Marsh Lake
Encyclopedia
Marsh Lake is a widening of the Yukon River
Yukon River
The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The source of the river is located in British Columbia, Canada. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is long and empties into...

 southeast of Whitehorse
Whitehorse, Yukon
Whitehorse is Yukon's capital and largest city . It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1476 on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas occupy both shores of the Yukon River, which originates in British Columbia and meets the Bering Sea in...

, Yukon
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It is over 30 kilometres long and ranges from three to four kilometres wide.
The co-ordinates of the lake are 60°26′10"N 134°15′02"W, and is 2,147 feet above sea level. The lake forms part of a chain of finger lakes, sometimes referred to as "The Southern Lakes", they form the headwaters of the Yukon River
Yukon River
The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The source of the river is located in British Columbia, Canada. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is long and empties into...

.

The community of Marsh Lake, Yukon
Marsh Lake, Yukon
Marsh Lake is an unincorporated bedroom community on the Alaska Highway on the shores of Marsh Lake southeast of Whitehorse in Canada's Yukon. The area was organized in 2001, as a local area council to help the residents with some form of municipal government....

 is located along the northern shores of the lake.

History

During the Klondike Gold Rush
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...

 the Yukon River
Yukon River
The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The source of the river is located in British Columbia, Canada. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is long and empties into...

 system was heavily relied upon for transportation. The passes and railhead to the southeast left the prospectors at Lake Bennett
Lake Bennett
Lake Bennett may refer to:In Australia*Lake Bennett , AustraliaIn Canada*Bennett Lake, British Columbia and Yukon*In Ontario**Bennett Lake in Hastings County at 45° 21′ 07″ North 77° 40′ 06″ West...

, the early ones had to build their own boats and float down the windy and dangerous Lake Bennett
Lake Bennett
Lake Bennett may refer to:In Australia*Lake Bennett , AustraliaIn Canada*Bennett Lake, British Columbia and Yukon*In Ontario**Bennett Lake in Hastings County at 45° 21′ 07″ North 77° 40′ 06″ West...

, Tagish Lake
Tagish Lake
Tagish Lake is a lake in the Yukon Territory and northern British Columbia, Canada. The lake is more than 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...

 and "Mud Lake" before beginning on the Yukon River
Yukon River
The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The source of the river is located in British Columbia, Canada. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is long and empties into...

. A network of steamboats were soon developed and they began ferrying passengers to the rapids at Canyon City
Canyon City, Yukon
Canyon City is a Klondike Gold Rush ghost town and a Yukon Government Heritage Site. It is located about 7KM fromdowntown Whitehorse, Yukon at the upstream end of Miles Canyon on the Yukon River. Summer tours are encouraged....

 just outside what is now Whitehorse. These steamboats needed firewood,
and one site was located on the southeast end of Marsh Lake, The Crystal Palace allowed passengers some time off the boat and the crew time to replenish their fuel wood supplies.

The name was changed from Mud Lake to Marsh Lake by Frederick Schwatka
Frederick Schwatka
Frederick Gustavus Schwatka was a United States Army lieutenant with degrees in medicine and law and a noted explorer of northern Canada and Alaska.-Early life and career:...

, after the surveyor Frederick Marsh.

During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the Alaska Highway
Alaska Highway
The Alaska Highway was constructed during World War II for the purpose of connecting the contiguous U.S. to Alaska through Canada. It begins at the junction with several Canadian highways in Dawson Creek, British Columbia and runs to Delta Junction, Alaska, via Whitehorse, Yukon...

 Project was routed along Marsh Lake, the military engineers were headquartered in Whitehorse. During a nice summer day the daughters of one of the officers decided to explore the swampy area off the northwest end of Marsh Lake, during their hike they discovered a large shallow sandy and warm bay, with a huge crescent of clean white sand beach. It became cottage lots first for the military, then some local residents, and is still called Army Beach, Yukon.

Judas Creek was unsuccessfully prospected during the gold rush. Pyrite
Pyrite
The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulfide with the formula FeS2. This mineral's metallic luster and pale-to-normal, brass-yellow hue have earned it the nickname fool's gold because of its resemblance to gold...

 was discovered and a lot of work was conducted to discovered the source of this sparkly mineral. When the eager and inexperienced miner located to source of the fool's gold, his disappointment was biblical and he named the creek Judas Creek.

During the late 1900s more people sought recreational land outside of Whitehorse, the government developed several subdivisions along Marsh Lake
for cabin lots. As utilities were introduced the area became more of a bedroom community for Whitehorse.
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK