Largest Lakes in United States

Lake Superior is a lake in central North America. The northernmost, westernmost, and highest of the Great Lakes, Lake Superior straddles the Canada–United States border with the Canadian province of Ontario to the north and east and the U.S. states of Minnesota to the west and Michigan and Wisconsin to the south. It is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area and the third-largest freshwater lake by volume. It drains into Lake Huron via St. Marys River, then through the lower Great Lakes to the St. Lawrence River and ultimately the Atlantic Ocean.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Superior (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Huron ( HURE-on, -⁠ən) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is shared on the north and east by the Canadian province of Ontario and on the south and west by the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the lake is derived from early French explorers who named it for the indigenous people they knew as Huron (Wyandot) inhabiting the region.

Hydrologically, Lake Huron comprises the eastern portion of Lake Michigan–Huron, having the same surface elevation as Lake Michigan, to which it is connected by the wide and deep Straits of Mackinac. Combined, Lake Michigan–Huron is the largest freshwater lake by area in the world. The Huronian glaciation was named from evidence collected from the Lake Huron region. The northern parts of the lake include the North Channel and Georgian Bay. Saginaw Bay is located in the southwest corner of the lake. The main inlet is the St. Marys River from Lake Superior, and the main outlet is through the St. Clair River toward Lake Erie. Lake Huron has a fairly large drainage basin covering parts of Michigan and Ontario. Water flows through Lake Huron faster than the other Great Lakes with a retention time of only 22 years.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Huron (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Michigan ( MISH-ig-ən) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume (1,180 cu mi; 4,900 km3) and depth (923 ft; 281 m) after Lake Superior and the third-largest by surface area (22,300 square miles; 57,757 km2), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that of Lake Huron through the wide and deep Straits of Mackinac, giving it the same surface elevation as its eastern counterpart; hydrologically, the two bodies are a single lake that is, by area, the largest freshwater lake in the world.

Lake Michigan is the only Great Lake located fully in the United States; the other four are shared between the U.S. and Canada. It is the world's largest lake, by area, located fully in one country, and is shared, from west to east, by the U.S. states of Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Ports along its shores include Chicago, Illinois; Gary, Indiana; Milwaukee and Green Bay, Wisconsin; and Muskegon, Michigan. To the north, the lake is flanked by long bays, including Green Bay in the northwest, and Grand Traverse and Little Traverse bays in the northeast.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Michigan (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Erie ( EER-ee) is the fourth-largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and also has the shortest average water residence time. At its deepest point, Lake Erie is 210 feet (64 m) deep, making it the only Great Lake whose deepest point is above sea level.

Located on the International Boundary between Canada and the United States, Lake Erie's northern shore is the Canadian province of Ontario, specifically the Ontario Peninsula, with the U.S. states of Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York on its western, southern, and eastern shores. These jurisdictions divide the surface area of the lake with water boundaries. The largest city on the lake is Cleveland, anchoring the third largest U.S. metro area in the Great Lakes region, after Greater Chicago and Metro Detroit. Other major cities along the lake shore include Buffalo, New York; Erie, Pennsylvania; and Toledo, Ohio.

Situated below Lake Huron, Erie's primary inlet is the Detroit River.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Erie (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Ontario (French: Lac Ontario) is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border spans the centre of the lake. On the Canadian side, the major cities are Kingston, Mississauga, Toronto, Hamilton, and St. Catharines. On the American side, the major cities are Rochester and Watertown.

As the last in the Great Lakes chain of freshwater lakes, Lake Ontario serves as the outlet to the Atlantic Ocean via the St. Lawrence River, comprising the western end of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Its primary inlet is the Niagara River from Lake Erie. The Long Sault control dam, primarily along with the Moses-Saunders Power Dam regulates the water level of the lake.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Ontario (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake of the Woods (French: lac des Bois; Ojibwe: Pikwedina Sagainan, lit. 'inland lake of the sand hills') is a lake occupying parts of the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba and the U.S. state of Minnesota. Lake of the Woods is over 70 miles (110 km) long and wide, containing more than 14,552 islands and 65,000 miles (105,000 km) of shoreline. It is fed by the Rainy River, Shoal Lake, Kakagi Lake and other smaller rivers. The lake drains into the Winnipeg River and then into Lake Winnipeg. Ultimately, its outflow goes north through the Nelson River to Hudson Bay.

Lake of the Woods is also the sixth largest freshwater lake located (at least partially) in the United States, after the five Great Lakes, and the 35th largest lake in the world by area. It separates a small land area of Minnesota from the rest of the United States. The Northwest Angle and Angle Township can be reached from the rest of Minnesota only by crossing the lake or by traveling through Canada. The Northwest Angle is the northernmost part of the contiguous United States. Its "northwesternmost point" served as a problematic landmark in treaties defining the international border.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake of the Woods (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere and the eighth-largest terminal lake in the world. It lies in the northern part of the U.S. state of Utah and has a substantial impact upon the local climate, particularly through lake-effect snow. It is a remnant of Lake Bonneville, a prehistoric body of water that covered much of western Utah.

The United States Geological Survey has estimated that the historical average size of the lake (1847-1986) covers about 1,700 square miles (4,400 km2). However, its area can fluctuate substantially due to its low average depth of 16 feet (4.9 m). In the 1980s, it reached a historic high of 3,300 square miles (8,500 km2), and the West Desert Pumping Project was established to mitigate flooding by pumping water from the lake into the Great Salt Lake Desert. In 2021, after years of sustained drought and increased water diversion upstream of the lake, it fell to its lowest recorded area at 950 square miles (2,500 km2), falling below the previous low set in 1963.

The three major tributaries, the Jordan, Weber, and Bear rivers, together deposit around 1.1 million tons of minerals in the lake per year.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Great Salt Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Saginaw Bay is a bay within Lake Huron located on the eastern side of the U.S. state of Michigan. It forms the space between Michigan's Thumb region and the rest of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. Saginaw Bay is 1,143 square miles (2,960 km2) in area. It is located in parts of five Michigan counties: Arenac, Bay, Huron, Iosco, and Tuscola.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Saginaw Bay (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Iliamna Lake or Lake Iliamna ( IL-ee-AM-nə; Yup'ik: Nanvarpak; Dena'ina Athabascan: Nila Vena) is a lake in southwest Alaska, at the north end of the Alaska Peninsula, between Kvichak Bay and Cook Inlet, about 100 miles (160 km) west of Seldovia, Alaska. It shares a name with the Iliamna River, which flows into it, and the nearby community of Iliamna, Alaska.

It is the largest lake in Alaska, 7th largest lake in the United States, and twenty-fourth in North America. Covering about 2,600 km2 (1,000 sq mi), Iliamna Lake is 77 miles (124 km) long and up to 22 miles (35 km) wide, with a maximum depth of 988 feet (301 m). Through the Kvichak River, its waters drain into Bristol Bay.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Iliamna Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Whitefish Bay is a large bay on the eastern end of Lake Superior between Michigan, United States; and Ontario, Canada. It is located between Whitefish Point in Michigan and Whiskey Point along the more rugged, largely wilderness Canadian Shield of Ontario. The international border runs through the bay, which is heavily used by shipping traffic northbound from and southbound to the Soo Locks. It was previously known as Tequamenon Bay in vintage maps and surveyor documents from the 18th and 19th centuries, named for the prominent Tahquamenon River whose mouth feeds into the bay.

The Whitefish Point Light marks the entry of the bay, Ile Parisienne Light is in the middle of the bay, and Gros Cap Reefs Light lies near the outlet of the bay and the approach to the Soo Locks at Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.

