White Bear Lake (Minnesota)
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| White Bear Lake | |
|---|---|
 Wildwood Amusement Park, early 20th century | |
  White Bear Lake  White Bear Lake | |
| Location | Ramsey / Washington counties, Minnesota, United States |
| Coordinates | 45°04′29″N 92°58′41″W / 45.07472°N 92.97806°W |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Surface area | 2,427.66 acres (982.44 ha)[1] |
| Max. depth | 83 feet (25 m)[1] |
| Surface elevation | 922 ft (281 m)[2] |
| Settlements | Bellaire Birchwood Village Dellwood Mahtomedi White Bear Lake |
White Bear Lake (Dakota: Bde Maṭo Ská ) is a lake in northeastern Ramsey County and western Washington County in the U.S. state of Minnesota, in the northeast part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area.[2] The city of White Bear Lake takes its name from the lake.
In Life on the Mississippi (1883), American author Mark Twain wrote:
The White-bear Lake is less known. It is a lovely sheet of water, and is being utilized as a summer resort by the wealth and fashion of the State. It has its club-house, and its hotel, with the modern improvements and conveniences; its fine summer residences; and plenty of fishing, hunting, and pleasant drives. There are a dozen minor summer resorts around about St. Paul and Minneapolis, but the White-bear Lake is the resort.[3]
Twain also noted the Native American tradition of maple sugar making on the island in White Bear Lake:
Every spring, for perhaps a century, or as long as there has been a nation of red men, an island in the middle of White-bear Lake has been visited by a band of Indians for the purpose of making maple sugar.[3]
