science

Wollaston Lake

Wollaston Lake is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Wollaston Lake rather than just read about it. In short: Wollaston Lake (Woods Cree: ᒌᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ ᓵᑲᐦᐃᑲᓂᕽ, romanized: cîkahikan sâkahikanihk, lit. 'at hatchet/axe lake') is a lake in the north-eastern part of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is about 550 kilometres (340 mi) north-east of Prince Albert.

Key takeaways

Wollaston Lake belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Wollaston Lake to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Wollaston Lake from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Wollaston Lake (Woods Cree: ᒌᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ ᓵᑲᐦᐃᑲᓂᕽ, romanized: cîkahikan sâkahikanihk, lit. 'at hatchet/axe lake') is a lake in the north-eastern part of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It is about 550 kilometres (340 mi) north-east of Prince Albert. With a surface area of 2,286 square kilometres (883 sq mi) (excluding islands; 2,681 square kilometres (1,035 sq mi) if islands are included), it is the largest bifurcation lake in the world — that is, a lake that drains naturally in two directions. About 10% of the lake's water drains into the Fond du Lac River, which flows out of the lake to the north-west, where it drains into Lake Athabasca, which ultimately drains into the Arctic Ocean via the Mackenzie River system. The rest of the water drains into the Cochrane River, which flows out of the north-eastern side of the lake and into Reindeer Lake, which drains via the Churchill River system into Hudson Bay. Wollaston Lake's main inflow is the Geikie River which flows from the south-west into the south-west section of the lake. If Hudson Bay is considered an arm of the Atlantic Ocean, then the Geikie is the largest river in the world to flow naturally into two oceans. Wollaston Lake is also the largest lake entirely within Saskatchewan, although the Saskatchewanian portions of Lake Athabasca and Reindeer Lake are both larger. Samuel Hearne learned of the lake in 1770 and David Thompson noted in 1796 the dual outlets as "perhaps without parallel in the world". In 1807, Peter Fidler named the lake after George Hyde Wollaston, a member of the Hudson Bay Company's Committee and brother of William Hyde Wollaston. The only settlement on its shores is also named Wollaston Lake. The settlement includes the northern hamlet of Wollaston Lake with a population of 129 and the adjacent village of Wollaston Post of the Hatchet Lake Dene Nation with a population of 1,251.

Access Saskatchewan Highway 905 connects Wollaston Lake to La Ronge. This all-weather road passes by the western side of the lake, while the community of Wollaston Lake is located on the eastern side, but the lake can be crossed by a winter road when the lake is frozen (November through June) and by the Wollaston barge when it is not. As of 2026, Rise Air provides scheduled service to Wollaston Lake Airport, connecting it to Points North Landing (a service centre for nearby uranium mines), La Ronge, Prince Albert, and Saskatoon. On the west side of the lake at Collins Bay, near Collins Creek, is Collins Bay Airport. Also on the west side of the lake, near Hidden Bay, is an abandoned airport called Hidden Bay Airport. At the southern end of the lake at Nekweaga Bay is a Nekweaga Bay Airport. It is a private airport that provides access to Wilderness Family Outfitters.

Wollaston Lake (Hidden Bay) Recreation Site Wollaston Recreation Site (58.1006°N 103.7904°W / 58.1006; -103.7904), also known as Hidden Bay Campground, is a provincially run park located on the north bank of Umpherville River near its mouth where it empties into Hidden Bay of Wollaston Lake. The campground features 12 campsites, a boat launch, fish cleaning station, and a picnic area. Wildfires completely burned the campground and it is closed until further notice. The park is located on kilometre-240 of Highway 905, 260 kilometres (160 mi) north of the community of Southend.

Fish species Fish species found in the lake include walleye, yellow perch, northern pike, lake trout, Arctic grayling, lake whitefish, cisco, burbot, white sucker, and longnose sucker. Treated effluent from the Rabbit Lake uranium mine is released into Hidden Bay on the south-western side of the lake.

See also Isa Lake List of lakes of Saskatchewan

References

External links Fish Species of Saskatchewan Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Wollaston Lake

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Wollaston Lake claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Wollaston Lake before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Wollaston Lake ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Wollaston Lake

In research: Wollaston Lake appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Wollaston Lake in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Wollaston Lake is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Bifurcation lakes, Glacial lakes of Canada, Inland navigations, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Wollaston Lake outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Wollaston Lake in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Wollaston Lake means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Wollaston Lake out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Wollaston Lake in simple terms?

Why does Wollaston Lake matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Wollaston Lake?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Wollaston Lake.