Real Talk!

Pronounced Paw-dash, Paudash Lake is named after the last hereditary Chief of the tribe of Mississaugas, George Paudash (1889-1969). Paudash was a member of the Crane-doodem (clan) and also known as member of the Chippewa (Ojibwa) Indians of the Hiawatha Reserve of Rice Lake (Ontario). He was a tinsmith and an outdoors guide. Paudash served in WWI and WWII. He was married to Anne Rosemary Hacker, of England, they had five children.

CORPORAL GEORGE PAUDASH

Chief Paudash's "mark", in accordance with the custom of signing as a representative of the Crane-doodem, is a tiny stick drawing of a Crane.

The area around the lake was first settled by pioneer families in the early 1870s. One of the original families, the McGillivray's, are still part of the Paudash Lake community. Malcolm McGillivray Sr. had a land grant of 300 acres at Concession VIII (a point of land jutting into Paudash Lake), he later built the first bridge over the narrows- between the upper and lower lakes (by today's Anchorage Resort).

BIG ISLAND

The first summer cottage was built on Big Island in North Bay, by the Johnson family in the early 1920s. There was very little development on the lake until late in the 1930s, when the two highways were constructed, from the south.

With a surface area of 7.55 km² (1870 acres) and a maximum depth of 46 meteres (150 ft), Paudash Lake has many large bays and a number of different sections within in: Lower Paudash Lake also called Outlet Bay (to the east), North Bay (to the north), Joe Bay (to the southwest) and Inlet Bay (in the northeast).

North Bay has spectacular massive pink granite cliffs that rise rising hundreds of feet above the shoreline and most of the lake is lined with heavy foliage and only the odd boathouse as the building of any new boathouses was outlawed back in the 1940s.

There was major cottage development on Paudash Lake from the 1950s through the 1960s. Today, the lake is fully developed with 640 properties. Most new construction involves the removal of 50 or 60 year old cottages, being replaced by modern ones.

Fifteen percent of the land on the Lake is permanent Crown land, as is one large island. The lake is spring fed and limestone based and has a significant wetland area- all of which contribute to keeping it a healthy ecosystem. Pelham Mulvaney's "History of the County of Peterborough" (1884) states, "the land around Paudash Lake offers every inducement to the settler; the soil is rich and fertile."

The bird life of the Paudash Lake area is simply staggering, as the standard field guide runs to some 400 pages. Fish species include Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, Walleye, Lake Trout, Perch, Pumpkinseed, Northern cisco and White Sucker.

The lake has an active conservation association. During the last 40 years, a great deal of time and effort has been expended by both the government and the residents to ensure that Paudash Lake remains in as natural a state as possible and free of pollution of any kind.

While Paudash is a natural lake and unaffected by the Trent system fluctuations, there is a small dam at the east end of the lake at the outlet to the Crowe River.

The environmental history of the area includes the rise and decline of the uranium mining industry, from the early 1950s until the the late 60s.

The Paudash Trail Blazers Snowmobile Club is one of the best known snowmobile clubs in Ontario, with well-groomed trails maintained throughout the region during the winter months. The Central Region of Ontario contains over 5500 km (3410 miles) of completely interconnected, groomed snowmobile trails which, in turn, are interconnected to the incredible Ontario system of 43,000 km. (26,000 miles) of maintained snowmobile trails- also used for ATVing!

Paudash Lake, like similar freshwater lakes in Ontario, freezes over during the winter months with 18 to 24 inches (46-61 centimeters) of ice which will support a fully loaded dump truck. During this time the lake is often traversed by snowmobilers and ice fishing is also common.

Just a mile away (1.6 km.), Silent Lake Provincial Park offers over 40 km. (25 miles) of some of the most spectacular, fully groomed, cross-country ski trails in Canada, featuring natural, wood-fired warming huts along the trails and fantastic views from the trails on the hills that surround the lake.

In the summer, the lake is excellent for swimming and water sports such as Skiing and Wakeboarding which are very popular (the residents normally put in place a competition-type slalom run on the lake).