Nanaimo Lakes

Nanaimo Lakes
First Lake
Nanaimo Lakes
Location	Regional District of Nanaimo, Vancouver Island, British Columbia[1]
Coordinates	49°06′00″N 124°10′15″W / 49.10000°N 124.17083°W / 49.10000; -124.17083[1]
Etymology	Snuneymuxw First Nation – city of Nanaimo
Part of	Nanaimo River
Catchment area	At least 23,000 hectares (57,000 acres)[2]
Basin countries	Canada
Max. length	4 miles (6.4 km)
Surface elevation	210 metres (690 ft)[3]

Nanaimo Lakes are a chain of four lakes composed of three natural—First, Second, and Third Lakes—and one man-made, dammed lake, Fourth Lake, on the upper Nanaimo River, on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada.

Geography

The lakes are in a highland transitional area between the southern Vancouver Island Ranges and the Nanaimo Lowland.^[4]

The 1:50,000 topographic map quadrangle 92F1 Nanaimo Lakes, published by Natural Resources Canada, is centred on the lakes.^[3] Note that lake names do not appear on all online mapping services, and Third Lake, not listed by the Watershed Roundtable, but listed in a 1919 guide, and on the Natural Resources Canada map, may not appear on some maps at all.^[5] A lake with a dam at the north end, named "Fourth Lake", is also shown on the map. First Lake and Second Lake, at c. 210 metres above sea level,^[3] are connected by a short stream.^[6] Fourth Lake Dam is privately owned and impounds 38,000,000 cubic metres (1.3×10⁹ cu ft) of water, used for a paper mill.^[7]

• First Lake 49°05′45″N 124°10′00″W / 49.09583°N 124.16667°W / 49.09583; -124.16667 (First Lake),^[3] natural, about 2 miles (3.2 km) long^[6]
• Second Lake 49°05′45″N 124°13′00″W / 49.09583°N 124.21667°W / 49.09583; -124.21667 (Second Lake),^[3] natural, about 2 miles (3.2 km) long^[6]
• Third Lake 49°05′10″N 124°19′12″W / 49.08611°N 124.32000°W / 49.08611; -124.32000 (Third Lake),^[8] natural, much smaller than the others
• Fourth Lake 49°03′31″N 124°25′12″W / 49.05861°N 124.42000°W / 49.05861; -124.42000 (Fourth Lake),^[9] a reservoir, about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) long and 2 km² in area^[10]

Parks and recreation

Timberwest owns four campsites on private land surrounding First Lake.^[11] The lake was stocked with up to 30,000 salmon or trout per year for recreational fishing beginning in 1905 through the early 21st century.^[12][13][6] Fourth Lake can be kayaked.^[10]

Nanaimo Lakes fire balloon

In March, 1945, a Fu-Go balloon bomb made in Yamaguchi Prefecture and launched from Japan landed at the lakes. Its firing circuits malfunctioned; it failed to detonate and was recovered and analyzed by a Canadian–American intelligence effort.^[14]

See also

• List of lakes of British Columbia

References

Sources

• Butler, G.; Chapman, P.; Gullison, R.E.; Kellow, M.; Walker, S.; Wolf, J. (2014), Nanaimo River Baseline Report: social, environmental and economic values of the Nanaimo River and watershed (PDF) (2nd ed.) Unpublished report prepared for the Nanaimo & Area Land Trust. 312 pp.
• Coen, R. (2014). Fu-go: The Curious History of Japan's Balloon Bomb Attack on America. Studies in War, Society, and the Military Series. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0-8032-5667-5.
• Pochin, W.F. (1946). Angling and Hunting in British Columbia. Sun Directories.
• Williams, A.B. (1919). Rod & Creel in British Columbia. Progress Publishing Company. p. 143. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
• Yorath, C.J. (2005). The Geology of Southern Vancouver Island. Harbour Pub. ISBN 978-1-55017-362-8.

External links

•  Canada portal

Further reading

• Davies, Gordon (1996). Living Rivers of British Columbia & Yukon. Living River of British Columbia & the Yukon. Ronsdale Press. ISBN 978-0-921870-37-1.

This page was last edited on 6 February 2023, at 03:20