The Soldier Lakes are a cluster of more than a dozen glacial

tarns A tarn (or corrie loch) is a proglacial mountain lake, pond or pool, formed in a cirque excavated by a glacier. A moraine may form a natural dam below a tarn. Etymology The word is derived from the Old Norse word ''tjörn'' ("a small mount ...

in the

Ruby Mountains The Ruby Mountains are a mountain range, primarily located within Elko County with a small extension into White Pine County, in Nevada, United States. Most of the range is included within the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. The range reache ...

, in

Elko County Elko County is a county in the northeastern corner of Nevada, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 53,702. Its county seat is Elko. The county was established on March 5, 1869, from Lander County. Elko County is the fourth ...

in the northeastern part of the state of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

. They are located on the shelf of Soldier Basin on the eastern side of the mountains (although draining to the west via Soldier Creek) at an elevation of . They have a combined area of approximately , and a depth of up to . The Soldier Lakes are some of the sources of Soldier Creek, which flows from the eastern side of the Ruby Mountains through Soldier Canyon, exits the mountains to the west into Lamoille Valley, and then merges with the main branch of the

Humboldt River The Humboldt River is an extensive river drainage system located in north-central Nevada. It extends in a general east-to-west direction from its headwaters in the Jarbidge, Independence, and Ruby Mountains in Elko County, to its terminus in the ...

References

{{authority control Lakes of Elko County, Nevada Ruby Mountains Lakes of Nevada Lakes of the Great Basin