# "Inland lake"?! What the hell other kind of lake is there? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 23, 2005, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inland-lake-what-the-hell-other-kind-of-lake-is-there/295826 "2005-03-23T02:37:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inland-lake-what-the-hell-other-kind-of-lake-is-there/295826/21 "2005-03-23T17:36:03Z")
> [@a pirahna brother](#): > > Not sure about OH, but all WV lakes are manmade. Actually, there is **one** natural lake in Hardy County. ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inland-lake-what-the-hell-other-kind-of-lake-is-there/295826/22 "2005-03-23T18:23:54Z")
> [@Balle\_M](#): > > Actually, there is **one** natural lake in Hardy County. Is it still there? According to the newspaper article shown on this [page](http://epidote.wvgs.wvnet.edu/enviro/trout1.html), Trout Pond had “nearly disappeared” in 2002. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inland-lake-what-the-hell-other-kind-of-lake-is-there/295826/23 "2005-03-23T19:06:44Z")
Well, the State of Michigan Wetlands Regulatory statute, which comes as close as I can find to providing a legal definition of the term, consistently uses it in a sense distinguishing “inland lakes” from Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Superior. So I would offer to you that the term has a distinct meaning in all of the Great Lakes states, of distinguishing the smaller bodies of water within them from the five honking big freshwater bodies that border them. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inland-lake-what-the-hell-other-kind-of-lake-is-there/295826/24 "2005-03-23T22:40:08Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Well, the State of Michigan Wetlands Regulatory statute, which comes as close as I can find to providing a legal definition of the term, consistently uses it in a sense distinguishing “inland lakes” from Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Superior. So I would offer to you that the term has a distinct meaning in all of the Great Lakes states, of distinguishing the smaller bodies of water within them from the five honking big freshwater bodies that border them. The thing is, I went to college in Minnesota and half of my family is from the Red River Valley, and I have _never_ heard a Minnesotan refer to _any_ of the state’s 10,000 lakes as “inland.” Of course, I’ve never spent any time by Duluth (for which I’m grateful, ten summers in Fargo was quite enough), but this is really odd to me. I mean, it’s a blue spot on a map, surrounded by land. What more do you need to know? ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inland-lake-what-the-hell-other-kind-of-lake-is-there/295826/25 "2005-03-23T23:21:38Z")
Well, there you go. If you only associate with down-staters and North Dakotans, your education is limited. You should have spent more time visiting Virginia, Hibbing, and, perhaps, Tofte. ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inland-lake-what-the-hell-other-kind-of-lake-is-there/295826/26 "2005-03-24T00:19:43Z")
> [@OxyMoron](#): > > Pretty much said it all in the title. My question comes from today’s Washington Post, whose coverage of the Minnesota school shooting tragedy begins (second graf):Huh? If it’s not “inland,” it’s called…the ocean. Or so I thought. Finger. Maybe it’s a smaller version of the Inland Sea surrounded (nearly) by three islands of Japan, Honshu, Shikoku and Kyushu. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inland-lake-what-the-hell-other-kind-of-lake-is-there/295826/27 "2005-03-24T12:52:55Z")
> [@Balthisar](#): > > They’re big enough, clear enough, and different enough that they’re not what I picture in my mind when I think of mucky, little inland lakes. Hey, in fact, let me clarify my definition now: inland lakes are those mucky little things that are glorifed ponds. Ha! I completely agree. There’s Lakes, and there’s lakes (also referred to as inland lakes). Lakes are large, clean, and cold. lakes (small ‘L’) are stinky, murky, and to be distrusted. ---
**Author:** ![Balle\_M](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/13edae/32.png) [@Balle\_M](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balle_M)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2005, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inland-lake-what-the-hell-other-kind-of-lake-is-there/295826/28 "2005-03-24T14:12:40Z")
> [@chukhung](#): > > Is it still there? > > According to the newspaper article shown on this [page](http://epidote.wvgs.wvnet.edu/enviro/trout1.html), Trout Pond had “nearly disappeared” in 2002. From what I understand the water table is back where it should be and everything is fine and dandy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/inland-lake-what-the-hell-other-kind-of-lake-is-there/295826.md?page=1)