Stuart Lake

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Stuart Lake
Location	British Columbia
Coordinates	54°33′N 124°35′WCoordinates: 54°33′N 124°35′W
Catchment area	14600 km²
Basin countries	Canada
Max. length	66 km
Max. width	10 km
Surface area	358 km²
Average depth	26 m
Max. depth	95 m
Water volume	9.3 km³
Shore length¹	170 km
Surface elevation	680 m
Settlements	Fort St. James
¹ Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Lakes of British Columbia.

For the U.S. writer, see Stuart N. Lake.

Stuart Lake is situated in central British Columbia, Canada. The town of Fort St. James is situated by the lake near the outlet (Stuart River) of this 66 km long, 10 km wide and relatively shallow lake. It was named for John Stuart, who became Chief Trader in the New Caledonia fur district in the 1830s.

Stuart Lake is an outdoor recreation enthusiast's dream and offers a wide variety of opportunities throughout the year, including all types of recreational boating, swimming and sunbathing at one of the sandy beaches, fishing, water skiing, viewing ancient aboriginal pictographs, camping, snowmobiling, ice fishing, ice sailing, and dog sledding Two provincial park campgrounds, Paarens Beach and Sowchea Bay, are located on the southern shore of the lake, and there are several motels, lodges and private campgrounds in the area. Moorage is available at several marinas.

Fort St. James has several lumber mills as do several smaller aboriginal communities in the basin. The lake is usually ice-covered from mid-December to mid-April. Stuart Lake contains rainbow trout, char or lake trout, and burbot fish.

[edit] Hydrographical characteristics of the lake

Discharge 4.1 km³/yr

[edit] History

Stuart Lake is important to British Columbia history, being the location of one of the oldest non-native settlements in the province, Fort St. James. The first non-native to visit the lake was James McDougall in 1806. McDougall's explorations were undertaken as an assistant to Simon Fraser. The lake and the river which drains from it are named for another member of Fraser's crew, John Stuart. The original name of Stuart Lake, in the Carrier language, is Nak'albun, after Mount Pope, which overlooks the lake near Fort Saint James.