Whitefish Point Lighthouse is the oldest active light on Lake Superior. Part of the lighthouse station houses the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. It holds artifacts from the shipwrecks listed below and has information on the notable wreck of SS Edmund Fitzgerald in 1975, in which all 29 crew were lost.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Whitefish Bay (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Oahe () is a large reservoir behind the Oahe Dam on the Missouri River; it begins in central South Dakota and continues north into North Dakota in the United States. The lake has an area of 370,000 acres (1,500 km2) and a maximum depth of 205 ft (62 m). By volume, it is the fourth-largest reservoir in the US. Lake Oahe has a length of approximately 231 mi (372 km) and has a shoreline of 2,250 mi (3,620 km). 51 recreation areas are located along Lake Oahe, and 1.5 million people visit the reservoir every year. The lake is named for the 1874 Oahe Indian Mission.

Lake Oahe begins just north of Pierre, South Dakota and extends nearly as far north as Bismarck, North Dakota. Mobridge, South Dakota is located on the eastern shore of the central portion of the lake. Bridges over Lake Oahe include US Route 212 west of Gettysburg, South Dakota and US Route 12 at Mobridge. The former town of Forest City has been flooded beneath Lake Oahe, about 9 miles west of Gettysburg. Prehistoric archaeological sites have been explored in the area, including Molstad Village near Mobridge.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Oahe (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Sakakawea is a large reservoir in the north central United States, impounded in 1953 by Garrison Dam, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dam located in the Missouri River basin in central North Dakota. Named for the Shoshone-Hidatsa woman Sacagawea (who accompanied the Lewis and Clark Expedition), it is the largest man-made lake located entirely within North Dakota, the largest in the United States by surface area, and the third largest in the United States by volume, after Lake Mead and Lake Powell.

The lake is located about fifty miles (80 km) from the state capital of Bismarck; the distance by the Missouri River is about 75 miles (120 km). The lake's width averages between 2–3 miles (3–5 km), with a maximum of 14 miles (23 km) at Van Hook Arm. Lake Sakakawea marks the maximum southwest extent of glaciation during the ice age. The lake is located within the counties of: Dunn, McKenzie, McLean, Mercer, Mountrail, and Williams.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Sakakawea (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Okeechobee ( OH-kee-CHOH-bee) is the largest freshwater lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is the eighth-largest natural freshwater lake among the 50 states of the United States and the largest natural freshwater lake contained entirely within the contiguous 48 states, excluding Lake Michigan which is connected to Lake Huron. The name Okeechobee comes from the Hitchiti (the ancestral language of most of the Seminoles in Florida) words oki (water) and chubi (big).

Okeechobee covers 730 square miles (1,900 km2) and is exceptionally shallow for a lake of its size, with an average depth of only 9 feet (2.7 m). It is the largest lake in Florida and the southeastern United States, and is too large to see across. The Kissimmee River, located directly north of Lake Okeechobee, is the lake's primary source.

All of Lake Okeechobee was included in the boundaries of Palm Beach County when it was created in 1909. In 1963, the lake was divided among the five counties surrounding the lake: Glades, Okeechobee, Martin, Palm Beach, and Hendry counties. All five counties meet at one point near the center of the lake. It is the only point in the US where more than 4 counties meet.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Okeechobee (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Champlain ( sham-PLAYN; French: Lac Champlain, pronounced [lak ʃɑ̃plɛ̃] ) is a large natural freshwater lake in North America. With a length of 107 mi (172 km) and surface area over 500 sq mi (1,295 km2), it lies mostly between the U.S. states of New York and Vermont, but also extends north into the Canadian province of Quebec.

Burlington, Vermont, and Plattsburgh, New York, are the largest settlements on the lake, and towards the south lies the historic Fort Ticonderoga in New York. The Quebec portion is in the regional county municipalities of Le Haut-Richelieu and Brome-Missisquoi. There are numerous islands in the lake; the largest include Grand Isle, Isle La Motte and North Hero: all part of Grand Isle County, Vermont. Because of its connections both to the St. Lawrence Seaway via the Richelieu River, and to the Hudson River via the Champlain Canal, Lake Champlain is sometimes referred to as "The Sixth Great Lake".

The coastline is relatively undeveloped and hosts several state parks, including North Hero and Button Bay in Vermont, and Cumberland Bay in New York. Much of New York's shoreline is located within the larger Adirondack Park.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Champlain (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Rainy Lake (French: lac à la Pluie; Ojibwe: gojiji-zaaga'igan) is a freshwater lake with a surface area of 930 km2 (360 sq mi) that straddles the border between the United States and Canada. The Rainy River issues from the west side of the lake. Today it is harnessed to make hydroelectricity for United States (US) and Canadian locations. International Falls, Minnesota and the much smaller city of Ranier, Minnesota are situated opposite Fort Frances, Ontario, on either side of the Rainy River. Rainy Lake and Rainy River establish part of the boundary between the U.S. state of Minnesota and the Canadian province of Ontario.

Voyageurs National Park is located on the southeastern corner of the lake, where it connects with Kabetogama and Namakan lakes at Kettle Falls. Rainy Lake is part of an extremely large system of lakes forming the Hudson Bay drainage basin that stretches from west of Lake Superior north to the Arctic Ocean. The Rainy Lake watershed includes the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCA), portions of the Superior National Forest on the Us side of the border, and the Quetico Provincial Park on the Canadian side of the border.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Rainy Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake St. Clair (French: Lac Sainte-Claire) is a freshwater lake that lies between the Canadian province of Ontario and the U.S. state of Michigan. It was named in 1679 by French Catholic explorers after Saint Clare of Assisi, on whose feast day they first saw the lake.

It is part of the Great Lakes system (although not considered one of the five Great Lakes), and along with the St. Clair River and Detroit River, Lake St. Clair connects Lake Huron (to the north) with Lake Erie (to the south). It has a total surface area of about 430 square miles (1,100 km2) and an average depth of just 11 feet (3.4 m); to ensure an uninterrupted waterway, government agencies in both countries have maintained a 30-foot-deep (9.1 m) shipping channel through the shallow lake for more than a century.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake St. Clair (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Fort Peck Lake, or Lake Fort Peck, is a major reservoir in Montana, formed by the Fort Peck Dam on the Missouri River. The lake lies in the eastern prairie region of Montana approximately 140 miles (230 km) east of Great Falls and 120 miles (190 km) north of Billings, reaching into portions of six counties.

The dam and reservoir were built in the 1930s to enhance navigation on the Missouri River, supplying enough water downstream of the dam to provide for a 9-foot deep (2.7 m), 300-foot wide (91 m) navigation channel from Sioux City, Iowa, to the mouth of the Missouri just above St. Louis.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Fort Peck Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Teshekpuk Lake (Iñupiaq: Tasiqpak) is the largest lake in Arctic Alaska, at 22 miles (35 km) width on the Alaska North Slope within the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, South of Pitt Point, 12 miles (19 km) east of Harrison Bay, 80 miles (130 km) east of Point Barrow. The Teshekpuk Lake region is considered one of the most productive, diverse, and sensitive wetland ecosystems in the entire Arctic, habitat to a variety of arctic wildlife, including the resident Teshekpuk Lake caribou herd of 64,000 animals, large numbers of shorebirds and migratory waterfowl, for whom it is an essential part of the East Asian–Australasian Flyway site network.

The lake is threatened by salt water contamination from disappearing sea ice, as well as oil drilling in Alpine, Alaska, and by ConocoPhilipps Willow project.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Teshekpuk Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly saline endorheic lake in Riverside and Imperial counties in Southern California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the Salton Trough, which stretches to the Gulf of California in Mexico. The lake is about 15 by 35 miles (24 by 56 km) at its widest and longest. A 2023 report put the surface area at 318 square miles (823.6 km2). The Salton Sea became a resort destination in the 20th century, but saw die-offs of fish and birds in the 1980s due to contamination from farm runoff, and clouds of toxic dust in the 21st century as evaporation exposed parts of the lake bed.

