The Kawartha Lakes (/kə'wɔrθɐ/) are a chain of lakes in south-central
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 that form the upper
watershed
Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to:
Hydrology
* Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins
* Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...
of the
Trent River. The lakes are located on the boundary between the Paleozoic
limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms w ...
regions of the
Golden Horseshoe
The Golden Horseshoe is a secondary region of Southern Ontario, Canada, which lies at the western end of Lake Ontario, with outer boundaries stretching south to Lake Erie and north to Lake Scugog, Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay of Lake Huron. The ...
, and the Precambrian
granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...
Canadian Shield
The Canadian Shield (french: Bouclier canadien ), also called the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), the anc ...
of northern and central Ontario.
"Kawartha" is an
anglicization
Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...
of the word "Ka-wa-tha" (from "Ka-wa-tae-gum-maug" or ''Gaa-waategamaag''), a word coined in 1895 by aboriginal Martha Whetung of the
Curve Lake First Nations. It was hoped that the word, which meant "land of reflections" in the
Anishinaabe language
Ojibwe , also known as Ojibwa , Ojibway, Otchipwe,R. R. Bishop Baraga, 1878''A Theoretical and Practical Grammar of the Otchipwe Language''/ref> Ojibwemowin, or Anishinaabemowin, is an indigenous language of North America of the Algonquian lan ...
, would provide a convenient and popular advertising label for the area, much as "
Muskoka" had come to describe the area and lakes north of
Gravenhurst. The word was subsequently changed by tourism promoters to ''Kawartha'', with the meaning "bright waters and happy lands."
Though the city of
Kawartha Lakes
The City of Kawartha Lakes (2021 population 79,247) is a unitary municipality in Central Ontario, Canada. It is a municipality legally structured as a single-tier city; however, Kawartha Lakes is the size of a typical Ontario county and is most ...
is named for them, more than half of the Kawartha Lakes are in fact located in
Peterborough County. The
Trent-Severn Waterway makes its way through many lakes in the main chain; many cottages dot the lakes' shorelines some of which are quite large in size, and the region is most known for its recreational
tourism
Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring (disambiguation), touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tour (disambiguation), tours. Th ...
.
Primary chain
Lakes considered to be among 'The Kawarthas' include (letters in parenthesis refer to the satellite image):
* Lakes on the
Talbot River:
**
Canal Lake (A)
**
Mitchell Lake (B)
* Lakes on the
Trent River:
**
Balsam Lake (C)
**
Four Mile Lake (D)
**
Cameron Lake (E)
**
Sturgeon Lake (F)
**
Pigeon Lake (G)
**
Shadow Lake
**
Silver Lake
** Talbot Lake
* Some additional lakes:
**
Buckhorn Lake (H)
**
Lake Chemong (J)
**
Lower Buckhorn Lake (K)
** Lovesick Lake (Between K & L)
**
Stony Lake (L)
** Clear Lake (M)
**
Katchewanooka Lake
Katchewanooka Lake is one of the Kawartha lakes in south-central Ontario, Canada. It is about long and wide. The Trent Severn Waterway flows through Lake Katchewanooka into the Otonabee River at its outlet just north of Lakefield, continuing ...
(N)
**
Lake Scugog
Lake Scugog is an artificially flooded lake in Scugog, Regional Municipality of Durham and the unitary city of Kawartha Lakes in central Ontario, Canada. It lies between the communities of Port Perry and Lindsay. The lake has been raised and l ...
(S) is to the southwest of the main chain.
Some additional lakes are sometimes included:
* Lake Dalrymple
*
Head Lake
* Fishog Lake
* White/Dummer Lake
*
Jack Lake (P)
*
Kasshabog Lake (Q)
*
Rice Lake (R)
Kawartha Highlands
A system of interconnected lakes lies to the north of the main chain. Due to an artificial dam placed at the south end of Mississauga lake in the mid-20th century, these lakes have equal levels and are inter-navigable. They consist of
Catchacoma Lake, Beaver Lake,
Mississauga Lake, Gold Lake, McGinnis Lake, Cold Lake, and Cavendish Lake.
Also nearby, but not reachable by boat without portage, are
Gull Lake,
Anstruther Lake, Bottle Lake, and Sucker Lake. The area is partially enclosed by
Kawartha Highlands Provincial Park.
See also
*
List of lakes in Ontario
This is an incomplete list of lakes in Ontario, a province of Canada. There are over 250,000 lakes in Ontario, constituting around 20% of the world's fresh water supply.
Larger lake statistics
This is a list of lakes of Ontario with an ar ...
References
{{Authority control
*
Trent–Severn Waterway
*