Minam Lake is a high-elevation reservoir in the

Eagle Cap Wilderness Eagle Cap Wilderness is a wilderness area located in the Wallowa Mountains of northeastern Oregon (United States), within the Wallowa–Whitman National Forest.

of the Wallowa Mountains in the U.S. state of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. The unusual reservoir, a modified natural lake, has outlets on both its north and south ends. The south outlet drains to the

Minam River The Minam River is a tributary of the Wallowa River, long, in northeastern Oregon in the United States. It drains a rugged wilderness area of the Wallowa Mountains northeast of La Grande. It rises in the Wallowas in the Eagle Cap Wilderness of ...

, and the north outlet is the source of the

Lostine River The Lostine River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed May 3, 2011 tributary of the Wallowa River in northeastern Oregon in the United States. It drains a portion of the ...

. A natural lake at this spot had only a south outlet. In the early 20th century, the lake was enlarged, and its flow altered by a high dam near the south end of the lake. The dam's purpose was to store additional water and to deflect it north for irrigation of farms in the Lostine Valley. It is said that ''minam'' is a word that evolved in the mid-19th century from the native word ''e-mi-ne-mah''. The latter referred to the Minam River Valley, where a kind of plant with edible roots grew in abundance. ''Mah'' was a suffix meaning ''valley'' or ''canyon''.

References

{{authority control Eagle Cap Wilderness Reservoirs in Oregon Lakes of Wallowa County, Oregon

See also

References