# Can a River be Connected to a Lake? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 23, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598 "2003-12-23T04:04:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/1 "2003-12-23T04:04:33Z")
My brother says that NO LAKE has a river connected to it. I find this hard to believe that no river originates from anything that could be considered a Lake. I was sure that the Great Lakes were connected to the ocean and therefore blew his “Every Lake is Land Locked” theory out of the water (no pun intended) but since it’s connected by man-made Canals and not rivers, he wins that one. Unless there was some sort of psuedo river or stream or… shit I’ll take babbling brook at this point! Was there something there before the canals were dug? Please someone tell me of a Lake with a river attached, or a river that flows from a lake to the ocean. Is every lake completely land-locked (besides man-made routes)? Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/2 "2003-12-23T04:11:29Z")
That’s ridiculous. Near Charleston, SC there are several rivers which flow from a lake into the Atlantic: the North Santee, the South Santee, and the Cooper. The lake is Lake Marion. The Chicago River (both branches) used to flow from Lake Michigan until engineers reversed its course. ---
**Author:** ![brianjedi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@brianjedi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brianjedi)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/3 "2003-12-23T04:14:31Z")
What about man-made lakes? Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley are actually the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. But behind the dams, they’re the lakes. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/4 "2003-12-23T04:19:19Z")
> [@](#): > > The Mississippi River begins it’s two thousand three hundred and twenty mile journey to the Gulf of Mexico by overflowing the edge of a picturesque little lake in north western Minnesota. [Lake Itasca](http://www.stlcc.cc.mo.us/fp/users/jangert/itasca/headwtr.html) ---
**Author:** ![TheMadHun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@TheMadHun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheMadHun)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/5 "2003-12-23T04:21:54Z")
Lake Erie is filled with the Detroit River, which itself is filled from Lake Huron. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/6 "2003-12-23T04:25:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bear\_Nenno \* > \*\*My brother says that NO LAKE has a river connected to it. I find this hard to believe that no river originates from anything that could be considered a Lake. > > I was sure that the Great Lakes were connected to the ocean and therefore blew his “Every Lake is Land Locked” theory out of the water (no pun intended) but since it’s connected by man-made Canals and not rivers, he wins that one.\*\* Uh, no, he doesn’t. Before there was a St. Lawrence Seaway, the St. Lawrence River still connected the Great Lakes to the ocean. It was, in fact, a navigable river. They may have built canals around the river, but it’s still a river. What do you think happens to all the water when they close the Seaway every winter? It doesn’t just stay there. The [Mackenzie River](http://www.aquatic.uoguelph.ca/rivers/mac1.htm) connects a number of lakes to the Arctic Ocean, including the gigantic Great Slave and Great Bear Lakes. The [Nelson River](http://www.aquatic.uoguelph.ca/rivers/nelson.htm) connects Lake Winnipeg to Hudson Bay. Those are just big rivers in Canada I found in a five minute search. You should buy your brother an atlas for Christmas. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/7 "2003-12-23T04:28:57Z")
The Saint Lawrence river runs from Lake Ontario right out to the Atlantic. There may be a few man-made locks and whatnot to facilitate shipping, but long before humans came along, that river was draining that lake. His claim that every lake is land-locked is true, by definition, since a lake is an enclosed body of fresh water. The doesn’t mean all lakes are stagnant puddles, though. The fresh water runs out to the ocean, mixes with the salt water, evaporates (leaving the salt behind) and falls over the land as freshwater rain, accumulating into rivers that empty into lakes and continue the cycle. ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/8 "2003-12-23T04:30:06Z")
You guys rule, as always! Thanks! Special thanks to **Squink**! That was the nail in the coffin. And to think, my brother suggested I go to AskJeeves… unenlightened losers! ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/9 "2003-12-23T04:30:29Z")
