Rainy Lake

Rainy Lake
Rainy Lake from Tango Channel
Rainy Lake Location of Rainy Lake on the USA/Canada Border between Minnesota and Ontario
Location	Minnesota, United States; Ontario, Canada
Coordinates	48°38′13″N 93°01′53″W / 48.63694°N 93.03139°W / 48.63694; -93.03139Coordinates: 48°38′13″N 93°01′53″W / 48.63694°N 93.03139°W / 48.63694; -93.03139
Type	remnant of former glacial Lake Agassiz
Primary inflows	Namakan Lake Kabetogama Lake Seine River
Primary outflows	Rainy River
Basin countries	Canada, United States
Max. length	80 km (50 mi)
Max. width	48 km (30 mi)
Surface area	932 km2 (360 sq mi)
Max. depth	50 m (160 ft) highly variable
Shore length1	1,500 km (930 mi) 2,520 km (1,570 mi) (w/ Islands) highly irregular, rocky shoreline
Surface elevation	338 m (1,109 ft)
Islands	~2,568
Settlements	International Falls, MN Fort Frances, Ontario
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Rainy Lake (French: lac à la Pluie; Ojibwe: gojiji-zaaga'igan) is a relatively large freshwater lake (360 square miles (930 km²)) straddling the border between the United States and Canada. The Rainy River issues from the west side of the lake and is harnessed to make hydroelectricity for US and Canadian locations. The sister cities of International Falls, Minnesota, and Fort Frances, Ontario, are situated on either side of the outflow of the river from the lake. 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.

For exploration and fur trade history see Winnipeg River and additional references below.

Earliest documentation of the lake's name is "Tekamamiwen" (shown as "Lac de Tecamamiouen" on the Ochagach map (c. 1728), as "Lac Tacamamioüer" on the 1739 de l'Isle map, as "Lake Tecamaniouen" on the 1757 Mitchell Map and as "Lake Tekamamigovouen" on the Thomas Jefferys' 1762 Map of Canada). Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye cites that the name was a corruption from the Cree "taki-kimiwen", meaning "It always is raining", referring to the Rainy River, though the language does not quite support that claim. He also cites that the lake was also known as "Ouichichick" (Ojibwe word Gojijiing or Cree Kocicīhk, both meaning "at the place of inlets"). Early documents lists the portion of Rainy Lake east of the Brule Narrows as "Cristinaux [Cree] Lake" or as "Little Lake."