Lake Nipigon

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Lake Nipigon
Lake Nipigon.JPG
View of the lake from Orient Bay
Canada Ontario relief location map.jpg
Red pog.svg
Lake Nipigon
Location Ontario
Coordinates 49°50′N88°30′W / 49.833°N 88.500°W / 49.833; -88.500
Lake type Glacial
Primary inflows Gull, Wabinosh, Whitesand, Little Jackfish, Ombabika, Onaman, Namewaminikan Rivers
Primary outflows Nipigon River
Catchment area 24,560 km2 (9,484 sq mi) [1]
Basin  countries Canada
Surface area 4,848 km2 (1,872 sq mi)
Average depth54.9 m (180 ft) [2]
Max. depth165 m (541 ft)
Water volume 266 km3 (64 cu mi; 216×10^6 acre⋅ft) [2]
Shore length11,044 km (649 mi) [2]
Surface elevation260 m (850 ft)
Islands Caribou Island, Geikie Island, Katatota Island, Kelvin Island, Logan Island, Murchison Island, Murray Island, and Shakespeare Island
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Lake Nipigon ( /ˈnɪpɪɡɒn/ NIP-ih-gon; French : lac Nipigon; Ojibwe : Animbiigoo-zaaga'igan) is part of the Great Lakes drainage basin. It is the largest lake entirely within the boundaries of the Canadian province of Ontario.

Contents

Etymology

In the Jesuit Relations the lake is called lac Alimibeg, and was subsequently known as Alemipigon or Alepigon. In the 19th century it was frequently spelled as Lake Nepigon. This may have originated from the Ojibwe word Animbiigoong, meaning 'at continuous water' or 'at waters that extend [over the horizon].' Though some sources claim the name may also be translated as 'deep, clear water,' this description is for Lake Temagami. Today, the Ojibwa bands call Lake Nipigon Animbiigoo-zaaga'igan.

The 1778 Il Paese de' Selvaggi Outauacesi, e Kilistinesi Intorno al Lago Superiore map by John Mitchell identifies the lake as Lago Nepigon and its outlet as F. Nempissaki. In the 1807 map A New Map of Upper & Lower Canada by John Cary, the lake was called Lake St. Ann or Winnimpig, while the outflowing river as Red Stone R. Today, the Red Rock First Nation located along the Nipigon River still bears the "Red Stone" name. In the 1827 map Partie de la Nouvelle Bretagne. by Philippe Vandermaelen, the lake was called L. St. Anne, while the outflowing river as R. Nipigeon. In the 1832 map North America sheet IV. Lake Superior. by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, the lake was called St Ann or Red L., while the outflowing river as Neepigeon and the heights near the outlet of the Gull River as Neepigon Ho. By 1883, maps such as Statistical & General Map of Canada by Letts, Son & Co., consistently began identify the lake as Lake Nipigon.

Geography

Satellite view of Lake Nipigon 88.43153W 49.95886N Nipigon Lake.png
Satellite view of Lake Nipigon

Lying 260 metres (853 ft) above sea level, the lake drains into the Nipigon River and thence into Nipigon Bay of Lake Superior. The lake and river are the largest tributaries of Lake Superior. It lies about 120 kilometres (75 mi) northeast of the city of Thunder Bay, Ontario. [3]

Lake Nipigon has a total area (including islands within the lake) of 4,848 square kilometres (1,872 sq mi), compared to 3,150 square kilometres (1,220 sq mi) for Lake of the Woods. It is the 32nd largest lake in the world by area. The largest islands are Caribou Island, Geikie Island, Katatota Island, Kelvin Island, Logan Island, Murchison Island, Murray Island, and Shakespeare Island. Maximum depth is 165 metres (541 ft).

Its original watershed area is 24,560 km2 (9,484 sq mi). This was increased by about 60% to 38,920 square kilometres (15,030 sq mi) after 14,360 square kilometres (5,545 sq mi) of the Ogoki River basin were diverted in 1943 to the headwaters of the Little Jackfish River, a tributary of Lake Nipigon. [1]

Geology

Geological map of North America showing (in beige) the Midcontinent Rift, here labeled Keweenawan Rift. North america basement rocks.png
Geological map of North America showing (in beige) the Midcontinent Rift, here labeled Keweenawan Rift.

