Summit Lake Township is a township in Nobles County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 368 at the 2000 census.
Geography
thumb|left|Summit Lake Township - 1914
According to the United States Census Bureau, the township has a total area of 36.2 square miles (93.6 km), all land. The main geographic feature of Summit Lake Township is the Buffalo Ridge, a drainage divide between the Mississippi and Missouri River systems. Other geographic features include the Kanaranzi Creek, which flows westward to the Missouri River via the Big Sioux River, and the Jack Creek, which flows eastward to the Mississippi River via the Des Moines River. Summit Lake once existed in section 11 of the township, but was drained in subsequent years. If the lake existed today, it would have the highest elevation of any body of water within the state of Minnesota.
Main highways include:
- 20px Minnesota State Highway 264
(Discontinued - renamed Nobles County Road 25)
- 20px Nobles County Road 25
- 20px Nobles County Road 13
- 20px Nobles County Road 14
History
Organization of Summit Township was approved by the Nobles County Board on May 20, 1873. The first township meeting was held on June 5, 1873. The original name of the township was Wilson Township. However, the county board was informed by the state auditor's office that another Wilson Township existed elsewhere in the state. The township was briefly renamed Akin Township on June 15, 1874, but once again, the county was informed that another Akin Township existed within the state. On July 27, 1874, the township was given its present name of Summit Lake Township in honor of a lake in section 11 of the township. Presently, two Wilson Townships currently exist within Minnesota, one in Cass County and the other in Winona County. There is no Akin Township anywhere within the state. Summit Lake, the namesake of the township, no longer exists having been drained and lost in the passing years.
Demographics
As of the census