Lake Temagami
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Lake Temagami, formerly spelled as Lake Timagami, is a
lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...
in
Nipissing District Nipissing District is a district in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1858. The district seat is North Bay. In 2021, the population was 84,716. The land area is ; the population density was , making it o ...
in
northeastern Ontario Northeastern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario, which lies north of Lake Huron and east of Lake Superior. Northeastern Ontario consists of the districts of Algoma, Sudbury, Cochrane, Timisk ...
, Canada, situated approximately 80 km north of North Bay. The lake's name comes from ''dimii-agamiing'' "tih-MEE-uh-guh-MEENG", which means "it is deep water by the shore" in the Ojibwa language.


Geography

The lake is irregularly shaped with long north, northeast and southwest arms, shorter northwest and south arms and several smaller bays. The town of
Temagami Temagami, formerly spelled Timagami, is a municipality in northeastern Ontario, Canada, in the Nipissing District with Lake Temagami at its heart. The Temagami region is known as ''n'Daki Menan'', the homeland of the area's First Nations com ...
is located at the end of the northeast arm of the lake. It extends almost 50 km from north to south and about 35 km from east to west. There are approximately 1,259
island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...
s, the largest of which is Temagami Island. The lake's outflow is the Temagami River which in turn flows into the Sturgeon River. A number of
peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...
s are associated with the lake, such as the McLean, Cynthia and Joan peninsulas, as well as Sand Point, which separates the Northwest Arm from the rest of the lake. The lands surrounding the lake are part of the
Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield ( ), also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), th ...
, one of the largest single exposure of
Precambrian The Precambrian ( ; or pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pC, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of t ...
rocks in the world which were formed after the Earth's crust cooled. Part of Lake Temagami lies in the
Temagami Magnetic Anomaly The Temagami Magnetic Anomaly, also called the Temagami Anomaly or the Wanapitei Anomaly, is a magnetic anomaly resulting from a large buried geologic structure in the Canadian Shield near Temagami, Ontario, Canada. It stretches from Lake Wanapite ...
, an egg shaped geologic structure stretching from Lake Wanapitei in the west to Bear Island. It has striking similarities to the
Sudbury Basin The Sudbury Basin (), also known as Sudbury Structure or the Sudbury Nickel Irruptive, is a major geology, geological structure in Ontario, Canada. It is among the oldest- and largest-known List of impact structures on Earth, impact structures ...
, which is one of the richest mining camps in the world. The hills in the Temagami area are remnants of the oldest
mountain range A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have aris ...
s in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
, that date back to the
Precambrian The Precambrian ( ; or pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pC, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of t ...
era. These enormous mountains were taller than any that exist today. The uplifting was accomplished as enormous pressure caused the earth to buckle in a process called folding. Other processes, such as
volcanic activity Volcanism, vulcanism, volcanicity, or volcanic activity is the phenomenon where solids, liquids, gases, and their mixtures erupt to the surface of a solid-surface astronomical body such as a planet or a moon. It is caused by the presence of a he ...
and
geologic fault In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic ...
