A brief history of Lake Winnipeg

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/08/2006 (6981 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

11000 B.C.E. — The last of the glacial ice sheets covers all of Manitoba, including Lake Winnipeg.

10000 TO 5800 B.C.E. — Glacial meltwater pools into Lake Agassiz, which eventually drains and leaves all of Manitoba’s great lakes — Winnipeg, Manitoba, Winnipegosis, Cedar and Dauphin — as remnants. About a third of Lake Winnipeg’s 91 species of fish — including pickerel, goldeye, sturgeon and whitefish — colonize the cold waters.

5800 B.C.E.-1500 A.D.
— Lake Winnipeg adopts a semblance of its modern shape. More than 40 more fish species — including catfish and sauger — reach the lake via the Red and Winnipeg Rivers. Early Aboriginal hunters and gatherers — possible ancestors of the Assiniboine and Cree — reach the shores, probably following moose, deer, caribou and bison.

1500-1700 A.D.
— Assiniboine and Cree hunt and fish along the shores of Lake Winnipeg.

1738
— Quebecois explorer La Verendrye paddles down the Winnipeg River into Traverse Bay, bringing a European presence to the region.

LATE 1700S
— Driven west by conflict, Ojibway from Ontario move into forests to the east of Lake Winnipeg and marshes to the south.

1810
— Fort Gibraltar — later known as Fort Garry — is established at what’s now Winnipeg as a fur-trading post. Soon, york boats would begin to ply Lake Winnipeg, carrying furs up to Hudson Bay and supplies to the south.

1812
— Red River Settlement is established, marking the beginning of large-scale agricultural settlement in the Lake Winnipeg watershed.

1875
— First immigrants from Iceland settle on the west shore of Lake Winnipeg’s southern basin and establish a fishing culture.

1880 TO 1914
— Rapid population growth in the Red River Valley; Human waste from Winnipeg begins entering the lake via the Red River.

1903-1916
— Railways connect Winnipeg to cottage communities on both sides of the southern basin.

1906
— Damming of Winnipeg River at Pinawa marks the beginning of hydro-electric development around the lake.

1909
— Canada and U.S. establish International Joint Commission to deal with trans-border water issues.

1920S
— Sturgeon disappear from Lake Winnipeg due to overfishing and damming of tributaries.

1938
— Carp introduced from Europe make their way down the Red River into Lake Winnipeg’s southern basin.

1965
— The Saskatchewan River is dammed at Grand Rapids by Manitoba Hydro.

1969
— A mercury poisoning scare on the Winnipeg River leads to a temporary closing of the Lake Winnipeg fishery the following year.

1970
— Manitoba Hydro begins regulating water levels on Lake Winnipeg at the Jenpeg Generating Station, using the lake as a reservoir for stations on the Nelson River. Constant lake levels are later cited as a cause of dried-up marshes, a lack of sand on beaches and declining revenue for Aboriginal fishers.

1970-2000
— Algae levels quadruple in Lake Winnipeg, researchers find. Excessive nutrients — mostly phosphorus and nitrogen from a variety of industrial and commercial sources — are believed to be the culprit.

1992
— Massive algal blooms are first spotted by fishers in Lake Winnipeg’s northern basin.

1997
— Sturgeon are reintroduced to Red and Assiniboine Rivers; they are later observed in Lake Winnipeg.

1998
— Lake Winnipeg Research Consortium is founded to study water quality and eutrophication, the process by which the lake becomes loaded up with nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen.

2003
— After conducting the first full survey of Lake Winnipeg since 1969, scientists with the Lake Winnipeg Research Consortium find that half the surface of the northern basin is covered with a potentially toxic algae bloom and lower depths of the basin are deprived of oxygen, the latter the likely result of decaying algae; the Lake Winnipeg Stewardship Board is established by the province.

2005-2006
— Fishers throughout the lake and the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corporation report record pickerel catches.

—Sources: Free Press archives, the Manitoba Historical Society, the Geography of Manitoba and the Freshwater Fishes of Manitoba. Compiled by Bartley Kives