en Red Lake (Minnesota)

Red Lake
Red Lake
	Satellite image
	Red Lake Red Lake
	Lakes in Northern Minnesota
Location	Beltrami County, Minnesota,; United States
Coordinates	48°04′25″N 95°01′44″W / 48.0735°N 95.0290°W
Type	dam controlled natural lake
Primary outflows	Red Lake River
Basin countries	United States
Surface area	440 sq mi (1,150 km2)
Max. depth	35 ft (11 m)
Surface elevation	1,175 ft (358 m)

Red Lake (translated from the Ojibwe language Miskwaagamiiwi-zaaga'igan: Lake with its liquid [water] be colored red) is a lake in Beltrami County in northern Minnesota.

It is the largest natural freshwater lake located entirely within Minnesota,^[1] and the 16th largest lake in the United States. The lake is separated into two sections by a peninsula on the eastern side that almost bisects it in the middle. The community of Ponemah lies on the peninsula. The two parts of the lake are known as Upper Red Lake and Lower Red Lake. Lower Red Lake lies entirely within the Red Lake Indian Reservation. Total size is 444 square miles (1,150 km²), with a maximum depth of 33 feet (10 m) in the lower portion of the lake. The elevation of the lake is maintained by a dam at the outflow that is the beginning of Red Lake River, this being at the middle, western edge of Lower Red Lake.

The lake is a popular destination for ice fishing. In the early 2022 fishing season an incident occurred, involving around 200 people laying on the ice sheet on Upper Red Lake. The ice sheet ruptured isolating them over a floating ice bank which separated by over 90 feet (27 m) from the contiguous ice. They had to be rescued.^[2] A similar incident, requiring the rescue of 122 anglers, happened in late December 2023.^[3]

History

Red Lake is a proglacial lake which was once a part of the much larger Glacial Lake Agassiz.

Legendary origin

An Ojibwe story tells of a conflict between Paul Bunyan and Nanabozho (or Wenabozho) "the Greatest Ojibwe who ever lived."^[4] Paul Bunyan came to the area to cut down all the trees. Nanabozho fought him for three days to protect the forest, finally slapping Bunyan with a huge walleye. The giant Bunyan was knocked onto his buttocks in the mud, the imprint of which formed Red Lake. This is what gave the lake its distinctive shape and preserved the forests in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.^[5]^[4]