# Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 13, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674 "2020-04-13T03:19:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 316
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2023, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6311 "2023-04-03T21:02:57Z")
Upon crossing the weir at Lake Itasca, the Mississippi River meanders for a fair distance before passing through Lake Irving and then right away cuts through the lower corner of Lake Bemiji. Not too much farther along, it is impounded to form Stump Lake, and shortly thereafter constrained to fill Cass Lake. Some while later, it is impounded to fill Lake Winnibigoshish and after a short run, it cuts a corner of Little Lake Winnibigoshish. Left to meander for a while, it is then impounded to form Paper Mill Reservoir. Wandering around between nine thousand natural lakes, it hits a dam in Brainerd where Rice Lake takes its spare water. A few more wide spots are forced upon it, by dam or by channeling, before it is finally allowed to flow freely. I assume that all of these lakes were imposed upon the river, though not all of them seem to have actual dams. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2023, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6312 "2023-04-03T21:19:08Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Some while later, it is impounded to fill **Lake Winnibigoshish** and after a short run, it cuts a corner of Little Lake Winnibigoshish That name sounds a lot like the name of Lake Winnipegosis in Manitoba. I wonder is there is a linguistic link? EDIT: It appears so – **[Winnipeg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Winnipeg#History)** and Winnipegosis are from the Cree language, and **[Winnibigoshish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Winnibigoshish)** is from Ojibwe. Both Cree and Ojibwe are related to one another as members of the Algonquian language family. Winnipeg/Winnibig means “muddy water”, “dirty water”, and the -osis/-oshish part is a diminutive suffix. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2023, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6313 "2023-04-03T21:31:05Z")
I looked at Lake of the Woods on a map and concluded that Manitoba, “the land of 100,000 lakes” is actually just the land of one lake with zillions of interconnecting channels. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2023, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6314 "2023-04-03T22:41:00Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I assume that all of these lakes were imposed upon the river, though not all of them seem to have actual dams. I do not think that is correct. Go back to look at ([Lake Agassiz - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Agassiz)) and try to follow the changing landscape to modern times, if possible. For a long time, it was thought that Lake Bemidji was the start of the Mississippi because three small rivers (or two streams and a small river) feed into the lake. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6315 "2023-04-04T00:25:55Z")
Here’s a common meme. > **[r/CasualConversation - My girlfriend thinks after the year 2099 comes 3000](https://www.reddit.com/r/CasualConversation/comments/72wzxi/my_girlfriend_thinks_after_the_year_2099_comes/)** > > 2 votes and 15 comments so far on Reddit Before people start fulminating about the dumbness of generation ZZZ, back in the 1780s, the second edition of the _Encyclopedia Britannica_ followed page 7099 with page 8000. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6316 "2023-04-04T03:52:24Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Upon crossing the weir at Lake Itasca, the Mississippi River… I’ve been there. The Mississippi actual flows north out of that lake before hanging a uey and heading for New Orleans. It also seems like a bit of a cheat to call that the source of the Mississippi, since there are streams that flow into Lake Itasca. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6317 "2023-04-04T04:17:36Z")
Hydrology is sometimes baffling. Why does the Missouri, a mile from the Montana/North Dakota border, not instead flow into the Yellowstone? Why does the Mississippi not serve as a tributary to the Ohio at Cairo? Some of these designations are pretty arbitrary. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6318 "2023-04-04T04:30:42Z")
I suspect that calling Lake Itasca the source of the Mississippi has more to do with tourism than any hydrological reasons. The whole lake is a park with a visitors’ center and stepping stones so you can walk across the river. I’m sure it’s a better experience for visitors, and less ecologically damaging, than a bunch of people gathered around a spring bubbling out of the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6319 "2023-04-04T14:38:15Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Some of these designations are pretty arbitrary. Yeah, I’ve never quite understood how two rivers sometime combine to create a third river, like the Monongahela and the Allegheny come together to form the Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6320 "2023-04-04T15:08:57Z")
Two of the rivers were discovered from their source (or between that and where they combine) and the third was named from where it flowed into the Mississippi. They had been named before they realized the actual connection and it was too late to change the signs. It’s similar in my hometown area. There are many creeks that are saltwater estuaries (Jockey Creek, Town Creek, Goose Creek, Arshomomack Creek, etc.). When they were named, that was the definition of creek in the UK. In other places, streams ran into the salt water. They looked like estuaries if no one traced them back. So they were named “creeks.” The term then was used to name freshwater streams. People from the Midwest get confused when they see the creeks in our area. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6321 "2023-04-04T21:57:47Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I suspect that calling Lake Itasca the source of the Mississippi has more to do with tourism than any hydrological reasons. TIL that the name itself is an elliptical Latin portmanteau of veritascaput meaning “true head”. The Ojibwae name has many more syllables. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6322 "2023-04-04T22:07:41Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Hydrology is sometimes baffling. Why does the Missouri, a mile from the Montana/North Dakota border, not instead flow into the Yellowstone? Why does the Mississippi not serve as a tributary to the Ohio at Cairo? Some of these designations are pretty arbitrary. Generally, it is the river moving the larger volume of water at the time of naming that gets the name continuation. Often, the Minnesota contributes a larger volume of water than the Mississippi where they combine in St. Paul. But at the time of measurement, the more northern river won, so Mississippi. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6323 "2023-04-04T22:28:12Z")
