West Okoboji Lake is a natural body of water, approximately 3,847 acres (15.57 km2) in area, in Dickinson County in northwest Iowa in the United States. It is part of the chain of lakes known as the Iowa Great Lakes. The area was long inhabited by the Santee or Dakota Sioux. The Dakota-language name for the lake was Minnetonka, meaning "great waters".
The cities of Arnolds Park, Okoboji, West Okoboji, and Wahpeton sit on its shore. Okoboji was derived from the Dakota name for the lake, and Wahpeton was the name of one of the major historic Sioux bands in the nineteenth century. Today the Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux are a federally recognized tribe.
The lake's maximum depth is 136 feet (41 m), making it the deepest lake in Iowa and second in size only to Spirit Lake. The mean depth is 39 feet (12 m). The drainage area of the lake is approximately 125 square miles (320 km2).
Read more about West Okoboji Lake: Geology, Recreation
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