Stuart Lake
| Stuart Lake | ||
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| Geographical location | British Columbia (Canada) | |
| Tributaries | Tachie River | |
| Drain | Stuart River | |
| Places on the shore | Fort St. James | |
| Data | ||
| Coordinates | 54 ° 33 ′ N , 124 ° 35 ′ W | |
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| Altitude above sea level | 680 m | |
| surface | 358 km² | |
| length | 66 km | |
| width | 10 km | |
| volume | 9.3 km³ | |
| scope | 170 km | |
| Maximum depth | 95 m | |
| Middle deep | 26 m | |
| Catchment area | 14,200 km² | |
Stuart Lake ( Dakelh : Nak'albun ) is a lake in the British Columbia Interior in the Canadian province of British Columbia . The place Fort St. James sits on the shore near its outflow, the Stuart River .
Stuart Lake is 41 miles long and 10 miles wide. It is relatively shallow with an average depth of 26 m. The catchment area of Stuart Lake covers 14,200 km².
Stuart Lake is one of the so-called " Nechako Lakes ". It belongs to the river system of the Fraser River .
Stuart Lake offers recreational opportunities such as boating, swimming, sunbathing on one of the many sandy beaches, fishing, water skiing, camping, snowmobiling, ice fishing, ice sailing, dog sledding. In addition, very old symbols of the indigenous people can be seen here.
Two provincial parks with camping facilities, Paarens Beach and Sowchea Bay , are located on the south shore of the lake. There are also several motels, lodges and private campsites in the region. Mooring points are available at various marinas.
There are several sawmills in Fort St. James and several Indian communities in the catchment area of the lake. Stuart Lake is usually covered with ice from mid-December to mid-April. The fauna of the lake includes the rainbow trout , the American char and the burbot .
Hydrographic characteristics of the lake
The annual runoff is 4.1 km³. This corresponds to an average discharge of 130 m³ / s.
history
Stuart Lake is important to the history of British Columbia because it was where Fort St. James was founded, the first settlement to be of non-Native American origin. James McDougall was the first white man to visit the lake in 1806. McDougall made his explorations as Simon Fraser's assistant .
Fraser and other members of his expedition soon established a North West Company trading post with a garrison led by John Stuart . The English name for the lake was chosen in his honor.
The original name in the Dakelh language is Nak'albun, literally “Mt. Pope Lake ”, after the mountain that towers above it, Nak'al, which is called Mt. Pope in English .
Web links
- Boating the Large Lakes of Northern British Columbia.
- Robie W. Macdonald, D. Patrick Shaw, Colin Gray: Contaminants in Lake Sediments and Fish. (PDF)
- William J. Poser: Nak'albun / Dzinghubun Whut'enne Bughuni. (Stuart / Trembleur Lake Carrier Lexicon). 2nd Edition. Yinka Dene Language Institute, Vanderhoof, BC 1998.