Tagish Lake

Infobox lake
lake_name = Tagish Lake
image_lake = Tagish Lake.jpg
caption_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.
image_bathymetry =
caption_bathymetry =
location = Yukon, British Columbia
coords = coord|60|00|N|134|15|W|region:CA_type:waterbody|display=inline,title
type =
inflow =
outflow =
catchment =
basin_countries = Canada
length = 100 km
width = 2 km
area =
depth =
max-depth =
volume =
residence_time =
shore =
elevation =
islands =
cities = 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. Bennett Lake 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.

The meteorite

On January 18, 2000, a carbonaceous chondrite meteorite now known as "Tagish Lake", 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 name

The lake is named for the Tagish people. "Tagish" means "fish trap" in the old Tagish language, an Athabascan language. [cite web| last = Spotswood | first = Ken | title = The History of Tagish, Yukon Territory | work = The Community History Project | publisher =YukonAlaska.com andYukon Anniversaries Commission | url = http://www.yukonalaska.com/communities/tagishhist.html | accessdate = 2006-12-01 ] [cite web| last =Indian and Northern Affairs Canada | authorlink = Indian and Northern Affairs Canada | title = Tagish (Yukon) | work = Northern Information Network Community Profiles | url = http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/nin/pro/ykn/tagish_e.html | accessdate =2006-12-01 ] Other sources translate "Tagish" as "it (spring ice) is breaking up" . [cite web | last =Yukon Native Language Centre | title =Tagish | url = http://www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/ynlc/languages/tg/tg.html | accessdate = 2006-12-01 ]

Fauna

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

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

References

----