Mille Lacs Lake (also called Lake Mille Lacs or Mille Lacs) is a large but shallow

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 ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

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 ...

. It is located in the counties of Mille Lacs, Aitkin, and Crow Wing, roughly 75 miles north of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. ''Mille Lacs'' means "thousand lakes" in French. In the

Ojibwe language Ojibwe , also known as Ojibwa , Ojibway, Otchipwe,R. R. Bishop Baraga, 1878''A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Otchipwe Language''/ref> Ojibwemowin, or Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of North America of the Algonquian lan ...

of the people who historically occupied this area, the lake is called ''Misi-zaaga'igan'' ("grand lake").

Physical features

Mille Lacs is Minnesota's second-largest inland lake at , after Red Lake. The maximum depth is . Much of the main lake has depths ranging from 20- to 38-feet.

Gravel Gravel is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally throughout the world as a result of sedimentary and erosive geologic processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gravel is classifi ...

and rock bars are common in the southern half of the lake.

Islands

Mille Lacs Lake hosts numerous islands, many of which are an acre or smaller and are in private ownership. The following list is in order from largest to smallest. * Malone Island (35 acres) * Mulybys Island (5.35 acres) * Upper Twin Island (3.75 acres) * Rainbow Island (3.25 acres) * West Lower Twin Island (2.56 acres) * Half Moon Island (1.37 acres) * Pete Island (0.6 acres) * Doe Island (0.55 acres) * Spider Island (0.5 acres) * East Lower Twin Island (0.4 acres) * Spirit Island (0.31 acres) * Pine Island (0.23 acres) * Hennepin Island (0.17 acres)

Fishing

Shallow reef-top fishing exists on all sides of the lake. Deep-water

angling Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English ''angol'') attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techniqu ...

takes place on the southern deep gravel and rocks as well as on dozens of mud flats in the north half of the lake. Shoreline break fishing on varied bottom types occurs all around the lake. The weed line is at nine to twelve feet. There are many local fisherman's names for some features of the lake. Spirit Island, the small rock-made island in the south west region of the lake, consists of weathered and eroded pink and white granite boulders. Spirit Island is one of two Islands in Mille Lakes Lake designated as a

National Wildlife Refuge National Wildlife Refuge System is a designation for certain protected areas of the United States managed by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The National Wildlife Refuge System is the system of public lands and waters set aside to c ...

. The lake has many

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

including

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 ...

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 ...

muskie The muskellunge ''(Esox masquinongy)'', often shortened to muskie, musky or lunge is a species of large freshwater predatory fish native to North America. It is the largest member of the pike family, Esocidae. Origin of name The name "muskellun ...

, jumbo perch, smallmouth bass,

largemouth bass The largemouth bass (''Micropterus salmoides'') is a carnivorous freshwater gamefish in the Centrarchidae ( sunfish) family, a species of black bass native to the eastern and central United States, southeastern Canada and northern Mexico, but ...

black crappie The black crappie (''Pomoxis nigromaculatus'') is a freshwater fish found in North America, one of the two types of crappies. It is very similar to the white crappie in size, shape, and habits, except that it is darker, with a pattern of black sp ...

burbot The burbot (''Lota lota'') is the only gadiform (cod-like) freshwater fish Freshwater fish are those that spend some or all of their lives in fresh water, such as rivers and lakes, with a salinity of less than 1.05%. These environments di ...

, and

tullibee ''Coregonus artedi'', commonly known as the cisco, is a North American species of freshwater whitefish in the family Salmonidae. The number of species and definition of species limits in North American ciscoes is a matter of debate. Accordingly, ...

. It is one of

's most popular fishing lakes.

Ice fishing Ice fishing is the practice of catching fish with lines and fish hooks or spears through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. Ice fishers may fish in the open or in heated enclosures, some with bunks and amenities. Shelters Longer ...

houses number in the thousands during the winter. It is a prime

spawning grounds A spawning bed is an underwater solid surface on which fish spawn to reproduce themselves. In fishery management, a spawning bed is an artificial bed constructed by wildlife professionals in order to improve the ability of desired game fish to r ...

for walleye. Billions of walleye eggs and fry are produced there every year. In the absence of a

thermocline A thermocline (also known as the thermal layer or the metalimnion in lakes) is a thin but distinct layer in a large body of fluid (e.g. water, as in an ocean or lake; or air, e.g. an atmosphere) in which temperature changes more drastically with ...

, fish can travel the whole area of the lake.

