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- Algonquin Park is Ontario's oldest, largest
and best known Provincial Park. The park
was established in 1893 and comprises 7725 square
kilometers of forest, lake and river.
- The park was named to honour the Algonquin-speaking
first nation peoples. These include the Abenakis,
Algonquins, Crees, Delawares, Micmacs, Montagnais,
Nipissings, Ojibwas (which includes the Chippewas,
Mississaugas Ottawas), the Wyandots, and over
thirty others. The first written mention of the
Algonquins dates from 1603, when a celebration
of victory over the Iroquois was held in the
presence of Samuel de Champlain, at Tadoussac
on the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. According
to ethnohistorian A. Von Gernet, various meanings
for the name Algoumequin - as Champlain
recorded it - have been suggested, but "friends
or allies" is generally accepted.
Reference: Spirits
of the Little Bonnechere
- There are an estimated 2,500 lakes within the
boundaries of Algonquin Provincial Park.
- Algonquin Park encompasses the headwaters of
seven major rivers.
- Maple and birch predominantly forest the
south-western two-thirds of the park; the north-eastern
third of the park is primarily a pine and poplar
forest.
- The park is home to over 260 species of birds,
40 species of mammals, 20 species of reptiles
and amphibians and 1,000 species of plants.
- Algonquin Park is considered to be one of the
finest moose-viewing areas in the world. There
are an estimated 3,300 moose residing within
the park (1 for every 2 square km).
- There are an estimated 2,000 black bears (one
per three square km) living in Algonquin Park.
- With over 200 resident wolves (one per 30 square
km), the park has been a centre for wolf research
since 1959.
- One of the most familiar sounds in Algonquin
Park is the cry of the Common Loon.
- During the Spring, Summer and Fall, twenty-nine
access points act as gateways into the park's
Interior; in the Interior there are 1,500 kilometers
of canoe routes, 170 kilometers of backpacking
trails and over 1,500 campsites.
- Over 300,000 people visit the Hwy 60 Corridor
section of the park each summer; over 60,000
canoeists and backpackers visit the Interior.
- Algonquin Park was a favorite locale of painter
Tom
Thomson. In 1917, he died a mysterious
death in Algonquin Park. Although an expert
canoeist, Tom Thomson is believed to have drowned.
Foul play was suspected, but never proven.
- Artist Robert
Bateman worked at Algonquin's Wildlife
Research Station in the late 1940's, when he
was in his teens.
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