Итаска көлі: Миссисипи өзенінің бастауы

Lake in Clearwater County, northern Minnesota, United States

Lake Itasca (/aɪ/'/t//æ//s//k//ə/ eyeTASSkə) is a small glacial lake, approximately 1.8 square miles (5 km2) in area. It is located in Itasca State Park, in south eastern Clearwater County, in the Headwaters area of north central Minnesota, and is notable for being the headwater of the Mississippi River. It has an average depth of and is 1,475 feet (450 m) above sea level. The Ojibwe name for the lake is Omashkoozo zaaga'igan (Elk Lake). The first European explorers in the area were French Canadian and they named the lake Lac labiche (Doe Lake, often mistranslated as Elk Lake). The name was later changed by Henry Schoolcraft to "Itasca", coined from a combination of the Latin phrase veritas caput ("true head [of the Mississippi]"). It is one of several examples of pseudo Native American place names created by Schoolcraft.

It is the primary source of the Mississippi River which flows 2,340 mi (3,770 km) to the Gulf of Mexico. There are several tributaries that flow (most or all of the year) into the lake, one of which, by most modern definitions, as with the Nile River and Amazon River, would be considered the actual source, though less dramatic than the lake's outflow. Henry Schoolcraft identified Lake Itasca as the river's primary source in 1832. He had been part of a previous expedition in 1820 led by General Lewis Cass that had named nearby Cass Lake (which is downstream from Itasca) as the source of the river. There exists a dissenting claim that fur trader William Morrison was the first person to discover the lake and identified it as the source of the Mississippi in 1804. The western arm of the lake is fed by two streams on its south end. Nicollet Creek starts in a nearby spring. Another small stream leads into Itasca from Elk Lake, which in turn is fed by two other streams. The Ojibwa called Elk Lake and the stream Bekegamaag zaaga'igan and Bekegamaag ziibi (Sidelake Lake and Sidelake River), respectively. The channel of the Mississippi as it emerges from the lake was bulldozed in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, to create a more "pleasant experience" for visitors. The project included the draining of the surrounding swamp, the digging of a new channel, and the installation of a man made rock rapids. The rocks are used by tourists for walking across the Mississippi River.

The lake is home to the University of Minnesota's Itasca Biological Station and Laboratories campus, which offers spring and summer courses and field research work year round. The campus was established in 1909. Some of these buildings date from the 1930s and 40s, while others, including the largest building the Biome Center, were built more recently. The current Director of the biological station is Jonathan Schilling. The Lake Itasca region claims a unique location, not only at the headwaters of the Mississippi River and amidst 25% of the old growth forest of Minnesota, but also at the juncture of the three great habitats of North America: the Great Plains, the Deciduous Forest of the south, and the Coniferous Forest of the north. Remnants of all three may be observed in the park. The unique geography of the Lake Itasca region has found its way onto the classical music concert stage. Composer Ferde Grofe depicted the birthplace of the Mississippi River and the Native Americans who reside there in his popular classical epic the Mississippi Suite.