Maple Lake, Polk County

Maple Lake is a lake in central Polk County, Minnesota, located due south of Mentor, Minnesota and approximately 4 miles west of Erskine, Minnesota. The name of the lake is taken from the extensive maple tree forest which surrounds it. Even before American settlement of the region, the existence of these extensive hardwood forests in an otherwise treeless open prairie gave the lake a geographic identity. The lake is also isolated from other clusters of lakes and is located in a fold or crevice in the Precambrian shield of granite, which results in a lake depth and quality of water unusual for the prairie region of the Red River Valley. Maple Lake is renowned as a fishing and water sports resort, and particularly for winter ice fishing.