Lake Shetek is the largest lake in southwestern Minnesota, United States, and the headwaters of the Des Moines River. It is located in The Lakes, an unincorporated community in Murray County a few miles north-northwest of Currie. The name Shetek is derived from "pelican" in the Ojibwe language.
Since large lakes are rare in southwestern Minnesota and for some distance over the borders into Iowa and South Dakota, Lake Shetek is a significant regional draw for water recreation. Lake Shetek State Park lies on its eastern shore.
Geography
Lake Shetek covers to a maximum depth of just . This modest depth is wholly typical for the Prairie Pothole Region. The shoreline totals , about 85% of which is in private development. The watershed-to-lake ratio is 23:1, with much of that watershed under cultivation.
Lake Shetek is by far the largest of Murray County's hundred or so lakes. The next largest is currently Lake Sarah just to the northwest. Great Oasis Lake at was once second-largest but was drained in the early 20th century for farmland.
It is the headwaters of the West Fork of the Des Moines River, considered the river's main fork. Lake Shetek contains three main islands: Valhalla, Keeley, and Loon Islands. Causeways connect the first two to the western shore, and another connects the third to the eastern shore. Shetek also connects to Bloody Lake Fremont Lake and Armstrong Slough.
Geology
Lake Shetek and the surrounding landscape of wetlands and rolling hills are the result of glaciation. The lake lies on the Altamont Moraine, a terminal moraine marking the farthest extent of an ice lobe during the Wisconsin glaciation. This most-recent glaciation deposited a very thick blanket of till over the area.
Lake Shetek began forming as the climate started to warm 15,000 years ago. Water from the melting glaciers carved channels into the moraine. Where one channel—now occupied by Beaver Creek—intersected the channel now occupied by the Des Moines River, a buildup of sediment and slumping banks partially dammed the outflow, creating a large, shallow lake.
Flora and fauna
Lake Shetek has long harbored a robust population of rough fish, native but economically undesirable. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources commenced fish stocking in 1987, introducing game fish such as walleye, northern pike, yellow perch, crappie, sunfish, and black bass.
Aquatic vegetation is sparse, which is typical for lakes in the region. Due to its shallowness, the entire basin constitutes the littoral zone, which harbors common invertebrates like snails and insect larvae.
Five common species of waterfowl all breed on Lake Shetek: the American coot, gadwall, mallard, northern shoveler, and ruddy duck. White pelicans, the lake's namesake, are often seen during migration.
History
The earliest humans around Lake Shetek were likely following the bison that came there to drink. Archaeologists identify the first permanent inhabitants as members of the Great Oasis culture.
French explorer Joseph Nicollet camped beside the lake for three days in 1838. He noted that the region's Dakota people called the lake Rabechy, meaning "place where pelicans nest." However his journals and maps opted for the Ojibwe language equivalent, which was already in use by voyageurs.
Pioneers established a small settlement along the east shore of Lake Shetek in the late 1850s. However the Dakota War of 1862 broke out and 15 settlers were killed and a dozen taken captive at Slaughter Slough. Euro-American settlement was dampened for a while, but within a decade Archibald and Neil Currie built a flour mill and a general store near the lake's outlet, from which grew the town of Currie.
Two summer resorts opened on Lake Shetek in the early 20th century, Tepeeotah on the east shore and Valhalla Pavilion on Valhalla Island. Two excursion boats carried visitors around the lake. To protect fishing and recreation interests, locals prompted the state Game and Fish Department to stabilize the water level with a dam in the mid-1920s. This initial tourist economy peaked in the Roaring Twenties and subsided with Valhalla Pavilion burning down in 1928 and the onset of the Great Depression.