Schwatka Lake is a reservoir lake located just south of Whitehorse in the Yukon. It was first created when the Whitehorse Dam was built in 1958 to generate power for the nearby city. Originally, it had been a vital land and water passage for both native people and prospectors during the Yukon Gold Rush. A rail passage, built in 1900, continued to be in use until 1982, when mining in the area decreased. Even more important, this area initially held the Whitehorse Rapids, a series of dangerous rapids that resembled a charging white horse and gave the city its name.
Schwatka Lake was named after U.S. Army Lieutenant Fredrick Schwatka, an explorer of Alaska and the Yukon Territory. He is most well-known for his reconnaissance of the Yukon River in 1883. At the behest of the United States Army, he and a small team built a raft and traveled from Chilkoot Pass all the way to the mouth of the river in the Bering Sea, naming many of the geographic features encountered along the way. The journey took almost four months and crossed almost 1,300 miles, making it the longest journey by raft that had ever been made.
Today, Schwatka Lake is a popular spot for fishing, boating, swimming, and canoeing. It is also home to the Whitehorse Rapids Fishway, a 1200-foot-long wooden structure that allows Chinook salmon to cross over the dam to reach their spawning grounds.
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