Lake Minnetonka

Outflow regulated (Gray 's Bay Dam )

The Lake Minnetonka is a 5700 acre lake in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is located west in the metropolitan area of Minneapolis -Saint Paul. The lake was formed about 10,000 years ago during the melting of the last ice age. Due to its shape with many bays the shoreline comprises approximately 177 kilometers.

Geography

Important tributary of Lake Minnetonka is the Six Mile Creek. The water level of Lake Minnetonka and the drain in the Minnehaha Creek, which flows into the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, are controlled in the east of the lake by the Gray's Bay Dam. The flow is (daily up to 100 million liters) at a maximum of 8495 cubic meters of water per second. The area of ​​the lake at 243 meters above sea level is 57 square kilometers, the maximum water depth of 43 meters. The daily evaporation is up to 190 million liters. This results in an annual evaporation from an average of 43.5 billion liters of water. This is compensated by about 40 billion liters of rainfall and the inflow of 29 billion liters.

Larger towns around the lake are Orono, Wayzata, Minnetonka, Excelsior, Shorewood and Mound.

History

Already hundreds of years before the discovery by the Europeans settled various Indian peoples like the Dakota, Iowa and Ojibwa land around Lake Minnetonka. The forests were used as burial sites around the lake. The first record of the discovery of the lake by Europeans go back to the year 1822. At that time, the 14 -year-old Joseph Brown and Will Snelling went canoeing down the Minnehaha Creek upstream until they reached the headwaters.

1851, the Treaty of Mendota was signed between the Indian tribes and the U.S. government. Thus, a total of eight million square kilometers of land in the possession of the United States and could be released for settlement. The desire of many Indians, the area around the lake to keep as reserve was rejected. For this reason, some chiefs refused to sign the contract, but nevertheless became effective. A year later, Governor Alexander Ramsey was the lake its name. To this end, he chose the word Minnetonka in the style of " minn -ni - tanka " which means in the language of the Dakota Indians "big water ". In the same year the Minnehaha Creek, a dam was built at the issue, built. The first settlements were established on the lake and in 1853 the first hotel was opened. Some time later, a group of immigrants from New York on the south bank of the place Excelsior. 1854 on the northern shore Wayzata founded, followed by many other townships.

It was in 1861 the first steam boat, which over the Minnetonka Creek from Minneapolis to Minnetonka Mills went into operation. 1867 reached the railway line of the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad Wayzata and brought a large number of tourists to the lake. These came mostly by train to Wayzata and were then transported by steamer to other places on the lake. Its heyday was the Lake Minnetonka to the end of the 19th century, when a dense network of steamboats were in operation and Grand Hotels shaped the landscape around the lake. 1905 began the Twin City Rapid Transit trams operating from the Twin Cities to the lake. Through the private automobile traffic lost in the 20th century, the railroad and steamboats increasingly important.

To this day, a popular holiday and recreation area dar. of Lake Minnetonka