Katepwa Lake () is a recreational lake in the Qu’appelle Valley in the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

. The lake's name likely originated from the Cree word , which means 'What is calling?' Katepwa Lake is eastern most and farthest downstream of four lakes along the

Qu'Appelle River The Qu'Appelle River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba that flows east from Lake Diefenbaker in south-western Saskatchewan to join the Assiniboine River in Manitoba, just south of Lake of the Prairies, near t ...

known as the

Fishing Lakes The Fishing Lakes, also called the Calling Lakes or the Qu'Appelle Lakes, are a chain of four lakes in the Qu'Appelle Valley cottage country about 40 miles (64 km) to the north-east of Regina in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. T ...

. Highway 56 runs along the eastern and southern shore and Highway 619 runs along the south-eastern shore. Katepwa Lake, as well as the other three Fishing Lakes, are all in the deep-cut Qu'Appelle Valley, which was formed about 14,000 years ago during the last ice age.

Meltwater Meltwater is water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glacial ice, tabular icebergs and ice shelves over oceans. Meltwater is often found in the ablation zone of glaciers, where the rate of snow cover is reducing. Meltwater can be ...

from the glaciers carved out the valley and as water levels rose and fell,

alluvium Alluvium (from Latin ''alluvius'', from ''alluere'' 'to wash against') is loose clay, silt, sand, or gravel that has been deposited by running water in a stream bed, on a floodplain, in an alluvial fan or beach, or in similar settings. Alluv ...

was left in the wake. These piles of alluvium are what created the separations between the lakes.

Communities

Two rural municipalities border the lake. On the north and east side is the RM of Abernethy No. 186 and on the west is the RM of North Qu'Appelle No. 187. The Resort Village of the District of Katepwa occupies much of the eastern and southern

shoreline A shore or a shoreline is the fringe of land at the edge of a large body of water, such as an ocean, sea, or lake. In physical oceanography, a shore is the wider fringe that is geologically modified by the action of the body of water past a ...

. It was formed in 2004 with the almalgamation of three resort villages, Katepwa South,

Katepwa Beach Katepwa Beach ( 2006 population: ) is a former resort village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within Census Division No. 6. It is now part of the District of Katepwa. Katepwa Beach is on the eastern shore of Katepwa Lake in the ...

, and Sandy Beach. On the west side of the lake, there are the communities of Taylor Beach, Lake View Beach, and Carry the Kettle Indian Reserve.

Parks and recreation

Katepwa Point Provincial Park Katepwa Point Provincial Park is located along the eastern shore of Katepwa Lake in the southern portion of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, adjacent to the resort village of Katepwa. The park's primary feature is a large beach, which ...

is located at Katepwa Beach on the eastern side of the lake. It is a day-use park that offers swimming, fishing, boating, and picnicking. On the western shore, there are two Christian summer camps, Camp Monohan and Katepwa Lake Camp. Also along the lake, there are walking paths, nature trails, and two golf courses near Katepwa Beach. A section of the

Trans Canada Trail The Trans Canada Trail, officially named The Great Trail between September 2016 and June 2021, is a cross-Canada system of greenways, waterways, and roadways that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, Pacific to the A ...

runs along the eastern shore of Katepwa Lake. The trail is part of the historic

Fort Ellice Fort Ellice was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post operated from 1794 to 1892. First established on the Qu'Appelle River, the post was rebuilt in 1817 on the south bank of the Assiniboine. Another iteration of the post was built near the first i ...

Fort Qu'Appelle Fort Qu'Appelle is a town in Canadian province of Saskatchewan located in the Qu'Appelle River valley north-east of Regina, between Echo and Mission Lakes of the Fishing Lakes. It is not to be confused with the once-significant nearby t ...

Trail that was used from the 1830s to bring furs from the west, east to

Fort Garry Fort Garry, also known as Upper Fort Garry, was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers in what is now downtown Winnipeg. It was established in 1822 on or near the site of the North West Company's ...

. From the 1850s, explorers and settlers heading west also used this trail. The trail was part of a wide network of trails that ran across the

Canadian Prairies The Canadian Prairies (usually referred to as simply the Prairies in Canada) is a region in Western Canada. It includes the Canadian portion of the Great Plains and the Prairie Provinces, namely Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. These provin ...

and several famous explorers used this trail, including

John Palliser John Palliser (29 January 1817 – 18 August 1887) was an Irish-born geographer and explorer. Following his service in the Waterford Militia and hunting excursions to the North American prairies, he led the British North American Explorin ...

James Hector Sir James Hector (16 March 1834 – 6 November 1907) was a Scottish-New Zealand geologist, naturalist, and surgeon who accompanied the Palliser Expedition as a surgeon and geologist. He went on to have a lengthy career as a government employe ...

Henry Youle Hind Henry Youle Hind (1 June 1823 – 8 August 1908) was a Canadian geologist and explorer. He was born in Nottingham, England, and immigrated to Canada, settling in Toronto, Ontario, in 1846. Hind led expeditions to explore the Canadian prairies i ...

, and

James Carnegie, 9th Earl of Southesk James Carnegie, 9th Earl of Southesk, KT, DL (16 November 1827 – 21 February 1905) was a Scottish nobleman, explorer and poet. Early life Born in Edinburgh, on 16 November 1827, Southesk was the son of Sir James Carnegie, 5th Baronet and Cha ...

. With the coming of the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

Transcontinental railway A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage, that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single ...

in 1882, the trail lost its importance and faded away as a route to the west. Part of the trail has been turned into a gravel road and some of it remains hikeable.

Katepwa Dam

Katepwa Dam () is located at the eastern end of the lake where the Qu'Appelle River flows out. The dam is 5 metres high and creates a reservoir with a capacity of 186,003

acre-feet The acre-foot is a non- SI unit of volume equal to about commonly used in the United States in reference to large-scale water resources, such as reservoirs, aqueducts, canals, sewer flow capacity, irrigation water, and river flows. An acre-f ...

. It was originally built in 1957 and upgraded in 2005.

References

External links

District of Katepwa
* {{authority control Abernethy No. 186, Saskatchewan Lakes of Saskatchewan Division No. 6, Saskatchewan Dams in Saskatchewan

Communities

Parks and recreation

Katepwa Dam

See also

References

External links