Lac des Mille Lacs is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

in the western part of

Thunder Bay District Thunder Bay District is a district and census division in Northwestern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. The district seat is Thunder Bay. In 2016, the population was 146,048. The land area is ; the population density was . Most of ...

in northwestern

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is in the

Nelson River The Nelson River is a river of north-central North America, in the Canadian province of Manitoba. The river drains Lake Winnipeg and runs before it ends in Hudson Bay. Its full length (including the Saskatchewan River and Bow River) is , it ...

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

and is the source of the

Seine River ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributaries ...

. The lake lies between

Ontario Highway 17 King's Highway 17, more commonly known as Highway 17, is a provincially maintained highway and the primary route of the Trans-Canada Highway through the Canadian province of Ontario. It begins at the Manitoba boundary, west of Kenora, and the m ...

on the north and

Ontario Highway 11 King's Highway 11, commonly referred to as Highway 11, is a Ontario Provincial Highway Network, provincially maintained highway in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. At , it is the second longest highway in the ...

on the south about west of the city of

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario; its population ...

. Lac des Mille Lacs has an area of and a drainage basin of . The named inflows are the Savanne River and McKay Creek at Sawmill Bay at the northeast, Joe's Creek at Baril Bay at the southwest, and Inwood Creek at the north. The only outflow, at the northwest tip of the lake, is the Seine River, which flows to

Rainy Lake Rainy Lake ( French: '; Ojibwe: ') is a freshwater lake with a surface area of that straddles the border between the United States and Canada. The Rainy River issues from the west side of the lake and is harnessed to make hydroelectricity for ...

and eventually via the Nelson River to

Hudson Bay Hudson Bay ( crj, text=ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, translit=Wînipekw; crl, text=ᐐᓂᐹᒄ, translit=Wînipâkw; iu, text=ᑲᖏᖅᓱᐊᓗᒃ ᐃᓗᐊ, translit=Kangiqsualuk ilua or iu, text=ᑕᓯᐅᔭᕐᔪᐊᖅ, translit=Tasiujarjuaq; french: b ...

. The lake has numerous arms, named bays and named islands.

Roads

The lake is served by Lac des Mille Lacs Road, which connects the lake to Highway 17 near Upsala.

Lac des Mille Lacs Dam

The outflow to the Seine River is controlled by the Lac des Mille Lacs Dam, owned by the

Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources The Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry is a government ministry of the Canadian province of Ontario that is responsible for Ontario's provincial parks, forests, fisheries, wildlife, mineral aggregates and the Crown lands ...

(OMNR) and operated by the Valerie Falls Limited Partnership (

Brookfield Renewable Power Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. is a publicly traded limited partnership that owns and operates renewable power assets, with corporate headquarters in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is 60% owned by Brookfield Asset Management. As of the end of ...

). The first dam at the site was built of stone by

Simon James Dawson Simon James Dawson (June 13, 1818 – October 30, 1902) was a Canadian civil engineer and politician. Career Born in Redhaven, Banffshire, Scotland, Dawson emigrated to Canada as a young man and began his career as an engineer. In 1857 ...

of the Department of Public Works Canada in 1873 to improve water flow for navigation to the vicinity of the

Red River of the North The Red River (french: rivière Rouge or ) is a river in the north-central United States and central Canada. Originating at the confluence of the Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail rivers between the U.S. states of Minnesota and North Dakota, it fl ...

far downstream. This dam was replaced in 1926 by a timber dam to regulate water flow used for

hydroelectric Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...

power production downstream on the Seine River and Rainy River. The current concrete structure was built in 1952 with seven sluices, each with eight logs. With all logs, the maximum sill height is , and without any the minimum height is . The dam project is one of several in the region which has been cited by the

Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation The Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation, also known as Nizaatikoong (from ''Ne-azaadiikaang'' meaning "At a Point of Land Abundant with Poplars"), is a Saulteaux Ojibwe First Nation band government. The nation owns two reserves in the Thunder Bay Dist ...

as having displaced them from their traditional territories, including the Lac des Mille Lacs 22A1 reserve on the shore of the lake, due to

flooding A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrolog ...

."Anishinaabe Iraq war vet completes cross-country walk with Indian Act chained to body"
. ''

APTN National News ''APTN National News'' is a Canadian television national news program broadcast by the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The program formerly broadcast in two daily editions, ''APTN National News Daytime'' at ...

'', September 4, 2012. The First Nation, which is currently dispersed throughout

Northwestern Ontario Northwestern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and west of Lake Superior and west of Hudson Bay and James Bay. It includes most of subarctic Ontario. Its western boundary is the ...

rather than living on its traditional lands, has a

land claim A land claim is defined as "the pursuit of recognized territorial ownership by a group or individual". The phrase is usually only used with respect to disputed or unresolved land claims. Some types of land claims include aboriginal land claims, A ...

pending negotiation with the federal and provincial governments.

Tributaries

clockwise Two-dimensional rotation can occur in two possible directions. Clockwise motion (abbreviated CW) proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands: from the top to the right, then down and then to the left, and back up to the top. The opposite ...

from the Seine River outflow *Inwood Creek *McKay Creek *Savanne River *Joe's Creek

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mille Lacs Lakes of Thunder Bay District