Lake Nipigon occupies a basin created by repeated and preferential erosion of relatively flat-lying and faulted, Proterozoic sedimentary strata and igneous sills by repeated Pleistocene glaciations. The Sibley Group consists of about 950 metres (3,120 ft) of unmetamorphosed Mesoproterozoic red beds that are typically flat-lying. These red beds consist of basal fluvial-lacustrine conglomerates, sandstones, and shales overlain by cyclic dolomite-siltstone layers, stromatolites and red mudstones, which represent a playa lake, sabkha, and mudflat environments; purple shales and siltstones interpreted as subaerial mudflat deposits; and an upper unit of cross-stratified sandstone beds, which are interpreted to be aeolian in origin. They accumulated in an intracratonic rift basin between 1450 and 1500 million years (Ma) ago. [4] [5]

The Sibley Group unconformably overlies highly deformed and metamorphosed Archean turbiditic sandstones and metavolcanic and granitic rocks. The strata of the Sibley Group fill and are limited to a rift basin known as the Nipigon Embayment that underlies Lake Nipigon. Outside of the rift basin and east and west of Lake Nipigon, the Sibley Group is absent and erosion resistant Archean rocks are either exposed at the surface or blanketed by Pleistocene glacial sediments. [4] [5] [6]

The Archean and Proterozoic strata are intruded by a number of mafic and ultramafic intrusions, which define the current outline of the Nipigon Embayment. They consist of relatively flat-lying and undeformed diabase sills known as the Nipigon diabase sills. These sills range in thickness from a few meters to 150 metres (490 ft) thick in cliff sections to more than 250 metres (820 ft) thick in drill core. They are estimated to cover an area in excess of 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 sq mi). The Nipigon diabase sills give evidence of rift-related continental basaltic magmatism during the Midcontinent Rift System event, estimated at 1,109 Ma ago. Thick sills up to 150 to 200 metres (490–660 ft) thick are also related with the rifting event, forming cliffs that are up to 150 to 200 metres (490–660 ft) high. The mafic and ultramafic intrusions in and around the Nipigon Embayment have widely been interpreted to represent a failed arm of the Midcontinent Rift System, although the lack of dike intrusions, compared to the relative abundance of flat, saucer-shaped sills in the embayment, has led some researchers to question the dominant failed rift arm model. [6] [7] [8]

The Proterozoic rocks that underlie the Lake Nipigon region contain a variety of mineral resources. Although economic deposits have yet to be found, 1.53 billion-year-old anorogenic granites within the Lake Nipigon area potentially contain yttrium, zirconium, rare earth elements and tin mineralization. The clastic sedimentary rocks of the Sibley Group, are host to unconformity-related uranium and redbed-type copper ore deposits. [7] [9]

History

As the last ice age was ending, Lake Nipigon was, at times, part of the drainage path for Lake Agassiz. [10]

French Era (Fort la Tourette)

The French Jesuit Claude Allouez celebrated the first Mass beside the Nipigon River May 29, 1667. [11] [12] He visited the village of the Nipissing Indians who had fled there during the Iroquois onslaught of 1649-50.

In 1683, Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut, established a fur trading post on Lake Nipigon named Fort la Tourette after his brother, Claude Greysolon, Sieur de la Tourette. The Alexis Hubert Jaillot map of 1685 (Partie de la Nouvelle-France) [13] suggests that this fort was somewhere in Ombabika Bay at the northeast end of the lake where the Ombabika River and Little Jackfish River (Kabasakkandagaming) empty. This post, like most of the western French posts, was closed in 1696 by order of the king, when, due to a surplus of beaver pelts, the system of trading permits established in 1681 was abolished. [14]

On 17 April 1744, the Count of Maurepas, Minister of the Marine, informed the Canadian officials that Jean de La Porte was to be given the "fur ferme" (i.e. the profits) of Lac Alemipigon from that year forward as a reward for his services in New France.

Mid 18th and 19th century: British Era

After the Treaty of Paris (1763), the area passed into the hands of the British, and the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) expanded its trading area to include the Lake, to compete with the North West Company, who were already operating there. In 1784 and 1790, the HBC sent representatives to survey the lake, and set up their first trading post in 1792 on the north-east side. Around 1821, the HBC replaced the original post with a second one in the northwest, called Wabinosh House. It was nearly abandoned due to strife and murders between local indigenous groups. Once the dispute was resolved however, the post remained open. [15]

