Windigo Lake is a freshwater

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 ...

located in north central

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

in the

Town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

of Bass Lake,

Sawyer County Sawyer County is a county in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,074. Its county seat is Hayward. The county partly overlaps with the reservation of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, in township 40 north, range 9 west. The lake is irregular in shape, with numerous peninsulas and bays, and is approximately one mile in diameter. Windigo Lake is in size (including islands) with a maximum depth of and a shoreline of .Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources map of Windigo Lake.
/ref> The lake does not have an obvious inflow or outflow stream and is classified as a seepage lake, i.e., a lake without an inlet or an outlet. Windigo Lake is approximately six miles south of the city of Hayward, the primary commercial and retail center of the area. The shore of the lake is principally occupied by seasonal lake cabins and homes. There is one public boat landing on the southeastern shore of the lake. Windigo Lake is a popular resort area, drawing cabin owners and visitors from the Minneapolis-St. Paul,

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee ...

, and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

metropolitan areas.

Origin of Name

Windigo Lake is named after the Indian term "Windigo" (sometimes spelled

Wendigo Wendigo () is a mythological creature or evil spirit originating from the folklore of Plains and Great Lakes Natives as well as some First Nations. It is based in and around the East Coast forests of Canada, the Great Plains region of the U ...

) which is a mythological cannibalistic creature in Ojibwa and Ottawa folklore. However, the lake has not always been referred to as "Windigo Lake."

Henry Schoolcraft Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (March 28, 1793 – December 10, 1864) was an American geographer, geologist, and ethnologist, noted for his early studies of Native American cultures, as well as for his 1832 expedition to the source of the Mississippi R ...

, in the report of his expedition through this area in 1831, called it "Lac des Isles," which means "Lake of the Isles" in French. Captain James Allen who accompanied Schoolcraft on an expedition in the following year (1832) to the source of 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 fl ...

produced a detailed map of the northern

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

area after that trip. On this map he labeled Windigo Lake in English as "Lake of the Isles." The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources lake map for Windigo Lake gives "Bass Lake" as an alternative name for the lake; and an article from the Sawyer County Historical Society also indicates that Windigo Lake was formerly known as "Bass Lake."

History

Prior to European exploration, the area of Windigo Lake was inhabited by the Ojibwa Indians. The first known visit by Europeans to the area was around 1659 when

Pierre-Esprit Radisson Pierre-Esprit Radisson (1636/1640–1710) was a French fur trader and explorer in New France. He is often linked to his brother-in-law Médard des Groseilliers. The decision of Radisson and Groseilliers to enter the English service led to the fo ...

and

Médard des Groseilliers Médard Chouart des Groseilliers (1618–1696) was a French explorer and fur trader in Canada. He is often paired with his brother-in-law Pierre-Esprit Radisson, who was about 20 years younger. The pair worked together in fur trading and explor ...

traveled from Chequamegon Bay on Lake Superior southward through the area and stayed for a period at an Indian village that has been identified as being located on nearby

Lac Courte Oreilles Lac Courte Oreilles ( ) is a large freshwater lake located in northwest Wisconsin in Sawyer County in townships 39 and 40 north, ranges 8 and 9 west. It is irregular in shape, having numerous peninsulas and bays, and is approximately six miles l ...

. Windigo Lake was apparently well traveled by Indians and early traders and explorers who used it as part of the route from

(in the Chippewa River watershed), through Grindstone Lake and Windigo Lake and over the

Namekagon Portage The Namekagon Portage (sometimes referred to as the "Namekagon Court Oreilles Portage") was a well known canoe portage connecting the St. Croix River watershed to the Chippewa River watershed and was located about five miles south of the present d ...

, to the

Namekagon River The Namekagon River (pronounced ''NAM-uh-KAH-gun'') is a tributary of the St. Croix River. It is longU.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 5, 2012 and is located in no ...

(in the St. Croix River watershed). A later explorer,

Jonathan Carver Jonathan Carver (April 13, 1710 – January 31, 1780) was a captain in a Massachusetts colonial unit, explorer, and writer. After his exploration of the northern Mississippi valley and western Great Lakes region, he published an account of his exp ...

, passed through the area in 1767 and traveled through what the editor identifies as Windigo Lake on June 29, 1767 on his way from the Indian village on

to the

. The area was later visited by

in 1831 who described crossing from the St. Croix River watershed to the Chippewa River watershed by ascending the

, crossing the

, and passing through Windigo Lake (called by him Lac des Isles) and Grindstone Lake (called by him Lac du Gres) to

.Philip P. Mason. ''Schoolcraft's Expedition to Lake Itasca'', East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 1958 p. 6.

References

External links

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources information on Windigo Lake, including a map.Sawyer County WebsiteCity of Hayward WebsiteLac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwa Website
{{authority control Lakes of Wisconsin Lakes of Sawyer County, Wisconsin