Over millions of years, the Colorado River had flowed into the Imperial Valley and deposited alluvium (soil), creating fertile farmland, building up the terrain, and constantly moving its main course and river delta. For thousands of years, the river alternately flowed into the valley or diverted around it, creating either a salt lake called Lake Cahuilla or a dry desert basin, respectively. When the river diverted around the valley, the lake dried completely, as it did around 1580.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Salton Sea (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Powell is a reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona, United States. It is a major vacation destination visited by approximately two million people every year. It holds 24,322,000 acre-feet (3.0001×1010 m3) of water when full, second in the United States to only the downstream reservoir of Lake Mead – though Lake Mead has fallen below Lake Powell in size several times during the 21st century in terms of volume of water, depth, and surface area.

Lake Powell was created by the flooding of Glen Canyon by the Glen Canyon Dam, which also led to the 1972 creation of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, a popular summer destination of public land managed by the National Park Service. The reservoir is named for John Wesley Powell. This Civil War veteran explored the river via three wooden boats in 1869. It lies primarily in southern Utah, with a small portion in northern Arizona.

Lake Powell is a water storage facility for the Upper Basin states of the Colorado River Compact (Colorado, Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico).

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Powell (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Toledo Bend Reservoir is a reservoir on the Sabine River between Texas and Louisiana. The lake has an area of 185,000 acres (750 km2), the largest man-made body of water partially in both Louisiana and Texas, the largest in the South, and the fifth largest by surface acre in the United States. The dam is capable of generating 92 megawatts of electrical power. The dam itself is located in the northeast corner of Newton County, Texas; however, that county includes very little of the reservoir, as most of it extends northward into parts of Sabine and DeSoto parishes in Louisiana, and Sabine, Shelby, and Panola counties in Texas.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Toledo Bend Reservoir (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Mead is a reservoir formed by the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River in the Southwestern United States. It is located in the states of Nevada and Arizona, 24 mi (39 km) east of Las Vegas. It is the largest reservoir in the US in terms of water capacity. Lake Mead provides water to the states of Arizona, California, and Nevada as well as some of Mexico, providing sustenance to nearly 20 million people and large areas of farmland. Lake Mead fell to its lowest level since its original filling on 7 August 2026 (elevation 1040.40 ft) and has reached an elevation of only 1037.60 feet as of 9 October 2026.

At maximum capacity, Lake Mead is 112 miles (180 km) long, 532 feet (162 m) at its greatest depth, has a surface elevation of 1,229 feet (375 m) above sea level, has a surface area of 247 square miles (640 km2), and contains 28.23 million acre-feet (34.82 km3) of water.

The lake has remained below full capacity since 1983 owing to drought and increased water demand.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Mead (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lower Red Lake is an unorganized territory in Beltrami County, Minnesota, United States.The territory is located on the Red Lake Indian Reservation, and the town of Red Lake is located in the area. The population of the Lower Red Lake territory was 5,416 at the 2020 census.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lower Red Lake, Minnesota (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Winnebago (Menominee: Wenepekōw Nepēhsæh, Ojibwe: Wiinibiigoo-zaaga'igan, Oneida: kanyataláheleˀ) is a shallow freshwater lake in the north central United States, located in east central Wisconsin. At 137,700 acres (55,700 ha), it is the largest lake entirely within the state, covering an area of about 30 miles (48 km) by 10 miles (16 km) with 88 miles (142 km) of shoreline, an average depth of 15.5 feet (4.7 m), and a maximum depth of 21 feet (6.4 m). It has many shallow reefs along the west shore and a drop-off type shoreline on the east. There are several islands along the west shore.

The lake has two primary tributaries, the Wolf and Fox Rivers, which combine at Lake Butte des Morts. The Fox River flows east through Oshkosh and into Lake Winnebago at its west central shore, then flows out at the northwest shore, around Doty Island at Neenah-Menasha to Little Lake Butte des Morts. The river then flows northeast and empties into Green Bay and serves as part of the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway. Lake Winnebago is part of a larger system of lakes in Wisconsin known as the Winnebago Pool.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Winnebago (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Kentucky Lake is a major navigable reservoir along the Tennessee River in Kentucky and Tennessee. It was created in 1944 by the Tennessee Valley Authority's impounding of the Tennessee River via Kentucky Dam for flood control and hydroelectric power. The 160,309-acre (649 km2) lake is the largest artificial lake by surface area in the United States east of the Mississippi River, with 2,064 miles (3,322 km) of shoreline. Kentucky Lake has a flood storage capacity of 4,008,000 acre⋅ft (4.944 km3), more than 2.5 times the next largest lake in the TVA system.

Kentucky Lake provides a source for hydro-electric power and is a recreational destination. Along with Lake Barkley, it is one of the lakes alluded to by the name of Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Kentucky Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Mille Lacs Lake ( mə-LAKS, also called Lake Mille Lacs or Mille Lacs) is a large, shallow lake in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is located in the counties of Mille Lacs, Aitkin, and Crow Wing, roughly 75 miles (121 km) north of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.

Mille Lacs means "thousand lakes" in French. In the Ojibwe language of the people who historically occupied this area, the lake is called Misi-zaaga'igan ("grand lake").

Adapted from Wikipedia: Mille Lacs Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Tahoe () is a freshwater lake in the Sierra Nevada of the Western United States, straddling the border between California and Nevada. Lying at 6,225 ft (1,897 m) above sea level, Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America, and at 122,160,280 acre⋅ft (150.7 km3) it trails only the five Great Lakes as the largest by volume in the United States. Its depth is 1,645 ft (501 m), making it the second deepest in the United States after Crater Lake in Oregon (1,949 ft or 594 m).

The lake was formed about two million years ago as part of the Lake Tahoe Basin, and its present extent was shaped during the ice ages. It is known for the clarity of its water and the panorama of surrounding mountains on all sides. The area surrounding the lake is also referred to as Lake Tahoe, or simply Tahoe; its English name is derived from its Washo name, Dáʔaw. More than 75% of the lake's watershed is national forest land, covered by the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit of the United States Forest Service.

Lake Tahoe is a major tourist attraction in both Nevada and California. It is home to winter sports, summer outdoor recreation, and scenery enjoyed throughout the year.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Tahoe (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Upper Red Lake is an unorganized territory in Beltrami County, Minnesota, U.S. It is a part of the Red Lake Indian Reservation. The population was 25 at the 2020 census.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Upper Red Lake, Minnesota (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Flathead Lake (Salish: člq̓etkʷ, Ktunaxa: yawuʔnik̓ ʔa·kuq̓nuk) is a large natural lake in northwest Montana, United States.

The lake is a remnant of the ancient, massive glacial dammed lake, Lake Missoula, of the era of the last interglacial. Flathead Lake is a natural lake along the mainline of the Flathead River. It was dammed in 1930 by Kerr Dam at its outlet on Polson Bay, slightly raising the lake level; the dam generates electricity. The hydroelectric has been owned and operated by the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes since 2015. It is one of the cleanest lakes in the populated world for its size and type.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Flathead Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Malheur Lake ( MAL-hure) is one of the lakes in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County in the U.S. state of Oregon. Located about 18 miles (29 km) southeast of Burns, the lake is marsh fed by the Donner und Blitzen River from the south and the Silvies River from the north. Malheur Lake periodically overflows into Mud Lake to the west and thence to Harney Lake, the sink of Harney Basin.

The western area of Malheur Lake consists of ponds separated by small islands and peninsulas. The lake's central and eastern sections are more open. The generally shallow water is suitable habitat for migratory birds, waterfowl, and aquatic plants.

As is typical of Great Basin lakes, Malheur Lake's surface area changes dramatically with the local weather, climate, and season because the lake is in a very flat basin. A large influence on the water volume is local snow melt, especially from Steens Mountain, south of the lake. For example, large snowpacks in the mid-1980s caused the lake to expand from approximately 67 to 160 square miles (170 to 410 km2) within three years, flooding usually dry areas and damaging a branch of the Oregon Eastern Railway.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Malheur Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Leech Lake (translated from the Ojibwe language Gaa-zagaskwaajimekaag: Lake abundant with bloodsuckers) is a lake located in north central Minnesota, United States. It is southeast of Bemidji, located mainly within the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, and completely within the Chippewa National Forest. It is used as a reservoir. The lake is the third largest in Minnesota, covering 102,947.83 acres (416.6151 km2) with 195 miles (314 km) of shoreline and has a maximum depth of 156 feet (48 m).