Your bro screwed the pooch big-time with his theory. Try finding a lake that doesn’t have a river connected to it. There are damn few. ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/10 "2003-12-23T04:31:38Z")
How about the Yahara watershed. The Yahara River flows into Lake Mendota (in Madison, WI), then from Mendota to Lake Monona, and from Monona to Lakes Wingra and Waubesa. It eventually flows into the Mississippi, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/11 "2003-12-23T04:34:12Z")
Lots of rivers are connected to lakes. The Mississippi, the Nile, and others named above, for starters. Almost every lake in California has rivers flowing in and out of it. Those that don’t are supplied and drained underground, or are brackish – a lake with no feeders is called a “puddle.” 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/12 "2003-12-23T05:09:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by barbitu8 \* > \*\*The Chicago River (both branches) used to flow from Lake Michigan until engineers reversed its course. \*\* Nitpick: Actually, it used to flow [_into_](http://www.chipublib.org/004chicago/timeline/riverflow.html) Lake Michicagan. The flow was reversed because the river was so polluted, it was polluting the lake where Chicago gets it’s drinking water. Reversing the flow sent the pollution on down to St. Louis, which the Missourians did not appreciate. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/13 "2003-12-23T05:54:06Z")
Lakes that don’t have an outlet in the form of a river can only lose water by evaporation and so turn brackish or even salty. Water containing dissolved minerals in, distilled water out and the mineral content gradually increases. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/14 "2003-12-23T06:01:15Z")
Doesn’t **Lake Victoria** connect to the **Nile River**? I know someone mentioned the Nile but I figured I’d mention the lake. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/15 "2003-12-23T07:22:30Z")
Yup. Lake Victoria forms the headwaters of the Nile. I find it pretty hard to believe somebody asked this question- no offense Bear\_Nenno- I mean… where else would the water come from? ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/16 "2003-12-23T07:24:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by wolf\_meister \* > \*\*Doesn’t **Lake Victoria** connect to the **Nile River**? > I know someone mentioned the Nile but I figured I’d mention the lake. \*\* The Nile is fed by three main rivers, the Blue Nile rises in Ethiopia and joins the White Nile at Kartoum. The White Nile which flows out of Lake Victoria, through lakes Kvega and Albert. And the Atabara which also rises in Ethiopia and joins at Barbar in Sudan, just south of the 5th Cataract. According to the _Britannica_ the White Nile’s headwaters flow into Lake Victoria but none of those streams are called a “Nile.” The Nile is called the longest river in the world. However that length is composed of the Nile proper and the White Nile. According to Isaac Asimov, by that reasoning the combination of the Mississipi up the the Missouri junction and out the Missouri to Montana is longer. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/17 "2003-12-23T11:26:05Z")
Sorry but Isaac Asimov is talking nonsense, in that case. The combined Mississippi-Missouri system is only about [3,740 miles long](http://www.bartleby.com/65/mi/MissouriR.html). The “longest river” debate is solely between the Amazon and the Nile, both more than 4,000 miles long. Most sources (ahem) agree that the Nile shades it, although of course the Amazon is many many times bigger in terms of volume. ---
**Author:** ![Booker57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Booker57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Booker57)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/18 "2003-12-23T12:26:59Z")
The mighty Genesse river flows into Lake Ontario, cutting thru the heart of Rochester NY. One of the few rivers in N. Am. that flows North. ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/19 "2003-12-23T13:09:27Z")
I thought lakes _typically_ had a river… I mean, if there’s a big hole in the ground you’d expect it to fill with rainwater eventually, and then overflow - this water would then flow downhill “a river.” Oh well, I should have concentrated in geography. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2003, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598/20 "2003-12-23T13:27:05Z")
You’re brother ain’t too bright, is he? I can walk up and down the Lake Superior beach that’s 1/2 mile from where I sit right now, and have to dodge a river, creek, or stream every half mile or so. There are a LOT of waterways - big and small - that drain into Lake Superior. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-river-be-connected-to-a-lake/220598.md?page=2)