ing in which the earth cracks open also contributed to the formation of these mountains. Over millions of years, these enormous mountains were gradually
eroded Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is disti ...
to the land as we know it today in Temagami. The rocks that form Temagami to this day are
igneous Igneous rock ( ), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rocks are formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or lava. The magma can be derived from partial ...
,
metamorphic Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than and, often, elevated pressure of or more, causi ...
and
sedimentary Sedimentary rocks are types of rock formed by the cementation of sediments—i.e. particles made of minerals (geological detritus) or organic matter (biological detritus)—that have been accumulated or deposited at Earth's surface. Sedime ...
. The area has good potential to host
diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...
iferous
kimberlite Kimberlite is an igneous rock and a rare variant of peridotite. It is most commonly known as the main host matrix for diamonds. It is named after the town of Kimberley, Northern Cape, Kimberley in South Africa, where the discovery of an 83.5-Car ...
s and more diamond bearing kimberlites may continue to be discovered in the area. The Temagami area also contains some
pillow lava Pillow lavas are lavas that contain characteristic pillow-shaped structures that are attributed to the extrusion of the lava underwater, or ''subaqueous extrusion''. Pillow lavas in volcanic rock are characterized by thick sequences of discontinu ...
about 2 billion years old, indicating that great submarine volcanoes existed during the early stages of the formation of the
Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...
's crust. The northeast arm of Lake Temagami is underlain by a strong fault zone of sheared
felsic In geology, felsic is a grammatical modifier, modifier describing igneous rocks that are relatively rich in elements that form feldspar and quartz.Marshak, Stephen, 2009, ''Essentials of Geology,'' W. W. Norton & Company, 3rd ed. It is contrasted ...
to intermediate metavolcanic rocks that is approximately wide. This fault zone, known as the Northeast Arm Deformation Zone, and the associated metavolcanic rocks are associated with the Temagami Greenstone Belt, an
Archean The Archean ( , also spelled Archaean or Archæan), in older sources sometimes called the Archaeozoic, is the second of the four geologic eons of Earth's history of Earth, history, preceded by the Hadean Eon and followed by the Proterozoic and t ...
greenstone belt characterized by
felsic In geology, felsic is a grammatical modifier, modifier describing igneous rocks that are relatively rich in elements that form feldspar and quartz.Marshak, Stephen, 2009, ''Essentials of Geology,'' W. W. Norton & Company, 3rd ed. It is contrasted ...
-
mafic A mafic mineral or rock is a silicate mineral or igneous rock rich in magnesium and iron. Most mafic minerals are dark in color, and common rock-forming mafic minerals include olivine, pyroxene, amphibole, and biotite. Common mafic rocks include ...
volcanic rock Volcanic rocks (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) are rocks formed from lava erupted from a volcano. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic rock is artificial, and in nature volcanic rocks grade into hypabyssal and me ...
s. Lake Temagami and its surrounding lakes provide endless opportunities for
canoe camping Canoe camping, also known as touring, tripping or expedition canoeing, is a combination of canoeing and camping. Canoe campers typically carry enough supplies with them to travel and camp for several days via a canoe. Description A canoeist ...
. There are over 2,000 km of interconnecting canoe routes. The region contains some of the largest remaining stands of old growth red and white pine forests in Ontario.