Adapted from Wikipedia: Leech Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Texoma is one of the largest reservoirs in the United States, the 12th-largest US Army Corps of Engineers' (USACE) lake, and the largest in USACE Tulsa District. Lake Texoma is formed by Denison Dam on the Red River in Bryan County, Oklahoma, and Grayson County, Texas, about 726 miles (1,168 km) upstream from the mouth of the river. It is located at the confluence of the Red and Washita Rivers. The project was completed in 1944. The damsite is about 5 miles (8.0 km) northwest of Denison, Texas, and 15 miles (24 km) southwest of Durant, Oklahoma. Lake Texoma is the most developed and most popular lake within the USACE Tulsa District, attracting around 6 million visitors a year. Oklahoma has more of the lake within its boundaries than Texas.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Texoma (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Francis Case is a large reservoir impounded by Fort Randall Dam on the Missouri River in south-central South Dakota, United States. The lake has an area of 102,000 acres (410 km2) and a maximum depth of 140 ft (43 m). Lake Francis Case has a length of approximately 107 mi (172 km) and has a shoreline of 540 mi (870 km). The lake is the eleventh-largest reservoir in the United States and is located within the counties of: Charles Mix, Gregory, Lyman, Brule, and Buffalo. The lake stretches from Pickstown, South Dakota upstream to Big Bend Dam.

The reservoir is named for former United States Senator Francis Higbee Case, of South Dakota.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Francis Case (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Pend Oreille ( POND-ə-RAY) in the northern Idaho Panhandle is the largest lake in the U.S. state of Idaho and the 40th-largest lake by area in the United States, with a surface area of 148 square miles (380 km2). It is 69 kilometres (43 mi) long, and 1,152 feet (351 m) deep in some regions, making it the fifth-deepest in the nation and having a volume of 43,939,940 acre feet = 54 km3. The lake is fed by the Clark Fork River and the Pack River, and drains into the Pend Oreille River, as well as subsurfacely into the Spokane Valley–Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer.

It is surrounded by national forests and a few small towns, with the largest population on the lake at Sandpoint. The majority of the shoreline is non-populated and all but the southern tip of the lake is in Bonner County. The southern tip is in Kootenai County and is home to Farragut State Park, formerly the Farragut Naval Training Station during World War II, of which a small part is still active and conducts U.S. Navy acoustic underwater submarine research.

The surrounding forests consist of ponderosa pine, Douglas fir, red cedar, poplar, quaking aspen, hemlock, paper birch and western larch.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Pend Oreille (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Moosehead Lake is a deep, coldwater lake located in Piscataquis County in Northwestern Maine. It is the largest lake in Maine and the largest lake wholly within New England, the second-largest lake in New England after Lake Champlain, and the largest mountain lake in the eastern United States. Situated in the mostly undeveloped Longfellow Mountains, the lake is the source of the Kennebec River. Several rural townships border the lake. Greenville is by far the largest town on the lake, with a small downtown area that has banks, shops, and restaurants. There are over 80 islands in the lake, the largest being Sugar Island and Deer Island to the west being the second largest.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Moosehead Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Yellowstone Lake is the largest body of water in Wyoming and the largest in Yellowstone National Park. The lake is 7,732 feet (2,357 m) above sea level and covers 136 square miles (350 km2) with 110 miles (180 km) of shoreline. While the average depth of the lake is 139 ft (42 m), its greatest depth is at least 394 ft (120 m). Yellowstone Lake is the largest freshwater lake above 7,000 ft (2,100 m) in North America.

In winter, ice nearly 3 ft (0.91 m) thick covers much of the lake except where shallow water covers hot springs. The lake freezes over by early December and can remain frozen until late May or early June.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Yellowstone Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Clark (Denaʼina: Qizhjeh Vena) is a lake in southwest Alaska. It drains through Six Mile Lake and the Newhalen River into Iliamna Lake. The lake is about 64 km (40 mi) long and about 8 km (5.0 mi) wide.

Lake Clark was named for John W. Clark, chief of the Nushagak trading post and the first American non-Native to see the lake, when an expedition financed by a weekly magazine reached it in February 1891. The Dena'ina Athabascan name is Qizjeh Vena which means "place where people gather lake". The lake is within Lake Clark National Park and Preserve.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Clark (Alaska) (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Utah Lake is a shallow freshwater lake in the center of Utah County, Utah, United States. It lies in Utah Valley, surrounded by the Provo-Orem metropolitan area. The lake's only river outlet, the Jordan River, is a tributary of the Great Salt Lake. Evaporation accounts for 42% of the lake's outflow, which leaves the lake slightly saline. The elevation of the lake is at 4,489 feet (1,368 m) above sea level. If the lake's water level rises above that, the pumps and gates on the Jordan River are left open.

The first European to see Utah Lake was Father Silvestre Vélez de Escalante in 1776. He stayed with the Timpanogots band of Ute Tribe for three days. Mormon settlers later settled near the lake beginning in 1849, with the Timpanogots becoming mostly displaced from the area by 1872. The native fish species of the lake were overharvested by the settlers and subsequently restocked with non-native species.

Although thirteen species of fish were native to the lake, only the Utah sucker and the previously critically endangered, now threatened, June sucker remain. The dominant species in the lake is the common carp, introduced in 1883 as an alternative to the overharvested native fish.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Utah Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Upper Klamath Lake (sometimes called Klamath Lake) (Klamath-Modoc: ?ews, 'lake') is a large, shallow freshwater lake east of the Cascade Range in south-central Oregon in the United States. The largest body of fresh water by surface area in Oregon, it is approximately 25 miles (40 km) long and 8 miles (13 km) wide and extends northwest from the city of Klamath Falls. It sits at an average elevation of 4,140 feet (1,260 m).

In the early 20th century, most of the wetlands and marshes surrounding the lake were drained for agricultural purposes, damaging the larger habitat. The lake's water has been used to support the federal Klamath Project for irrigation by local farmers for a century. The lake depth fluctuates due to regulation of its water supply, averaging between 8 and 50 feet (2.4 and 15.2 m) deep. The lake level is kept within 4,137 to 4,143 ft (1,261 to 1,263 m) above sea level to ensure a viable fishery in the lake and to protect coho salmon in the Klamath River below the lake.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Upper Klamath Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Wheeler Lake is located in the northern part of the state of Alabama in the United States, between Rogersville and Huntsville. Created by Wheeler Dam along the Tennessee River, it stretches 60 miles (97 km) from Wheeler Dam to Guntersville Dam. It is Alabama's second largest lake at 68,300 acres (276 km2), only a few hundred acres smaller than Alabama's Guntersville Lake, which is 69,100 acres (280 km2) and is separated by the Guntersville dam from the lake.

Decatur operates the busiest port along the Tennessee River on this lake, Port of Decatur.

Wheeler Lake is a major recreation and tourist center, attracting about four million visits a year. Along with camping, boating, and fishing, visitors enjoy the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge several miles upstream from the dam.

The lake and dam are named for General Joseph "Joe" Wheeler.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Wheeler Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Barkley, a 58,000-acre (230 km2) reservoir in Livingston County, Lyon County and Trigg County in Kentucky and extending into Stewart County and Houston County in Tennessee, was impounded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1966 upon the completion of Barkley Dam. Both the lake and the dam are named for Vice President Alben Barkley, a Kentucky native.

The dam impounds the Cumberland River near Grand Rivers, Kentucky, approximately 38 miles (61 km) upstream from where the Cumberland empties into the Ohio River. One mile (1.6 km) above the dam is a canal connecting Lake Barkley with Kentucky Lake, forming one of the greatest freshwater recreational complexes in the country. The lakes run parallel courses for more than 50 miles (80 km), with the Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area located between them.