Although it was considered to be within British North America, it was not until 1850 that the watershed draining into Lake Superior was ceded formally by the Ojibwe Indians to the Province of Canada in the Robinson Treaty of 1850, also known as the Robinson Superior Treaty. A four square mile reservation was set aside on Gull River near Lake Nipigon on both sides of the river for the Chief Mishe-muckqua (from Mishi-makwa, "Great Bear"). That same year, the HBC moved its trading post there from Wabinosh Bay. The post, known as Nipigon or Fort Nipigon, was headquarters of the Nipigon District from 1881 to 1892. In 1900, the post was renamed to Nipigon House, and renamed again in 1954 to Gull Bay. [15]

HBC trading post Nipigon House on Lake Nipigon, 1880s HBC - Nipigon House 1880s.jpg
HBC trading post Nipigon House on Lake Nipigon, 1880s

In 1871 Lake Nipigon was included in the new Thunder Bay District.

20th Century

The Township of Nipigon was incorporated in 1908. The Municipality of Greenstone (pop 5662) was incorporated in 2001 and includes Orient Bay, MacDiarmid, Beardmore, Nakina, Longlac, Caramat, Jellicoe and Geraldton.

In 1943 Canada and the United States agreed to the Ogoki diversion which diverts water into Lake Superior that would normally flow into James Bay and thence into Hudson Bay. The diversion connects the upper portion of the Ogoki River to Lake Nipigon. This water was diverted to boost the Sir Adam Beck Hydroelectric Generating Stations at Niagara Falls. [16] The diversion is governed by the International Lake Superior Board of Control which was established in 1914 by the International Joint Commission.

First Nations

The aboriginal population (primarily Ojibwe) include the Animbiigoo Zaagi'igan Anishinaabek (Lake Nipigon Ojibway) First Nation, the Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging (Rocky Bay whose name changed in 1961 from McIntyre Bay Indian Band) Anishinaabek First Nation, the Bingwi Neyaashi (Sand Point) Anishinaabek First Nation, the Red Rock (Lake Helen) First Nation and the Gull Bay First Nation. Formerly, the Whitesand First Nation was also located along the northwestern shores of Lake Nipigon until they were relocated in 1942. The membership of these six First Nations total about 5,000. Additionally along Lake Nipigon, there are three Indian reserves  : McIntyre Bay IR 54 (Rocky Bay First Nation), Jackfish Island IR 57 and Red Rock (Parmachene) IR 53 (Red Rock First Nation).

The first nations CBC TV series Spirit Bay was filmed on the lake at the Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek First Nation Reserve in the mid-1980s.

Transportation

The main line of the Canadian National Railway runs to the north of the lake. Another branch of the CNR touches the southeastern section of the lake at Orient Bay and Macdiarmid before heading inland to Beardmore. Ontario Highway 11 also skirts the southeastern section of the lake. [17]

Water travel between Lake Nipigon and Lake Superior is impossible because of the existence of three dams that effectively hinders navigation.

Protected areas

Ontario Parks has designated the area as the Lake Nipigon Basin Signature Site, because of its remarkable range of natural and recreational values. The site includes many provincial parks, conservation reserves, and enhanced management areas around the lake and within its watershed. [18]

Protected areas on or at Lake Nipigon include:

Other protected areas within the lake's basin:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thunder Bay District</span> District in Ontario, Canada

Thunder Bay District is a district and census division in Northwestern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. The district seat is Thunder Bay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ogoki River</span> River in Ontario, Canada

The Ogoki River is a river in the Thunder Bay and Cochrane Districts of Ontario. It springs from the wilderness just east of Savant Lake, flowing north of Lake Nipigon to Ogoki, where it joins the Albany River which empties into James Bay. The river is 480 kilometres (300 mi) long.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wabakimi Provincial Park</span> Provincial park in Ontario, Canada

Wabakimi Provincial Park is a wilderness park located to the northwest of Lake Nipigon and northwest of Armstrong Station in the province of Ontario, Canada. The park contains a vast and interconnected network of more than 2,000 kilometres of lakes and rivers. The park covers an area of 8,920 square kilometres (3,440 sq mi) and became the second largest park in Ontario and one of the world's largest boreal forest reserves following a major expansion in 1997. A number of local citizen groups and residents, including Bruce Hyer have been instrumental in the creation, expansion, and preservation of this region.

