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Talk:Ukkusiksalik National Park/rough translation from deWP

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The park was established on August 23, 2003 as the fourth in Nunavut territory (Canada). It extends south of the Arctic Circle and the hamlet of Repulse Bay, from Hudson Bay's Roes Welcome Sound towards the western Barrenlands ['Barren Lands' vs 'Barrenlands' see e.g. Ihalmiut; Farley Mowat (author of "People of the Deer" and other reports on Inland Inuit) always writes "Barrenlands"] and the source of Brown River. Although being the smallest national park of Nunavut, it is the sixth by size of Canada's more than 40 national parks. Its name relates to steatite found there: Ukkusiksalik means "where there is material for the stone pot" (from ukkusik, meaning pot or saucepan like qulliq).

History

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Ukkusiksalik National Park

Little is known about Wager Bay's early history, as until the 19th century the area was inhabited by Inuit who traditionally passed down their history by word-of-mouth.

There is, however, a remarkable quantity of stone relics, mainly tent rings from Thule people, inuksuit, caches and shelters which give evidence that the coast of Wager Bay was inhabited since thousands of years. About 500 archaeological sites have been identified within the last years as well from Dorset culture (500 BC - 1000 AD), as from Thule culture (1000 - 1800) and the last two centuries.

Barrenland Inuit (or Caribou Inuit) were not a homogeneous tribe, but families of quite diverse groups:

  • Ukkusiksalingmiut from Back River and Hayes River regions
  • Aivilingmiut from Repulse Bay region,
  • Qairnirmiut from Baker Lake und Chesterfield Inlet regions
  • Natsilik Inuit (Natsilingmiut) [Inuktitut doesn't have "e" and "o"] from around Kugaaruk and Taloyoak.

First Europeans

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Qarmaq relics, Tinittuktuq Flats (Wager Bay)

In 1742, Christopher Middleton on his sailing ship Furnace was the first European to enter the fjord, which he could not leave for several weeks because of ice flow.

He named the bay after Sir Charles Wager, First Lord of the British Admiralty, and an inlet where he anchored Douglas Harbour after James and Henry Douglas, sponsors of his expedition. The Savage Islands nearby he named after "savage Eskimos" (wild Eskimos) he met there.

Middleton was not in luck searching for the Northwest Passage, and neither was William Moore with his sloop Discovery five years later. As the region was too far away from Europe and considered to be "useless", the bay was not mentioned for more than next 100 years, until the American explorer Charles Francis Hall's two-masted ship Monticello on the search of lost John Franklin expedition reached Roes Welcome Sound in 1864 and had to overwinter at the mouth of Wager Bay.

In 1879, another American expedition led by Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka searching for John Franklin passed nearby Wager Bay by land. The region eventually became recognized when fur trade started there at the end of 19th century.

Early 20th century

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At the beginning of the 20th century, the Canadian government showed an interest in the Wager Bay region and sent geologist Albert Peter Low on Neptune in order to establish Canada's sovereignty over the arctic north.

At nearly the same time, in 1900, the American whaler George Washington Cleveland all alone established a whaling station near the entrance of the bay, that only operated for the next four years. Despite his closure of the station Scottish whalers for some time tried their luck to hunt marine mammals in the Wager area. Large iron harpoon heads and other remnants are still found on the Savage Islands.

In 1910, Royal North West Mounted Police (RNWMP, precursor of RCMP) set up a police post at Wager Bay coast, near Savage Islands. A police boat wreck, in a small inlet on the south-east shore of Wager Bay is testimony to the brief presence of police there.

In 1915, George Cleveland set up a temporary and the region's first trading post near the mouth of Wager Bay. In 1919, Cleveland now working for Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), again set up a contemporary trading post in the mouth of Wager Bay. It was transferring building materials for the establishment of Repulse Bay HBC post. Situated at a favorable place at the northern end of Roes Welcome Sound this post became important for the company's intention to expand their business towards the north.

Hudson's Bay Company station at Ford Lake

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Abandoned Hudson's Bay Company outpost, Ford Lake

Alongside these local activities Hudson's Bay Company in the first years of 20th century made great effort to get the fur trade under control. They started to build up a large and dense network of posts from the barrenlands of northwest Hudson Bay to the northern coast of the continent. According to those plans, a post at the outermost edge of Wager Bay should play a key role. That new post was meant to include the Ukkusiksalingmiut area till Back River estuary, 250 km to the northwest, into the company's strategy, thereby, if ever possible, preventing commercial activities of competitor Revillon Freres operating from their Baker Lake base. In the late summer of 1925, the two-masted schooner Fort Chesterfield entered the channel, and on advice of local Inuit found a well protected inlet in Tusjujak (now Ford Lake, named after J. L. Ford, post manager in 1929) to establish their strategic station.

