LAKE MINNETONKA

'Lake Minnetonka' is a lake in the U.S. state of Minnesota. Throughout its recorded history, the lake has been a resort destination. It is located west-southwest of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The lake's irregular shape with numerous bays means that it has about of shoreline.

Contents

Early history

20th century

Recent history

Fishing on the lake

Geography

See also

References

External links

Early history

The first people of European descent known to have visited the lake were two 14-year-old boys from Fort Snelling, Joe Brown and Will Snelling. They found the lake in 1822 by paddling up Minnehaha Creek, though few people visited the lake in the following 30 years.
In 1852, the lake was given its name by Minnesota's territorial governor Alexander Ramsey. He had been told that American Indians in the area used a phrase sounding like ''minn-ni-tanka'', meaning “big water,” to refer to the lake. The same year, the first settlements were constructed around it, and in 1853, the first hotel was built.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the epic poem ''The Song of Hiawatha'' in 1855, which referred to Minnesota and landmarks of the area such as Minnehaha Falls. This gave the area national interest.
1861 saw the introduction of steamboats; the first one was the ''Governor Ramsey'', named to honor the man who named the lake. Following the Civil War, a rail line operated by St. Paul & Pacific Co. connected to the area in 1867.
The first inland steamboat to have electric lights, the ''City of St. Louis'', was built in Wayzata in 1881. The next year, the largest ship to ever sail the lake was launched; the ''Belle of Minnetonka'' was 300 feet long and could carry 2500 passengers. The 1880s marked the steamboats' heyday as tourist destinations. By 1892, the ''Belle'' stayed moored at her dock all summer long.

20th century

In 1905, Twin City Rapid Transit first connected streetcar lines to the lake. This marked a golden age for the lake, with more rapid growth as TCRT added more resorts to the area and launched their “streetcar boats.” Actually named Express Boats, they were steamboats that shared the appearance of streetcars. At first six, and then seven, such boats would take arriving streetcar passengers and steam them to over twenty different endpoints on the lake. For a time, one destination was the Big Island Amusement Park, about the same size as today's Valleyfair, but it only lasted about five years before it was shut down. Later, Excelsior Amusement Park had greater success, with seasonal operations running from 1925 through 1973.
President William Howard Taft made Lake Minnetonka his summer home in 1911, but business in the area had started going down again by that time. In 1926, most of the Express Boats were scuttled in deep water near the lake's Big Island. On October 26 of the same year, architect Frank Lloyd Wright was arrested for violating the Mann Act while vacationing at a cottage near the lake with a woman who would later become his wife.

As the century drew on, many visitors came, although some were unwanted. Environmental concerns started to become important after Curled Pondweed (''Potamogeton crispus L.'') was discovered in 1900. Following decades brought Purple Loosestrife in 1940 and Eurasian Water Milfoil (''Myriophyllum spicatum'') in 1987. The lake also experienced problems with pollution, both from sewage and fertilizer runoff. Lake Minnetonka is now closely monitored.
Even with the troubles, the lake remained a fairly popular destination, with tourist boats from one company or another still operating in the warmer months. One of the old streetcar boats that had been scuttled in 1926, the ''Minnehaha'', was even raised to the surface in 1980 so it could be restored. After many years of volunteer restorative work, it returned to limited service on the lake in 1996 as an exhibit of the Minnesota Transportation Museum, now part of the Museum of Lake Minnetonka.

Recent history

The lake is mentioned in the Prince film ''Purple Rain'' and a scene is featured in which Prince's love interest attempts to "purify" herself in the lake. After she has entered the water, Prince reveals that the water she has entered is not in fact Lake Minnetonka. Dave Chappelle (as Prince) mocked that part of the film in an episode of ''Chappelle's Show'', saying, "Why don't you purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka?" Since his rise to fame in the 1980s, Prince has had several enormous boats on the lake, and has had a home on the lake.
In 2005 Lake Minnetonka gained national attention due to the scandal involving members of the Minnesota Vikings football team. On October 6, 2005, during a cruise on a pair of chartered boats on Lake Minnetonka, certain members of the team were alleged to have performed and received sexual favors with a variety of individuals, leading to widespread criticism of the players and embarrassment within the organization.

Fishing on the lake

Lake Minnetonka is a premier location in the southern section of the state, and especially the metro area, for fishing tournaments. Its game species include yellow perch, sunfish, largemouth bass, northern pike, walleye, and especially muskellunge (or muskies). There are dozens of fishing tournaments every year, and several of the largest bass in the state have been taken from Lake Minnetonka. Regarding muskies, few lakes near Minneapolis have more, bigger fish. Big Island, a popular lounging island near Excelsior, holds many large fish. Common methods for Lake Minnetonka muskies include bucktails, surface lures and spoons.
According to a popular legend, a sturgeon in excess of in length has been sighted on more than one occasion in the lake. These sightings have persisted over the last 30 years. The sturgeon is often referred to as "Lou."

Geography

Gray's Bay Dam on the lake's east end helps to control the water level. This structure is also called the Headwaters Control Structure of Gray's Bay. The flow over the dam ranges from zero to 300 cubic feet per second or a daily rate of up to 26 million gallons. Evaporation from Lake Minnetonka can be as high as 50 million gallons a day. According the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District, annual evaporation from the lake is about 30 inches of water, or 11.5 billion gallons. This is countered by an average rate of 28 inches of rainfall, and 20 inches of run off water.

See also

★ Westonka

References

★ Lake Minnetonka History, accessed January 31, 2004

★ Minnesota DNR Lake Information Report -- Lake Minnetonka

External links

★ Lake Minnetonka Online

★ Westonka Historical Society

★ MoundWestonka.com

★ Minnehaha Creek Watershed District

★ Wayzata Yacht Club