth bass is a species of black bass in the sunfish family native to North America . It is also known as widemouth bass, bigmouth, black bass, bucketmouth, Potter's fish, Florida bass, Florida largemouth, green bass, green trout, linesides, Oswego bass, southern largemouth...
, black crappie, burbot
Burbot
The burbot is the only gadiform fish inhabiting freshwaters. It is also known as mariah, the lawyer, and eelpout. It is closely related to the marine common ling and the cusk...
, and tullibee. It is one of Minnesota's most popular fishing lakes. Ice fishing
Ice fishing
Ice fishing is the practice of catching fish with lines and fish hooks or spears through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. Ice anglers may sit on the stool in the open on a frozen lake, or in a heated cabin on the ice, some with bunks and amenities.-Locations:It is a popular pastime...
houses number in the thousands during the winter. It is a prime spawning grounds
Spawn (biology)
Spawn refers to the eggs and sperm released or deposited, usually into water, by aquatic animals. As a verb, spawn refers to the process of releasing the eggs and sperm, also called spawning...
for walleye. Billions of walleye eggs and fry are produced there every year. In the absence of a thermocline
Thermocline
A thermocline is a thin but distinct layer in a large body of fluid , in which temperature changes more rapidly with depth than it does in the layers above or below...
, fish can travel the whole area of the lake.
History
ArchaeologistsArchaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
indicate that it is one of the earliest known sites of human
Human
Humans are the only living species in the Homo genus...
settlement in the state of Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
. The Rum River
Rum River
The Rum River is a slow, meandering channel that connects Minnesota's Mille Lacs Lake with the Mississippi River. It runs for through the farming communities of Onamia, Milaca, Princeton, Cambridge, and Isanti before ending at the Twin Cities suburb of Anoka, roughly 20 miles northwest of downtown...
drains from Lake Mille Lacs into the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
to the south in Anoka
Anoka, Minnesota
At the 2000 census, there were 18,076 people, 7,262 households and 4,408 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,709.0 per square mile . There were 7,398 housing units at an average density of 1,108.7 per square mile...
. Father Hennepin State Park
Father Hennepin State Park
Father Hennepin State Park is a 320 acre Minnesota state park located on the southeast corner of Mille Lacs Lake. The park is named after Father Louis Hennepin, a priest who visited the area with a French expedition in 1680...
, Mille Lacs Kathio State Park
Mille Lacs Kathio State Park
Mille Lacs Kathio State Park, also known as Kathio Site, is a Minnesota state park on Mille Lacs Lake. The park preserves habitation sites and mound groups, believed to date between 3000 BC and 1750 AD, that document Sioux Indian culture and Ojibwe-Sioux relationships...
, and portions of the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation
Mille Lacs Indian Reservation
Mille Lacs Indian Reservation is the land-base for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in Central Minnesota, about 100 miles north of Minneapolis-St. Paul...
lie along the lake. On early French maps, the lake was also known as Lac Buade or Minsisaugaigun. On a 1733 Henry Popple map, for example, Mille Lacs Lake is shown as "Lake Miſsiſsucaigan or Baude".
In the Dakota language
Dakota language
Dakota is a Siouan language spoken by the Dakota people of the Sioux tribes. Dakota is closely related to and mutually intelligible with the Lakota language.-Dialects:...
, the lake is known as mde waḳaŋ (Spiritual/Mystic Lake), which was the basis for the name of the Mdewakanton division of the Santee Sioux.
It is the largest lake in the Brainerd Lakes Area. The lake was thus was named "Mille Lacs Lake" as the Brainerd Lakes Area was called "Region of Thousand Lakes" in French.
Towns on Mille Lacs Lake
- Garrison, MinnesotaGarrison, MinnesotaAs of the census of 2000, there were 213 people, 113 households, and 48 families residing in the city. The population density was 198.9 people per square mile . There were 191 housing units at an average density of 178.4 per square mile . The racial makeup of the city was 97.65% White, 0.94%...
- Isle, MinnesotaIsle, MinnesotaIsle is a city in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 751 at the 2010 census. Its name in the Ojibwe language is "Chi-minising" , due to being located right by Malone Island of Mille Lacs Lake, the largest island of that lake.-Geography:According to the United States...
- Malmo Township, MinnesotaMalmo Township, MinnesotaMalmo Township is a township in Aitkin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 332 as of the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 35.7 square miles , of which 33.0 square miles is land and 2.8 square miles...
- Vineland, MinnesotaVineland, MinnesotaVineland is a census-designated place in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 607 at the 2000 census. As with other CDPs, the area and population values are included in aggregate values for its township...
- Wahkon, MinnesotaWahkon, MinnesotaWahkon is a city in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 206 at the 2010 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....
- Wealthwood Township, MinnesotaWealthwood Township, MinnesotaWealthwood Township is a township in Aitkin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 262 as of the 2000 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 72.6 square miles , of which 23.2 square miles is land and 49.4 square...