Otter Tail River

Sunset on the Otter Tail River near Otter Tail Lake and Ottertail, Minnesota

The Red River drainage basin, with the Otter Tail River highlighted

The Otter Tail River is a 192-mile-long (309 km)^[1] river in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Minnesota. It begins in Clearwater County, 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Bemidji. It then flows through a number of lakes and cities in Minnesota, including Elbow Lake, Many Point Lake, Chippewa Lake, Height of Land Lake, Frazee, the Pine lakes, Rush Lake, Otter Tail Lake and Ottertail, West Lost Lake, Fergus Falls, and Orwell Lake. At its mouth, it joins with the Bois de Sioux River to form the Red River at Wahpeton, North Dakota. The Red River is the Minnesota-North Dakota boundary from this point onward to the Canadian border. Waters of the Red River watershed ultimately flow north into Hudson Bay.

Five dams were built on the Otter Tail River in the Fergus Falls area between 1909 and 1925 by the Otter Tail Power Company. They are Taplin Gorge (1925), Hoot Lake (1914), Central / Wright (1871 / 1922), Pisgah (1918), and Dayton Hollow (1909).

References

1. ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed June 8, 2011

• Minnesota Shoreland Management Resource Guide