Lead edit
"Buffalo Lake is a large, shallow natural, managed lake in central Alberta, located 60 km northeast of Red Deer."
It has numerous coves, bays and several small islands. The lake is 94 square kilometres and the surrounding area is a kames and kettles topography rich for agriculture.
Source: Geotourism Canada
Hydrology edit
Buffalo lake is fed by several small tributaries including Clive Creek and Spotted Creek. Lake levels are stabilized by pumping water from the Red Deer River through the Buffalo Lake Water Management System. The outlet channel, Tail Creek, connects directly to the Red Deer River about 50 km east of Red Deer. The lake surface area is 93.5 km2, mean depth is 2.8 m, and drainage area is 1440 km2. The lake is primarily used for recreation.
Almost all surface inflow to the lake enters at the west end of Parlby Bay through Parlby Creek.
In 1985, an Alberta Environment drainage and flood control project to deepen and straighten Parlby Creek was started at the mouth of the creek. By 1989, it had progressed upstream of Spotted Lake. Control structures will allow annual backflooding of hay meadows at the landowners' request and will provide habitat for pike spawning. Other structures at Spotted Lake can be operated to maximize pike spawning habitat and waterfowl brood production without interfering with hay harvesting.
Groundwater inflow to Buffalo Lake is significant in maintaining the water balance. Areas of artesian upwelling of groundwater are evident at the west end of the lake and along the north shore of Secondary Bay, as well as within the lake.
In 1980, Alberta Environment established a network of wells and piezometers on the land surrounding Buffalo Lake. They estimated the annual groundwater inflow to Buffalo Lake to be about 6.0 x 106 m3. Groundwater inflow rates are very high (8.7 to 16.4 x 10-8 m/second), from 2 to 24 times greater than that in 8 other Alberta lakes surveyed. The Environmental Impact Assessment of Buffalo Lake estimates the annual groundwater inflow to be 6.2 x 106 m3/year.
Source: Buffalo Lake 3.
Lake Basin Characteristics of the lake downstream to its outflows, noting direction, major tributaries, human settlements and statistics. This should be at least a paragraph, maybe several paragraphs for famous lakes. This section would also include numerical data on length, volume, drainage basin, etc. Info on water basins can be found at World resources Institute (site is down; archive). Antarctic water basin information can be researched using USGS maps.
- 1440 km2
- gently rolling glacial till plain slopes West to lake, 975 m to lake at 780 m.
- North and East of the lake is knob and kettle terrain.
Geology edit
"During the glacial melt as the ice sheets retreated and gravel was deposited across the plain, chunks of ice were also left behind. As they melted they left pits or depressions that soon filled with the glacial water, these are kettles. The hills left from the sand and gravel deposits as the sheets retreated are kames, also sometimes called knobs. These thousands of small lakes and large ponds are an ideal water source for waterfowl as well as livestock. Kettles and kames are not only a geological wonder, the rolling hills and wildlife ponds are the grace and beauty of the landscape."
Source: Geotourism Canada: Buffalo Lake
Natural History edit
Geotourism Canada: Buffalo Lake summer villages
White Pelicans
Eight moths located only at Buffalo Lake
Dabbling ducks: Mallard, Pintail, Gadwall, American Wigeon, Blue-winged Teal, Green-winged Teal, and Shovellers;
Diving ducks: Lesser Scaup, Red Head, Canvasback, Ring-necked Duck, Bufflehead, Common Goldeneye, White-winged Scoter.
- Source 1: Atlas of Alberta Lakes edited by Patricia Mitchell and Ellie Prepas. University of Alberta Press. 551.482 (1990)
- Source 2: "State of the Environment in Lacombe County" (PDF). Lacombe County. March 2013. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
Archaeology edit
- The Boss Hill site as studied by Maurice Doll et al.
