Smallwood Reservoir, 6527 km
2, elev 472 m, tenth-largest freshwater body in Canada, is situated on the remote Labrador Plateau, near the Québec border. It was created in the 1960s for hydroelectric-power production by damming the
CHURCHILL R at
CHURCHILL FALLS and diking other rivers. The water level varies by 8.7 m, giving a usable water reserve of 28 billion m
3. Michikamau and Lobstick lakes were the largest of hundreds of lakes that now make up the reservoir, named for Joseph R.
SMALLWOOD, first premier of Newfoundland. Originally inhabited by Naskapi, the area was first visited by Europeans John
MCLEAN and Erland Erlandson in 1839. The area was first mapped by the Oblate missionary Father Babel, and later, in detail, by Albert
LOW of the Dominion Geological Survey (1895).
Lakes of Canada, Map
Author
IAN MACCALLUM