The Black Sturgeon River is a river in Thunder Bay District, Northwestern Ontario, Canada, located west of the Nipigon River, that flows to Lake Superior.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Albany River</span> River in Ontario, Canada

The Albany River is a river in Northern Ontario, Canada, which flows northeast from Lake St. Joseph in Northwestern Ontario and empties into James Bay. It is 982 kilometres (610 mi) long to the head of the Cat River, tying it with the Severn River for the title of longest river entirely in Ontario. Major tributaries include the Kenogami River and Ogoki River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Shore (Lake Superior)</span> Geographic region in the United States and Canada

The North Shore of Lake Superior runs from Duluth, Minnesota, United States, at the western end of the lake, to Thunder Bay and Nipigon, Ontario, Canada, in the north, to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario in the east. The shore is characterized by alternating rocky cliffs and cobblestone beaches, with forested hills and ridges through which scenic rivers and waterfalls descend as they flow to Lake Superior.

The Obabika River Provincial Park is a provincial park in Ontario, Canada, straddling across the boundaries of the Sudbury, Nipissing, and Timiskaming Districts. While it is named after and includes the Obabika River, the bulk of the park extends north of Obabika Lake to the eastern boundary of Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">White Lake Provincial Park (Ontario)</span> Provincial park in Ontario

White Lake Provincial Park is a park in the Thunder Bay District of Northern Ontario, Canada, along Highway 17, north of Lake Superior.

The Robinson Treaties are two treaties signed between the Ojibwa chiefs and the Crown in 1850 in the Province of Canada. The first treaty involved Ojibwa chiefs along the north shore of Lake Superior, and is known as the Robinson Superior Treaty. The second treaty, signed two days later, included Ojibwa chiefs from along the eastern and northern shores of Lake Huron, and is known as the Robinson Huron Treaty. The Wiikwemkoong First Nation did not sign either treaty, and their land is considered "unceded".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area</span> National marine conservation area in Ontario, Canada

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gull Bay First Nation</span> Indian reserve in Ontario, Canada

Gull Bay First Nation or Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek is an Anishinaabe (Ojibway) First Nation band government located in Thunder Bay District in northwestern Ontario, Canada. It is approximately 175 kilometres (109 mi) north of Thunder Bay, Ontario on Highway 527 on the western shore of Lake Nipigon. As of May 2010, the First Nation had a registered population of 1,149 people, including an on-Reserve population of 328.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gull River (Lake Nipigon)</span> River in Ontario, Canada

The Gull River is a river in Thunder Bay District in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The river is in the Great Lakes Basin and is a tributary of Lake Nipigon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volcanism of Eastern Canada</span>

The volcanism of Eastern Canada includes the hundreds of volcanic areas and extensive lava formations in Eastern Canada. The region's different volcano and lava types originate from different tectonic settings and types of volcanic eruptions, ranging from passive lava eruptions to violent explosive eruptions. Eastern Canada has very large volumes of magmatic rock called large igneous provinces. They are represented by deep-level plumbing systems consisting of giant dike swarms, sill provinces and layered intrusions. The most capable large igneous provinces in Eastern Canada are Archean age greenstone belts containing a rare volcanic rock called komatiite.

Nokiiwin Tribal Council is a non-profit Regional Chiefs' Council located in the Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada, serving five First Nations by providing advisory services and training which will enhance the overall management skills and opportunities of the area's First Nations.

Kelvin Island is a large island in the centre of Lake Nipigon, in Thunder Bay District in northwestern Ontario, Canada. It is named after the British scientist William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (1824–1907).

The Namewaminikan River is a river in Thunder Bay District in northwestern Ontario, Canada. It is in the Great Lakes Basin and is a tributary of Lake Nipigon.

Gravel River Provincial Park is a nature reserve in the Thunder Bay District of Ontario, Canada. It protects an unusual birds-foot delta at the mouth of the Gravel River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kopka River</span> River in Ontario, Canada

The Kopka River is a river in northwestern Ontario, Canada. It forms at the height-of-land west of Lake Nipigon, flowing through rugged wilderness of Ontario's northern boreal forest, and drains into Wabinosh Lake.

The Obonga–Ottertooth Provincial Park is located about 200 kilometres (120 mi) north of Thunder Bay, in Ontario, Canada. It protects a 100 kilometres (62 mi) long stretch of lakes and streams between Obonga Lake in the east and Kashishibog Lake in the west, mostly following the Kashishibog River and Ottertooth Creek. The park is notable as an important recreational link between Brightsand River Provincial Park, Kopka River Provincial Park, and the Lake Nipigon basin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxtongue River</span> River in Ontario, Canada

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References

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