Silver Lake (french: lac Silver) 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 ...

Tay Valley Tay Valley is a township in eastern Ontario, Canada, on the Tay River in the southwest corner of Lanark County, adjacent to the United Counties of Leeds and Grenville and Frontenac County. The township administrative offices are located in Glen ...

Lanark County Lanark County is a county located in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its county seat is Perth, which was first settled in 1816.Brown, Howard Morton, 1984. Lanark Legacy, Nineteenth Century Glimpses of on Ontario County. Corporation of the Cou ...

, and

Central Frontenac Central Frontenac is a township in eastern Ontario, Canada in the County of Frontenac. Central Frontenac was created in 1998 through an amalgamation of the Townships of Hinchinbrooke, Kennebec, Olden and Oso. Communities There are 28 communiti ...

Frontenac County Frontenac County is a county and census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. It is located in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario. The city of Kingston is in the Frontenac census division, but is separated from the County of Fron ...

, in

Eastern Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai *Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air Li ...

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 the source of Silver Lake Creek and is in the

Ottawa River The Ottawa River (french: Rivière des Outaouais, Algonquin: ''Kichi-Sìbì/Kitchissippi'') is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word 'to trade', as it was the major trade route of Eastern ...

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 ...

Geography

Silver Lake has an area of and lies at an elevation of It is long and wide. Approximately the western two-thirds of the lake is in Central Frontenac, and the eastern third in Tay Valley.

Ontario Highway 7 King's Highway 7, commonly referred to as Highway 7 and historically as the Northern Highway, is a provincially maintained highway in the Canadian province of Ontario. At its peak, Highway 7 measured in length, stretching from Highway&nbs ...

runs along the southern shore of the lake, which leads to the community of Maberly, by road along Highway 7 to the east; it along with the dispersed rural community of Zealand, northwest of the lake, are the two nearest communities. The nearest larger centre is the town of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, by road east along Highway 7. The lake has one named inflow, Wesleys Creek, at the centre north; there are several unnamed secondary inflows. The primary outflow, at the eastern end of the lake, is Silver Lake Creek, which flows via the

Fall River Fall River is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts, United States. The City of Fall River's population was 94,000 at the 2020 United States Census, making it the tenth-largest city in the state. Located along the eastern shore of Mount H ...

and the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

Lac des Chats Lac des Chats (English: Lake of Cats), commonly known as Chats Lake, is a lake on the Ottawa River that forms the boundary between the provinces of Ontario and Quebec (Canada). It is formed by the Chats Falls Dam and serves as the reservoir for t ...

on the Ottawa River.

Recreation

Silver Lake Provincial Park Silver Lake Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located in the Skagit River The Skagit River ( ) is a river in southwestern British Columbia in Canada and northwestern Washington in the United States, approximate ...

is at the eastern end of the lake and encompasses the Silver Lake Creek outflow. The park has 100 campsites. It also has a sandy beach, and canoeing (rentals available), hiking and fishing are permitted; there is a boat ramp. A road

rest area A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names include motorway servi ...

at the middle of the southern shore of the lake on the north side of Highway 7 has a small sandy beach and picnic facilities. A private camp, Silver Lake Wesleyan Camp, is operated by the

Wesleyan Church The Wesleyan Church, also known as the Wesleyan Methodist Church and Wesleyan Holiness Church depending on the region, is a Methodist Christian denomination in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Namibia, Sierra Leone, L ...

on the north shore of the lake.

Natural history

The lake has

northern pike The northern pike (''Esox lucius'') is a species of carnivorous fish of the genus '' Esox'' (the pikes). They are typical of brackish and fresh waters of the Northern Hemisphere (''i.e.'' holarctic in distribution). They are known simply as a ...

, smallmouth bass,

lake trout The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, it can also ...

yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch, American river perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Samu ...

and sunfish. A short hiking trail in Silver Lake Provincial Park highlights the transition between two ecological zones:

marsh A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

and

upland forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silver Lake (Lanark-Frontenac) Lakes of Frontenac County Lakes of Lanark County