river rising at Ortonville, Minnesota, U.S., at the southern tip of Big Stone Lake, on the South Dakota–Minnesota boundary, and flowing southeast and then northeast from Mankato, Minnesota, to join the Mississippi River at Mendota, just south of St. Paul (Saint Paul). The Minnesota (a Sioux name meaning “sky-tinted water”) is some 335 miles (540 km) long and flows primarily through agricultural land. Its basin drains about 17,000 square miles (44,000 square km). The river was once known as the St. Peter or St. Pierre and was important to early explorers and fur traders. Big Stone Lake Dam, near Ortonville, and Marsh Lake Dam, where the Pomme de Terre River joins the Minnesota, are part of a flood-control project.