Flathead Lake

The Salish name for the town that shares its waters tells you what mattered here: *epɫx̣ʷy̓u*, "has whitefish." Flathead Lake is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River in the contiguous United States, spanning approximately 197 square miles, its boundary running along the edge of the Flathead Indian Reservation. Lake Superior whitefish — introduced in the early 1900s as part of widespread stocking efforts — carved out a niche in these cold, clear waters and never left. Neither did the people who figured out how to catch them.