Lake of Two Mountains (French: ''Lac des Deux Montagnes'') is part of the

river delta A river delta is a landform shaped like a triangle, created by deposition of sediment that is carried by a river and enters slower-moving or stagnant water. This occurs where a river enters an ocean, sea, estuary, lake, reservoir, or (more rare ...

widening of the

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (french: Rivière des Outaouais, Algonquin: ''Kichi-Sìbì/Kitchissippi'') is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word 'to trade', as it was the major trade route of Eastern ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...

, Canada, at its confluence with the St. Lawrence River. Lake of Two Mountains has four outflows:

Rivière des Mille Îles The Rivière des Mille Îles (, "Thousand Islands River") is a channel of the Ottawa River in southwestern Quebec, Canada and runs into the Rivière des Prairies. It is long. It divides Île Jésus (the city of Laval) from the North Shore, ...

and

Rivière des Prairies The Rivière des Prairies (; ), called the Back River in English, is a delta channel of the Ottawa River in southwestern Quebec, Canada. The Kanien'kehá:ka called it ''Skowanoti'', meaning "River behind the island". The river separates the citi ...

, bordering Île Jésus, and two branches of the Ottawa River, flowing into the St. Lawrence via

Lake Saint-Louis Lake Saint-Louis is a lake in southwestern Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers. The Saint Lawrence Seaway passes through the lake. Lake St. Louis is a widening of the St. Lawrence River in the Hochelaga Arch ...

, on either side of

Île Perrot Île Perrot () is an island west of the island of Montreal in the Canadian province of Quebec. Part of the Hochelaga Archipelago, the island lies between Lake Saint-Louis and Lac des Deux-Montagnes. The island was granted by the Intendant Talo ...

. The city of

Deux-Montagnes Deux-Montagnes is a suburban municipality in southwestern Quebec, Canada on the north shore of the Rivière des Mille Îles where it flows out of Lake of Two Mountains (''Lac des Deux Montagnes''). It is part of the Deux-Montagnes Regional Coun ...

is located on the lake's north shore, where it flows into Rivière des Mille Îles. The southwest portion of the city of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

borders the eastern part of the lake, as does the now merged village of Senneville. Kanesatake (''Kanehsatà:ke''), a Kanien'kéha:ka

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans * Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people * Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...

reserve in Kanesatake, Quebec, is also located along the northern shore.

Origin of the name

The lake was named ''lac des Médicis'' in 1612 by French explorer

Samuel de Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fr ...

, then renamed ''lac des Soissons'' about 1632. By around 1684 French colonists named it as Lac des Deux Montagnes. The name refers to Calvaire Mountain and Saint-Joseph-du-Lac Hill, the two highest peaks of Mont Oka that face the lake on its northern shore.

Origin of the name

See also