Batchawana Bay is a small

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a na ...

Algoma District Algoma District is a district and census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. The name was created by an American ethnologist, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793-1864), who was appointed Indian agent to the Ojibwe in ...

in Northeastern

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. It is on the eastern shore of

Lake Superior Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh wa ...

, approximately north of Sault Ste. Marie. The name "Batchawana" is derived from the

Ojibwe The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

word ''obatchiwanang'' (or spelled ''badjiwanung''), meaning "current at the strait" or "narrows and swift water there", and refers to the turbulent or bubbling waters flowing between Batchawana Island and Sand Point where the lake narrows and a strong current and undertow results. The

believed this was caused by an underwater spirit about to surface.

Geography

The bay, part of

Whitefish Bay Whitefish Bay is a large bay on the eastern end of Lake Superior between Michigan, United States, and Ontario, Canada. It is located between Whitefish Point in Michigan and Whiskey Point along the more rugged, largely wilderness Canadian Shield o ...

, is formed on the north side by the Whitefish Point on the Canadian side of

. Havilland and Harmony Bays are 2 smaller sub-bays within it. Batchawana Island, with an area of more than and a coastline of , is a large and only island in the middle of the bay. This pristine undeveloped island was also reputedly the site of Spirit houses (elevated graves) of the Ojibwe. Batchawana Island and Whitefish Point are both important routes and stopovers for migratory birds. Batchawana Bay Provincial Park is located on the northern shore of the bay, and the unincorporated place and Compact Rural Community of Batchawana Bay is on the northwest shore of the bay. The community is along Highway 563. Nearby Batchawana Mountain () is the fourth highest point in Ontario at .

History

Batchawana Bay was an important fishing site for the Ojibwe. A

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically the location of the trading post would allow people from one geographic area to tr ...

was established near the mouth of the Batchawana River for

fur trading The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most ...

around 1817 or 1819 by clerks of the

North West Company The North West Company was a fur trading business headquartered in Montreal from 1779 to 1821. It competed with increasing success against the Hudson's Bay Company in what is present-day Western Canada and Northwestern Ontario. With great weal ...

. The

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...

appears to have operated a post there as well circa 1868-1869. In the early 1920s, the largest fish ever recorded in the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

was caught by Frank Lapoint in the bay. A

sturgeon Sturgeon is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous, and are descended from other, earlier acipenseriform fish, which date back to the Early ...

, it was reportedly 90 years old, measured 2.25 m (7.5 ft) and weighed 140 kg (310 lb). The bay was historically notable as the dividing point separating the two

Robinson Treaty The Robinson Treaties are two treaties signed between the Ojibwa chiefs and The Crown in 1850 in the Province of Canada. The first treaty involved Ojibwa chiefs along the north shore of Lake Superior, and is known as the Robinson Superior Treaty. ...

areas between the Crown and the

people.

References

External links

{{Great Lakes Bays of Ontario Landforms of Algoma District Bays of Lake Superior

Geography

History

See also

References

External links