Terrifying Splendor

In the preface of her book "Mistehay Sakahegan, The Great Lake", author Francis Russell quotes Franco Manitoba author Gabrielle Roy, who asks

"Does one ever, fundamentally, get over a great lake?"

It's a seductive siren Lake Winnipeg's call, a dissonant harmony of beauty and treachery. This incomparable lake can bring sure disaster if not given her due regard.


Mistehay Sakahegan has me in it's grip.


To the Cree, it was Mistehay Sakahegan, "Great Lake".
To the Ojibwe, it was Gitchi gumee, also "Great Lake".
To the Assinaboine, it was Men-ne-wakan or "Mysterious Water"
Europeans used the word "Win-ni-pak, wi-nipi, or Winnepe, all Cree for "turbid or muddy water"

Later as my Scot ancestors started to arrive, Valentine McKay a fur trader acquainted with the Cree Language, supplied another version. He wrote, "Winnipeg is a Cree name. When properly pronounced it sounds like Wee-ni-pake and the word means sea or something beyond an ordinary lake. In Cree, ocean is kitchi-wee-ni-pake meaning the "Great Sea".

No wonder then we often refer to Lake Winnipeg as the Prairie Ocean.


By way of introduction to the book, ergo the Lake, Val Werier speaks to it's vastness, "It is four and a half times the size of the province of Prince Edward Island." Then talking to those who earn their keep on this "gumee", the fisher's feelings reflect their "awe and trepidation".
The sub-title of this book reels me in.

"The Beauty and the Treachery of Lake Winnipeg".

This simple line of text gives meaning to and hints at another level of understanding, it provides a small clue to "Mistehay Sakhegan's" counter-point personality.

It's beauty is undeniable.

In the mid 1800's surveying the basins of the Red, Assinaboine and Saskatchewan rivers,
John Fleming wrote, "We entered Lake WInnipeg at sunset, and camped not far from the mouth of the Saskatchewan, upon a narrow spit of gravel, separated from the wooded shores by a marsh. The night was clear and beautiful, and the lake wonderfully calm. From our bivouac, where we lay with cramped limbs outstretched on the shingle beach, could be seen the great headland, Kitchi-nashi, vanishing away to the south east in the far distant horizon. A view very extensive and beautiful, but which betokened many hours of paddling and tracking out of the direct course to the Red River. To the east and north the only limit to our gaze was the dim horizon of the great lake which lay tranquilly out-spread before us like an unruffled sea."


Modern day paddlers will recognize Long Point (Kitchi-nashi) from Flemming's description.
The 40 km long point stretches east, out into the North Basin just south of the Saskatchewan River.

This prairie ocean gets my attention by way of it's beauty.




It's unwavering demand for respect keeps me focused.

A close paddling friend, Phil Manaigre has circumnavigated Lake Winnipeg.
His description best illustrates the magnetism of the lake's "Spirit".

"It's an ocean smack in the middle of the prairies. They say if you can windsurf or kayak Lake Winnipeg, you can do it anywhere. It's considered one of the roughest, most dangerous bodies of water in the world. I have some of the voyageurs' accounts and, in all of their travels Lake Winnipeg was the body of water they feared most. It is often referred to as killer lake. It is a wicked lake. A storm can brew up in a minute and if you're not careful, it will kill you. But I've always had a love affair with the lake. I've been attracted by it's rugged beauty, the power of all that raw energy, for a long time. It's always that element. You never know what to expect."

He tallys up my irresistible attraction;
"It's her moods. She is almost like a femme fatale. You're seduced by this beauty. And then those winds come at you. The beauty, the raw energy. It's always there. You have to respect it."

The allure of this lake is truly seductive and at the same time truly fearsome.
Ying and Yang, how can I resist.



Aboriginal peoples have always had a spiritual connection with this "Great Lake".
Perhaps this connection too embodies not only the attraction, but the respect I feel.

Eric Robinson, a Member of Manitoba Legislature and long time Cabinet Minister is the son of a Lake Winnipeg Cree fisher. He recalled almost losing a brother to the lake.
"My older brother,...was fishing on Lake Winnipeg and his boat overturned in a storm...He tied himself to the bottom of the boat, which had capsized. It was about a day before he was finally rescued by some other fishers. There was gratitude on my mother and father's side that his life was spared by the water.....My father and my uncles told us that this lake not only held our sustenance in the form of fish, but also it held much more spiritual significance.....We were always told, if we were fishing or going on a trip or using the lake for whatever purpose, that the lake is in command and it should always be respected. We were advised by the old people that extra care must be taken because of the power of the lake."

He describes a small sacred ceremony.

A rite of passage.

"Before people set out on their journeys they would offer something, usually tobacco, to the spirits of the water, for a safe travel, that no lives be lost. That was how sacred that lake was regarded in days gone by."

I honor the spirit of Mistehay Sakahegan with my own scattering of tobacco whenever I can.

Sometimes just because I can.

-30-

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I wish to acknowledge the kind generosity of Heartland Publishers.
References and quotations in this post were taken liberally, from their book "Mistehay Sakahegan, THE GREAT LAKE" by Francis Russell. (ISBN1-896150-10-1)

Winner of the Margaret MacWilliams Award for Popular History in 2000, my copy is becoming ever more dog-eared and is a permanent fixture on my reading table.
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