What lakes are in the Mississippi Headwaters?

477 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 · 477 monitored lakes · 261 grade A · 138 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 (477)

#	Lake	County	Grade	Clarity	Area	Depth
1	Deep Portage Lake	Cass	A	15.4 ft	129.02 acres	105 ft
2	Little Wabana Lake	Itasca	A	23.8 ft	115.73 acres	57 ft
3	Fullers Lake: East Basin	Beltrami	A	49.2 ft	-	-
4	Round Lake	Beltrami	A	59.1 ft	181.06 acres	-
5	Horseshoe Lake	Cass	A	21 ft	260.32 acres	51 ft
6	Long Lake	Clearwater	A	20 ft	158.86 acres	80 ft
7	Long Lake	Cass	A	21.8 ft	1.0K acres	115 ft
8	Long Lake	Beltrami	A	20 ft	411.95 acres	87 ft
9	Long Lake	Cass	A	16.8 ft	246.3 acres	37 ft
10	Long Lake	Beltrami	A	45.9 ft	-	-
11	Long Lake	Itasca	A	16.7 ft	155.28 acres	72 ft
12	Long Lake	Itasca	A	16.9 ft	134.49 acres	85 ft
13	Dead Lake	Hubbard	A	16 ft	130.64 acres	34 ft
14	Maple Lake	Itasca	A	15.3 ft	254.55 acres	39 ft
15	Shallow Lake	Itasca	A	16.4 ft	538.95 acres	85 ft
16	Trout Lake	Itasca	A	15.5 ft	1.9K acres	135 ft
17	Trout Lake	Itasca	A	18 ft	1.7K acres	157 ft
18	Clear Lake	Itasca	A	14.9 ft	140.4 acres	30 ft
19	Emerald Lake	Beltrami	A	31.2 ft	-	-
20	Blue Lake	Hubbard	A	17.4 ft	336.35 acres	84 ft
21	Spearhead Lake	Hubbard	A	15 ft	194.36 acres	81 ft
22	Sand Lake	Cass	A	21 ft	149.17 acres	54 ft
23	Shell Lake	Beltrami	A	42.7 ft	-	-
24	Andrusia Lake	Beltrami	A	15.5 ft	1.6K acres	60 ft
25	Green Lake	Beltrami	A	60.7 ft	-	-
26	Green Lake	Beltrami	A	39.4 ft	-	-
27	Girl Lake	Cass	A	17 ft	428.18 acres	81 ft
28	Bass Lake	Itasca	A	18.2 ft	121.69 acres	65 ft
29	Bass Lake	Cass	A	-	194.75 acres	55 ft
30	Island Lake	Cass	A	15 ft	358.3 acres	45 ft
31	Island Lake	Cass	A	17.5 ft	184.26 acres	40 ft
32	Island Lake	Beltrami	A	52.5 ft	-	-
33	Island Lake	Hubbard	A	16.4 ft	225.21 acres	32 ft
34	Crooked Lake	Hubbard	A	19.2 ft	-	-
35	Portage Lake	Cass	A	22.8 ft	277.27 acres	84 ft
36	Turtle Lake	Itasca	A	17.1 ft	119.55 acres	54 ft
37	Lower Bottle Lake	Hubbard	A	15 ft	641.17 acres	110 ft
38	Pokegama Lake	Itasca	A	16 ft	6.7K acres	112 ft
39	Sandy Lake	Beltrami	A	52.5 ft	-	-
40	Pickerel Lake	Clearwater	A	16.1 ft	143.43 acres	60 ft
41	Mcavity Lake	Itasca	A	17 ft	147 acres	29 ft
42	Upper Bottle Lake	Hubbard	A	16 ft	459.14 acres	55 ft
43	Hand Lake	Cass	A	17 ft	289.21 acres	57 ft
44	Ox Yoke Lake	Cass	A	17.5 ft	185.33 acres	42 ft
45	Caribou Lake	Itasca	A	31 ft	246.5 acres	152 ft
46	Heart Lake	Beltrami	A	47.6 ft	-	-
47	Heart Lake	Clearwater	A	16 ft	224.49 acres	55 ft
48	Wabana Lake	Itasca	A	18 ft	2.2K acres	115 ft
49	Little Mantrap Lake	Hubbard	A	17 ft	380.95 acres	54 ft
