Lake George is a small lake in

Anoka County, Minnesota Anoka County ( ) is the fourth-most-populous county in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 363,887. The county seat and namesake of the county is the city of Anoka, which is derived from the Dakota word ''an ...

, located within the city of Oak Grove, north of the city of Anoka. Minnesota's

Department of Natural Resources This article lists subnational environmental agencies in the United States, by state. Agencies with a variety of titles and responsibilities are included, e.g. Department of Environment, Department of Environmental Conservation, Department of E ...

tracks the lake by the name George and the identifier 02-0091-00.Detailed records about lake George from DNR
date accessed Oct 18, 2006
date accessed Oct 18, 2006 The

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

tracks the lake by the ID 644081 and the

coordinates In geometry, a coordinate system is a system that uses one or more numbers, or coordinates, to uniquely determine the position of the points or other geometric elements on a manifold such as Euclidean space. The order of the coordinates is sig ...

of , retrieved 10 December 2006 Roughly circular in shape with two marshes encircling Greenwald Island on the Southern shore, Lake George Regional Park covers much of the North shore. The park has picnic areas, a boat launch, and a large roped-off swimming beach. The lake is used during the summer and winter for

water skiing Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or one ski. The sport requires suffic ...

fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

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 fishers may fish in the open or in heated enclosures, some with bunks and amenities. Shelters Longer ...

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the term ...

ing, and

snowmobiling A snowmobile, also known as a Ski-Doo, snowmachine, sled, motor sled, motor sledge, skimobile, or snow scooter, is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. It is designed to be operated on snow and ice and does not ...

. With the exception of a few vacant lots, a wetland area in the southeast corner at the lake outlet, a new development on the west end, and the County property, there are homes located along the entire lake. Lake George Aquatic Plant Survey ( Open the report), Prepared by Carolyn Dindorf and Chris Kjelland of Fortin Consulting, Inc. on Oct 2, 2006 for the Lake George Conservance Club, Actual Survey conducted August 2 – 3, 2006 ( Open survey data) The regions around the lake are known as: Paradise Alley, Beaver Shores, Lake George Regional Park, Cattail Oak, Shady Oak, South Bay, Greenwald Island, Indian Ridge Road.

History

Lake George was formed about 12,000 years ago following retreat of the

Laurentide Ice Sheet The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered millions of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the Northern United States, multiple times during the Quaternary glacial epochs, from 2.58 million years a ...

and drainage of glacial Lake Anoka.Meyer, G.N., 1998. Glacial lakes of the Stacy Basin, East-Central Minnesota and Northwest Wisconsin. In Patterson, C.J., and Wright. H.E. Jr., eds, Contributions to Quaternary studies in Minnesota: Minnesota Geological Survey Report of Investigations 49, p. 35-48. The first recorded mention of the lake comes from an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

battle which occurred in 1845. The battle followed a peace conference between the

Lakota Lakota may refer to: *Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: *Lakota, Iowa *Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County *Lakota ...

and the

Ojibway The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

Fort Snelling Fort Snelling is a former military fortification and National Historic Landmark in the U.S. state of Minnesota on the bluffs overlooking the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. The military site was initially named Fort Saint Anth ...

. Following the conference, the Ojibway began returning home up the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

and then up the

Rum River The Rum River is a slow, meandering stream that connects Minnesota's Mille Lacs Lake with the Mississippi River. It runs for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 5, 2 ...

, and the Lakota set on their way up the

Minnesota River The Minnesota River ( dak, Mnísota Wakpá) 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 ris ...

. It is reported that the Ojibway took a Lakota woman with them and when the Lakota discovered this they pursued the Ojibway to their camp on the south shore of Lake George. The battle that ensued lasted for three days and resulted in over 200 dead. In 1847, Federal surveyors established the section and township boundaries as well as locations of Indian burial mounds. The lake is named after

George Arbuckle George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Preside ...

, who was the chief surveyor of the party. The original survey plats of lake George and Greenwald Island were published in 1848.original survey plats of Lake George and Greenwald Island
from th
Land Management Information Center
The Minnesota History Society tracks these plats by the identifiers MHS0905 and MHS0906 After the settlement of the area, Lake George began to become popular for urban dwellers looking to find summer recreation. By the turn of the century, many cabins and, just prior to World War I, a few resorts were built. Vacationers first came by rail via the depot in

Cedar Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae *Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona * ...

and later by car. The main resorts on the lake were Hopper's (northwest shore), Yost's (North shore), Tillbergs (now the Shoreside), Day's (later the By George Inn) and Fleet's Inn (northshore). Fleet's Inn was located not too far from the present day county beach. It was said that gangsters from nearby

St. Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

would check in when the heat was on in town. The Chicago mob would occasionally visit them to make business deals. Greenwald Island is named after Aaron Greenwald, who was born December 2, 1832, and eventually settled in Anoka where he found work as a

miller A miller is a person who operates a Gristmill, mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Mill (grinding), Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surname ...

in one of the local

flour mills A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separat ...

