Moosehead Lake
| Moosehead Lake | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Location |
Northwest Piscataquis, Maine, United States |
| Coordinates | 45°38′N 69°39′W / 45.633°N 69.650°WCoordinates: 45°38′N 69°39′W / 45.633°N 69.650°W |
| Type | mesotrophic |
| Primary inflows | Moose River |
| Primary outflows | Kennebec River |
| Catchment area | 1,268 square miles (3,280 km2) |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Max. length | 40 miles (64 km) |
| Max. width | 10 miles (16 km) |
| Surface area | 75,451 acres (30,534 ha) |
| Average depth | 55 feet (17 m) |
| Max. depth | 246 feet (75 m) |
| Water volume | 4,210,000 acre·ft (5.19×109 m3) |
| Residence time | 3.1 years |
| Shore length1 | 280.8 miles (451.9 km) |
| Surface elevation | 1,029 feet (314 m) |
| Islands | >80 (Sugar Island) |
| 1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure. | |
Moosehead Lake is the largest lake in the U.S. state of Maine and the largest mountain lake in the eastern United States. Situated in the Longfellow Mountains in the Maine Highlands Region, the lake is the source of the Kennebec River. Towns that border the lake include Greenville to the south and Rockwood to the northwest. There are over 80 islands in the lake, the largest being Sugar Island. The area has been the focal point of a controversy surrounding planned large scale commercial development, and the environmental practices of the developer.
Mount Kineo, with 700-foot (200 m) cliffs rising straight up from Moosehead Lake, has attracted visitors for centuries, from early American Indians (Red Paint People), to later tribes seeking its flint called hornstone, Penobscots and Norridgewocks, the Abenaki bands who battled here with their enemy the Mohawks, to 19th-century "rusticators" traveling by railroad and steamboat and today's hotel guests. Various species dwell among its cliffs and talus slopes, including peregrine falcons and rare plants.
The Moosehead region includes the headwaters of the Kennebec, the West Branch of the Penobscot, the Piscataquis, the Pleasant, and the Saint John rivers. Henry David Thoreau and other 19th-century visitors remarked on the beauty of the area. The region has a large moose population; moose outnumber people 3:1. However, the name of the region derives from the remarkable similarity between maps of the lake and an antlered moose.
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Wikipedia