Lake Barkley is 134 miles (216 km) long with a shoreline measuring 1,004 miles (1,616 km). The lake's level is maintained at different levels throughout the year for flood control purposes. Summer pool, 359 ft (109 m) above sea level, is normally reached by May 1.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Barkley (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The John H. Kerr Reservoir (often called Kerr Lake in North Carolina and Bugg's Island Lake in Virginia) is a reservoir along the border of the U.S. states of North Carolina and Virginia. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers constructed the John H. Kerr Dam across the Roanoke River between 1947 and 1952 to produce hydroelectricity as well as for flood control. Kerr Lake is the largest lake in Virginia, with 850 miles (1,370 km) of shoreline located in Vance, Granville, and Warren counties in North Carolina, as well as Mecklenburg, Charlotte, and Halifax counties in Virginia. At its maximum capacity, it covers approximately 50,000 acres (200 km2) and is one of the largest reservoirs in the Southeastern United States. The name honors its Congressional sponsor, John H. Kerr, a North Carolina Democrat who supported creation of the lake. The lake supports recreational tourism in North Carolina and Virginia as described below.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Kerr Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Lanier (officially Lake Sidney Lanier) is a reservoir in the northern portion of the U.S. state of Georgia. It was created by the completion of Buford Dam on the Chattahoochee River in 1956, and is also fed by the waters of the Chestatee River. The lake encompasses 38,000 acres (15,000 ha) or 59 mi2 (150 km2) of water, and 692 mi (1,114 km) of shoreline at normal level, a "full pool" of 1,071 ft (326 m) above mean sea level and the exact shoreline varies by resolution according to the coastline paradox. Named for Confederate veteran and poet Sidney Lanier, which has caused recent renaming controversies and public debate. It was built and is operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for flood control and water supplies. Its construction destroyed more than 50,000 acres (20,000 ha) of farmland and displaced more than 250 families, 15 businesses, and relocated 20 cemeteries along with their remains in the process.

It is patrolled by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (GDNR), as well as local law enforcement. The states of Georgia, Alabama, and Florida all have rights to the water of the reservoir, as it feeds rivers going through those areas.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Lanier (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Amistad Reservoir (Spanish: Presa Amistad) is a reservoir on the Rio Grande at its confluence with the Devils River 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Del Rio, Texas. The lake is bounded by Val Verde County on the United States side of the international border and by the state of Coahuila on the Mexican side of the border; the American shoreline forms the Amistad National Recreation Area. The reservoir was formed in 1969 by the construction of Amistad Dam. The dam and lake are managed jointly by the governments of the United States and Mexico through the International Boundary and Water Commission. The name of the dam and lake is the Spanish word for "friendship". The reservoir is also known as Lake Amistad.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Amistad Reservoir (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Winnibigoshish is a body of water in north central Minnesota in the Chippewa National Forest. Its name comes from the Ojibwe language Wiinibiigoonzhish, a diminutive and pejorative form of Wiinibiig, meaning "filthy water" (i.e., "brackish water"). The name is related in structure to Lake Winnipeg and to the Algonquian name for Lake Winnebago, which the Ho-chunk (Winnebago) Nation was named after.

The Lake's area of 67,000 acres makes it the fourth largest in Minnesota. The headwaters of the Mississippi River begin at Lake Itasca (see Mississippi River Basin map); where it flows through Winnibigoshish, the Mississippi is at its widest - more than 11 miles.

The former Winnibigoshish Township (now unorganized), located on the north shore of Lake Winnibigoshish, in Itasca County, Minnesota, was named after this lake.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Winnibigoshish (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The American Falls Dam is a concrete gravity-type dam in the western United States, located near American Falls, Idaho, on river mile 714.7 of the Snake River. The dam and reservoir are a part of the Minidoka Project on the Snake River Plain and are used primarily for flood control, irrigation, and recreation. When the original dam was built in the 1920s by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the residents of American Falls were forced to relocate three-quarters of their town to make room for the reservoir.

A second dam was completed in 1978 and the original structure was demolished. Although the dam itself is located in Power County, its reservoir also stretches northeastward into both Bingham County and Bannock County.

Adapted from Wikipedia: American Falls Dam (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Moultrie is a large man-made lake in South Carolina. Created in the 1940s by a state utility project to provide electricity to rural SC by damming the Santee River, it covers more than 60,000 acres (240 km2). The third largest lake in the state, it provides a wide variety of recreational opportunities, including fishing.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Moultrie (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Winnipesaukee () is the largest lake in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, located in the Lakes Region at the foothills of the White Mountains. It is approximately 21 miles (34 km) long (northwest-southeast) and from 1 to 9 miles (1.6 to 14.5 km) wide (northeast-southwest), covering 69 square miles (179 km2)—71 square miles (184 km2) when Paugus Bay is included—with a maximum depth of 180 feet (55 m). The center area of the lake is called The Broads.

The lake contains at least 264 islands, half of which are less than 0.25 acres (0.10 ha) in size, and is indented by several peninsulas, yielding a total shoreline of approximately 288 miles (463 km). The driving distance around the lake is 63 miles (101 km). It is 504 feet (154 m) above sea level. Winnipesaukee is the third-largest lake in New England after Lake Champlain and Moosehead Lake.

Outflow is regulated by the Lakeport Dam in Lakeport, New Hampshire, on the Winnipesaukee River.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Winnipesaukee (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Oneida Lake is the largest lake entirely within New York state, with a surface area of 79.8 square miles (207 km2).

The lake is located northeast of Syracuse and near the Great Lakes. It feeds the Oneida River, a tributary of the Oswego River, which flows into Lake Ontario. From the earliest times until the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, the lake was part of an important waterway connecting the Atlantic seaboard of North America to the continental interior.

The lake is about 21 miles (34 km) long and about 5 miles (8.0 km) wide with an average depth of 22 feet (6.7 m). The shoreline is about 55 miles (89 km). Portions of six counties and 69 communities are in the watershed. Oneida Creek, which flows past the cities of Oneida and Sherrill, empties into the southeast part of the lake, at South Bay. While not geologically considered one of the Finger Lakes, Oneida Lake, because of its proximity, is referred by some as their "thumb".

Adapted from Wikipedia: Oneida Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Chelan ( shə-LAN) is a narrow, 50.5 mi (81.3 km) long lake in Chelan County, north-central Washington state, U.S. It is an overdeepened lake and resembles a fjord, with an average width of 1.3 mi (2.1 km). Near its upper end, the lake surface lies more than 6,600 ft (2,000 m) below peaks less than 3 mi (4.8 km) away. Before 1927, Lake Chelan was the largest natural lake in the state, in terms of both surface area and water volume. Upon the completion of Lake Chelan Dam in 1927, the elevation of the lake was increased by 21 ft (6.4 m) to its present maximum-capacity elevation of 1,100 ft (340 m).

With a maximum depth of 1,486 ft (453 m), Lake Chelan is the third deepest lake in the United States behind Crater Lake, the deepest, and Lake Tahoe, the second deepest. Because of overdeepening, the sides of this lake drop steeply to its bottom. The deepest part of Lake Chelan lies as much as 436 ft (133 m) below sea level. In places, the bedrock floor of the valley occupied by Lake Chelan, which is buried by Pleistocene glacial and lacustrine sediments, lies at least 1,529 ft (466 m) below sea level.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Chelan (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Gaston is a reservoir in the eastern United States. Part of the lake is in the North Carolina counties of Halifax, Northampton, and Warren. The part extending into Virginia lies in Brunswick and Mecklenburg counties. Lake Gaston is roughly 35 miles (56 km) long and covers over 20,000 acres (81 km2), with 350 miles (560 km) of shoreline.

The area surrounding the lake is home to more than 150,000 residents. The nearest towns are Littleton and Roanoke Rapids in North Carolina, and Clarksville and South Hill in Virginia.

