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, MN .]] The Minnesota River is a Tributary of the Mississippi River , approximately 332 miles (534 km) long, in the state of Minnesota in the United States . It drains a Watershed of nearly 17,000 square miles (44,000 km&2), 14,751 square miles (38,205 km&2) in Minnesota and about 2,000 sq mi (5180 km&2) in South Dakota and Iowa . It rises in southwestern Minnesota, in Big Stone Lake on the Minnesota-South Dakota border just south of the Laurentian Divide at the Traverse Gap portage. It flows southeast to Mankato , then turns northeast. It joins the Mississippi south of the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul , near the historic Fort Snelling . The valley is one of several distinct Regions Of Minnesota . Its name comes from the Dakota language ''mini'' meaning "water" and ''sota'' which is alternately translated "smoky-white" or "like the cloudy sky". Minnesota Territory , and later the state, were named for the river. The valley that the Minnesota River flows in is up to five miles (8 km) wide and 250 feet (80 m) deep.Sansome, ''Minnesota Underfoot'', pp. 118-19. It was carved into the landscape by the massive Glacial River Warren between 11,700 and 9,400 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age in North America . PRINCIPAL TRIBUTARIES OF THE MINNESOTA RIVER CITIES AND TOWNS ALONG THE MINNESOTA RIVER SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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