Lake Information for Cass Lake

Cass Lake is a glacially-formed lake, approximately 25 sq mi in north central Minnesota in the United States. It is approximately 10 miles long and 7 miles wide, located in Cass and Beltrami counties, within the Chippewa National Forest and the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, approximately 13 miles east of Bemidji. In the Ojibwe language, it is called Gaa-miskwaawaakokaag (where there are many red cedar).

The lake is both fed (from the west) and drained (to the east) by the Mississippi River. In 1820 an expedition led by General Lewis Cass, after whom Cass Lake is named, erroneously identified the lake as the source of the Mississippi. In 1832 Henry Schoolcraft, who had been on the 1820 expedition, identified the actual source of the river as being in nearby Lake Itasca.

The town of Cass Lake sits near the southwestern side of the lake. A 2.5 mile long and 1 mile wide narrow channel connects the lake on its south end to Pike Bay, nearly forming a separate lake.