During the first years, things went quite well. Besides offering usual supply goods, the post supported the Inuit in general and gave (as far as possible) medical assistance. Thus, it became a meeting point that allowed Inuit from distant camps to exchange news as well. In December 1929, twenty-two Inuit families were counted, 107 persons in total, camping in their igloos nearby. Soon later, fur trade stopped booming. Hudson's Bay Company changed their major post into an outpost in 1933 and entrusted an Inuk, Iqungajuq (Wager-Dick), with its management. He thereby got the chance to start some own business in fur trade. Wager-Dick and his family lived in the post buildings and ran the outpost until 1946. The company was eventually successful with its strategy towards its competitor and bought Revillon Frères in 1936.

Catholic missionaries (Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate) who passed by in those years set up a small mission on one of Savage Islands, but never had great success and withdrew, when the activities of Hudson's Bay Company ended by mid-1940s and the Inuit had migrated into communities.

Presence =Gegenwart

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Sila Lodge, Wager Bay

Some 30 years later, Inuit from Rankin Inlet tried from 1979 to 1981 to revive their former homeland, but without success.

In autumn 1986 and spring 1987, descendants of Inuit from the area built Sila Lodge at Wager Bay’s north coast. The lodge was only opened for a few weeks during the summertime to allow nature enthusiasts [Naturfreunde=nature lovers] to stay in the area, which was in fact untouched for the rest of the year. Due to the high expenses of the flights, the owners could not maintain the lodge after 2002.

Landscape =Landschaft

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Sila River and Wager Bay

At Hudson Bay’s northwest corner, some 200km northeast of Chesterfield Inlet settlement, near the Capes Fullerton and Kendall, is the entrance [?; German „beginnt=begins“ seems inappropriate] of Roes Welcome Sound, which extends northwards between the Barrenlands of Kivalliq (meaning: border of the land [/mainland/continent?]) and Southampton Island to Repulse Bay, where there is a settlement of that name [situated at the polar circle]. Wager Bay is an inlet of Roes Welcome Sound, pretty much in its geographical center, near Cape Dobbs.

Wager Bay is the core of the national park. Its entrance is a rather narrow bottleneck [=Flaschenhals; I’m uncertain whether the English term applies to geography as well]: It is more than 30 km long and only some [ungefähr=approximately] 4 km large at its narrowest spot [Stelle; =place?] For the tidal rise of up to 8m, currents are extraordinary and provoke mighty accumulations [Aufstauung=Stau=a. or congestion?] of ice masses during most of the year, thereby often preventing passing of watercraft: During early summer, rising flood water washes large quantities of drifting ice and icebergs [growlers?] into the bay, which accumulate during ebb tide and close the bottleneck like a cork. This may stay for hours or even days.

In some places, Wager Bay is more than 250m deep. The fjord is up to 35km wide and almost 200km long, extending northwest into Kivalliq-Barrenlands. It reaches latitude 66°, therefore some 40km from the arctic circle.

“Even” [note: this was obviously written by someone who is not familiar with tides. It is quite normal that tides are especially enhanced near the end of any narrow bay.] at its western end, tides are impressive: Between Wager Bay and the 2km wide Ford Lake (Tusjujak in Inuktitut), so-called „Reversing Falls“ occur. (In Canada, only three of those phenomena are known. The strongest ones are in Norway, 30 km east of Bodø town, Nordland province. They are called Saltstraumen and considered world’s strongest tidal currents.)

The soil of the area is characteristic of the Canadian Shield.

Climate =Klimatische Verhältnisse

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The prevailing climate is arctic-maritime; relatively little precipitation, low temperatures, and strong winds. It has North America's highest wind chill and largest snowdrifts [snowbanks?]. Due to this, the National Park is considered to be “high arctic” [sorry, I do not find a translation. might be “extreme arctic” or similar.] A remarkable feature is that at the south shore of Wager Bay a steep mountain range, gorged [durchfurcht= from „Furche“, and there are a lot of possible translations ;] by former glaciers, strongly influences the weather. Due to its proximity to Hudson Bay, drops in temperature and strong fog are as normal during summertime as blizzards are during early autumn. The bay is not completely free of ice before the end of July, although temperatures may range from cool to very warm between May and September. [omitted bla-blah.]

Fauna

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Male polar bear climbing ice floe
Two young caribou at Wager Bay during low tide

According to actual zoological research, there live sixteen species of mammals in the park. At Wager Bay’s south shore is a large polar bear denning area. Therefore in July and at the beginning of August polar bears can be watched by boat on floes, on islands or swimming from close up. Caribou (Rangifer tarandus) and curious Arctic Ground Squirrels (Spermophilus parryii) come close to Sila Lodge. More rarely to be seen are the shy Lemmings (Lemmus sibiricus). Due to their camouflage Arctic Foxes (Alopex lagopus) and Arctic Hares (Lepus arcticus) are not easily to discover, most likely when fleeing. By chance one gets a photograph of an Arctic Wolf (Canis lupus arctos), a Muskox (Ovibos moschatus), an American Hare (Lepus americanus) or even a Wolverine (Gulo gulo).