History

In 1834, the
Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...
opened a
fur trading The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...
post on the lake, which operated during the 19th century. The Forest Reserves Act of 1898 established the Temagami Forest Reserve on the shores and adjacent lands of the lake in 1901. It was created to reserve the forests for future
logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidder, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or trunk (botany), logs onto logging truck, truckscottage A cottage, during Feudalism in England, England's feudal period, was the holding by a cottager (known as a cotter or ''bordar'') of a small house with enough garden to feed a family and in return for the cottage, the cottager had to provide ...
s and
resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that aims to provide most of a vacationer's needs. This includes food, drink, swimming, accommodation, sports, entertainment and shopping, on the premises. A hotel ...
s was only permitted on the lake's islands. This restriction is still in force today. Lake Temagami is popular for cottage vacationing: the number of cottages on Lake Temagami are estimated between 630 and 746. In addition there are 9 youth camps, and 12 commercial lodges. Keewaydin Canoe Camp is based on Devil Island, in the shadow of Devil Mountain and across from Granny Bay in the northern section of the lake. Keeywaydin, founded in 1892, is one of several camps on Lake Temagami whose focus is on wilderness canoe trips using traditional equipment such as cedar and
canvas Canvas is an extremely durable Plain weave, plain-woven Cloth, fabric used for making sails, tents, Tent#Marquees and larger tents, marquees, backpacks, Shelter (building), shelters, as a Support (art), support for oil painting and for other ite ...
canoe A canoe is a lightweight, narrow watercraft, water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using paddles. In British English, the term ' ...
s and wannigans. Since it began running trips in Ontario in 1902, it is the earliest known private business on Temagami besides for the HBC post on Bear Island. Camp Temagami, or A.L. Cochrane's Camp for boys, was founded in 1903 on an island in the South Arm of Lake Temagami. While Camp Temagami emphasized the importance of the wilderness canoe trip for shaping young men, the camp also developed a robust in-camp program that included athletics and life-guard training, as well as the study of the
natural environment The natural environment or natural world encompasses all life, biotic and abiotic component, abiotic things occurring nature, naturally, meaning in this case not artificiality, artificial. The term is most often applied to Earth or some parts ...
and Native American
folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...
. Camp Temagami offered canoe trips and in-camp activities for boys and young men until its closure in 1972
Camp Temagami
was reopened in 2003, on the site of the old Wigwasati and Pays d’en Haut camps. Camp Wigwasati, on the southwest arm, began running canoe trips in the Temagami wilderness in 1930. ''Camp Wabikon'' was a vacation lodge opened around 1913 by John Orr, a former hotel operator from Stayner, Ontario, and subsequently operated by his daughter Laura, and then by H.W. Wilson. Lake Temagami’s vacation lodges and canoe tripping camps flourished during the early interwar years. Visitors from the cities of Ontario and the United States’
northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—eac ...
and great lakes regions traveled north on the Timiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway nowiki/>Ontario Northland Railway">Ontario_Northland_Railway.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Ontario Northland Railway">nowiki/>Ontario Northland Railway and later on the Ferguson Highway when it opened in 1927. A large Passenger ship, passenger steamboat, ''Belle of Temagami'', operated on Lake Temagami from the 1900s to the 1940s and would carry vacationers and campers throughout the lake. During the late Depression and
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, vacation lodges and camps struggled to stay open resulting in and several notable lodges reopening as youth camps. Camp Cayuga reopened in 1940 as the first girls’ camp on the lake. ''Camp Wabikon'' reopened as a co-ed youth camp in 1945, making it the first co-ed youth camp on the lake. In the 1950s and 60s, several youth camps opened as co-ed institutions or camps for girls. Camp Wanapitei has been on lake Temagami since 1956, after the previous location on Lake Wanapitei was flooded and was the first co-ed canoe tripping camp on the lake, becoming a full co-ed camp in 1971. It is located in the sandy inlet of the lake. They hold the place for longest trip, as their V2 trip lasts for 52 days, and is meant for 18 year olds, up north in places such as the
Mackenzie river The Mackenzie River (French: ; Slavey language, Slavey: ' èh tʃʰò literally ''big river''; Inuvialuktun: ' uːkpɑk literally ''great river'') is a river in the Canadian Canadian boreal forest, boreal forest and tundra. It forms, ...
, and different northern provinces. Camp Metagami for girls was founded in the early 1960s as a sister camp to ''Camp Temagami'', but closed shortly afterwards in 1970. Originally an exclusive vacation lodge, Camp White Bear reopened as a co-ed youth camp in 1961. In 1968, Lorien Wilderness took over the Camp Cayuga site and offered co-ed wilderness trips. Located on an island in the hub of the lake, ''Camp Wabun'' has run canoe trips in the area since 1933, including trips to Hudson's Bay, and has been co-ed since 1977. In 1985, ''Camp Northwaters'' took over the Lorien Wilderness site and offered co-ed wilderness trips, and later single-gender girls’ trips through their Northern Lights Programs for ages 11–14. In 1999, Keewaydin became co-ed. Keeywaydin, Wanapitei, Temagami, and Wabun were boys camps when founded but have since all become co-ed. Appleby College's northern campus is located on Rabbit Nose island, opened in the mid 1970s it provides a launching point for their Northward Bound program which takes place in January, February, May and June. A copper mine opened on Temagami Island in 1954 called Temagami Mine. It produced 34,000,000
dollar Dollar is the name of more than 25 currencies. The United States dollar, named after the international currency known as the Spanish dollar, was established in 1792 and is the first so named that still survives. Others include the Australian d ...
s Canadian and was considered to mine the purest copper ore in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. The mine closed in 1972.


See also

* Lakes of Temagami * List of islands of Lake Temagami * Bear Island (Lake Temagami)


References


Further reading

*


External links


Ottertooth.com: Temagami's online magazineFriends of TemagamiMyTemagami.CATemagami - The Land of Deep Water
{{DEFAULTSORT:Temagami Lakes of Temagami