Toward the
end of the great ice ages about 10,000 years ago, the glacier,
which had pushed its way along the trough of Lake Superior,
retreated toward the northwest, and near Moose Lake crossed
the divide between the Mississippi River and Lake Superior.
When the lobe of ice was shrunken so that it lay wholly within
the rim of the lake basin, Glacial Lake Nemadji was formed
around the southwest margin of the ice.
The earliest outlet was at this, the
western end, nearly reaching the elevation of the state hospital in
the distance. During the centuries of drainage from here through
the Moose River to the Mississippi, this channel was eroded
downward to the present level. When lower outlets for the Lake
Superior basin were opened, the Moose River Valley was abandoned as
an outlet, and this part of the ancient watercourse became the
basin of Moosehead Lake.
Located in Deputy Ervid T. Clemons Rest Area.
TO LOG THIS CACHE:
1) This lake at one time stood how many feet above the present
level of Lake Superior?
2) Record the shoreline surface water temperature.
To log this cache E-mail
me
HERE.
Source:
Display: Geological Society of Minnesota and the Department of
Highways 1955.