History

Archaeologists Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

indicate that the area around the lake is one of the earliest known sites of

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

settlement in the state of

. The

Rum River The Rum River is a slow, meandering stream that connects Minnesota's Mille Lacs Lake with the Mississippi River. It runs for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 5, 2 ...

drains from Lake Mille Lacs into 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 f ...

to the south at present-day Anoka. On early French maps, the lake was also identified as ''Lac Buade'' or ''Minsisaugaigun''. On a 1733 map by Henry Popple, Mille Lacs Lake is shown as "Lake Miſsiſsucaigan or Baude". As late as 1843, it was referred to as "Mini Sagaigonin or Mille Lacs" on United States government maps. The lake is known in

Dakota Dakota may refer to: * Dakota people, a sub-tribe of the Sioux ** Dakota language, their language Dakota may also refer to: Places United States * Dakota, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Dakota, Illinois, a town * Dakota, Minnesota, a ...

as (Spiritual/Mystic Lake). The

Mdewakanton The Mdewakanton or Mdewakantonwan (also spelled ''Mdewákhaŋthuŋwaŋ'' and currently pronounced ''Bdewákhaŋthuŋwaŋ'') are one of the sub-tribes of the Isanti (Santee) Dakota ( Sioux). Their historic home is Mille Lacs Lake (Dakota: ''Mde W� ...

group of the

Santee Sioux The Dakota (pronounced , Dakota language: ''Dakȟóta/Dakhóta'') are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided into ...

identified by their location around the lake. In

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

, the lake is known as (Grand/Great/Big Lake in the Region of a Thousand Lakes), or simply as (Grand Lake), as it is the largest lake in the Brainerd Lakes Area. Likewise, the French named the lake as "Mille Lacs Lake" (), as the Brainerd Lakes Area was called "Region of Thousand Lakes" ().Upham, Warren. (1920; repr. 1991) ''Minnesota Place Names'' St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society Press. Areas around the lake are protected and available to the public in

state parks State parks are parks or other protected areas managed at the sub-national level within those nations which use "state" as a political subdivision. State parks are typically established by a state to preserve a location on account of its natural ...

: Father Hennepin State Park and Mille Lacs Kathio State Park. Portions of the

Mille Lacs Indian Reservation Mille Lacs Indian Reservation is the popular name for the land-base for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in Central Minnesota, about 100 miles (160 km) north of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The contemporary Mille Lacs Band reservation has significant ...

, of the federally recognized Mille Lacs Ojibwe, border the lake. In 2013, a windblown wall of ice, called an

ice shove An ice shove (also known as an ice surge, ice push, ice heave, shoreline ice pileup, ice piling, ice thrust, ice tsunami, ice ride-up, or ''ivu'' in Inupiat) is a surge of ice from an ocean or large lake onto the shore. Ice shoves are caused by ...

, moved off the lake and damaged houses on the lake shore.

Towns on Mille Lacs Lake

Garrison, Minnesota Garrison is a city in Crow Wing County, Minnesota, United States, along Mille Lacs Lake. The population was 210 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Brainerd Micropolitan Statistical Area. U.S. Highway 169 and Minnesota State Highway 18 are ...

Isle, Minnesota Isle is a city in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 751 at the 2010 census. History A post office called Isle has been in operation since 1896. The city was named for the island near its harbor on Mille Lacs Lake. ...

Malmo Township, Minnesota Malmo Township is a township in Aitkin County, Minnesota, Aitkin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 337 as of the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. History Malmo Township was named after Malmö in Sweden. A precontact Na ...

Onamia, Minnesota Onamia ( ) is a city in Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 878 at the 2010 census. U.S. Highway 169 and Minnesota State Highway 27 are the main routes in the community. History Originally, the city of Onamia was or ...

Vineland, Minnesota Vineland is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation portion of Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, Mille Lacs County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 1,001 at the United States Cen ...

* Wahkon, Minnesota * Wealthwood Township, Minnesota

Notes

External links

Mille Lacs Lake page
from the

Minnesota DNR The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, or Minnesota DNR, is the agency of the U.S. state of Minnesota charged with conserving and managing the state's natural resources. The agency maintains areas such as state parks, state forests, recr ...

Mille Lacs Area Tourism CouncilMille Lacs Messenger newspaperMille Lacs WebcamMille Lacs - Isle Bay Webcam - Hunter Winfields
{{authority control Lakes of Aitkin County, Minnesota Lakes of Crow Wing County, Minnesota Mille Lacs Lakes of Mille Lacs County, Minnesota Religious places of the indigenous peoples of North America