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Lake Itasca is a small glacial lake, approximately in area, notable for being the headwaters of the Mississippi River. The lake is located in southeastern Clearwater County, in the Headwaters area of north central Minnesota. The lake is within Itasca State Park and it has an average depth of 20–35 feet (6–11 m), and is 1,475 ft (450 m) above sea level. The Ojibwe name for "Lake Itasca" was ''Omashkoozo-zaaga'igan'' (Elk Lake);〔Gilfillan, Joseph A. "Minnesota Geographical Names Derived from the Chippewa Language" in ''The Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota: The Fifteenth Annual Report for the Year 1886'' (St. Paul: Pioneer Press Company, 1887)〕 this was changed by Henry Schoolcraft to "Itasca", coined from a combination of the Latin words ''veritas'' ("truth") and ''caput'' ("head"),〔Bright, William (2004). ''Native American Placenames of the United States''. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, pg. 188〕 though it is sometimes misinterpreted as "true head." It is one of several examples of pseudo-Indian place names created by Schoolcraft. ==Source of the Mississippi River== It is the primary source〔The United States Geological Survey recognizes two contrasting definitions of a river's source.() By the stricter definition, the Mississippi would share its source with its longest tributary, the Missouri, at Brower's Spring in Montana. The other definition acknowledges "somewhat arbitrary decisions" and places the Mississippi's sources at Lake Itasca, which is publicly accepted as the source of the Mississippi,() identified as such by a late 1800s surveyor Brower.()〕 of the Mississippi River which flows 2,340 mi (3,770 km) to the Gulf of Mexico; There are several tributaries that flow (most or all of the year) into the lake, one of which, by most modern definitions, as with the Nile River and Amazon River, would be considered the actual source, though less dramatic than the lake's outflow. Henry Schoolcraft identified Lake Itasca as the river's primary source in 1832. He had been part of a previous expedition in 1820 led by General Lewis Cass that had named nearby Cass Lake (which is downstream from Itasca) as the source of the river. The western arm of the lake is fed by two streams on its south end. Nicollet Creek starts in a nearby spring. Another small stream leads into Itasca from Elk Lake,〔See the article on Julius Chambers on the discovery of Elk Lake.〕 which in turn is fed by two other streams. The Ojibwa called Elk Lake and the stream ''Bekegamaag-zaaga'igan'' and ''Bekegamaag-ziibi'' (Sidelake Lake and Sidelake River), respectively.〔 In 1887 Williard Glazier promoted a campaign to consider Elk Lake, which he called Glazier Lake, as the true source of the Mississippi. Its longest tributary originates at Little Elk Lake, which is 100 feet higher in elevation and 11 km upstream from the Lake Itasca outflow, at 47.158 N 95.224 W and in the Mississippi watershed. Jacob V. Brower, a land surveyor and president of the Minnesota Historical Society, after spending five months exploring the lakes, claimed that the lakes and streams further south of Lake Itasca were not the true source of the Mississippi because they were "too small." Modern explorers and geographers, however, have used the tiniest trickles of water to determine the source of the Amazon, Nile, and other rivers. Brower was to campaign aggressively to save the lake from logging. On April 21, 1891, the Minnesota Legislature officially made it a state park by a margin of one vote. Brower is now called the "Father of Lake Itasca" and the visitor center is named in his honor. The channel of the Mississippi as it emerges from the lake was bulldozed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, to create a more "pleasant experience" for visitors. The project included the draining of the surrounding swamp, the digging of a new channel, and the installation of a man-made rock rapids. Wading across the rapids in bare feet is a popular recreational activity for summer tourists. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Lake Itasca」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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