Several species of Marine Mammals can be seen in the park’s area: Ringed Seals (Phoca hispida) and Bearded seals (Erignathus barbatus) live here in large numbers, and from time to time a Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus), a Harbour Seal (Phoca vitulina), a Beluga (Delphinapterus leucas) or a Narwhal (Monodon monoceros) may appear in Wager Bay. Only four species of fish have been reported up to now: Arctic char (Salvelinus alpinus), Lake trout (Salmo trutta lacturis), Lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus) and Ninespine Stickleback (Pungitius pungitius).

Birders are able to observe up to forty species, including:

Flora

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On the one hand, the national park is a typical rocky tundra area, on the other hand, beneath Algae, Bryophyte and Lecanorales [Lichen?] grows a flora of 25 higher families of plants ( Mono- and Dicotyledons). They are closely related to alpine flora, but different. Following families and species are found:

Mountain Avens – "Flower of the Northwest Territories"
Purple Saxifrage – "Flower of Nunavut Territory"

Tourism

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Sila River's „Second Waterfall“

Usually, the park can only visited during a very few summer weeks, from the beginning of July until beginning of August. Before, Wager Bay has too much ice to be cruised by boat, and for the time afterwards, the Inuit would say: „During summertime, you may watch polar bears. Afterwards, they will watch you!“

The place can almost only be reached by a hired plane – usually one would depart from 350 km distant Baker Lake, where scheduled flights arrive from Rankin Inlet (ask Rankin Inlet's „Baker Lake Lodge“ for information). One might also approach by motorboat from Repulse Bay, where „Parks Canada“ runs a station, but due to possible problem with ice this might take by far longer and therefore will only be considered by explorers or movie teams who have to bring a lot of equipment.

Until 2002, Sila Lodge was the base camp for all activities; an air strip for smaller aircraft like Twin Otter is situated near the lodge.

From Sila Lodge, guided tours were offered, for instance boating tours to the Wager Bay islands, or to Ford Lake across the „reversing falls“, to former Hudson's Bay Company’s oupost, or walks to the surroubding area, where one would find impressive relics of earlier settlements, such as tent rings, Qarmait [(Erdsodenhütten)=tent-like huts additionally covered by earth, mostly used as winter houses; see de:Qarmaq] and Inuksuit, furthermore relics of Hudson's Bay Company and Roman Catholic missionaries stations.

Trekking routes =Wanderrouten

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Sila River's „Fourth Waterfall“ - typical „Canadian Shield“ rocks
Following valleys, water falls and lakes can be reached by walking
  • First (lowest) waterfall of Sila River - total: 4 km | time to walk: 1 hr | total time: 1.5 hrs | height difference: 40 | peak: 40 m | difficulty: easy
  • Traversing Tinittuktuq Flats - total: 6 km | time to walk: 1,5 hrs | total time: 5 hrs | height difference: 80 Meter | peak: 30 m | difficulty: easy
  • To Ship's Cove - total: 10 km | time to walk: 2,5 hrs | total time: 4 hrs | height difference: 50 m | peak: 30 m | difficulty: easy-medium
  • Second waterfall of Sila River - total: 8 km | time to walk: 2,5 hrs | total time: 5 hrs | height difference: 160 m | peak: 110 m | difficulty: medium
  • Third and fourth waterfall of Sila River and Falcon Gorge - total: 8 km | time to walk: 2,5 hrs | total time: 5 hrs | height difference: 160 m | peak: 110 m | difficulty: medium-difficult
  • Fisherman's Hike - total: 10 km | time to walk: 3 hrs | total time: 5 hrs | height difference: 200 m | peak: 150 m | difficulty: medium-difficult
  • To Butterfly Lake - total: 16 km | time to walk: 5 hrs | total time: 8 hrs | height difference: 400 m | peak: 250 m | difficulty: (very) difficult

Books

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  • Nunavut Handbook, Iqaluit 2004 ISBN 0-9736754-0-3
  • Walk, Ansgar: Der Polarbär kam spät abends – Skizzen von der Wager Bay, Pendragon Verlag Bielefeld, 2002 ISBN 3-934872-22-0 (German) [“The Polar Bear Came Late at Night: Sketches of Wager Bay”; there is no English edition of the book.]

Coordinates: 65°-66°30' N, 87°-93° W

Translated deWP article as of 2007-12-21. -- WeHaWoe (talk) 13:05, 22 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Continued 2008-01-05. -- Ansgar Walk 17:30, 07 January 2008 (CET)

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