The lake is not federally owned. It was formed in 1963 when the Virginia Electric Power Company (VEPCO) built Gaston Dam on the Roanoke River to generate hydroelectric power for Dominion Resources, which owns the lake. The dam is located on the North Carolina side and generates electricity for Dominion North Carolina Power, which is the North Carolina operating company of Dominion Resources. The dam includes four hydroelectric generators, with a total generating capacity of 224 megawatts.

Lake Gaston is fed by water from Kerr Lake upstream and supplies water to Roanoke Rapids Lake downstream, a smaller predecessor to Lake Gaston.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Gaston (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Petenwell is an artificial lake on the Wisconsin River in central Wisconsin. It is located in Adams, Juneau, and Wood counties next to Castle Rock Lake. It covers over 23,000 acres (93 km2) and is 42 feet (13 m) deep.

Lake Petenwell is Wisconsin's second largest lake entirely within its borders at 23,040 acres (93.2 km2) or approximately 36 square miles, behind Lake Winnebago. It was created in 1948 by the Wisconsin River Power Company with the construction of a dam across the Wisconsin River near Necedah. It has a maximum depth of 42 feet (13 m) and is used for water skiing, sailing and fishing. Private lakefront property is very limited as most of the virgin shoreline is undeveloped forest. Wildlife includes wintering bald eagles. Game fish include walleye, northern pike, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, sturgeon, catfish, panfish, and muskellunge.

The area around the lake has restaurants, a community theater, a golf course and two casinos.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Petenwell Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Chesuncook Lake is a reservoir in Piscataquis County, Maine, within the North Maine Woods. The lake was formed by the damming of the West Branch Penobscot River by dams built in 1835, 1903, and 1916 respectively. It is approximately 22 miles (35 km) long and 1–4 miles (1.6–6.4 km) wide, with a surface area of 25,183 acres (101.91 km2) and a maximum depth of 150 feet (46 m). It is the third-largest body of fresh water in Maine. The lake is on the Northern Forest Canoe Trail.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Chesuncook Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Harney Lake is a shallow alkali lake basin located in southeast Oregon, United States, approximately 30 miles (48 km) south of the city of Burns. The lake lies within the boundary of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and is the lowest point in the Blitzen Valley drainage.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Harney Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Kissimmee is a lake located about 15 mi (24 km) east of Lake Wales, Florida, US. The lake is almost entirely in Osceola County, but the western shore, and a small part of the lake, is in Polk County.

Lake Kissimmee State Park is rich with wildlife, including bald eagles, white tailed deer, alligators, ospreys, bobcats, turkeys, and sandhill cranes. The main attraction is its "cow camp" where visitors can learn about 1876 era Florida cowboys.

The Joe Overstreet Road access to the lake is an internationally known area for birdwatching, with sandhill cranes, introduced whooping cranes, bald eagles, black vultures, and shorebirds prominent.

There are at least five islands in the lake. The largest is Brahma Island in the south. It is followed in size by Sturm Island in the north, which is separated from the mainland only by a narrow waterway. The other islands are Bird Island, Rabbit Island and Ox Island in the eastern part of the lake. Also Ox Island is separated from the mainland only by a very narrow waterway.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Kissimmee (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Smith Mountain Lake is a large reservoir in the Roanoke Region of Virginia, United States, located southeast of the City of Roanoke and southwest of Lynchburg. The lake was created in 1963 by the Smith Mountain Dam impounding the Roanoke River. The majority of the south shore of the lake lies in Franklin County while a small portion, including access to the dam, lies in Pittsylvania County. Bedford County makes up the northern half of the lake, with the Roanoke River as the dividing line. The lake has become a popular recreation spot and has also experienced significant development in the last decade. It is the largest lake contained entirely within the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Smith Mountain Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Flaming Gorge Reservoir is the largest reservoir in Wyoming, on the Green River, impounded behind the Flaming Gorge Dam. Construction on the dam began in 1958 and was completed in 1964. The reservoir stores 3,788,900 acre-feet (4.6735×109 m3) of water when measured at an elevation of 6,040 feet (1,841 m) above sea-level (maximum).

Adapted from Wikipedia: Flaming Gorge Reservoir (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Cayuga Lake ( kə-YOO-ghə, kay-YOO-ghə, or kye-YOO-ghə) is a Finger Lake in central New York state. Spanning three counties - Cayuga, Seneca, and Tompkins - it is the longest, second largest (in surface area, marginally smaller than Seneca), and second largest in volume. It is just under 39 miles (63 km) long, with an average width of 1.7 miles (2.8 km), and is 3.5 mi wide (5.6 km) at its widest point, near Aurora. It is approximately 435 ft deep (133 m) at its deepest point, and has over 95 miles (153 km) of shoreline.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Cayuga Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Seminole (, SEM-i-nohl) is a reservoir located in the southwest corner of Georgia along its border with Florida, maintained by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The Chattahoochee and Flint rivers join in the lake, before flowing from the Jim Woodruff Lock and Dam, which impounds the lake, as the Apalachicola River. The lake contains 37,500 acres (152 km2) of water, and has a shoreline of 376 mi (605 km). The fish in Lake Seminole include largemouth bass, crappie, chain pickerel, catfish, striped bass and other species. American alligators, snakes and various waterfowl are also present in the lake, which is known for its goose hunting.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Seminole (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Canyon Ferry Lake is a reservoir on the Missouri River 20 miles east of Helena, Montana near Townsend, Montana. It is Montana's third largest body of water, covers 33,534 acres (13,571 ha) and has 76 miles (122 km) of shore. It was formed by the building of Canyon Ferry Dam, which was completed in 1954 and has been used for electricity, irrigation, and flood control since.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Canyon Ferry Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Shasta Lake, also popularly known as Lake Shasta, is a reservoir in Shasta County, California, United States. It began to store water in 1944 due to the impounding of the Sacramento River by Shasta Dam, the ninth-tallest dam in the U.S.

Shasta Lake is a key facility of the Central Valley Project and provides flood control for the Sacramento Valley, downstream of the dam. Water outflow generates power through the Shasta Powerplant and is subsequently used for irrigation and municipal purposes.

The reservoir lies within the Whiskeytown–Shasta–Trinity National Recreation Area, operated by the Shasta–Trinity National Forest.

The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) has formed a safe-eating advisory for fish caught in the lake, based on levels of mercury and PCBs found in local species. The Shasta-Keswick Reservoir system is significantly contaminated with heavy metals, primarily due to contributions from four streams. Three of these streams contain acid mine drainage, with Spring Creek being the most notable contributor, releasing high concentrations of cadmium, copper and zinc into the water.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Shasta Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Apopka is the fourth largest lake in the U.S. state of Florida. It is located 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Orlando, mostly within the bounds of Orange County, although the western part is in Lake County. Fed by a natural spring, rainfall and stormwater runoff, water from Lake Apopka flows through the Apopka-Beauclair Canal and into Lakes Beauclair and Dora. From Lake Dora, water flows into Lake Eustis, then into Lake Griffin and then northward into the Ocklawaha River, which flows into the St. Johns River. Multiple parks or nature trails are present around the lake including Magnolia Park, Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive, Ferndale Preserve, Oakland Nature Preserve, Dr. Bradford Memorial Park, and Newton Park, named for A. B. Newton.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Apopka (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Sebago Lake (Sih-BAY-Goh) is the deepest and second-largest lake in the U.S. state of Maine. The lake is 316 feet (96 m) deep at its deepest point, with a mean depth of 107 feet (33 m). Sebago is the deepest lake wholly contained within the entire New England region. Along with Lake Champlain, Sebago is one of the only lakes in the area that does not consistently freeze solid during the winter months, with total ice cover occurring for only a short period of time every few winters. Sebago covers about 50 square miles (129 km2) in surface area and the surface is around 270 feet (82 m) above sea level, so the deep bottom is below the present sea level. It is in Cumberland County, and bordered by the towns of Casco, Naples, Raymond, Sebago, Standish and Windham. The seasonally occupied town of Frye Island is on an island in the lake. Sebago Lake and the surrounding area is known for its erratic and sudden changes in weather during all seasons, likely due to its proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and to Mt. Washington, a very notorious extreme weather hotspot. The name comes from the Abenaki sobagoo, meaning "it is the sea" or "it resembles the sea".

