Canandaigua Lake

Canandaigua Lake
Location Ontario / Yates counties, New York, USA
Group Finger Lakes
Lake type Ground Moraine
Primary inflows West River
Primary outflows Canadaigua Outlet
Basin countries United States
Max. length 16 mi (26 km)
Max. width 1.5 mi (2.4 km)
Surface area 10,750 acres (43.5 km2)
Average depth 127 ft (39 m)
Max. depth 276 ft (84 m)
Water volume 429,000,000,000 US gal (1.62 km3)
Shore length1 36 mi (58 km)
Surface elevation 688 ft (210 m)
Islands Squaw Island
Settlements Canandaigua, Naples
1 Shore length is not a well-defined measure.

Canandaigua Lake is the fourth largest of the Finger Lakes, in the U.S. state of New York. The city of Canandaigua is located at the northern shore of the lake and the village of Naples is just a few miles south of the southern end. Travelling west to east in the Finger Lakes region, it is the first of the major, or larger Finger Lakes (or coming from east to west, it is the last major Finger Lake). The name Canandaigua is derived from the Seneca name spelled variously Kanandarque, Ganondagan, Ga-nun-da-gwa, or in a modern transcription, tganǫdæ:gwęh, which means "the chosen spot", or "at the chosen town".[1]

Canandaigua Lake is 15.5 miles (24.9 km) long, 1.5 miles (2.4 km) wide, and has a shoreline of 35.9 miles (57.8 km). Near the northern end is Squaw Island. About fifty percent of the surrounding land is in forest, but most of the remainder is under agriculture. Of 35.9 miles of shoreline, 34.7 miles (55.8 km) (97%) are private and 1.2 miles (1.9 km) (3%) are public.

Canandaigua Lake State Marine Park is located in the City of Canandaigua on the north end. It offers a boat launch for powerboats and fishing access from May to mid-October.

Contents

History

The first steamboat in the Finger Lakes region was the Enterprise, which was launched in 1825 . Canandaigua Lake's steamboat era ran from 1827 with the launching of the Lady of the Lake and ended in 1935 when the Idler discontinued passenger service. There were fourteen major boats that provided commercial service on Canandaigua Lake. Today, the Canandaigua Lady, a 19th century replica of a double-decked paddleboat, continues this tradition.

The Native Americans and white settlers signed the Treaty of Canandaigua just north of the lake. This parchment, which is in the Memorial Museum, has the names of a number of famous Indian chiefs including Red Jacket, Cornplanter, Handsome Lake, Farmer's Brother, and Fish Carrier.

The lake is a popular second home destination for families from nearby Rochester, New York, as well as other parts of the northeast.

Squaw Island

Squaw Island is located at the north end of the lake. It is the smallest Fish and Wildlife Management Area in New York State and one of only two islands in the eleven Finger Lakes. The Seneca recall that the island was used to hide the Seneca women and children during the Sullivan Expedition against the Six Nations of the Iroquois in 1779. The island exhibits an extremely rare form of carbonate of lime forms deposits on pebbles (conglomerate). It is a feathery light rock which is calcified from algae filtered by sand and pond scum. The rock, locally called "water biscuits", is hard in the water but crumbles if allowed to dry out. In recent years the island has been eroding rapidly from the forces of ice, wind, water currents and development changing the wave patterns.

In 1977, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation installed a cedar log buffer around the island to help preserve it. Its size, approximately 2 acres (0.81 ha) in 1853, shrank by 75% in 162 years, to about 0.25 acres (0.10 ha) in 1971. Today only 55 feet (17 m) by 145 feet (44 m) of the island remains. A newly formed group called the Squaw Island Preservation Society has raised citizen support to protect the island and its unique place in science and local history, after state officials said they would no longer maintain it. Work on the preservation was completed in Summer 2001.

Points of interest

References

  1. ^ Bright, William (2004). Native American placenames of the United States. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 79. ISBN 9780806135984. http://books.google.com/books?id=5XfxzCm1qa4C&pg=PA79. Retrieved 11 April 2011. 

External links