St. Patricks Channel Geographical Names of Canada - St. Patricks Channel /ref> ( Mi'kmawi'simk: ''Wetewa'q'') is an arm of the
Bras d'Or Lake
Bras d'Or Lake (Mi'kmaq language, Mi'kmawi'simk: Pitupaq) is an irregular estuary in the centre of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, Canada. It has a connection to the open sea, and is tidal. It also has inflows of fresh water from rivers, ma ...
located on
Cape Breton Island
Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada.
The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...
, in the
Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
province
A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
of
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
. St. Patricks Channel lies entirely within Victoria County.
Description
St. Patricks Channel runs roughly in a northeast to southwest direction from the village of
Baddeck
Baddeck () is a village on Cape Breton Island in northeastern Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated in the center of Cape Breton, approximately 6 km east of where the Baddeck River empties into Bras d'Or Lake.
Baddeck is the shire-town of t ...
to Little Narrows where it joins Whycocomagh Bay. The channel's shores are generally heavily wooded and consist mainly of bold & rocky shorelines interspersed with distinctive white gypsum outcrops and barrachois (barrier) points and beaches. As the channel is part of the Bras d'Or Lake system and the lake is essentially a fiordal system connected to the
North Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...
via two restricted channels at the Great Bras d'Or Channel north of
Boularderie Island
Boularderie Island (pronounced "bull-uhr-dree") is an island separating the Cabot Strait from Bras d'Or Lake on the eastern coast of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. It takes its name from Louis-Simon le Poupet de la Boularderie, who was ...
and the Little Bras d'Or Channel to south of Boularderie Island, the waters of St. Patricks Channel are brackish, partially fresh/ salt water.
Geology
The Bras d'Or Lakes were occupied by glaciers during the last ice age. When the ice had gone they were freshwater lakes until ca. 6,350 calendar years ago, when rising sea level connected them with the ocean. The rate of sea-level rise at the start of inundation was 79 cm/century, and has declined throughout the past 6000 years. Due to this relatively high rate of inundation by the ocean the lakes contain some of the best-preserved drowned shorelines in Atlantic Canada. These ancient shores lie 25 metres below modern sea level. Submerged river networks occur in St. Patricks Channel and the nearby Denys Basin.
History
By 1829 the shores and rivers of St. Patricks Channel were all settled, chiefly by Scottish emigrants, but not much of the back country was occupied. Timber ships from Great Britain visited the channel, loading wood for export.
Boating
The
Cruising Club of America
The Cruising Club of America (CCA) is an international organization of cruisers whose objects are to promote cruising and racing by amateurs, to encourage the development of suitable types of cruising craft, to stimulate interest in seamanship, nav ...
recommends the Washabuck River as one of their favored anchorages for cruising pleasure craft.
Industry
CGC Little Narrows. Operated by Little Narrows Gypsum, a division of United States Gypsum, this surface mine near the settlement of Little Narrows exports raw gypsum and anhydrite and has been producing gypsum since 1935, under two different owners. United States Gypsum (USG) has owned the company since 1954. Today, the mine and plant cover an area of approximately 809 ha.
From docking facilities on St. Patricks Channel adjacent to the quarry, Little Narrows Gypsum ships approximately one million tonnes of quarried gypsum yearly by vessel to several destinations in the United States, including Baltimore, Maryland and Florida. As the loading facility is closed from January to March, this amounts to roughly 30 vessels per year from April to December.
Little Narrows Gypsum Company's anhydrite quarry produced 71,441 tonnes in 2004. Gypsum production for the same year was 1,105,480 tonnes. The company employs 51 people.
The name
The present day name for the channel, "St. Patricks Channel" (or slight spelling variations), appears in written accounts as early as 1829, and on maps of the area at least as far back as 1855. The present official spelling, "St. Patricks Channel" (without the apostrophe), was officially adopted on August 14, 1962.
The original Mi'kmawi'simk name, ''Wetewa'q,'' means "noise heard from afar."
References
;Notes
*
Nautical chart
A nautical chart or hydrographic chart is a graphic representation of a sea region or water body and adjacent coasts or river bank, banks. Depending on the scale (map), scale of the chart, it may show depths of water (bathymetry) and heights of ...