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McKernan

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McKernan's Lost Lake
Although the lake is no longer visible, its “ghost” is discernable on early maps and in the form of flooding in wet years to the residents whose homes were built on top of the old lake bed. Once, McKernan’s Lake and Lendrum Lake each spanned about thirty acres, connected by a waterway wide enough for a canoe. Located underneath ten city blocks between 110 and 114 Streets and south of 76 Avenue to 72 Avenue, McKernan’s Lake was part of the parcel of land south of University Avenue bought by Robert and Sara McKernan, who came from Ontario in a covered wagon by way of Hay Lakes in 1878.

Full Article (Edmonton City as a Museum Project Blog)
 
Full Article (Edmonton City as a Museum Project Blog)
This is an excellent, but depressing article. It's such a travesty that we've destroyed and developed over so many waterways in this city. My house is on the former McKernan Lake's bed, and I'd much rather the lake be here instead. It would have been such a lovely recreational spot for both local residents, and students at the UofA's North and South campuses.

Here's an article which discusses some of our lost waterways. And, map (C. 2001) from page 2. The red denotes waterways that were culverted or filled in, while the blue denotes waterways that still exist in their (semi) natural states.

Map1.jpg
 
@CplKlinger For sure; just last weekend my wife and I made a stop in The Meadows and noticed signs for Fulton Marsh and Fulton Creek, and had no idea that Fulton Ravine (that runs through Terrace Heights and Capilano) was cut off from such an extensive original watershed that actually begins around Range Road 231 & Township Road 521 in Strathcona County. Now I see from that map that there was another entire branch of that creek that is completely disappeared, part of it under my neighbourhood, even!

I'd love to find a higher resolution version of that map. If anyone ever comes across one please post it.
 
I'd love to find a higher resolution version of that map. If anyone ever comes across one please post it.
The author's contact info is not on the website, but I did manage to find the name of the Professor she studied under at the UofA. He's still there, so I sent him an email for the heck of it. Hopefully he can point me in the right direction, because a reverse search I did yesterday turned up nothing.
 
This is an excellent, but depressing article. It's such a travesty that we've destroyed and developed over so many waterways in this city. My house is on the former McKernan Lake's bed, and I'd much rather the lake be here instead. It would have been such a lovely recreational spot for both local residents, and students at the UofA's North and South campuses.

Here's an article which discusses some of our lost waterways. And, map (C. 2001) from page 2. The red denotes waterways that were culverted or filled in, while the blue denotes waterways that still exist in their (semi) natural states.

View attachment 294019
I tracked down one of the authors of this study, and they gave me a higher resolution version

Lake McKernan is number 10 on that map. Here's a picture of it, behind the McKernan homestead
gnc49fdxy0n81.png
 
Other than an aerial, one of the first photos I've ever seen of it.
Here are some more. The lake was drained in the 1940s, via drainage canals leading to the UofA Farm, to make room for more houses.
EA-257-12.jpg
EA-10-2219.jpg
EA-10-2220_141.jpg
EA-257-1.jpg
mckernan-hist.jpg

Notice that in the last one, you can see the "Toonerville Trolley" — the nickname residents gave the streetcar line that went from Whyte Ave to 116 Street, via 76 Ave. You can read more about that streetcar line on page 6 of this newsletter.
 
Here are some more. The lake was drained in the 1940s, via drainage canals leading to the UofA Farm, to make room for more houses.
This is why McKernan and Parkallen have been prone to flooding in the past - you can even see the slight downward slope in the roads of the neighbourhoods as they enter the old lake bed.
 

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