Is science verifying indigenous stories?
“No. The stories tell us that the science is heading in the right direction.” –Steven Blasco, Marine Geophysicist, Geological Survey of Canada.-
I’d like to acknowledge the Territory of the Anishinabek Nation: The People of the Three Fires known as Ojibway, Odawa, and Pottawatomie Nations. And further give thanks to the Chippewas of Saugeen, and the Chippewas of Nawash, known collectively as the Saugeen Ojibway Nation, as the traditional keepers of these lands and waters.
Statement of Intent:
This piece is an attempt by Peter Allemang in collaboration with other helpful people to make 3-D, tactile, visual sense of land and water forms in the southern Saugeen (Bruce) Peninsula and to share the attempt with anyone who wants to look.
Acknowledgments & Thanks:
- Erin Gundy for going above and beyond… and below the surface.
- Arbello Creative (Anthony Perusello & Rebecca Arboly) for creative and financial support.
- The Deep Six “Collective”: Natalie and Kevin Kuipers (The Curse of the ProBono Topo?), Katrina Keeshig & Ryan Lauzon, Natasha Akiwenzie, Ray Auger. Thanks to Lenore Keeshig for everything she has done for deep water and deep truths. Thanks to Jason & Cindy McNamara for makerspace, etc.
The information and depictions are in no ways meant to be definitive, 100% scientific or accurate, or even finished! Amidst the current of time, I look forward to adding information and knowledge and making corrections. Apologies in particular about some features that are still absent from the piece as of Apr. 21/25: Lake Charles, Scale Lake, Gleason Brook, Cranberry Island, and the Isaac Lake drumlins amongst others.
Shallow Dive Level
21,000-11,600 years ago: the Saugeen Bruce Peninsula was cloaked under ice up to 2 km thick or covered with many meters of meltwater. Since then, the lake surface has resided at basically every land contour meter level from 300 meters above sea level (masl) to 70 m below today’s level.
Each layer in this Deep Water, Deep Time work represents about 20 meters of elevation. But the focus is on four levels the waters rested at for long periods.
Lake Algonquin
11,500-11,000 years ago: Main Glacial Lake Algonquin covers most of the Saugeen Bruce Peninsula. A raven circles Neyaashiinigmiing’s bluff-top islands. Swooping southwest, she watches waves hammering holes in cliffs. 1,800 raven generations later, I watch her descendants nest there inside Bruce’s Caves.
Lake Algonquin was 60 m higher than today, +/-240 m above sea level. The last glacier melted into an even bigger ancient glacial lake since named Agassiz. It fed Lake Algonquin which then drained over Orillia through to Toronto and/or North Bay to the Ottawa River subsequently.
Lakes Stanley/Hough
10,500-9,500 years ago: W.W. Smith wrote in the Grey County Gazeteer in 1865 that local indigenous people had a tradition that all 3 islands in the bay were connected to each other and to the Cape Croker Peninsula. Science started to catch up in the 1930’s and 1960’s and confirm the ancient lows.
In this ancient era, Lake Huron was called Lake Stanley and Georgian Bay called Lake Hough. This “lowstand” was 70-80 m lower than the water today, +/-100 m above sea level. The northern glacier continued to melt until a drainage channel in the lake basin tub near North Bay was uncovered. Also Lake Huron lost it’s tap when Lake Superior stopped draining east and instead drained south through Lake Michigan at Chicago. Georgian Bay largely drained away. Lake Huron separated into 3 much smaller, shallower lakes.
Nipissing Great Lakes
9,500-4,500 years ago: Numerous peninsula streams had their mouths in different places for long periods of time a long time ago. Katrina Keeshig’s family has safeguarded one such old stream mouth area for several generations. She wrote to me: “Dad was obsessed with keeping the water flowing to let the fish come up. He was adamant that we never killed anything we wouldn’t eat; we would never over-fish or hunt… dad built a relationship with those fish over a lifetime. He made that migration possible….”
This level was 14-20 m above present/190-196 m above sea level. After 9,500 years ago, the “drain plug” to the northeast of the Georgian Bay “bathtub” rose higher. Thus the water in the Bay tub got deeper and it connected back with Lake Huron. The water rose so high that there was no separate Lake Superior, no Lake Michigan, no Lake Huron, no Georgian Bay. There was just one big tub of water all at the same level subsequently named “The Nipissing Great Lakes.”
Current Level
4,500 years ago to Present: Natasha Akiwenzie: “Two winters ago there was so little snow, there was no spring runoff to wash aphids and other little bugs out to the small fish. There were very few small fish that year. It’s a cycle — the land needs the water and the water needs the land.”
The lake presently is 175.5-177.5 m +/-above sea level. Levels rose until 4,500 years ago. The north shore of Huron kept recovering from the weight of the glaciers and is still rising. This coupled with the fact that the lake drains at Sarnia/Port Huron and Chicago had eroded lower, emptied more water down to current levels.
For a deeper dive into the story of the piece and the lake, go here.