| Rainy Lake | |
|---|---|
| Location | Minnesota, USA / Ontario, Canada |
| Lake type | remnant of former glacial Lake Agassiz |
| Primary inflows | Namakan Lake Kabetogama Lake Seine River |
| Primary outflows | Rainy River |
| Basin countries | Canada, United States |
| Max. length | 80 km (50 mi) |
| Max. width | 48 km (30 mi) |
| Surface area | 932 km2 (360 sq mi) |
| Max. depth | 50 m (160 ft) highly variable |
| Shore length1 | 1,500 km (930 mi) 2,520 km (1,570 mi) (w/ Islands) highly irregular, rocky shoreline |
| Surface elevation | 338 m (1,109 ft) |
| Islands | ~2,568[1] |
| Settlements | International Falls, MN Fort Frances, Ontario |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Rainy Lake (French: lac à la Pluie; Ojibwe: gojijii-zaaga'igan) is a relatively large freshwater lake (345 square miles (890 km2)) that straddles the border between the United States and Canada. The Rainy River issues from the west side of the lake and is harnessed to make hydroelectricity for US and Canadian locations. The U.S. city of International Falls, Minnesota, and its Canadian sister city of Fort Frances, Ontario, are situated on either side of the outflow of the river from the lake. Shown as "Lake Tecamaniouen" on the 1757 Mitchell Map and as "Lake Tekamamigovouen" on the Thomas Jefferys' 1762 Map of Canada, the river is the boundary between the two countries.
Voyageurs National Park is located on the southeastern corner of the lake, where it connects with Kabetogama and Namakan lakes. Rainy Lake is part of an extremely large system of lakes that stretch north to the Arctic Ocean from just west of Lake Superior.[2]
The level of Rainy Lake is controlled at the hydro-electric power houses of the international dam that spans the Rainy River between International Falls and Fort Frances. The companies that own the powerhouses (Boise Power on the U.S. side and Abitibi Consolidated Hydro on the Canadian side) are responsible for flow changes from the dams within normal ranges, subject to regulatory oversight by the International Rainy Lake Board of Control (IRLBC). The IRLBC is a board of the International Joint Commission (IJC), which is a bi-national organization created out of the International Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909 for the purposes of handling boundary water issues between the United States and Canada.
The lake is popular for sport and recreational fishing for species such as Walleye, Northern pike, Muskellunge, Largemouth and Smallmouth bass, which are all considered excellent freshwater sportfish. Rainy Lake is home to the annual Canadian Bass Championship, which has occurred every summer since 1996. The lake is dotted with many small islands on both the Canadian and American sides; they are the sites of numerous fishing cabins, small fishing resorts, and vacation homes. Tourism is an important part of the local economy.[3]
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Geologically Rainy Lake is part of the Canadian Shield and retains features associated with it, such as a large, ancient caldera and a fault line that can be clearly seen in satellite images of the lake. The rock under the lake and exposed on many of its islands is an exposed part of the North American craton composed of ancient Precambrian rock. This rock has been significantly affected by glaciation, which dominates much of the recent geologic history of the area.[4]
Rainy Lake (Rainy River) plays a pivotal role in Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried.