Stump Lake is a naturally formed lake located in

Nelson County, North Dakota Nelson County is a county in the U.S. state of North Dakota. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,015. Its county seat is Lakota. History The Dakota Territory legislature created Nelson County on March 2, 1883, with areas annexed from ...

. It covers 15,742.4 acres, has 72.5 miles of shoreline, and has an average depth of 29.7 feet with a maximum depth of 73.3 feet. It is stocked by the North Dakota Department of Natural Resources with

Walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the yellow pike or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relat ...

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 ...

, and

Northern Pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus '' Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are known simply as a ...

. Stump Lake's waters have risen 45 feet in the last few years, and are now at the levels of neighboring Devils Lake. Devil's Lake will overflow into Stump Lake if the surface level reaches . Stump Lake, like Devil's Lake, is an

endorheic An endorheic basin (; also spelled endoreic basin or endorreic basin) is a drainage basin that normally retains water and allows no outflow to other external bodies of water, such as rivers or oceans, but drainage converges instead into lakes ...

(closed) lake, and has no input or output of rivers or streams, and is only fed by rain or human sources. If water levels exceed the combined lake would flow into the

Sheyenne River The Sheyenne River is one of the major tributaries of the Red River of the North, meandering U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 8, 2011 across eastern North Dakota, Uni ...

. This has not occurred since lake levels in this area have been recorded. Stump Lake Park is found around the lake and is solely dedicated to it. Local Native Americans have referred to the lake as "Chicot" which translates as "a place of stumps".Joseph L. Gavett, ''North Dakota: Counties, Towns and People,'' JWP, 2008, p. 154
The Stump Lake Park is the location of the

Old Settler's Pavilion The Old Settler's Pavilion near Pekin, North Dakota, in Stump Lake Park upon Stump Lake, was built in 1920. It has also been known as Stump Lake Park Pavilion.Note: The NRIS data entry, in 2010, includes apparent typo "Stump Kae Park Pavilion", ...

, listed on the U.S.

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

, which has been threatened by the rising water level.

References

Lakes of North Dakota Endorheic lakes of the United States Nelson County, North Dakota {{NorthDakota-geo-stub