Echo Lake is a lake along the course of the

Qu'Appelle River The Qu'Appelle River is a river in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba that flows east from Lake Diefenbaker in south-western Saskatchewan to join the Assiniboine River in Manitoba, just s ...

in the

Canadian province Canada has ten provinces and three territories that are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Constitution of Canada, Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North Amer ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. Echo Lake is so named because of the

echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...

heard by the First Nations while paddling on the lake. It is one of four lakes that make up the

Fishing Lakes The Fishing Lakes, also called the Calling Lakes or the Qu'Appelle Lakes, are a chain of four lakes in the Qu'Appelle Valley cottage country about to the north-east of Regina in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The lakes are in a regio ...

Pasqua Lake Pasqua Lake is a lake along the course of the Qu'Appelle River in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Pasqua Lake was named after Chief Joseph Pasqua who formed what became the Pasqua First Nation. It is one of four lakes that make up the ...

is upstream and

Mission Lake Mission Lake, also known as Lebret Lake, is a lake in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is one of four lakes in the Qu'Appelle Valley known as the Fishing Lakes. Echo Lake is upstream and Katepwa Lake is downstream. The lake was name ...

is downstream. The lake can be accessed by Highway 56 and Highway 210. In 1942, a high dam was built on the Qu'Appelle River at Echo Lake's outflow to control the lake's water levels. In the summer of 2024, Saskatchewan's Water Security Agency begun "interim repairs" on Echo Lake Dam to "improve safety and extend the dam's life until a replacement can be completed". Echo Lake, as well as the other three Fishing Lakes, are all in the Qu'Appelle Valley, which was formed about 14,000 years ago during the last ice age.

Meltwater Meltwater (or melt water) is water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glaciers, glacial ice, tabular icebergs and ice shelf, ice shelves over oceans. Meltwater is often found during early spring (season), spring when snow packs a ...

from the glaciers carved out the valley and as water levels rose and fell,

alluvium Alluvium (, ) is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluvium is also sometimes called alluvial deposit. Alluvium is ...

was left in the wake. These piles of alluvium are what created the separations between the lakes.

Communities

Echo Lake is located in the RM of North Qu'Appelle No. 187. The town of

Fort Qu'Appelle Fort Qu'Appelle () is a town in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan located in the Qu'Appelle River valley north-east of Regina, Saskatchewan, Regina, between Echo Lake (Saskatchewan), Echo and Mission L ...

is the largest community, not just on Echo Lake, but all of the Fishing Lakes. It is located at the eastern end of the lake, between Echo and

s. Echo Lake is home to two resort villages;

B-Say-Tah B-Say-Tah () ( 2016 population: ) is a resort village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within Census Division No. 6. It is on the shores of Echo Lake of the Fishing Lakes in the Rural Municipality of North Qu'Appelle No. 187. It is ap ...

is on a point of land along the southern shore and Fort San is located opposite B-Say-Tah on the northern shore. Standing Buffalo Indian reserve is located at the north-western corner of the lake and occupies the northern half of the

isthmus An isthmus (; : isthmuses or isthmi) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea count ...

that separated Echo Lake from

Recreation

Echo Valley Provincial Park Echo Valley Provincial Park is a provincial park in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, located west of the town of Fort Qu'Appelle in the Qu'Appelle Valley between Echo Lake and Pasqua Lake in the RM of North Qu'Appelle No. 187. The thre ...

is located at the western end of the lake, south of Standing Buffalo and west of B-Say-Tah. The park features camping, hiking, and access to both Pasqua and Echo Lakes for boating, swimming, and fishing. The beach at the park is called Echo Beach. Other beaches along the lake's shore include B-Say-Tah Point Beach and Fort Qu’Appelle Valley Centre beach. Echo Lake Bible Camp is located west of Fort San along Highway 57.

Saskatchewan Fish Hatchery

The Saskatchewan Fish Hatchery (formally ''Fort Qu’Appelle Fish Culture Station''), originally established in 1913, is located along Highway 210, west of Fort Qu'Appelle and east of Echo Valley Provincial Park, on the west side of B-Say-Tah. The hatchery produces between 40 and 50 million total fish annually, including both exotic and native species, which includes 500,000 trout and 20 million walleye. The hatchery is responsible for stocking over 200 bodies of water in Saskatchewan, including up to 150 lakes. It is the only

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

facility in Saskatchewan that produces fish for public angling opportunities. In November 2014, the administration of the Saskatchewan Fish Hatchery was transferred from the

Government of Saskatchewan The Government of Saskatchewan () is the provincial government of the province of Saskatchewan. Its powers and structure are set out in the Constitution Act, 1867. In modern Canadian use, the term "government" refers broadly to the cabinet of th ...

to the Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation. The operating costs are funded by Saskatchewan’s Fish and Wildlife Development Fund (FWDF).

Fish species

Fish commonly found in Echo Lake include

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus ''Esox'' (pikes). They are commonly found in brackish water, moderately salty and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). T ...

walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', Synonym (taxonomy), synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the walleyed pike, yellow pike, yellow pikeperch or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern ...

, and

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samuel Latham Mitchill fr ...

Gallery

File:Echo Lake 01.jpg, Echo Lake with Echo Valley Provincial Park to the left File:B-Say-Tah Point 2.JPG, Echo Lake Beach, Echo Valley Provincial Park File:Echo Lake Dam.jpg, Echo Lake Dam at Fort Qu'Appelle File:Aerial - Fort QuAppelle, Saskatchewan and Echo Lake 01 - white balanced (10619298233).jpg, Aerial view of Echo Lake from the south. Fort Qu'Appelle is on the right and Pasqua Lake and Echo Valley Provincial Park are on the left

References

External links

* {{Authority control Lakes of Saskatchewan Division No. 6, Saskatchewan North Qu'Appelle No. 187, Saskatchewan Dams in Saskatchewan Dams completed in 1942