What lakes are in the Mississippi Headwaters?

481 monitored lakes drain through the Mississippi Headwaters, including Deep Portage Lake, Little Wabana Lake, Fullers Lake: East Basin, and others. The watershed spans Minnesota.

What is the cleanest lake in the Mississippi Headwaters?

Deep Portage Lake in Cass County is the highest-rated lake in the Mississippi Headwaters with a Grade A.

What is a HUC8 watershed?

HUC8 (Hydrologic Unit Code, 8-digit) is the USGS classification for "subbasins" — the level at which major named river systems are usually identified. The Mississippi Headwaters corresponds to HUC8 07010101.

Mississippi Headwaters

Minnesota · 481 monitored lakes · 254 grade A · 140 grade B · HUC8 07010101

The first 400 miles of the Mississippi River from Lake Itasca through the headwaters lakes region — Bemidji, Cass, Winnibigoshish, and dozens of source-water lakes.

Counties in this watershed

Beltrami, Hubbard, Cass, Itasca, Clearwater

Monitored Lakes (481)

#	Lake	County	Grade	Clarity	Area	Depth
1	Deep Portage Lake	Cass	A	15.4 ft	-	-
2	Little Wabana Lake	Itasca	A	23.8 ft	-	-
3	Fullers Lake: East Basin	Beltrami	A	15 ft	-	-
4	Round Lake	Beltrami	A	18 ft	-	-
5	Horseshoe Lake	Cass	A	21 ft	-	-
6	Long Lake	Clearwater	A	20 ft	-	-
7	Long Lake	Cass	A	21.5 ft	-	-
8	Long Lake	Beltrami	A	20 ft	-	-
9	Long Lake	Cass	A	16.8 ft	-	-
10	Long Lake	Itasca	A	16.7 ft	-	-
11	Long Lake	Itasca	A	16.9 ft	-	-
12	Dead Lake	Hubbard	A	16 ft	-	-
13	Maple Lake	Itasca	A	15.3 ft	-	-
14	Shallow Lake	Itasca	A	16.4 ft	-	-
15	Trout Lake	Itasca	A	15.5 ft	-	-
16	Trout Lake	Itasca	A	18 ft	-	-
17	Clear Lake	Itasca	A	14.9 ft	-	-
18	Blue Lake	Hubbard	A	17.4 ft	-	-
19	Spearhead Lake	Hubbard	A	15 ft	-	-
20	Sand Lake	Cass	A	21 ft	-	-
21	Andrusia Lake	Beltrami	A	15.5 ft	-	-
22	Green Lake	Beltrami	A	18.5 ft	-	-
23	Girl Lake	Cass	A	17 ft	-	-
24	Bass Lake	Itasca	A	18.2 ft	-	-
25	Bass Lake	Cass	A	-	-	-
26	Island Lake	Cass	A	15 ft	-	-
27	Island Lake	Cass	A	17.5 ft	-	-
28	Island Lake	Beltrami	A	16 ft	-	-
29	Island Lake	Hubbard	A	16.4 ft	-	-
30	Crooked Lake	Hubbard	A	19.2 ft	-	-
31	Portage Lake	Cass	A	22.8 ft	-	-
32	Turtle Lake	Itasca	A	17.1 ft	-	-
33	Lower Bottle Lake	Hubbard	A	15 ft	-	-
34	Pokegama Lake	Itasca	A	16 ft	13.0K acres	-
35	Sandy Lake	Beltrami	A	16 ft	-	-
36	Pickerel Lake	Clearwater	A	16.1 ft	-	-
37	Mcavity Lake	Itasca	A	17 ft	-	-
38	Upper Bottle Lake	Hubbard	A	16 ft	-	-
39	Hand Lake	Cass	A	17 ft	-	-