> [@carnut](#): > > Often, the Minnesota contributes a larger volume of water than the Mississippi where they combine in St. Paul. Seriously? I’ve been to where those rivers combine and the Mississippi looked much larger to me. I’ve waterskied on the Minnesota under the approach path at the airport, and it’s barely wide enough to turn the boat around at speed. ---
**Author:** ![carnut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnut/32/3531_2.png) [@carnut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnut)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6324 "2023-04-04T22:32:10Z")
Seriously. It all depends on which one catches the most snow runoff. Or big rainstorms. The weather patterns change and it makes a difference. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6325 "2023-04-04T22:57:47Z")
I was looking at some pictures online, and they did look wider than I remember. It’s been 30+ years since I was there. Maybe I was there when the flow was low, or my memory isn’t perfect. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6326 "2023-04-04T23:11:00Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > an elliptical Latin portmanteau of veritascaput meaning “true head” Just for accuracy, while “veritas” means “truth” and “caput” means “head,” “veritascaput” doesn’t mean true head. “Verum caput” would, but it’s not Lake Umca. I don’t know that I believe this “fact.” In Edward Neill’s 1858 _The History of Minnesota, from the Earliest French Explorations to the Present Time,_ this story is given on p. 407. It says that the name was coined by Henry Schoolcraft, and the footnote reports, “It is asserted that this is a name made up by Mr. Schoolcraft from two Latin words, _veritas caput_. It is true, that by dropping the first and the final syllable of the last word, _Itasca_ is obtained; but Mrs. Eastman says, that it is the name of an Indian maiden.” Schoolcraft does seem to assert this origin in 1832 (_American Railroad Journal 1_, p. 751). There’s an article from 1932 that discusses these two stories reported above, which both sound like legendsto me, and some possible / probable Indigenous derivations: C. H. B. and Theodore C. Blegen, “That Name ‘Itasca,’” _Minnesota History_ 13:2 (June, 1932), pp. 163–174. ---
**Author:** ![Mark\_Finn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/34f0e0/32.png) [@Mark\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mark_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2023, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6327 "2023-04-04T23:51:14Z")
Lake Baikal (Siberia) has a surface area about the same as Lake Erie, but contains more water than all the Great Lakes combined. Together - Baikal and the Great Lakes - contain 40% of the world’s fresh water. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2023, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6328 "2023-04-05T01:22:43Z")
In addition to all the other disasters that beset the sixth-century late Roman Empire, the seas near Byzantium were frequented by a rogue whale that kept attacking ships: > **[Porphyrios (whale)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porphyrios_(whale))** > > Porphyrios (Greek: Πορφύριος) was a large whale that harassed and sank ships in the waters near Constantinople in the sixth century. Active over a period of over fifty years, Porphyrios caused great concern for Byzantine seafarers and Emperor Justinian I (r. 527–565) made it an important matter to capture it, though he could not come up with a way to do so. Porphyrios eventually met its end when it beached itself near the mouth of the Black Sea and was attacked and cut into pieces by a mob of l... ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2023, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6329 "2023-04-05T03:33:47Z")
There is exactly one natural lake in Texas, and it’s on the Louisiana border. > **[Caddo Lake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caddo_Lake)** > > Caddo Lake (French: Lac Caddo) is a 25,400-acre (10,300 ha) lake and bayou (wetland) on the border between Texas and Louisiana, in northern Harrison County and southern Marion County in Texas and western Caddo Parish in Louisiana. The lake is named after the Caddoans or Caddo, Native Americans who lived in the area until their expulsion by the United States in the 19th century. The US forced most of them to move west to Indian Territory. > The lake and bayou comprise an internationally protected w... ---
**Author:** ![Moonrise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonrise/32/14764_2.png) [@Moonrise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonrise)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2023, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/6330 "2023-04-05T09:21:48Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > EDIT: It appears so – **[Winnipeg](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Winnipeg#History)** and Winnipegosis are from the Cree language, and **[Winnibigoshish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Winnibigoshish)** is from Ojibwe. Both Cree and Ojibwe are related to one another as members of the Algonquian language family. Winnipeg/Winnibig means “muddy water”, “dirty water”, and the -osis/-oshish part is a diminutive suffix. I just love this sort of trivia, thanks. > [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Henry Schoolcraft, and the footnote reports, “It is asserted that this is a name made up by Mr. Schoolcraft from two Latin words, _veritas caput_. It is true, that by dropping the first and the final syllable of the last word, _Itasca_ is obtained; but Mrs. Eastman says, that it is the name of an Indian maiden.” This seems to be a rather contrived etymology. I can’t think of any other town that would have been named in such an artificial way. The “Indian Maiden” theory seems more believable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=315) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674.md?page=317)