"About 7,800 years aga, a sizeable band of people camped at eh base of Boss Hill at the northeastern end of the lake. They came in late summer or early fall and established their camp not on the lake, but around the hill, at the edge of a seasonal pond." Huck (1998)
81-190c B.A. Loveseth Lifeways of Canada Ltd. Environment, Impoundment: Buffalo Lake, Stabilization Alex An Historical Resources Impact Assessment of the proposed Buffalo Lake Stabilization Project was undertaken for Alberta Environment. The project, located in central Alberta, included the following areas of possible impact: a pump plant site on the Red Deer River; a pipeline and canal from the Red Deer River to Al ix Lake; outlet and channel drop control structures and canalization of Parlby Creek from Alix Lake to Buffalo Lake; and an outlet control structure at the Head of Tail Creek. Visual examination of the route as well as e~tensive shovel testing resulted in the discovery of 16 prehistoric sites in the area, including a bison kill, eight campsites, one chipping station, one small find and five isolated finds. Two sites may be culturally affiliated wi~h the Late Prehistoric (FcPg-12) or Protohistoric (FcPg-II)--the former on the basis of ceramics found which are associated with cultures that frequented the area in A.D. 1150 to 1800 and the latter by the recovery of a worked glass scraping implement in association with other lithic tools. All the
- 27 - other 14 sites did not contain culturally diagnostic materials. Presently, 1imited excavation is recommended at one site--FcPg-15. Further work may be recommended pe~ding possible alterations of the stabilization program or if sites located on the terrace above Parlby Creek will be affected either directly or indirectly by construction equipment. Backhoe and/or auger testing is recommended for the low flatlands in the Red Deer Valley at the location of the pump site as well as in depressions on the prairie level. Depressions south of Alix Lake and east of Parlby Creek near its entry into Buffalo Lake should also have deep subsurface testing to determine if buried soils and/or occupations are present.
David Burley Archaeological Survey of Alberta 1982, Occasional Paper #21, 1983
History edit
- Middle Prehistoric Period During the Mummy Cave period a distinctive subtype of point - the Boss Hill Point - is found in the Buffalo Lake area. This again suggests that an identifiable subgroup of this culture occupied this area. It is believed ...
- "It's interesting to note that In 1858, Father Lacombe, then a young missionary, travelled for two days in bitter weather to help a group of Blackfoot Indians dying of scarlet fever in their encampment on the east shore of Buffalo Lake. After treating them for 20 days, he too almost died from the fever, but later recovered to become a leading figure in Alberta's history."Source
"The Blackfoot and Cree had settled Buffalo Lake for eons, attracted by the abundance of bison in the area and the multitude of fish in the lake. In 1858 tragedy hit, scarlet fever had found the east shore of Buffalo Lake and the Blackfoot encampment. Father Albert Lacombe, a young Oblate missionary at the time, heard of the misery and spent several days travelling in the most extreme and bitter weather to reach and nurse the ailing. He spent 3 weeks at the site almost succumbing to the fever himself but he managed to recover.
"After the Reil Rebellion of Manitoba many Metis travelled west as drivers of the Red River Cart cavalcades, with some settling at the northeast end of Buffalo Lake near Boss Hill. They would soon be joined by other trappers, hunters and missionaries, all in turn building small cabins and shacks at the lake. Samuel Steele of the North West Mounted Police also came to Buffalo Lake by Red River Cart, arriving in 1875; however he was only passing through. He recorded over 400 cabin and shack structures dotting those shores. He also noted there were probably around 50,000 buffalo around the lake. Unfortunately, this would not remain so for too much longer.
"The Red River Carts were a mix of French and Scottish wagonry. They were built entirely of wood and tied together by leather, making them easy to repair. Its deep and tall wheels made it very stable and gave it the ability to be drawn through marsh and mud. It also was unique in that the cart was buoyant and could actually be floated across and down streams. Remarkably it could carry a weight of nearly 450 kilograms. Red River Carts were one of the most reliable ways to travel goods across the prairies between Alberta and Manitoba and into America. The carts were introduced to Alberta by the Metis and used locally for hauling buffalo meat and farming.
