Devil's Kitchen Lake is an 810-acre (3.3 km²)

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

in southern

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, created by the damming of Grassy Creek, a tributary of

Crab Orchard Lake Crab Orchard Lake is a 6,965-acre (28.2 km²) reservoir in Williamson County, Illinois. It is the centerpiece of the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge. It is fed by Devils Kitchen Lake and Little Grassy Lake, which are also within the ...

and the

Big Muddy River The Big Muddy River is a river in southern Illinois. It joins the Mississippi River just south of Grand Tower. The Big Muddy has been dammed near Benton, forming Rend Lake. The Big Muddy has a mud bottom for most of its length. Hydrography T ...

. Most of the lake is located in Williamson County, southwest of

Marion, Illinois Marion is a city in Williamson and Johnson Counties, Illinois, United States, and is the county seat of Williamson County. The population was 16,855 at the 2020 census. It is part of a dispersed urban area that developed out of the early 20th ...

. The lake is accessible from

Interstate 57 Interstate 57 (I-57) is a north–south Interstate Highway in Missouri and Illinois that parallels the old Illinois Central Railroad for much of its route. It runs from Sikeston, Missouri, at I-55 to Chicago, Illinois, at I-94. I-57 essen ...

. Two arms of the lake penetrate into adjacent Union County. The lake is managed by the

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS or FWS) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats. The mission of the agency is "working with oth ...

Geology and history

Devil's Kitchen Lake is located just south of the farthest advance reached by

glaciers A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...

during the

Ice Ages 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 gree ...

. Instead of being located in the relatively flat, rolling terrain characteristic of most of Illinois, the lake is located in an unglaciated zone of deep sandstone valleys and steep slopes. Devils Kitchen Lake is located in one of these valleys, and it is one of the deepest lakes in Illinois. Sections of the lake are as deep as 90 feet (27 m).Chris McKinley, "Southern Illinois Lakes: Cool, Cool Water", accessed April 23, 2007. The drainage area surrounding Devil's Kitchen Lake was not very suitable for agriculture and, after being cleared in the early 19th century by frontier settlers, the region drifted out of cultivation. Much of the land was condemned by the federal government during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

of the 1930s as a form of agricultural readjustment and relief. The

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

built Crab Orchard Lake in that decade, and two lakes in Crab Orchard's drainage area, Devils Kitchen Lake and Little Grassy Lake, soon followed it to stabilize water supply to the larger, downstream lake and provide additional recreational opportunities. The drainage area around Devil's Kitchen Lake was allocated to

Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge is a 43,890 acre (180 km2) National Wildlife Refuge primarily in southwestern Williamson County, but with small extensions into adjacent eastern Jackson and northeastern Union counties of southern Illi ...

Crab Orchard Wilderness The Crab Orchard Wilderness is a parcel of land listed as a Wilderness Area of the United States. It is located within the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge in Williamson, Union, and Jackson counties in Illinois. Second-growth wilderness As ...

Panther Den Wilderness The Panther Den Wilderness is a parcel of land listed as a Wilderness Area of the United States. It is located within the Shawnee National Forest in Union County in the U.S. state of Illinois. Panther Den Wilderness is the smallest of eight Wi ...

, and

Shawnee National Forest The Shawnee National Forest is a United States National Forest located in the Ozark and Shawnee Hills of Southern Illinois, United States. Administered by the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, it consists of approximately 280,000 acres (1,100 km²) ...

.Susan L. Post, ''Hiking Illinois'' (1997; Human Kinetics), page 189.

The lake today

The depth of Devil's Kitchen Lake make it a suitable lake for

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

, a cool-water fish that does not thrive in most Illinois waters. Other fish more familiar in Illinois are also found, such as the

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...

bluegill The bluegill (''Lepomis macrochirus''), sometimes referred to as "bream", "brim", "sunny", or "copper nose" as is common in Texas, is a species of North American freshwater fish, native to and commonly found in streams, rivers, lakes, ponds and ...

, and

crappie Crappies () are two species of North American freshwater fish of the genus ''Pomoxis'' in the family Centrarchidae (sunfishes). Both species of crappies are popular game fish among recreational anglers. Etymology The genus name ''Pomoxis'' ...

.Joe McFarland, "The Unique Refuge", ''Outdoor Illinois'' XIX:3 (March 2011), page 14. The shores are controlled by the Crab Orchard National Wildlife Refuge, and there are three separate boat-launching areas, on the north end, western shore, and eastern shore. There is a power limit on the lake, with motors restricted to 10 h.p. or less. Sections of the lake are filled with underwater snags, the stumps of dead trees from the valley forest that once lived where the lake is today. Fishermen are advised to be aware of these snags. Swimming is forbidden in Devils Kitchen Lake. A fee is required for motor vehicle access to the lake shore."Shawnee National Forest: Recreational Activities", accessed April 23, 200

/ref> The nearest interstate exit is Exit 45 on Interstate 57.

References

External links

Shawnee National Forest

{{authority control Reservoirs in Illinois Protected areas of Union County, Illinois Protected areas of Williamson County, Illinois Civilian Conservation Corps in Illinois Shawnee National Forest Bodies of water of Union County, Illinois Bodies of water of Williamson County, Illinois 1930s establishments in Illinois