50	Crystal Lake	Cass	A	16 ft	190.2 acres	40 ft
51	Hatch Lake	Itasca	A	16.5 ft	226.35 acres	88 ft
52	North Twin Lake	Beltrami	A	17.4 ft	325.63 acres	59 ft
53	Mary Lake	Hubbard	A	19.5 ft	235.22 acres	48 ft
54	North Star Lake	Itasca	A	19 ft	831.62 acres	90 ft
55	Pleasant Lake	Cass	A	15.4 ft	1.1K acres	72 ft
56	Little Bass Lake	Beltrami	A	16 ft	362.57 acres	22 ft
57	Little Bass Lake	Itasca	A	17.7 ft	160.5 acres	62 ft
58	Little Bass Lake	Clearwater	A	-	50.54 acres	35 ft
59	Webb Lake	Cass	A	17.8 ft	720.03 acres	84 ft
60	Napoleon Lake	Itasca	A	18 ft	138 acres	30 ft
61	Little Trout Lake	Itasca	A	22 ft	85.76 acres	80 ft
62	11 Crow Wing Lake	Hubbard	A	18.4 ft	750.97 acres	80 ft
63	Howard Lake	Cass	A	16 ft	385.58 acres	60 ft
64	Emma Lake	Hubbard	A	19.5 ft	78.43 acres	50 ft
65	Bluewater Lake	Itasca	A	18.5 ft	364.22 acres	120 ft
66	Dunning Lake	Itasca	A	18.5 ft	-	-
67	Thunder Lake	Cass	A	16.4 ft	1.3K acres	95 ft
68	Sanburn Lake	Cass	A	19 ft	220.31 acres	48 ft
69	Little Portage Lake	Cass	A	16.4 ft	-	-
70	Skunk Lake	Hubbard	A	17 ft	218.43 acres	55 ft
71	Pine Lake	Cass	A	16 ft	260.5 acres	25 ft
72	Spider (Ne Lake	Hubbard	A	17.1 ft	569.52 acres	96 ft
73	Gilmore Lake	Hubbard	A	20.5 ft	93.16 acres	54 ft
74	Little Long Lake	Itasca	A	16 ft	304.55 acres	61 ft
75	Owl Lake	Hubbard	A	15 ft	90.37 acres	26 ft
76	Three Island Lake	Itasca	A	29 ft	250.26 acres	66 ft
77	Ten Mile Lake	Cass	A	20 ft	5.1K acres	208 ft
78	Ponto Lake	Cass	A	19 ft	388.05 acres	60 ft
79	Lone Lake	Clearwater	A	19.4 ft	69.4 acres	70 ft
80	Morrison Lake	Clearwater	A	39.4 ft	-	-
81	Big Sand Lake	Hubbard	A	23 ft	1.6K acres	135 ft
82	Mirror Lake	Itasca	A	18 ft	109.11 acres	45 ft
83	Little Rock Lake	Clearwater	A	15.1 ft	-	-
84	Little Sand Lake	Hubbard	A	20 ft	409.51 acres	80 ft
85	Siseebakwet Lake	Itasca	A	19 ft	1.2K acres	105 ft
86	Beauty Lake	Hubbard	A	21 ft	54.96 acres	53 ft
87	Sylvan Lake	Cass	A	19.8 ft	-	-
88	Big Bass Lake	Hubbard	A	19.4 ft	132.5 acres	60 ft
89	Hunter Lake	Cass	A	31 ft	181.82 acres	48 ft
90	Lost Lake	Cass	A	15 ft	68.5 acres	26 ft
91	Stony Lake	Cass	A	23.3 ft	563.21 acres	50 ft
92	Spring Lake	Hubbard	A	-	600.34 acres	36 ft
93	No-Name Lake	Beltrami	A	42.7 ft	-	-
94	Bad Axe Lake	Hubbard	A	15.4 ft	303.26 acres	39 ft
95	Johnson Lake	Itasca	A	15.7 ft	434.03 acres	88 ft
96	Shemahgun Lake	Beltrami	A	49.2 ft	-	-
97	Ojibway Lake	Hubbard	A	15.8 ft	184.06 acres	22 ft
98	Kinney Lake	Beltrami	A	49.2 ft	-	-
99	Peysenske Lake	Hubbard	A	15 ft	-	-
100	Widow Lake	Cass	A	18.5 ft	197.5 acres	46 ft

Showing top 100 of 477 lakes by water quality grade.

All watersheds →All Minnesota lakes →