Eagle Lake is the first, largest, and deepest lake of the

Allagash Wilderness Waterway The Allagash Wilderness Waterway is a protected area extending from Aroostook County, Maine into Piscataquis County, Maine. It is a ribbon of lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams of the Maine North Woods that includes much of the Allagash River Th ...

in the

North Maine Woods The North Maine Woods is the northern geographic area of the state of Maine in the United States. The thinly populated region is overseen by a combination of private individual and private industrial owners and state government agencies, and is di ...

. The lake covers the eastern side of Eagle Lake township. The southern end of the lake extends into

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

township 7, range 12, where it receives overflow from Indian Pond, and into Soper Mountain township where it receives overflow from Haymock Lake via Smith Brook. Other ponds in the Eagle Lake watershed include Woodman Pond via Woodman Brook, Pillsbury Pond and Little Pillsbury Pond via Smith Brook, Soper Pond and Upper Soper Pond via Soper Brook, and the Russell Ponds via Russell Brook. Eagle Lake originally received overflow from

Chamberlain Lake Chamberlain Lake is one of the largest and deepest lakes in the North Maine Woods. The lake originally drained north through Eagle Lake and Churchill Lake into the Allagash River tributary to the Saint John River. Nineteenth-century logging opera ...

, but Lock Dam has diverted most Chamberlain Lake overflow through Telos Cut to the

Penobscot River The Penobscot River (Abenaki: ''Pαnawάhpskewtəkʷ'') is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 22, 2011 river in the U.S. state of Maine. Including the river's We ...

since the 1850s.

Churchill Lake Dam

A dam in Maine township 10, range 12, has raised the level of Churchill Lake from the adjoining range 12 township 9 into the north end of Eagle Lake in adjoining range 13 of township 9. The dam controls elevation of Eagle Lake by releases to the

Allagash River The Allagash River is a tributary of the Saint John River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed June 22, 2011 in northern Maine in the United States. It d ...

tributary of the Saint John River. Personnel at Churchill Depot control dam releases to sustain Allagash River summer flows favorable for canoe passage of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway.

Fish habitat

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife considers Eagle Lake ideal habitat for togue,

squaretail The squaretails are a genus, ''Tetragonurus'', of perciform fishes, the only genus in the family Tetragonuridae. They are found in tropical and subtropical oceans, and feed on jellyfish and ctenophores. Species The three species are: * Bige ...

, cusk, and lake whitefish; and has endeavored to protect the lake from introduction of competing species like

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch, American river perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samu ...

. Releases from Churchill Lake Dam may be reduced during autumn and winter months to sustain water levels covering rocky shoals used for spawning.

Sources

{{authority control Lakes of Piscataquis County, Maine Allagash River North Maine Woods Reservoirs in Maine