Stuart Lake, or Nak'albun ("Mount Pope Lake", ) in the Carrier (Dakelh) language 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 ...

situated in the

Northern Interior of British Columbia Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

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 town of Fort St. James is situated by the

near the outlet ( Stuart River or Nak'alkoh - ″Mount Pope River″). Stuart Lake is long, wide and relatively shallow, with an average depth of . There are several privately owned islands on Stuart lake. Stuart Lake offers a variety of recreational activities, including boating, canoeing, kayaking swimming, and sunbathing at sandy beaches. Fishing enthusiasts can enjoy the abundance of fish in the lake, while water skiing provides thrills for adrenaline seekers. Visitors can also explore ancient indigenous pictographs, camp in the surrounding areas, and engage in snowmobiling, ice fishing, ice sailing, and dog sledding during the winter months. Two provincial park campgrounds, Paarens Beach and Sowchea Bay, as well as a small municipal campground, are located on the southern shore of the lake. Additionally, there are several motels, lodges, and private campgrounds in the area to accommodate visitors. Moorage facilities are available at several marinas for those arriving by boat. Fort St. James has several lumber mills as do several smaller aboriginal communities in the basin. The lake is usually ice-covered from mid-December to early May. Stuart Lake contains

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

, char or lake trout, whitefish, kokanee, Dolly Varden,

burbot The burbot (''Lota lota''), also known as bubbot, mariah, loche, cusk, freshwater cod, freshwater ling, freshwater cusk, the lawyer, coney-fish, lingcod, or eelpout, is a species of coldwater ray-finned fish native to the subarctic regions of ...

fish and in deeper areas sturgeon (protected).

Hydrographical characteristics of the lake

*Discharge

History

Villages on Stuart Lake or Nak'albun, were connected to

Dakelh The Dakelh (pronounced ) or Carrier are a First Nations in Canada, First Nations Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous people living a large portion of the British Columbia Interior, Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. The Dakel ...

villages on Fraser Lake (''Nadlehbunk'ut'') on an ancient land route called Nyan Wheti ''Nyan Wheti'' in Carrier means "The Way Across." The trail was part of the network of trails called the Grease Trail used by the Dakelh people for as a major trade, travel and communication line. the Cheslatta Trail continues south to

Cheslatta Lake Cheslatta Lake is a large freshwater lake located between François Lake and the western end of the Nechako Reservoir, Range 4 Coast Land District. It is in the Regional District of Bulkley-Nechako,The boundaries of the Regional District of Bu ...

. Stuart Lake is important to British Columbia history, being the location of one of the oldest non-native settlements in the

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

, Fort St. James. The first non-native to visit the lake was James McDougall in 1806. McDougall's explorations were undertaken as an assistant to Simon Fraser. Fraser and other members of his expedition soon established a

North West Company The North West Company was a Fur trade in Canada, Canadian fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in the regions that later became Western Canada a ...

trading post, leaving behind for the winter a garrison led by clerk John Stuart, in whose honor the English name of the lake was given. The original name, in the

Dakelh language The Dakelh () or Carrier language is a Northern Athabaskan language. It is named after the Dakelh people, a First Nations people of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, for whom Carrier has been a common English name derived from F ...

, is Nak'albun (), literally ''Mt. Pope Lake'', after the mountain that overlooks it, Nak'al (), known in English as ''Mt. Pope''. The changing of names of the lakes reflects the doctrine of discovery upheld by Canada's colonial government as well as the colonial history of the area. In 2012, the "Mayor and Council of the District of Fort St. James unanimously voted to adopt a resolution declaring their opposition to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project." Their decision was based on concerns for "the land base and our fresh water sources. Of particular concern locally is the crossing of the Stuart River, which accommodates one of the largest sockeye salmon runs in the world, and Pitka Creek which flows into Stuart Lake."

Citations

References

* *
Boating the Large Lakes of Northern British Columbia
* *Poser, William J. (1998) Nak'albun/Dzinghubun Whut'enne Bughuni (Stuart/Trembleur Lake Carrier Lexicon). Vanderhoof, BC: Yinka Dene Language Institute. Second edition. {{authority control Lakes of British Columbia Omineca Country Range 5 Coast Land District