9,000 Years

9,000 Years. . , Origin Stories , The rock, the water, the oral traditions of the First Nations: Each tells its own tale about the origins of this shoreline site, but all speak of a place that is ancient. Geologists talk in terms of glaciers. The first retreat of the glaciers a million years ago deepened the volcanic basin that became Lake Superior. As the ice in this region melted away for the last time, 10,000 years ago, the basin filled with water and the shoreline filled with trees. Trout and whitefish appeared in the lake, and humans arrived at the lakeshore. Stone tools 9,000 years old have been unearthed just 18 kilometres from here. By the time the levels of the lake fell to reveal this waterfront, about 2,000 years ago, people had already been living, working and trading around it for millennia. No ancient artifacts made and used on this shoreline have survived the building boom that started here in the 1800s, so some of the oldest stories of this waterfront remain untold. , A Natural Meeting Place , At 48° 43' north and 89° 21' west, Prince Arthur's Landing is about 10 degrees from the centre of North America. Embedded deep within the continent, at the headwaters of the world's largest fresh-water inland sea, this waterfront's geographic location has been at the heart of its history. This port has long been the last stop on the journey from the Atlantic Ocean, up the St. Lawrence River and across the Great Lakes, and the starting point for travellers heading to the interior and the Pacific coast. It has been a crossroads for traders and travellers, fishers and farmers, the First Nations and the European settlers. This site is a great Canadian meeting place. , Milestones in Time , Much has happened on this waterfront since it emerged from Lake Superior. Fortunes, inventions, and reputations have all been made at Prince Arthur's Landing. It has seen the comings and goings of paddlers and trappers, soldiers and sailors, carpenters and conductors. A colonel, a queen, and several tycoons of industry have all left their mark. There's been strife and tragedy, joy and fun. Strikes, explosions, and skating parties. Steamboat wharves, grain elevators, railway stations, sheds, and tracks. There have been many buildings here, and though some still stand, many are gone. Even when there is nothing left to see, there is a story. This place has many stories, all of them milestones in its long timeline., , , , , , . , Ancient Aboriginal peoples , Archaeologists believe that a number of different cultures lived in this region thousands of years ago. Here are the names they have been given.

Plano . Archaic . Woodland . Laurel

, , , , , , . , Naming and renaming the lake , The vast body of water off this shoreline has been known by several names, and still has more than one. Some of the lake's names mark moments in its history.

Gitchi Gami , The name of the lake in the Anishinabek language. Translated as "great water," "great lake," or "sea." , Gitchee Gumee , Henry Wadsworth Longfellow transcribes the name in his 1855 poem "The Song of Hiawatha." , Le lac superieur , French settlers of the 17th century describe it as "the upper lake." , Lac Tracy , On their 1688 map of the lake, the Jesuits name it after the Marquis de Tracy, a viceroy of New France. , Lake Superior , The British anglicize the French descriptive name.