"Coming from England to Fort Garry (Winnipeg) in 1880 Mathew Cook made his way across the prairies working for the CPR, arriving at Buffalo Lake in 1883. Cook built a cabin on the southwest shore and he and his family are considered the first white settlers at the lake. Cook trapped, hunted and traded and shipped goods to and from Winnipeg via the Red River Cart cavalcades. Cook was a true pioneer paving the way for settlers to follow. He died in 1912 and his service was held at St. Monica’s, the first church in the area and the very one he helped to build.
"William Fletcher Bredin travelled from Ontario in the early 1880’s to Alberta. After setting up as a business man in the Calgary area, including establishing the Climax Coal Mine, he then headed north to Edmonton and in the late 1880’s to Buffalo Lake. Bredin established the Buffalo Lake Trading Post on the west shore, the first trading post and general store in the area. Furs could be traded and supplies could be had. In 1893 the local post office was set up in the store and the trading post was renamed Lamerton after the village in Tavistock, England.
"Lamerton started to grow as a village. The first detachment of the North West Mounted Police opened in 1895. It was followed by another general store, a hardware, a harness shop, a doctor's office, a lumberyard, a creamery, a hotel, a Methodist church, a jail, a blacksmith shop and two livery stables.
"Bredin, considered by some as the founder and father of Lamerton and the area, moved on and later became a well-liked politician. The post office closed in 1913. Other settlements, hamlets and villages grew up around the lake and Lamerton slowly became a small locality.1 Bredin died in 1942 at the age of 80. "
"The name was first mentioned on David Thompson’s map of 1814 and later as Bull Lake on John Palliser’s map of 1858. However, it was always known to the Cree as Mostos, which is buffalo and bull. Herds would have been attracted to the forage of fescue grasslands and the shelter amid the trembling aspen. The area was a significant buffalo hunting ground for the Stoney, Blackfoot, Cree and Metis. The name was officially adopted as Buffalo Lake."
Source: Geotourism Canada
There was also a trail extending east from Rocky Mountain, north of Red Deer to Buffalo Lake....In the late 1860s, large buffalo hunting camps were established near Buffalo Lake and a community sprung up at Tail Creek on the Red Deer River that became the largest settlement west of Fort Assiniboine in Manitoba with an estimated winter population of 2,000, mostly Metis. In the fall, hunters would arrive from Edmonton, St. Albert, Lac St. Anne Mission, Lac la Biche and other small communities in western Canada along a variety of trails collectively referred to as the trails of the buffalo.
In 1875, the North West Mounted Police set up a small post at Tail Creek to stop the suspected but never confirmed whiskey trade.
By 1879, the once-huge buffalo herds on the prairies had virtually disappeared, partly from excessive hunting, partly from disease and partly due to southern migration. With the buffalo gone, the hunting camps at Buffalo Lake and the 400 homes at Tail Creek were abandoned. In 1898, a prairie fire totally obliterated all the buildings except for one in the ghost town. A few years later, the community of Content was established at the site in hopes that the railway would run through but when it didn't, the community disappeared again. Source: Paul Pettypiece
Economy edit
- Summer villages
- Buffalo Lake Management Plan
- "Buffalo Lake is unique in Alberta. This shallow lake is a managed water body in which water levels are maintained within a specified range to minimize the impacts of water level fluctuations."
- [1]
- Buffalo Lake Water Management Project (1985)
- Buffalo Lake Integrated Shoreland Management Plan (2004
- "The Buffalo Lake Integrated Shoreland Management Plan (BLISMP)serves as the operational plan that will guide land use and natural resource management on the publicly owned shorelands of Buffalo Lake. BLISMP has been developed on the principles of Integrated Land Management, incorporating the interests of provincial and municipal jurisdictions, as well as members of the public who enjoy Buffalo Lake. As such, the plan has been approved at senior levels of the departments of Alberta Sustainable Resource Development and Alberta Environment. These agencies will use BLISMP to guide decisions affecting the management and use of these public shorelands in accordance with the goals and objectives stated in this Plan."
- Buffalo Lake Intermunicipal Development Plan
Lists edit
References edit
External links edit
- Barbara Huck and Doug Whiteway. In Search of Ancient Alberta. Winnipeg, Canada. Heartland Publications. ISBN 1-896150-00-4. 971.23 p. 214, 215