Stuart Lake
Encyclopedia
Carrier language
The Carrier language is a Northern Athabaskan language. It is named after the Dakelh people, a First Nations people of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, for whom Carrier is the usual English name. People who are referred to as Carrier speak two related languages. One,...
is a lake
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
situated in the Northern Interior of British Columbia
British Columbia Interior
The British Columbia Interior or BC Interior or Interior of British Columbia, usually referred to only as the Interior, is one of the three main regions of the Canadian province of British Columbia, the other two being the Lower Mainland, which comprises the overlapping areas of Greater Vancouver...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The town of Fort St. James
Fort St. James, British Columbia
Fort St. James is a district municipality and former fur trading post in north-central British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the south-eastern shore of Stuart Lake in the Omineca Country, at the northern terminus of Highway 27, which connects to Highway 16 at Vanderhoof...
is situated by the lake
Lake
A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
near the outlet (Stuart River
Stuart River
The Stuart River is a river in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The river flows over from Stuart Lake to its junction with the Nechako River. The river drains a portion of the Nechako Plateau — a gently-rolling region characterized by small lakes and tributaries...
). Stuart Lake is 66 km long, 10 km wide and relatively shallow, with an average depth of 26 m.
Stuart Lake offers boating, swimming and sunbathing at sandy beaches, fishing, water skiing, viewing ancient aboriginal pictographs, camping, snowmobiling, ice fishing, ice sailing, and dog sledding
Two provincial park campgrounds, Paarens Beach
Paarens Beach Provincial Park
Paarens Beach Provincial Park is a provincial park in central British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the south-west shore of Stuart Lake, to the west of Fort St. James....
and Sowchea Bay
Sowchea Bay Provincial Park
Sowchea Bay Provincial Park is a provincial park in central British Columbia, Canada. It is on Stuart Lake, west of Prince George. The park is 13 hectares in area. It is a busy destination for boaters and anglers, with a single lane concrete boat launch available with limited parking.-External...
, are located on the southern shore of the lake, and there are several motels, lodges and private campgrounds in the area. Moorage is available at several marinas.
Fort St. James has several lumber mills as do several smaller aboriginal communities in the basin. The lake is usually ice-covered from mid-December to mid-April. Stuart Lake contains rainbow trout
Rainbow trout
The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....
, char
Salvelinus
Salvelinus is a genus of salmonid fish often called char or charr; some species are called "trout". Salvelinus is a member of the Salmoninae subfamily of the Salmonidae family. Charr may be identified by light cream pink or red spots over a darker body. Scales tend to be small, with 115-200 along...
or lake trout, and burbot
Burbot
The burbot is the only gadiform fish inhabiting freshwaters. It is also known as mariah, the lawyer, and eelpout. It is closely related to the marine common ling and the cusk...
fish.
History
Stuart Lake is important to British Columbia history, being the location of one of the oldest non-native settlements in the provinceProvince
A province is a territorial unit, almost always an administrative division, within a country or state.-Etymology:The English word "province" is attested since about 1330 and derives from the 13th-century Old French "province," which itself comes from the Latin word "provincia," which referred to...
, Fort St. James. The first non-native to visit the lake was James McDougall
James McDougall (explorer)
James McDougall was a nineteenth century fur trader and explorer, who is remembered for his participation in opening up present-day British Columbia, Canada to European settlement as part of a North West Company expedition to the region, led by Simon Fraser....
in 1806. McDougall's explorations were undertaken as an assistant to Simon Fraser
Simon Fraser (explorer)
Simon Fraser was a fur trader and an explorer who charted much of what is now the Canadian province of British Columbia. Fraser was employed by the Montreal-based North West Company. By 1805, he had been put in charge of all the company's operations west of the Rocky Mountains...
.
Fraser and other members of his expedition soon established a North West Company
North West Company
The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what was to become Western Canada...
trading post, leaving behind for the winter a garrison led by clerk John Stuart
John Stuart (explorer)
John Stuart was a nineteenth century Scottish-Canadian explorer and fur trader, employed by the North West Company...
, in whose honor the English name of the lake was given.
The original name, in the Dakelh language, is Nak'albun (nakʼalpʌn), literally Mt. Pope Lake, after the mountain that overlooks it, Nak'al (nakʼal), known in English as Mt. Pope.
Sources
- Boating the Large Lakes of Northern British Columbia
- Poser, William J. (1998) Nak'albun/Dzinghubun Whut'enne Bughuni (Stuart/Trembleur Lake Carrier Lexicon). Vanderhoof, BC: Yinka Dene Language Institute. Second edition.