Minam Lake

{{Short description|Modified lake in NE Oregon, USA}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}

{{Infobox body of water

|name = Minam Lake

|lake =

|image = Minam Lake, Flickr pano.jpg

|caption = Minam Lake

|image_bathymetry =

|caption_bathymetry =

|location = Wallowa Mountains, Wallowa County, Oregon

|coords = {{coord|45|10|56|N|117|21|01|W|type:waterbody_region:US-OR|display=inline,title}}

|type = Oligotrophic reservoir

|inflow =

|outflow = Minam River and Lostine River

|catchment = {{convert|0.8|mi2|km2}}

|basin_countries = United States

|length =

|width =

|area = {{convert|59|acre|ha}}

|depth = {{convert|10|ft|m}}

|max-depth = {{convert|28|ft|m}}

|volume = {{convert|500|acre.ft|m3|lk=in}}

|residence_time = 5 months

|shore = {{convert|1.6|mi|km}}

|elevation = {{convert|7379|ft|m}}

|islands =

|cities =

| pushpin_map = Oregon#USA

| pushpin_label_position =

| pushpin_map_alt = Location of Minam Lake in Oregon, USA.

| pushpin_map_caption =

| website =

| reference ={{cite book|last=Johnson|first=Daniel M.|author2=Petersen, Richard R. |author3=Lycan, D. Richard |author4=Sweet, James W. |author5= Neuhaus, Mark E., and Schaedel, Andrew L. | title=Atlas of Oregon Lakes|publisher=Oregon State University Press|location=Corvallis|year=1985|page=235|isbn=0-87071-343-4}}{{cite web | work = Geographic Names Information System| publisher = United States Geological Survey | date = November 28, 1980 | url ={{Gnis3|1146301}}| title = Minam Lake | accessdate =December 12, 2012}}{{cite web|title=Atlas of Oregon Lakes: Minam Lake (Wallowa County) |url=http://aol.research.pdx.edu/?q=lake/481|publisher=Portland State University|year=1985–2012|accessdate=December 12, 2012}}

}}

Minam Lake is a high-elevation reservoir in the Eagle Cap Wilderness of the Wallowa Mountains in the U.S. state of Oregon. The unusual reservoir, a modified natural lake, has outlets on both its north and south ends. The south outlet drains to the Minam River, and the north outlet is the source of the Lostine River.

A natural lake at this spot had only a south outlet. In the early 20th century, the lake was enlarged, and its flow altered by a {{convert|14|ft|m|adj=on}} high dam near the south end of the lake. The dam's purpose was to store additional water and to deflect it north for irrigation of farms in the Lostine Valley.

It is said that minam is a word that evolved in the mid-19th century from the native word e-mi-ne-mah. The latter referred to the Minam River Valley, where a kind of plant with edible roots grew in abundance. Mah was a suffix meaning valley or canyon.{{cite book | last = McArthur | first = Lewis A. |author2=McArthur, Lewis L. | title = Oregon Geographic Names|edition= 7th| publisher = Oregon Historical Society Press | year = 2003 |origyear=1928| location = Portland, Oregon | pages =648–49| isbn = 0-87595-277-1}}

{{wide image|Minam Lake, Flickr pano.jpg|750px|align-cap=center|Panorama of the lake}}