Oneida Lake

Oneida Lake
Tsioqui (Oneida)
View of Frenchman Island and Dunham Island from Cicero, a suburban Syracuse town
Oneida Lake Location within New York Show map of New York Adirondack Park Oneida Lake Oneida Lake (the United States) Show map of the United States
Location	Oneida / Oswego counties, New York, United States
Coordinates	43°12′0″N 75°54′0″W / 43.20000°N 75.90000°W / 43.20000; -75.90000
Primary inflows	Oneida Creek, Fish Creek, Chittenango Creek
Primary outflows	Oneida River
Basin countries	United States
Max. length	21 mi (34 km)
Max. width	5 mi (8.0 km)
Surface area	50,894 acres (79.5 sq mi)
Average depth	22 ft (6.7 m)
Max. depth	55 ft (17 m)
Water volume	.331 cu mi (1.38 km3)
Surface elevation	369 ft (112 m)
Islands	Big Isle, Dunham's Island, Frenchman Island, Little Island, Long Island, Wantry Island
Settlements	(see article)

Oneida Lake is the largest lake entirely within New York state, with a surface area of 79.8 square miles (207 km²).^[1][2] The lake is located northeast of Syracuse and near the Great Lakes. It feeds the Oneida River, a tributary of the Oswego River, which flows into Lake Ontario. From the earliest times until the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, the lake was part of an important waterway connecting the Atlantic seaboard of North America to the continental interior.

The lake is about 21 miles (34 km) long and about 5 miles (8.0 km) wide with an average depth of 22 feet (6.7 m). The shoreline is about 55 miles (89 km). Portions of six counties and 69 communities are in the watershed. Oneida Creek, which flows past the cities of Oneida and Sherrill, empties into the southeast part of the lake, at South Bay. While not geologically considered one of the Finger Lakes, Oneida Lake, because of its proximity, is referred by some as their "thumb". Because it is shallow, it is warmer than the deeper Finger Lakes in summer and its surface freezes solidly in winter. It is popular for the winter sports of ice fishing and snowmobiling.