Adapted from Wikipedia: Sebago Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake McConaughy (known locally and affectionately as Lake Mac) is a reservoir on the North Platte River. It is located 9 miles (14 km) north of Ogallala, Nebraska, United States, near U.S. Highway 26 and Nebraska Highway 61. The reservoir was named for Charles W. McConaughy, a grain merchant and mayor of Holdrege, Nebraska, one of the leading promoters of the project. Although he did not live to see the completion of the project, his leadership and perseverance eventually culminated in a public power and irrigation project that helped Nebraska become one of the nation's leading agricultural states.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake McConaughy (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Oroville is a reservoir formed by the Oroville Dam impounding the Feather River, located in Butte County, northern California. The lake is situated 5 miles (8 km) northeast of the city of Oroville, within the Lake Oroville State Recreation Area, in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Known as the second-largest reservoir in California, Lake Oroville is treated as a keystone facility within the California State Water Project by storing water, providing flood control, recreation, freshwater releases to assist in controlling the salinity intrusion into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and protecting fish and wildlife.

The lake is a popular nationally renowned bass fishing location, while coho salmon are stocked from the Feather River Fish Hatchery. This hatchery is a main component of Lake Oroville.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Oroville (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Istokpoga is a 26,762.9-acre (108.306 km2) freshwater lake in Highlands County, Florida. It is fed by two creeks, Arbuckle Creek and Josephine Creek. The oblong-shaped lake is approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) wide by 10 miles (16 km) long. It is considered the fifth largest lake in the state of Florida. Despite its area, it is very shallow, with an average depth of only 4 feet (1.2 m). Maximum depth is 10 feet (3.0 m). As a result, boaters must be cautious to not become stranded in muck near the shore line. Bass and pontoon boats are the most commonly used watercraft, with some use of airboats. With such shallowness, this lake is extremely dangerous for boaters during windstorms, as the waves get quite high.

Boating and fishing are popular activities at this lake. There are at least half a dozen fish camps on Lake Istokpoga. Several of these fish camps book visitors for fishing trips and they also have cabins and hook up for campers, for overnight stays. The amenities on the lake are 5 public boat ramps and 2 public parks, one on the lake's north side and the other on the south east corner.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Istokpoga (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Meredith is a reservoir formed by Sanford Dam on the Canadian River at Sanford, Texas. It is about 30 miles (48 km) northeast of Amarillo, Texas in the Texas Panhandle. It is named for A.A. Meredith, the former city manager of Borger, Texas. It historically was a major source of drinking water for Amarillo and Lubbock, Texas, located about 150 miles (240 km) to the south along with many other towns in between and nearby. Sanford Dam was constructed starting in 1962 with completion in 1965. In 2003, the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority announced that it would reduce allocations to its member cities due to an ongoing drought and a continued drop in the water level in the reservoir. As of 2008, the lake continued to hit record lows, and most of the water supplied by CRMWA is now coming from wells in Roberts County. In 2011, water withdrawals from Lake Meredith temporarily ceased and on August 7, 2013, the lake reached its all-time low 26.14 feet (7.97 m). The record high capacity was in April 1973 when the lake was 101.85 feet (31.04 m) deep. Lake depth as of October 14, 2017 was 73.12 feet (22.29 m) deep.

Lake depth as of June 17, 2025 was 78.27 feet (23.86 m) deep.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Meredith (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Trinity Lake, previously called Clair Engle Lake, is a reservoir on the Trinity River formed by the Trinity Dam and located in Trinity County, California, United States. The dam was built by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The lake's capacity is 2,447,650 acre⋅ft (3,019.13 GL), making it one of the largest reservoirs in California. The lake's surface is at 2,370 ft (720 m) above MSL. Trinity Lake captures and stores water for the Central Valley Project, which provides the Central Valley with water for irrigation and produces hydroelectric power. This lake is known for its many small arms, glassy inlets, and good water-skiing conditions.

After the death in office of California United States Senator Clair Engle in 1964, the lake was renamed after him. The name change never received wide popularity and the name was returned to the original name.

The lake is serviced by three marinas: Trinity Alps Marina located on the southern end in view of the Dam; Cedar Stock marina on the Stuart Fork arm on the west end of the lake; and Trinity Center marina at the northern end of the main arm of the lake. Most of the marinas rent houseboats to vacationers year round.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Trinity Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Boysen Reservoir is a reservoir formed by Boysen Dam, an earth-fill dam on the Wind River in the central part of the U.S. state of Wyoming. It is near the town of Shoshoni in Fremont County. The dam was constructed between 1947 and 1952 at the mouth of Wind River Canyon, just upstream from a previous dam that had been built by Asmus Boysen in 1908 on land he had leased from the Shoshone and Arapaho tribes. The dam and much of the reservoir are physically located on the Wind River Indian Reservation.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Boysen Reservoir (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Conchas Lake is a 25-mile (40 km) long reservoir in northeastern New Mexico, behind Conchas Dam on the Canadian River. The lake has an elevation of 4,200 feet (1,300 meters) and a surface area of 9,600 acres.

Conchas Dam was completed in 1939 by the United States Army Corps of Engineers.

Adjacent to the lake is Conchas Lake State Park, which is divided into two separate areas, north and south. The state park has nine public boat ramps: five in the north area and four in the south area. The lake contains walleye, largemouth bass, white bass, shad, flathead catfish, channel catfish, bluegill, and crappie. The south area is located between the town of Conchas and Hooverville. Visitors can access the lake via New Mexico State Road 104, at mile marker 75, 29 miles (47 km) northwest of Tucumcari and 75 miles (121 km) southeast of Las Vegas.

The Conchas Lake Airport is located on NM 104 east of the lake, and Conchas Lake Seaplane Base is located 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) north of Conchas Dam.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Conchas Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Mohave is a reservoir on the Colorado River between the Hoover Dam and Davis Dam in Cottonwood Valley defining the border between Nevada and Arizona in the United States. This 67-mile (108 km) stretch of the Colorado River flows past Boulder City, Nelson, Searchlight, Cottonwood Cove, Cal-Nev-Ari, and Laughlin to the west in Nevada and Willow Beach and Bullhead City to the east in Arizona. A maximum width of 4 miles (6.4 km) wide and an elevation of 647 feet (197 m), Lake Mohave encompasses 28,260 acres (114.4 km2) of water. As Lake Mead lies to the north of the Hoover Dam, Lake Mohave and adjacent lands forming its shoreline are part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area administered by the U.S. National Park Service.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Mohave (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Havasu ( HAH-və-soo) is a large reservoir formed by Parker Dam on the Colorado River, on the border between San Bernardino County, California, and Mohave County, Arizona. Lake Havasu City sits on the Arizonan side of the lake with its Californian counterpart of Havasu Lake directly across the lake. The reservoir has an available capacity of 619,400 acre-feet (0.7640 km3). The concrete arch dam was built by the United States Bureau of Reclamation between 1934 and 1938. The lake's primary purpose is to store water for pumping into two aqueducts. Prior to the dam construction, the area was home to the Mojave people. The lake was named (in 1939) after the Mojave word for blue. In the early 19th century, it was frequented by beaver trappers. Spaniards also began to mine the areas along the river.

Lake Havasu is legally and structurally mandated to maintain a near-constant water elevation between 445 and 450 feet, even during severe Colorado River droughts. As a critical extraction point for major aqueducts, upstream reservoirs like Lake Mead and Lake Powell must absorb basin-wide water deficits to keep Lake Havasu functional.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Havasu (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Logan Martin Lake is a reservoir located in east central Alabama on the Coosa River approximately 30 miles (48 km) east of Birmingham, Alabama. This 17,000-acre (69 km2) reservoir was built in 1965 by Alabama Power Company. The lake, nicknamed Lake of a Thousand Coves by locals, has 275 miles (443 km) of shoreline along its 48.5-mile (78.1 km) length sandwiched between Logan Martin Dam on the south and Neely Henry Dam on the north. The depth of the lake is 35 to 110 feet (34 m) with only three feet average water level variance.

