Category: Winnipeg

Then news came in 1881 that the railway was coming through Winnipeg. Within months, 3000 real estate offices sprang up in Winnipeg. The population quickly doubled and the town earned the name “Chicago of the north”. Why was Winnipeg called the Chicago of the North? Winnipeg was one of the fastest-growing cities in North America […]

Known as the “cultural cradle of Canada”, Winnipeg is home to Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and so much more. What is Winnipeg most known for? Winnipeg is known internationally as the home of the Winnipeg Jets, the city’s NHL team, but nationally it is also appreciated for its […]

cold continental climate. Winnipeg has a cold continental climate with a short, very warm summer and a long, cold winter. Despite the cold weather, Winnipeg’s skies are among the clearest in Canada and Winnipeg enjoys much sunny weather all year round. Is Winnipeg a dry climate? The city has a humid continental climate with wide […]

La Vérendrye referred to the lake as Ouinipigon when he built the first forts in the area in the 1730s. Later, the Red River Colony to its south took the lake’s name for Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba. Was Winnipeg named after Lake Winnipeg? In 1812, Lord Selkirk’s boats traversed the length of Lake Winnipeg […]

The lake lies in a lowland basin that was scoured out of the limestone and shale bedrock by continental glaciers during the ice ages. When the glaciers finally melted, about 12,000 years ago, a large glacial lake, Lake Agassiz, filled the entire basin. Is Lake Winnipeg a man made lake? Geology. Lake Winnipeg and Lake […]

freshwater lake. Lake Winnipeg is the eleventh largest freshwater lake in the world and the sixth largest in Canada. It is shallow and extends 436 km from south to north. Its drainage basin is almost a million square kilometers and stretches over four provinces and four U.S. states. Is Lake Winnipeg salt water? With its […]

Lying midway between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, it has been called “Bull’s Eye of the Dominion,” and because of its location between the Canadian Shield and the prairie, “Gateway to the West.” Why is Winnipeg called the gateway of the prairies? As the Canadian Pacific Railway had several amenities there due to which it […]

The excess amount of phosphorus and nitrogen flowing into Lake Winnipeg contributes to increasingly large, frequent, and potentially toxic, algal blooms. These blooms harm the lake’s ecosystem, threaten the fishery, and reduce enjoyment of the lake. Is Lake Winnipeg polluted? Oxygen-deficient (or “anoxic”) freshwater ecosystems are unable to support life. For decades, Lake Winnipeg has […]

The winter commercial fishery primarily targets white sucker and northern pike, although walleye is also harvested. Other species in the lake include yellow perch, sauger, shorthead redhorse (marketed with white sucker as “mullet”), cisco (marketed as “tullibee”) and common carp. What fish do they catch in Lake Winnipeg? Commercial fisheries The lake was once the […]

For decades, Lake Winnipeg has been under siege from phosphorus loading from a variety of upstream sources, including agricultural activities, undertreated human sewage, urban runoff, and even common household and personal care products. What is killing Lake Winnipeg? This program reveals how a perfect storm of agriculture, hydro practices, sewage run-off, flooding, and marsh destruction […]