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 Regina (Latin for "queen") may refer to: Places Canada * Regina, Saskatchewan, the capital city of the province ** Regina (electoral district) ** Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Regina France * Régina, French Guiana, a commune United States * ...

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 Nort ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in 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 the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North ...

. The lakes are in a region called the

Prairie Pothole Region The Prairie Pothole Region (PPR; french: Région des cuvettes/fondrières des prairies) is an expansive area of the northern Great Plains that contains thousands of shallow wetlands known as potholes. These potholes are the result of glacier a ...

of North America, which extends throughout three Canadian provinces and five

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

s. It is also within

Palliser's Triangle Palliser's Triangle, or the Palliser Triangle, is a semi-arid steppe occupying a substantial portion of the Western Canadian Prairie Provinces, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba, within the Great Plains region. While initially determined to be un ...

and the

Great Plains ecoregion The ecology of the Great Plains is diverse, largely owing to their great size. Differences in rainfall, elevation, and latitude create a variety of habitats including short grass, mixed grass, and tall-grass prairies, and riparian ecosystems. T ...

. The Fishing Lakes all follow the course of 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 ...

, which flows from the west to the east and is part of the

Hudson Bay drainage basin The Hudson Bay drainage basin is the drainage basin in northern North America where surface water empties into Hudson Bay and adjoining waters. Spanning an area of about , the basin is almost totally in Canada (spanning parts of the Prairies, c ...

. The lakes sit in the deep-cut Qu'Appelle Valley that 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 ca ...

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. The name ''Qu'Appelle'' is French for "Who's calling?" The name comes from First Nations people hearing their names while paddling the lakes. There has been some inclination to rename the Fishing Lakes as the "Calling Lakes" in order further to stress the legend of the Qu'Appelle Valley as popularised at the turn of the 20th century by

E. Pauline Johnson Emily Pauline Johnson (10 March 1861 – 7 March 1913), also known by her Mohawk stage name ''Tekahionwake'' (pronounced ''dageh-eeon-wageh'', ), was a Canadian poet, author, and performer who was popular in the late 19th and early 20th centu ...

. The effort has met with resistance from historically minded locals with authentic roots in the locale and has not met with success. The lakes are primarily located in the RMs of North Qu'Appelle No. 187 and Abernethy No. 186. Several

Indian reserve In Canada, an Indian reserve (french: réserve indienne) is specified by the ''Indian Act'' as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in Her Majesty, that has been set apart by Her Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." Indi ...

s also border the lakes.

The lakes

The Fishing Lakes are composed of four main lakes and one smaller lake. They are fed by the

, underground aquifers, and by numerous creeks flowing through

coulee Coulee, or coulée ( or ) is a term applied rather loosely to different landforms, all of which refer to a kind of valley or drainage zone. The word ''coulee'' comes from the Canadian French ''coulée'', from French ''couler'' 'to flow'. The ...

s that open into the valley, such as Echo Valley Creek and Jumping Deer Creek. *

Pasqua Lake Pasqua Lake is a lake along the course of the Qu'Appelle River in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Pasqua Lake was named after Chief Joseph Pasqua who formed what became the Pasqua First Nation. It is one of four lakes that make up th ...

is the farthest west and upstream of the four main lakes. It was named after Chief Joseph Pasqua of the Pasqua First Nation. * Echo Lake is the next one downstream from Pasqua. The lake is so named because of the

echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the li ...

heard by the First Nations while paddling on the lake. *

Mission Lake Mission Lake, also known as ''Lebret Lake'', is a lake in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is one of four lakes in the Qu'Appelle Valley known as the Fishing Lakes. Echo Lake is upstream and Katepwa Lake is downstream. The lake was ...

is the third lake. Mission lake is named after the Catholic Mission at Lebret. *

Katepwa Lake Katepwa Lake () is a recreational lake in the Qu’appelle Valley in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The lake's name likely originated from the Cree word , which means 'What is calling?' Katepwa Lake is eastern most and farthest downst ...

is the farthest east and downstream. The lake's name likely originated from the Cree word "Kahtapwao", which means 'What is calling?' *Lake Muscowpetung is a small lake west of Pasqua Lake on the Muscowpetung Indian Reserve. It is sometimes referred to as one of the Fishing Lakes. Because the flow of water through the lakes is very sluggish — the Qu'Appelle river is little more than a small creek at this point in the Valley — and because the runoff from the surrounding farmland contains large amounts of farm fertilizer, the lakes have since the middle of the 20th century been subject to severe attacks of algae as summer draws on. Often by August each year the beaches cannot be used for swimming and those who wish to swim must go to deeper water by boat. Other lakes along the course of the Qu'Appelle River include:

Eyebrow Lake Eyebrow Lake is a man-made marshy lake that parallels the Qu'Appelle River in the southern region of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. Located in the RM of Huron No. 223, it is the first lake in a series of lakes along the Qu'Appelle Rive ...

Buffalo Pound Lake Buffalo Pound Lake is a eutrophic prairie lake in Saskatchewan, Canada, formed from glaciation about 10,000 years ago, on the Qu'Appelle River approximately north of Moose Jaw and north-east of Tuxford, Saskatchewan, Tuxford. The lake gets ...

, Crooked Lake, and Round Lake.