The lake borders St. Clair and Talladega counties. The reservoir extends 48.5 miles (78.1 km) from Logan Martin Dam upstream to Neely Henry Dam, and it contains 15,263 acres (61.77 km2). Logan Martin has roughly 273 miles (439 km) of shoreline.

Alabama has a lake of a similar name, the Lake Martin on the Tallapoosa River, but Lake Martin and Logan Martin Lake are not part of the same river system.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Logan Martin Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Keuka Lake ( KEW-kə) is a Finger Lake in central New York state. Spanning Steuben and Yates counties, it is the third largest in the eleven-lake chain. It is unusual for its Y-shape, which contrasts with the other long and narrow Finger Lakes, earning it the historic name Crooked Lake. Keuka means 'canoe landing' or 'lake with an elbow' in the Seneca language.

The first white settlers to the lake region came after the Sullivan Expedition during the American Revolutionary War. In 1833 the Crooked Lake Canal was completed, connecting Keuka Lake with Seneca Lake, connecting with the Erie Canal. Beginning in the first half of the 19th century many steamboats operated on the lake which largely functioned as transports between Penn Yan and Hammondsport, often in service of the wine industry. In 1872 the Bath & Hammondsport Railroad, connecting to the Erie Railroad, went into operation, replacing the use of the canal.

Beginning in the mid 19th century the lake has since been surrounded by vineyards and wineries which earned it the title, the Cradle of the Wine Industry, in New York.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Keuka Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Minchumina (Koyukon: Menchuh Mene’ [mənt͡ʃʰuh mənə]; Upper Kuskokwim: Minchu Mina’) is a census-designated place (CDP) in Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area, Alaska, United States. As of the 2022 data usa, the population of the CDP is 14.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Minchumina, Alaska (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Lake Traverse is an 11,200-acre (4,500 ha) lake along the border between the U.S. states of Minnesota and South Dakota, and is the southernmost body of water in the Hudson Bay watershed of North America. Lake Traverse is drained at its north end by the northward-flowing Bois de Sioux River, a tributary of the Red River of the North. A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dam at the outflow regulates the lake's level. The Mustinka River flows into the lake just above the dam.

Lake Traverse Indian Reservation of the Dakota Sioux lies on the west shore of the lake.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Lake Traverse (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Elephant Butte Reservoir or Elephant Butte Lake is the largest reservoir in the U.S. state of New Mexico, 130 miles (289 km) from El Paso, Texas, and 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Truth or Consequences.

The reservoir began filling in 1915, and at full capacity became the largest man-made lake in the world. Built as part of the Rio Grande Project, it was intended to revive the fertility of farmland soil in the Rincon and Mesilla Valleys. Today, the reservoir's storage remains crucial to the Rio Grande, as it provides power and irrigation water to New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico.

It is impounded by Elephant Butte Dam and became part of the largest state park in New Mexico, Elephant Butte Lake State Park, in 1964. Before it was known as Elephant Butte, there were three prospective names — Lake Esperanza, Lake Hall, and Lake Engle. Ultimately, Elephant Butte Reservoir was named after the Elephant-shaped butte in its territory.

The reservoir can hold 2,065,010 acre-feet (2.54715×109 m3) of water from a drainage of 28,900 square miles (74,850 km2). It provides irrigation to 178,000 acres (72,000 ha) of farmland.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Elephant Butte Reservoir (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Hebgen Lake is a reservoir created by the Hebgen Dam, located in Gallatin County in southwest Montana. It is well known for the 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake (magnitude 7.1 to 7.5) which occurred nearby on August 17, 1959, forming Quake Lake, which is located immediately downstream.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Hebgen Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Canandaigua Lake () is a Finger Lake in Ontario County in western New York. It is the westernmost of the major Finger Lakes, largest of the four Finger Lakes in the county, and fourth largest by size of the Finger Lakes. The City of Canandaigua is located at the northern end of the lake and the village of Naples is several miles south of the southern end.

The name Canandaigua is derived from the Seneca name spelled variously Kanandarque, Ganondagan, Ga-nun-da-gwa, or in a modern transcription, Tganödä:gwëh, which means "the chosen spot", or "at the chosen town".

Adapted from Wikipedia: Canandaigua Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Caballo Lake is a reservoir on the Rio Grande created by the Caballo Dam in southern New Mexico, United States. It is the fourth largest reservoir in New Mexico in terms of surface area and the fifth largest body of water in New Mexico in terms of volume. The lake is in Caballo Lake State Park, which is approximately 16 miles (26 km) south of Truth or Consequences.

The lake is used for recreational activities, such as boating, swimming, waterskiing, and fishing. Fish in the lake include walleye, bass, catfish, crappie, and bluegill.

Caballo Lake is also a birdwatching site. Many migratory birds use the lake as a rest stop during their travels, and eagles are often seen in the area.

Caballo Lake is named for the Caballo Mountains that border the lake to the northeast, east, and southeast, in which wild horses roamed; Caballo means "horse" in Spanish. The upper area of the lake is very shallow and, in times of low water, has been blocked from the lower, deeper end of the lake. The water has a slightly brownish hue from a distance, due to the shallow waters (usually about 75 feet (23 m) at the deepest point).

Adapted from Wikipedia: Caballo Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Red Bluff Reservoir is a reservoir on the Pecos River 40 miles (64 km) north of Pecos, Texas. The reservoir extends into Loving and Reeves Counties in Texas, and Eddy County in New Mexico. The northern shoreline of the reservoir is the lowest point in the state of New Mexico. The reservoir was formed in 1936 by the construction of a dam by the Red Bluff Water Control District to provide water for irrigation and hydroelectric power. The reservoir is also used for recreational activities. With an elevation of 2,842 feet [866 m] above sea level, it is the lowest point in New Mexico.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Red Bluff Reservoir (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Glendo Reservoir is a reservoir located on the North Platte River in Platte County and Converse County in the U.S. State of Wyoming. The reservoir is formed by Glendo Dam. The earthfill dam is 2,096 feet (639 m) feet long and 190 feet (58 m) high and contains two hydroelectric turbines capable of generating 38 megawatts of power. The reservoir retains a maximum of 1,170,505 acre-feet (1.443797×109 m3) of water used primarily for irrigation and flood control.

The reservoir is popular for water sports and fishing. It is located completely within Glendo State Park.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Glendo Reservoir (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Skaneateles Lake ( SKAN-ee-AT-ləs, locally SKIN-) is a Finger Lake in central New York state, United States. The name Sganya·daís means "long lake" in the Onondaga language. The lake spans three counties, and is sometimes referred to as "The Roof Garden of the Lakes" because its elevation (863.27 ft or 263.12 m) is higher than the other Finger Lakes. It is one of the cleanest lakes in the United States.

It is 16 mi (26 km) long (17 mi or 27 km long including the bogs at the south end of the lake) and on average 0.75 mi (1.21 km) wide, with a surface area of 13.6 sq mi (35 km2), and a maximum depth of 315 ft (96 m). The lake drains north via Skaneateles Creek, which flows into the Seneca River.

The cleanest of the Finger Lakes, its water is so pure that the city of Syracuse and other municipalities use it unfiltered. The City of Syracuse spends about $2.3 million a year to protect lake quality; sixteen people inspect (usually twice a year) each of the 2600 properties in the watershed, which is relatively small compared to other Finger Lakes. The lake is the second cleanest lake in the United States as measured by dissolved nitrogen, after Crater Lake in Oregon.

Adapted from Wikipedia: Skaneateles Lake (CC BY-SA 4.0).