Torch Lake is an approximately

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

lying mostly within Torch Lake Township with portions within

Osceola Osceola (1804 – January 30, 1838, Asi-yahola in Muscogee language, Creek), named Billy Powell at birth in Alabama, became an influential leader of the Seminole people in Florida. His mother was Muscogee, and his great-grandfather was a S ...

and Schoolcraft townships in Houghton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The lake is fed by the

Traprock River The Trap Rock River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed February 3, 2012 tributary of Torch Lake that flows through Keweenaw and Houghton counties in the Upper Peninsula ...

. The village of

Lake Linden Lake Linden is a village in Houghton County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 1,007 at the 2010 census. The village is mostly within Schoolcraft Township, though a tiny portion lies in Torch Lake Township. History Lake Linden ...

at the north end of the lake was once the site of the largest copper milling operation in North America. About of copper mill

stamp sand Stamp sand is a coarse sand left over from the processing of ore in a stamp mill. In the United States, the most well-known deposits of stamp sand are in the Copper Country of northern Michigan, where it is black or dark gray, and may contain ha ...

s were dumped into Torch Lake itself, filling about 20 percent of the lake's volume. The

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

believes the contaminated sediments to be thick in some areas, and surface sediments contain up to 2,000 parts per million (ppm) of copper. The lake is about east-northeast of

Houghton Houghton may refer to: Places Australia * Houghton, South Australia, a town near Adelaide * Houghton Highway, the longest bridge in Australia, between Redcliffe and Brisbane in Queensland * Houghton Island (Queensland) Canada * Houghton Townshi ...

and is approximately long and wide at . The lake has a total surface area of , and a maximum depth of . A channel drains from the lake south into

Torch Bay Torch Bay is a freshwater bay connecting Torch Lake with Portage Lake in Houghton County on the Keweenaw Peninsula, which juts into Lake Superior from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. It is lined by the unincorporated settlements of Dreamland ...

, which opens into Portage Lake.

External links

Torch Lake (Houghton County) Superfund Site information from the EPATorch Lake (Houghton County) Area of Concern information from the EPA

References

{{authority control Bodies of water of Houghton County, Michigan Lakes of Michigan Superfund sites in Michigan

See also

External links

References