Garry Lake

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Garry Lake (Hanningajuq)
Location Northern Canada
Coordinates 66°N 100°W / 66, -100Coordinates: 66°N 100°W / 66, -100
Primary inflows Lake Pelly
Primary outflows Back River
Basin countries Canada
Max. length 60 mi (97 km)
Max. width 2 mi (3 km)—38 mi (61 km)
Surface area 2,538 km² (980 sq mi)
Average depth 20 ft (6.1 m)
Max. depth 30 ft (9.1 m)
Surface elevation 149 m (489 ft),
152 m (499 ft),
154 m (505 ft)
Islands many

Garry Lake (sometimes Garry Lakes) is located south of the Arctic Circle in Kitikmeot Region, Nunavut. As a portion of the Back River waterway, Garry Lake originates directly east of Lake Pelly and drains to the east by the Back River. A set of rapids separate Buliard Lake (directly to the north) from Garry Lake. Two other sets of rapids separate Garry Lake's three sections (Upper Garry Lake, Garry Lake, Lower Garry Lake) which are also differentiated by elevation.[1][2][3]

Garry Lakes are a part of the Churchill craton—Rae craton geological province.[4] It is a low relief area including sedge/grass meadows along lake shores, and substrates of glacial silts, sands, and gravels. As moulting Canada Geese arrive in late summer, the Canadian Wildlife Service designated the area as a Key Migratory Bird Terrestrial Habitat site. Garry Lakes are isolated from nearby communities.[5]

[edit] Inuit

Hanningajuq, ("sideways", or "crooked"), is the Inuktitut word for both Garry Lake and the Christian cross.[3] Garry Lake was historically home to Inuit who refer to themselves as Hanningajurmiut or Hanningaruqmiut or Hanningajulinmiut {meaning "the people of the place that lies across"}. Inuit to the north (the Utkusiksalinmiut) refer to Garry Lake Inuit as Ualininmiut ("people from the area of which the sun follows east to west"). The Garry Lake Inuktitut dialect is related to Utkuhiksalik, the dialect of the Utkusiksalinmiut. Like other Caribou Inuit, Hanningajurmiut life consisted of tracking Arctic game (Beverly herd Barren-ground caribou)[6] and fishing (whitefish and lake trout).[7] They lived in igloos in the winter months, and caribou skin tents in the summer months.

Between 1948-1955, Hanningajurmiut were able to trade at Kitikmeot fur trader Stephen Angulalik's outpost located at Atanikittuq ("little connection") at Sherman Inlet.[8] A Roman Catholic mission post was established on an island in Garry Lake in 1949, staffed by Father Joseph Buliard, who disappeared in 1956. The cabin still stands in present day.[9][10]

Suffering from famine in 1958 as the annual caribou migration bypassed their territorial hunting grounds, 58 Garry Lake inhabitants died. The federal government intervened by relocating the 31 survivors to Baker Lake. Most Hanningajurmiut never returned to Garry Lake on a permanent basis.[11][12][13][14][3][15]

[edit] Uranium

In 1981, Kidd Creek Minerals discovered 19 uraniferous boulders in a train formation, extending approximately 1.5 km along Garry Lake's north shore. In 2007, Uravan Minerals Inc. surveyed Garry Lake's uranium-rich area and made plans for a multi-phased drill program/exploration project for 2008.[16][17]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Garry, Lake. bartleby.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-09.
  2. ^ Garry Lake Prospect; Garry Lake (Pan East Resources); Garry Lake Radioactive Boulder Train.
  3. ^ a b c Tuhaalruuqtut Ancestral Sounds. Inuit Heritage Centre (2005). Retrieved on 2008-03-10.
  4. ^ Garry Lake Prospect; Garry Lake (Pan East Resources); Garry Lake Radioactive Boulder Train.
  5. ^ Middle Back River Southern Nunavut. bsc.eoc.org. Retrieved on 2008-03-14.
  6. ^ Duquette, L. (1985). "Beverly and Kaminuriak caribou monitoring and land use controls": 38. 
  7. ^ Fisher, H.D. (1957). "Arctic investigations by the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 1956-57". Arctic 10: 244-245. 
  8. ^ Sherman Inlet. Kitikmeot Heritage Society. Retrieved on 2008-03-13.
  9. ^ (Tester, 1994, p.240)
  10. ^ Pick, A. (November 2007). "Paddling Back in Time". The Arctic. 
  11. ^ Tester, F.J.; Kulchyski, P. (1994-01-01). Tammarniit (Mistakes), Inuit Relocation in the Eastern Arctic, 1939-63. ubcpress.ca. ISBN 9780774804523. Retrieved on 2008-03-09. 
  12. ^ Hannah Kigusiuq. spiritwrestler.com. Retrieved on 2008-03-09.
  13. ^ Dyck, C.J.; Briggs, J.L. (2004-05-16). Historical developments in Utkuhiksalik phonology. utoronto.ca. Retrieved on 2008-03-09.
  14. ^ Baker Lake, Nunavut. edu.nu.ca. Retrieved on 2008-03-09.
  15. ^ Hamilton, J.D. (1994). Arctic revolution : social change in the Northwest Territories, 1935-1994. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 67. ISBN 1550022067. Retrieved on 2008-03-10. 
  16. ^ "Update-Garry Lake Uranium Property", uravanminerals.com, 2007-11-28. Retrieved on 2008-03-09. 
  17. ^ "Uravan Minerals Inc. Update - Garry Lake Uranium Property", Calgary: CNW Group, 2007-11-28. Retrieved on 2008-03-10.