Lake Traverse is an 11,200-acre (4,500 ha) lake along the border between the U.S. states of Minnesota and South Dakota , and is the southernmost body of water in the Hudson Bay watershed of North America. Lake Traverse is drained at its north end by the northward-flowing Bois de Sioux River , a tributary of the Red River of the North . A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dam at the outflow regulates the lake's level. The Mustinka River flows into the lake just above the dam.
5-584: Lake Traverse Indian Reservation of the Santee Dakota lies on the west shore of the lake. The Traverse Gap , a low continental divide and part of the Laurentian Divide , separates the south end of Lake Traverse from Big Stone Lake . Big Stone Lake is the headwaters of the south-flowing Minnesota River , part of the Mississippi River System . Prehistorically, the south end of Lake Traverse
10-596: The Little Minnesota River , which flows into Big Stone Lake, passes within 2,000 feet (610 m) of Lake Traverse. In case of flooding of the Little Minnesota River, its waters can pass through culverts within the dike, and across the divide into Lake Traverse. This prevents flooding of homes in the Browns Valley area. Lake Traverse is an Anglicization of Lac Traverse , a French name meaning "across
15-420: The lake". Lake Traverse Indian Reservation The Lake Traverse Indian Reservation is the homeland of the federally recognized Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate , a branch of the Santee Dakota group of Native Americans . Most of the reservation covers parts of five counties in northeastern South Dakota , while smaller parts are in two counties in southeastern North Dakota , United States. The Reservation
20-602: Was created by treaty on April 22, 1867 A.D. and called the Flatiron Reservation, in reference to its triangular shape. It was created for the "friendly Dakota" from the Minnesota hostilities of 1862-1866. Signatories of the treaty were Gabriel Renville , John Otherday plus twenty-one other Sisseton and Wahpeton leaders. Gabriel Renville was the first Chief of the Reservation. Its resident population of 10,408 people,
25-544: Was the southern outlet of glacial Lake Agassiz across the Traverse Gap into Glacial River Warren ; that river carved the valley now occupied by the present-day Minnesota River . The town of Browns Valley, Minnesota lies within the gap between the two lakes. The Browns Valley Dike was constructed in 1941 at the south end of Lake Traverse to prevent flooding south into Big Stone Lake and the Mississippi watershed. However,
#766233