Lost Lagoon

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Lost Lagoon, showing Jubilee Fountain decorated for Christmas in December 2006.
Lost Lagoon, showing Jubilee Fountain decorated for Christmas in December 2006.
Jubilee Fountain in 1936.
Jubilee Fountain in 1936.
Aerial view of downtown Vancouver and Stanley Park, showing the dark Lost Lagoon at the lower left.
Aerial view of downtown Vancouver and Stanley Park, showing the dark Lost Lagoon at the lower left.

Lost Lagoon is an artificial, captive 16.6 hectare (41 acre) body of water, west of Georgia Street, near the entrance to Stanley Park in Vancouver, Canada. Surrounding the lake is a 1.75 km (1.1 mile) trail, and it features a lit fountain that was erected to commemorate the city's golden jubilee. It is a nesting ground to many species of bird, including swan, Canada goose, duck and great blue heron.

[edit] Naming and history

Native food gatherers used the low tide mudflats as a source for clams, and a midden on the north side indicates that a large dwelling once stood there. In the Skwxwu7mesh language, the name is Ch'ekxwa'7lech, meaning "gets dry at times". Settlers also built cabins around the lake, which were all removed between 1913 and 1916 during construction of the causeway.[1]The lake was created in 1916 by the construction of the Stanley Park causeway. Prior to its creation, Lost Lagoon was a shallow part of Coal Harbour, now separated by Georgia Street, which itself is an extension of Burrard Inlet.

The name for Lost Lagoon comes from a poem[2] written by Pauline Johnson, who later explained her inspiration:

"I have always resented that jarring unattractive name [Coal Harbour] for years. When I first plied paddle across the gunwhale of a light canoe and idled about the margin, I named the sheltered little cove Lost Lagoon. This was just to please my own fancy for, as that perfect summer month drifted on, the ever restless tides left the harbor devoid of any water at my favorite conoeing hour and my pet idling place was lost for many days; hence my fancy to call it Lost Lagoon."[3]

The lake was officially named Lost Lagoon in 1922 by the park board, long after Johnson's death and, ironically, after the lagoon had been permanently lost after becoming landlocked.

[edit] Development

When the causeway was first proposed in 1909, an intense public debate took place over the fate of the basin. As with most of the early controversies concerning the use of Stanley Park, organized labour was pitted against the more upper and middle class proponents of the City Beautiful movement. Trade union representatives argued that the majority working class population was in need of recreational facilities, while their opponents maintained that more aesthetic or ethereal considerations should take precedence in park development.[4] The Vancouver Trades and Labour Council was adamantly opposed to the idea of an artificial lake, and argued for it to instead be filled in for use as a sports field.[5] The park board retained the services of T. Mawson and Associates, an architectural landscaping firm that had designed the park's zoo and many other facilities in Stanley Park. The proposal the board settled on featured an artificial lake with a sports stadium on the northwest side and a large museum on the southwest shore. The $800,000 price tag, however, proved to steep for the board's budget, and the non-lake parts of the proposal were squashed.

The next phase in the lake's development came in 1929, when the saltwater pipes entering from Coal Harbour were shut off, turning it into a freshwater lake. The BC Fish and Game Protection Association was given permission to stock the lake with trout. The Stanley Park Flyfishing Association was formed, and charged members to fish in the lake, while the park board profited from the canoe and boat rentals. This came to an end in 1938 when the walkway around the lake was constructed and the area declared a bird sanctuary.[6] Although civic budgets were significantly reduced during the depression, the park board benefited from the free labour of relief recipients, who were used to landscape Lost Lagoon.[7]


The next controversy surrounding the lake followed Mayor Gerry McGeer's proposal for a fountain to be erected in the lake to coincide with the city's fiftieth anniversary celebrations in 1936. For the mayor, it would be "a miracle of engineering," with the spray of water lit by virtually "limitless combinations" of colour.[8] The public, in contrast, were not impressed by the proposal. Its $35,000 price tag was considered extremely frivolous in the midst of an economic crisis. Even supporters of the proposal were constrained in their praise of the fountain. "By night the fountain is a very beautiful sight," according to one observer, but added that "by daylight the squat, moth-coloured structure is an eyesore."[9] The fountain was purchased from Chicago after that city's Century of Progress World's Fair closed in 1934 and modified by Lennox McKenzie. It was restored for Expo in 1986.[10]

Lost Lagoon is a popular place for park users for strolling the perimeter trail and bird watching. On the southeast corner of the lake is the Lost Lagoon Nature House, an old boathouse that is now an interpretive centre for the Stanley Park Ecology Society. While rare in recent decades, Lost Lagoon can freeze during a cold spell, permitting public ice skating and ice hockey.[11]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Steele, Mike (1993). Vancouver's Famous Stanley Park: The Year-Round Playground. Vancouver: Heritage House, 114-115. ISBN 1-895811-00-7. 
  2. ^ Johnson, E. Pauline (1911). Legends of Vancouver. Vancouver: Thompson Stationery Co.. ISBN 1-550820-24-9. 
  3. ^ Steele, Mike (1993). Vancouver's Famous Stanley Park: The Year-Round Playground. Vancouver: Heritage House, 117. ISBN 1-895811-00-7. 
  4. ^ Robert A. J. McDonald, "'Holy Retreat' or 'Practical Breathing Spot'? Class Perceptions of Vancouver's Stanley Park, 1910-1913," Canadian Historical Review LXV, no. 2 (1984): 139-140.
  5. ^ Steele, Mike (1993). Vancouver's Famous Stanley Park: The Year-Round Playground. Vancouver: Heritage House, 114-115. ISBN 1-895811-00-7. 
  6. ^ Steele, Mike (1993). Vancouver's Famous Stanley Park: The Year-Round Playground. Vancouver: Heritage House, 118. ISBN 1-895811-00-7. 
  7. ^ Steele, R. Mike (1988). The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation: The First 100 Years. Vancouver: Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation, 109. 
  8. ^ Williams, David Ricardo (1986). Mayor Gerry: The Remarkable Gerald Grattan McGeer. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 207. ISBN 0-88894-504-3. 
  9. ^ Steele, Mike (1993). Vancouver's Famous Stanley Park: The Year-Round Playground. Vancouver: Heritage House, 118. ISBN 1-895811-00-7. 
  10. ^ Davis, Chuck; Elizabeth Godley (1997). Fountains of Greater Vancouver. Surrey, BC: Linkman Press, 210. ISBN 1-896846-00-9. 
  11. ^ Mathews, Doug (2000). Lost Lagoon - A Lake for all Seasons. City of Vancouver Millenium Project. Retrieved on 2006-12-09.
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