2010 Map of Hartley Lake

About this map

The West Fork Prairie River and the Prairie River dominate this portion of the northern Minnesota woods, flowing through a landscape defined by an intricate network of glacial lakes and wetlands. The waterway's flow is managed by infrastructure such as the Wolf Lake Dam and the Hartley Lake Dam, which regulate levels in these significant basins. The area is interlaced with local routes like the Scenic Hwy and County Hwy-53, providing access to remote bodies of water including White Swan Lake, Scooty Lake, and Rahkos Lake. This map reveals a late-20th-century pattern of forest management and recreation, where small creeks like Balsam Creek and Day Brook feed into larger river systems, supporting a region primarily defined by its hydrography rather than dense urban settlement.