Tagish Lake

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Tagish Lake
Location Yukon, British Columbia
Coordinates 60°00′N 134°15′WCoordinates: 60°00′N 134°15′W
Basin countries Canada
Max. length 100 km
Max. width 2 km
A portion of Tagish Lake (on the left half of the image) during the Winter, as seen from space. Windy Arm is in the upper left corner, while the Taku Arm is on the right centre. The lake seen on the right half of the image is Atlin Lake.
A portion of Tagish Lake (on the left half of the image) during the Winter, as seen from space. Windy Arm is in the upper left corner, while the Taku Arm is on the right centre. The lake seen on the right half of the image is Atlin Lake.

Tagish Lake is a lake in the Yukon Territory and northern British Columbia, Canada. The lake is more than 100 km (60 miles) long and about 2 km wide.

It has two arms, the Taku Arm in the east which is very long and mostly in British Columbia and Windy Arm in the west, mostly in the Yukon. The Klondike Highway runs along Windy Arm south of Carcross. Lake Bennett flows into Tagish Lake, so the northern portion of Tagish Lake was part of the route to the Klondike used by gold-seekers during the Klondike Gold Rush.

On January 18, 2000, a carbonaceous chondrite meteorite now known as the Tagish Lake meteorite, fell on the frozen surface of the Taku Arm. A number of fragments were recovered and studied by researchers from U of C, UWO, and NASA; the meteorite currently resides in the University of Alberta meteorite collection.

The lake is named for the Tagish people. Tagish means fish trap in the old Tagish language, an Athabascan language.[1] [2] Other sources translate Tagish as "it (spring ice) is breaking up" .[3]

Tagish is also home to the Southern Lakes with trophy fishing.

Tagish has Swans that come every spring to wait out the opening of the more Northern Lakes.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Spotswood, Ken. The History of Tagish, Yukon Territory. The Community History Project. YukonAlaska.com andYukon Anniversaries Commission. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
  2. ^ Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. Tagish (Yukon). Northern Information Network Community Profiles. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
  3. ^ Yukon Native Language Centre. Tagish. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.
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