Gallery

File:Pasqua Lake01.jpg, Pasqua Lake Image:Echo Lake Summer 08.jpg, Echo Lake, south shore File:Lebretsaskatchewankjfmartin.jpg, Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church at Lebret with Mission Lake in the background File:Katepwa from south shore of Katepwa Lake.jpg, Katepwa Lake

Communities

The town of

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 ...

is the largest community in the area around the Fishing Lakes. It is located between Echo and Mission Lakes and was originally a

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 trade, fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake b ...

trading post. The original

factor Factor, a Latin word meaning "who/which acts", may refer to: Commerce * Factor (agent), a person who acts for, notably a mercantile and colonial agent * Factor (Scotland), a person or firm managing a Scottish estate * Factors of production, ...

's buildings are maintained as a museum. Being the largest community, Fort Qu'Appelle serves as the main service centre for the area. There are several small resort villages around the lakes, including

Katepwa Katepwa ( 2016 population: ) is a resort village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within Census Division No. 6. It is on the eastern and southern shores of Katepwa Lake in the Rural Municipality of Abernethy No. 186. The name ''Kate ...

, Lebret, Fort San,

, and B-Say-Tah. Fort San housed Saskatchewan's tuberculosis sanatorium until 1925. The building is on the

Canadian Register of Historic Places The Canadian Register of Historic Places (CRHP; french: Le Répertoire canadien des lieux patrimoniaux), also known as Canada's Historic Places, is an online directory of historic sites in Canada which have been formally recognized for their h ...

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: ** First Nat ...

around the lakes include the Standing Buffalo Indian Reserve, Pasqua Indian Reserve, Muscowpetung Indian Reserve, Carry the Kettle Indian Reserve, and the Wa-pii-moos-toosis Indian Reserve. On the Wa-pii-moos-toosis Reserve was the

Qu'Appelle Indian Residential School Qu'Appelle Indian Residential School (Q.I.R.S.) or Qu'Appelle Industrial School was a Canadian residential school in the Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan. As one of the early residential schools in western Canada, it was operated from 1884 to 1969 ...

which operated from 1884 to 1969. It was one of the earliest residential schools in

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

. The lakes are accessed by several highways, including Highways 22, 35, 56,

210 Year 210 ( CCX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Faustinus and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 963 ''Ab urbe condita ...

619 __NOTOC__ Year 619 ( DCXIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 619 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era b ...

, and

727 727 may refer to: * Boeing 727, an airliner * AD 727, a year * 727 BC, a year * 727 (number), a number * "727", a song by The Box Tops from the album '' Cry Like a Baby'' * '' 7/27'', a 2016 album by Fifth Harmony * Area code 727, for telephon ...

Gallery

File:Fort Qu'Appelle from the northwest, circa 1910.jpg, Fort Qu'Appelle from across Echo Lake, viewed from the north-west, c. 1910 File:Fort San, 1920s.jpg, Fort San looking towards Fort Qu'Appelle, 1920s File:Lebret, Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan, 1921.jpg,

on Mission Lake in 1921 File:Fort Qu'Appelle Broadway Street circa 1948.jpg, Fort Qu'Appelle, Broadway Street, c. 1948

Recreation

The Fishing Lakes are home to two provincial parks, public swimming beaches, hiking trails, a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In N ...

, and are intermittently built up with private cottages and youth summer camps. *

Echo Valley Provincial Park Echo Valley Provincial Park is a provincial park in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, located west of the town of Fort Qu'Appelle in the Qu'Appelle Valley between Echo Lake and Pasqua Lake. in the RM of North Qu'Appelle No. 187. The th ...

is located between Pasqua and Echo Lakes and offers camping, beaches, boating, hiking, and, in the winter, cross-country skiing. *

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 ...

is one of the oldest

provincial parks Ischigualasto Provincial Park A provincial park (or territorial park) is a park administered by one of the provinces of a country, as opposed to a national park. They are similar to state parks in other countries. They are typically open to the ...

in Saskatchewan. *

Mission Ridge Winter Park Mission Ridge Winter Park is a ski resort in Saskatchewan. It has a vertical drop of . It is located in the Qu'Appelle Valley near Mission Lake and the town of Fort Qu'Appelle. See also *List of ski areas and resorts in Canada This is a li ...

is located south-east of Fort Qu'Appelle, at the south-west corner of Mission Lake on the Qu'Appelle Valley wall. There are several beaches open to the public on the lakes, including 2 at Echo Valley Provincial Park, B-Say-Tah Beach, Fort Qu’Appelle Town Centre, and Katepwa Point Provincial Park. Public boat launches are available at B-Say-Tah Beach, Katepwa Point, Fort Qu’Appelle Town Centre, Echo Valley Provincial Park, and Lebret. Throughout the lakes, there are several trails including sections 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 to the Pacific to the Arctic oceans. The trail extends ...

. Near Katepwa Lake at the eastern end is 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 ...

trail. Part of the trail has been turned into a gravel road and some of it remains hikeable. The trail 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' ...

. From the 1850s, explorers and settlers heading west 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 pro ...

. 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 in ...

, and

James Carnegie, 9th Earl of Southesk James Carnegie, 9th Earl of Southesk, Knight of the Thistle, KT, Deputy Lieutenant, 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 ...

. 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 Canad ...

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.

References

External links

Postcard views of the Qu'Appelle Valley and environs at the turn of the 20th century
{{authority control Lakes of Saskatchewan