Lake Athabasca (/[invalid input: 'icon']ˌæθəˈbæskə/; French: lac Athabasca; from Woods Cree: aðapaskāw, "[where] there are plants one after another")^[2] is located in the northwest corner of Saskatchewan and the northeast corner of Alberta between 58° and 60° N. Lake Athabasca is also known to have substantial oil deposits in its tar sands.

History

The name in the Dene language originally referred only to the large delta formed by the confluence the Athabasca River at the southwest corner of the lake. In 1791, Philip Turnor, cartographer for the Hudson’s Bay Company, wrote in his journal, "low swampy ground on the South side with a few willows growing upon it, from which the Lake in general takes its name Athapison in the Southern Cree tongue which signifies open country such as lakes with willows and grass growing about them". Peter Fidler originally recorded the name for the river in 1790 as the Great Arabuska. By 1801, the name had gained a closer spelling to the current name—Athapaskow Lake. By 1820, George Simpson referred to both the lake and the river as "Athabasca".

Geography

Lake Athabasca, Canada

The lake covers 7,850 km² (3,030 sq mi), is 283 km (176 mi) long, has a maximum width of 50 km (31 mi), and a maximum depth of 124 m (407 ft), and holds 204 km³ (49 cu mi) of water, making it the largest and deepest lake in both Alberta and Saskatchewan, and the eighth largest in Canada.^[3] Water flows northward from the lake via the Slave River and Mackenzie River systems, eventually reaching the Arctic Ocean. Fort Chipewyan, one of the oldest European settlements in Alberta, is located on the western shore of the lake, where the Rivière des Rochers drains the lake and flows toward Slave River, beginning its northward journey along the eastern boundary of Wood Buffalo National Park.

Fidler Point on the north shore of Lake Athabasca is named for Peter Fidler, a surveyor and map maker for the Hudson's Bay Company.^[4]

Development and environment

Uranium and gold mining along the northern shore resulted in the birth of Uranium City, Saskatchewan, which was home to the mine workers and their families. While the last mine closed in the 1980s, the effects of mining operations have heavily contaminated the northern shores.

The Lake Athabasca Sand Dunes, the largest active sand dunes in the world north of 58°, are adjacent to the southern shore. After a long struggle with government bureaucracy and opposition from mining companies, the dunes were designated a "Provincial Wilderness Park" in 1992.

Lake Athabasca contains 23 species of fish, with a world record lake trout of 46.3 kg (102 lb) having been caught from its depths in 1961 by means of a gillnet.^[5]
Other fish species include walleye, yellow perch, northern pike, lake trout, goldeye, lake whitefish, cisco, arctic grayling, burbot, white sucker and longnose sucker.

References

External links

• Lake Athabasca and associated Sand Dunes


• International Lake Environment Committee, June 21, 2001


• 
  [1] Fish Species of Saskatchewan


• 
  [2] Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan


• Athabaca Sand Dunes Provincial Park