Garden Lake vs White Iron Lake
Water quality, depth, fish species, and recreation comparison.
Garden Lake and White Iron Lake both received the same overall water quality grade of B (Good). Both are in Lake County, Minnesota.
Garden Lake and White Iron Lake are both in Minnesota — a same-state head-to-head where the comparison comes down to lake-specific differences in depth, watershed, and monitoring history rather than the broader state-level water-quality regime. The grades are close: Garden Lake (B) and White Iron Lake (B) are within one letter of each other on the LakeGrade rubric. The per-parameter sub-grades below will show where the small differences actually live.
With grades this close, the choice between the two lakes turns on non-water-quality factors: depth, fish species, public access, distance from home. The per-lake pages below cover all of those.
Garden Lake
Murky, only visible to about 5 ft.
White Iron Lake
Murky, only visible to about 4.5 ft.
Side-by-Side Metrics
| Metric | Garden Lake | White Iron Lake |
|---|---|---|
| Overall Grade | B (Good) | B (Good) |
| Water Clarity | 5 ft | 4.5 ft |
| Phosphorus | 15 µg/L | 19 µg/L |
| Chlorophyll-a (Algae) | No data | No data |
| Maximum Depth | 55 ft | 47 ft |
| Surface Area | 653.33 acres | 3.2K acres |
| Public Access | Yes | Yes |
| Fish Species | 1 | 1 |
| Trophic State | mesotrophic | eutrophic |
Bold value = better for that metric (lower phosphorus / chlorophyll = cleaner; higher Secchi / depth / species count = better).
Verdict
Both lakes earn the same Grade B. The tiebreakers come down to clarity (Garden Lake: 5 ft, White Iron Lake: 4.5 ft) and what you want from the lake. Garden Lake matches its peer on species count.