| Mille Lacs Lake | |
|---|---|
| Location | Aitkin / Mille Lacs / Crow Wing Counties, Minnesota, USA |
| Lake type | moraine-dammed lake |
| Primary outflows | Rum River |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Surface area | 207 sq mi (536 km2) |
| Max. depth | 42 ft (13 m) |
| Surface elevation | 1,251 ft (381 m) |
| Settlements | see list |
Mille Lacs Lake (also called Lake Mille Lacs or Mille Lacs) is a lake in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is located in the counties of Mille Lacs, Aitkin and Crow Wing, roughly 100 miles north of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.
The name of Mille Lacs is French for "one thousand lakes"; the 's' in 'Lacs' is pronounced when referring to the lake in English. In the Ojibwe language the lake is called Misi-zaaga'igan ("grand lake").
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Mille Lacs is Minnesota's second-largest inland lake at 132,516 acres (536 km2).[1] The maximum depth is 42 feet. 20- to 38-foot depth ranges cover much of the main lake. The northern half contains most of the lake's mud flats. Gravel and rock bars cover the southern half of the lake. Shallow reef-top fishing exists on all sides of the lake. Deep-water angling 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.
The lake has many species of fish including walleye, northern pike, muskie, jumbo perch, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, black crappie, burbot, and tullibee. It is one of Minnesota's most popular fishing lakes. Ice fishing houses number in the thousands during the winter. It is a prime spawning grounds for walleye. Billions of walleye eggs and fry are produced there every year. In the absence of a thermocline, fish can travel the whole area of the lake.
Archaeologists indicate that it is one of the earliest known sites of human settlement in the state of Minnesota. The Rum River drains from Lake Mille Lacs into the Mississippi River to the south in Anoka. Father Hennepin State Park, Mille Lacs Kathio State Park, and portions of the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation lie along the lake. On early French maps, the lake was also known as Lac Buade or Minsisaugaigun.[2] On a 1733 Henry Popple map, for example, Mille Lacs Lake is shown as "Lake Miſsiſsucaigan or Baude".
In the Dakota language, the lake is known as mde waḳaŋ (Spiritual/Mystic Lake), which was the basis for the name of the Mdewakanton division of the Santee Sioux. It is the largest lake in the Brainerd Lakes Area. The lake was thus was named "Mille Lacs Lake" as the Brainerd Lakes Area was called "Region of Thousand Lakes" (pays des mille lacs) in French.[3]