How many lakes are there in minnesota

Those lakes are defined as bodies of water 10 acres or more. Those are defined as bodies of water 2. Of those lakes, about 6, are named. If Wisconsin were to measure lakes like Minnesota, its lake count would be closer to 5, At the federal level, the U. Geological Survey does not have an official definition of lakes, but it does lump together ponds and lakes as water body features.

Finally, Minnesota still comes out ahead by counting surface area covered by lakes. But by adding what both states claim for Lake Superior and Michigan, Wisconsin has twice as much lake surface area.

Video Library. Best Of. It increases to 1, when all basins are counted. Four counties have no natural lakes listed in the inventory: Mower, Olmsted, Pipestone and Rock counties. The claim to fame is largely due to tourism organizations in the s to promote new tourists and immigrants to come to the state. The earliest references of the phrase comes from a speech at the Minnesota State Fair by a professor on September 11, published in the Worthington Advance on September 19, In his speech, which largely focused on the economics of farming in the state, he stated:.

Then we have thirty-eight rivers in the State, six of which are navigable within the State… Then come over 10, lakes, abounding in delicious fish. The phrase became frequently used by tourism-related publications around the s. Clark, Jr. Submit your question here. You make MPR News possible. Minnesota actually has 11, lakes, according to the Minnesota DNR.

If we adjusted the criteria to lakes larger than 2. And if we counted all lakes larger than 1 acre? And using U. Geological Survey Data for total bodies of water, lakes, ponds, rivers, whatever Minnesota has an astounding , bodies of water!

As of the last count, Minnesota has:. Lake Superior is the largest Great Lake in North America, the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area, and obviously, the largest lake in Minnesota. The largest lake entirely within the borders of Minnesota is Red Lake. In an interview with KARE 1 1, a Wisconsin DNR spokeman said Wisconsin officially counts 15, lakes, but admitted the state does not have a lower limit for lake size.

Minnesota, as we previously mentioned, does. In fact, Minnesotans take their lake standards so seriously that they only count bodies of water over 10 acres in size. So, all else being equal, who has more lakes?