Sproat Lake is a lake on central

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are of land. The island is the largest ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

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 ...

. It was known as Kleecoot, meaning "wide open" by local indigenous people. Roughly cross-shaped with four arms, it is over 25 kilometres in length, and has 90.8 kilometres of shoreline. Former home of the last Martin Mars type waterbombers, and near

Port Alberni Port Alberni () is a city located on Vancouver Island in the province of British Columbia, Canada. The city lies within the Alberni Valley at the head of the Alberni Inlet, Vancouver Island's longest inlet. Port Alberni currently has a total popu ...

, Sproat Lake is a popular summer recreational area for the

Alberni Valley Alberni Valley is a broad valley located at the head of Alberni Inlet on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It is home to Port Alberni, Sproat Lake and other outlining areas. The term is largely used as a synonym for Greater Port A ...

. Highway 4 runs along its north shore. The lake maintains a small wintering population of Marbled Murrelets which also nest in the area, the only freshwater alcids on Earth. In August of 2023, Sproat Lake was voted British Columbia's Best Lake by CBC's viewers.

History

Sproat Lake is best known for being a scenic vacation spot. Yet, to archaeologists, it's a site left by Archaic people no older than 11,000 BCE. The bow and arrow reached the region sometime early in this period, between 750 and 100 (cal) BCE (Blitz 1988; Pettigrew 1990; Ross 1990). The K’ak’awin petroglyph may represent a mythical or actual sea creature from ancient times. Many believe they were carved by the Nuu Chah nulth ancestors in what is now called British Columbia, but there is no concrete evidence pointing to them. Not much is actually known about the people who created them. Until 1864 this lake was known by its anglicized Nootka name of Kleecoot. From then it was renamed by

Robert Brown Robert Brown may refer to: Robert Brown (born 1965), British Director, Animator and author Entertainers and artists * Washboard Sam or Robert Brown (1910–1966), American musician and singer * Robert W. Brown (1917–2009), American printmaker ...

of the Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition as Sproat Lake in honour of entrepreneur and colonial official Gilbert Malcolm Sproat.

Forest fire service

In 1959 four

Martin JRM Mars The Martin JRM Mars is a large, four-engined Cargo aircraft, cargo transport flying boat designed and built by the Glenn L. Martin Company, Martin Company for the United States Navy during World War II. It was the largest Allies of World War I ...

large, four-engined cargo transport

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

s, designed and built by the Martin Company for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during

World War II 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 ...

, were acquired by Forest Industries Flying Tankers (FIFT) to use as firefighting water bombers. The company was formed to bid for the four aircraft and a large spares inventory, and represented a consortium of

forest companies. The bid was accepted and the sale completed in December 1959. The four aircraft were flown to Fairey Aviation at Victoria, British Columbia, for conversion into water bombers. The conversion involved the installation of a plywood tank in the cargo bay with retractable pick-up scoops to allow uploading of water while the aircraft was taxiing. The scoops allowed 30 tons of water to be taken on board in 22 seconds. Later some of the hull fuel tanks were replaced with water tanks. The Martin Mars are not a part of the local Sproat Lake Volunteer Fire Department, although they have worked with the Sproat Lake Fire Department on at least 1 occasion

Parks

In addition to a number of lakeside residences, the lake has three provincial parks on its shores: Sproat Lake Provincial Park, Taylor Arm Provincial Park, and Fossli Provincial Park.

Gallery

File:Morning at Sproat Lake Provincial Park.JPG, Morning at Sproat Lake Provincial Park File:Mini-pano (8699271940).jpg, Klitsa Mountain above the lake File:Mount Arrowsmith from Sproat Lake.jpg, Summer view of

Mount Arrowsmith Mount Arrowsmith is the highest mountain east of Port Alberni on Vancouver Island. Its dominant rock is basalt. The mountain is contained within the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region and as of September 18, 2009 is designated part of hectare ...

File:SPROAT LAKE, BRITISH COLUMBIA.jpg, Taylor Arm File:Sproat Lake (25710448356).jpg, Mars water bomber and Mount Klitsa

References

Alberni Valley Lakes of Vancouver Island Lakes of British Columbia Clayoquot Land District {{BritishColumbiaCoast-geo-stub

History

Forest fire service

Parks

Gallery

See also

References