Which river begins at Lake Itasca in Minnesota?

The Mississippi River begins at Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota. The lake’s outflow in Itasca State Park is traditionally and publicly accepted as the river’s source, from which the Mississippi flows south toward the Gulf of Mexico.

Lake Itasca is a small glacial lake about 4.7 square kilometres in area and roughly 450 metres above sea level. At the outlet, the young Mississippi is only about three feet deep. It then passes through a chain of Minnesota lakes before becoming the broad, internationally famous river associated with cities such as Minneapolis, St. Louis, Memphis, and New Orleans.

Henry Schoolcraft identified Lake Itasca as the Mississippi’s source in 1832. He coined the name “Itasca” from parts of the Latin words veritas, meaning truth, and caput, meaning head—“true head.” Itasca State Park was established in 1891 to protect the headwaters.

There is a geographical qualification: scientists can trace smaller feeder streams farther upstream, and the longest-source definition can connect the Mississippi system to the Missouri River and Brower’s Spring in Montana. For standard geography and general-knowledge quizzes, however, Lake Itasca is the accepted starting point.