.First Minnesota Volunteer Infantry Division
search on Alan GreenwaldCivil War Ancestors, Community Courier, Sept 1996 Aaron and wife, Ann, had two sons: William born August 8, 1859, and Louis on Oct 10, 1860. It is possible that Aaron was the first man to enlist for the Union cause. In the late 1930s the Lake George Conservation Club was formed. At the time most of the lakeshore residents were seasonal. In the 1970s the face of the lake's neighborhoods began to change with permanent homes replacing the summer cabins. The clubs activities began to dwindle until 1981 when an issue regarding horsepower regulation on the lake united the lake's residents and the club was reconstituted. In the summer of 1998 there was a dead body found in the lake. In January 2004, the two marshes were dredged to open a channel.

Ecology

Lake George exhibits very good water clarity with a summer average of in 2004. About or 80% of the lake is classified as

littoral The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal areas ...

(<15’ deep). However, since Lake George exhibits very clear water, plants grow to a deeper depth in the lake. The maximum and mean depths are and respectively. Lake George in an oval shaped lake with two dredged channels on the south side. Most of the lake has a sandy bottom, but there are areas of soft muddy sediments. The shoreline length is 4.5 miles.Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Fisheries Division. Lake Survey Reports. 500 Lafayette Rd., St. Paul, MN 55155 Lake George Regional Park, an Anoka County park, is located on the north side of the lake. The public access is within the park. Twenty-eight (28) different species of aquatic plant life were found in the lake.

Sport fish

Lake George is known to have: *Walleye of unknown abundance and average size. Walleye were first stocked in 2001 and these fish generally become acceptable to Metro-area anglers after their third summer (2004). *Northern Pike of above average abundance, average size and some larger pike. *Largemouth Bass of average abundance, all sizes present including some real trophies. *Bluegill of above average abundance, average size. *Crappie of above average abundance, average size.

Milfoil

Eurasian watermilfoil, which is scientifically known as ''Myriophyllum spicatum'', was first confirmed in Lake George in 1998 by a DNR biologist and as of the summer of 2006 is forming nuisance mats in large areas of the lake; the native plant community and recreational use of the lake is threatened by the spread of this invasive exotic species. In addition to Eurasian watermilfoil,

curly-leaf pondweed ''Potamogeton crispus'', the crisp-leaved pondweed, curly pondweed, curly-leaf pondweed or curled pondweed, is a species of aquatic plant (hydrophyte) native to Eurasia but an introduced species and often a noxious weed in North America. De ...

(8 locations), another non-native species is also in Lake George. However, August is not the best time to conduct a survey for curly-leaf pondweed. It should be surveyed earlier in the season. Because Lake George exhibits very clear conditions, it may be more prone to the spread of milfoil to deeper water. The average

Secchi disk The Secchi disk (or Secchi disc), as created in 1865 by Angelo Secchi, is a plain white, circular disk in diameter used to measure water transparency or turbidity in bodies of water. The disc is mounted on a pole or line, and lowered slowly down ...

transparency from 2000 -2005 ranged from 9.0 – 11.5 feet (CLMP data). With the clear water, light can penetrate into deeper waters and promote plant growth beyond the 15’ depth. Milfoil was recorded on the data sheets only if it was found at the survey point.

Lake improvement district

After a majority of the property owners within the proposed Lake George Improvement District filed a petition with Anoka County requesting the establishment of the improvement district, the Oak Grove's City Council unanimously approved the creation of a "Lake Improvement District" (LID) on January 26, 2009. The LID will further extend the efforts of the Lake George Conservation Club to keep the lake clear of invasive weeds. An initial Board was appointed in March 2009.

Strong support to create Lake George Improvement District Strong may refer to: Education * The Strong, an educational institution in Rochester, New York, United States * Strong Hall (Lawrence, Kansas), an administrative hall of the University of Kansas * Strong School, New Haven, Connecticut, United Sta ...

ABCNewspapers.com, 08 January 2009, Kelly Johnson, date accessed March 22, 2009

Nearby communities

Lake George is located within the city of Oak Grove. Other nearby communities include Anoka,

, East Bethel, and St. Francis.

References

Uncited references

Oak Grove residents oppose Lake George senior housing, townhomes
Anoka County Union, February 26, 2004 * Letter to the Editor about Eminent Domain issues, Renee Beckum, February 27, 2004, Anoka County Union * 1996 Lake George History Update by Will Ridge

External links

Minnesota DNR entry on Lake GeorgeSt. Francis Government
Web Site

{{authority control

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presiden ...

Tourist attractions in Anoka County, Minnesota