Pekan LakeMaking Connections
MapsLinks |
Full image approximately 2 miles square |
Description
Pekan is a very small, relatively shallow lake, in the Lac La Croix drainage basin, 17½ miles east of Crane Lake and 28½ miles NNW of Ely. Less than a half mile long, Pekan's 36 acres have a maximum depth of 23'. The lake has no apparent inlet beyond the broad marshy seepage which separates Pekan from Profit to the southeast. Pekan drains toward Lady Boot Bay of Lac La Croix, through a series of discontinuous streams, small ponds, and boggy wetlands, another classic example of the undeveloped drainage system of this young landscape. Off the western shore, an unmaintained and little used portage trail crosses the narrow neck of land to the shore of Green, where it is very difficult to pickout from the shoreline vegetation.The forests off the southern and western shores of Pekan are nearly 250 years old, dating back to the major stand replacing fires of 1755-1759, while those to the north and east burned again in 1864. This region of the BWCA escaped damage in the 4th of July windstorms of 1999, which caused such extensive tree loss to the south and east.
Campsites
Pekan Lake supports one established campsite, along its northwestern shore. Odds are it is rarely used.Planning Considerations
Pekan is a short bushwhack portage to the east of Green Lake which is, in turn, a link in the Gebeonequet/Oyster route, running south from the mouth of Gebeonequet Creek on Pocket Creek, through Gebeonequet, Green, and Rocky lakes, to Oyster. There it connects with the east/west Pauness/Boulder Bay route, which heads north and east out of Upper and Lower Pauness on the Little Indian Sioux River through Shell, Little Shell, Lynx, Ruby, Hustler, Oyster, and Lake Agnes, to Boulder Bay on Lac La Croix.Wildlife
Pekan Lake supports populations of Green Sunfish (Lepomis cyanellus), White Sucker (Catostomus commersoni), and Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens).Notes and Comments
Pekan Lake is probably named for the Pekan, another name for the large northern weasel, the Fisher (Martes pennanti) once trapped extensively for its rich, silver-tipped fur and sold as sable. It's one of the few predators of the porcupine. From the Abnaki (Eastern Algonkin) word pekene.
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