Larder Lake is a freshwater
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
Timiskaming District
Timiskaming is a district and census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. The district was created in 1912 from parts of Algoma, Nipissing, and Sudbury districts. In 1921, Cochrane District was created from p ...
in
Northeastern Ontario
Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...
,
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 lake straddles the
incorporated (municipal) townships of
Larder Lake and
McGarry and geographic McFadden Township. It is part of the
Saint Lawrence River
The St. Lawrence River (, ) is a large international river in the middle latitudes of North America connecting the Great Lakes to the North Atlantic Ocean. Its waters flow in a northeasterly direction from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St. Lawrenc ...
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
and is the source of the
Larder River.
Nomenclature
The Lake was previously known as Lake Present, but in 1906 was informally renamed by the group of prospectors who later opened
Chesterville gold mine
Chesterville Gold Mine was a gold mine located in McGarry, Ontario.
Gold was discovered at the location in 1906 and the Chesterville Larder Lake Gold Mining Company was incorporated in 1907. Logistical and financial challenges delayed the start ...
.
Geography
Larder lake has two large arms, Southwest Arm and Northeast Arm, and four bays: Fitzpatrick Bay in the southwest; and Dublin Bay, Northwest Bay and Spoon Bay at the northwest. A long peninsula extends in the middle of the lake from south to north up to the Big Narrows, separating the lake into two parts. The major islands include Big Pete Island, Island CC and Island U.
Larder Lake has five named inflows: Sharp Creek and Benson Creek at the southwest; Pancake Creek to Northwest Bay; Bear Creek to the tip of Northeast Arm; and Milky Creek at the east. The primary outflow is the Larder River, at the southeast, which flows via the
Blanche River,
Lake Timiskaming
Lake Timiskaming or Lake Temiskaming (, ) is a large freshwater lake on the Provinces and territories of Canada, provincial boundary between Ontario and Quebec, Canada. The lake, which forms part of the Ottawa River, is in length and covers ...
and the
Ottawa River
The Ottawa River (, ) 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 Canada at the time. For most of its length, it defines the border betw ...
to the Saint Lawrence River.
The community of
Larder Lake (in the eponymous municipal township of Larder Lake) is located on the northwest shore of Spoon Bay, and the communities of Virginiatown and Kearns, both part of municipal
McGarry township, are located at the northeast end of Northeast Arm.
Ontario Highway 66
King's Highway 66, commonly referred to as Highway 66, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. Located in the Timiskaming District, the highway begins at Matachewan near a junction with Highway 65. It ext ...
travels in an east-west direction along the north side of the lake, and
Ontario Highway 624
This is a list of secondary highways in Timiskaming District, most of which serve as logging roads or provide access to the isolated and sparsely populated areas in the Timiskaming District of northeastern Ontario.
Highway 558
Secondary Highwa ...
travels in a north-south direction along on the west side of the lake.
Economy
There are gold mines around Larder Lake, including
Kerr-Addison Mine
The Kerr–Addison Mine (also known as the Kerr Mine) is an abandoned Canadian gold mine in the Kearns area of McGarry, Ontario. In 1960, the mine was the largest producer of gold in North America. The mine produced the second most gold overall ...
. The lake has been contaminated by mine tailings. In 1992, the
Ontario Ministry of the Environment
The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks is an Ontario government ministry responsible for protecting and improving the quality of the environment in the Canadian province of Ontario, as well as coordinating Ontario's actions on c ...
fined mining company
Deak Resources
Deak Resources Corporation was a Canadian mining company that was formed by a merger in 1989. It became AJ Perron Gold in 1994 and operated the Kerr-Addison Mine.
AJ Perron Gold became delisted from the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1998.
History
...
$50,000 due to polluting effluent discharged into the lake. Pollutants included heavy metals and
cyanide
In chemistry, cyanide () is an inorganic chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a carbon atom triple-bonded to a nitrogen atom.
Ionic cyanides contain the cyanide anion . This a ...
. In 1994, a study by
Environment Canada
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC; )Environment and Climate Change Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Department of the Environment (). is the Ministry (government department), department ...
documented "high concentrates" of nickel, gold, copper, lead and zinc in Larder Lake.
Climate
The lake surface is generally frozen from mid-November to late April; however, the period of safe ice circulation is usually from mid-December to mid-April.
See also
*
Chief Tonene Lake
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Larder, lake
Lakes of Timiskaming District