40	Ox Yoke Lake	Cass	A	17.5 ft	-	-
41	Caribou Lake	Itasca	A	31 ft	-	-
42	Heart Lake	Clearwater	A	16 ft	-	-
43	Wabana Lake	Itasca	A	18 ft	2.2K acres	-
44	Little Mantrap Lake	Hubbard	A	17 ft	-	-
45	Crystal Lake	Cass	A	16 ft	-	-
46	Hatch Lake	Itasca	A	16.5 ft	-	-
47	North Twin Lake	Beltrami	A	17.4 ft	-	-
48	Mary Lake	Hubbard	A	19.5 ft	-	-
49	North Star Lake	Itasca	A	19 ft	-	-
50	Pleasant Lake	Cass	A	15.4 ft	-	-
51	Little Bass Lake	Beltrami	A	16 ft	-	-
52	Little Bass Lake	Itasca	A	17.7 ft	-	-
53	Little Bass Lake	Clearwater	A	-	-	-
54	Webb Lake	Cass	A	17.8 ft	-	-
55	Napoleon Lake	Itasca	A	18 ft	-	-
56	Little Trout Lake	Itasca	A	22 ft	-	-
57	11 Crow Wing Lake	Hubbard	A	18.4 ft	-	-
58	Howard Lake	Cass	A	16 ft	-	-
59	Emma Lake	Hubbard	A	19.5 ft	-	-
60	Bluewater Lake	Itasca	A	18.5 ft	-	-
61	Dunning Lake	Itasca	A	18.5 ft	-	-
62	Thunder Lake	Cass	A	16.4 ft	1.3K acres	-
63	Sanburn Lake	Cass	A	19 ft	-	-
64	Little Portage Lake	Cass	A	16.4 ft	-	-
65	Skunk Lake	Hubbard	A	17 ft	-	-
66	Pine Lake	Cass	A	16 ft	-	-
67	Spider (Ne Lake	Hubbard	A	17.1 ft	-	-
68	Gilmore Lake	Hubbard	A	20.5 ft	-	-
69	Little Long Lake	Itasca	A	16 ft	-	-
70	Owl Lake	Hubbard	A	15 ft	-	-
71	Three Island Lake	Itasca	A	29 ft	-	-
72	Ten Mile Lake	Cass	A	20 ft	-	-
73	Ponto Lake	Cass	A	19 ft	-	-
74	Lone Lake	Clearwater	A	19.4 ft	-	-
75	Big Sand Lake	Hubbard	A	23 ft	-	-
76	Mirror Lake	Itasca	A	18 ft	-	-
77	Little Rock Lake	Clearwater	A	15.1 ft	-	-
78	Little Sand Lake	Hubbard	A	20 ft	-	-
79	Siseebakwet Lake	Itasca	A	19 ft	-	-
80	Beauty Lake	Hubbard	A	21 ft	-	-
81	Sylvan Lake	Cass	A	19.8 ft	1.3K acres	-
82	Big Bass Lake	Hubbard	A	19.4 ft	-	-
83	Hunter Lake	Cass	A	31 ft	-	-
84	Lost Lake	Cass	A	15 ft	-	-
85	Stony Lake	Cass	A	23.3 ft	-	-
86	Bad Axe Lake	Hubbard	A	15.4 ft	-	-
87	Johnson Lake	Itasca	A	15.7 ft	-	-
88	Shemahgun Lake	Beltrami	A	15 ft	-	-
89	Ojibway Lake	Hubbard	A	15.8 ft	-	-
90	Kinney Lake	Beltrami	A	15 ft	-	-
91	Peysenske Lake	Hubbard	A	15 ft	-	-
92	Widow Lake	Cass	A	18.5 ft	-	-
93	Swenson Lake	Beltrami	A	20.8 ft	-	-
94	Squaw Smith Lake	Beltrami	A	20 ft	-	-
95	South Sugar Lake	Itasca	A	15 ft	-	-
96	South Twin Lake	Beltrami	A	16.4 ft	-	-
97	Barnum Lake	Cass	A	16.1 ft	-	-
98	Belle Taine Lake	Hubbard	A	22.8 ft	-	-
99	Mule Lake	Cass	A	18.7 ft	-	-
100	Little Webb Lake	Cass	A	16.5 ft	-	-

Showing top 100 of 481 lakes by water quality grade.

All watersheds →All Minnesota lakes →

Source: EPA National Aquatic Resource Surveys, 2026.