Lost Lagoon, Stanley Park — Attraction in Vancouver

Lost Lagoon is an artificial, captive 16.6-hectare (41 acre) body of water, west of Georgia Street, near the entrance to Stanley Park in Vancouver, Canada. Surrounding the lake is a 1.75 km (1.09 mi) trail, and it features a lit fountain that was erected by Robert Harold Williams to commemorate the city's golden jubilee. It is a nesting ground to many species of birds, including non-native Mute Swan (whose wing tendons have been clipped to prevent escaping), Canada geese, numerous species of ducks such as mallard ducks and Great Blue Herons.

Native food gatherers used the low tide mudflats as a source for clams, and a midden on the north side indicates that a large dwelling once stood there. In the Swxwú7mesh language, the name is Ch'ekxwa'7lech, meaning "gets dry at times". Settlers also built cabins around the lake, which were all removed between 1913 and 1916 during construction of the causeway. The lake was created in 1916 by the construction of the Stanley Park causeway; until then, Lost Lagoon was a shallow part of Coal Harbour, which itself is an extension of Burrard Inlet.

The name for Lost Lagoon comes from a poem written by Pauline Johnson, who later explained her inspiration:

"I have always resented that jarring unattractive name [Coal Harbour] for years. When I first plied paddle across the gunwale of a light canoe and idled about the margin, I named the sheltered little cove Lost Lagoon. This was just to please my own fancy for, as that perfect summer month drifted on, the ever restless tides left the harbor devoid of any water at my favorite conoeing hour and my pet idling place was lost for many days; hence my fancy to call it Lost Lagoon. The lake was officially named Lost Lagoon in 1922 by the park board, long after Johnson's death and, ironically, after the lagoon had been permanently lost after becoming landlocked.

When the causeway was first proposed in 1909, an intense public debate took place over the fate of the basin. As with most of the early controversies concerning the use of Stanley Park, organized labour was pitted against the more upper and middle class proponents of the City Beautiful movement. Trade union representatives argued that the majority working class population was in need of recreational facilities, while their opponents maintained that more aesthetic or ethereal considerations should take precedence in park development. The Vancouver Trades and Labour Council was adamantly opposed to the idea of an artificial lake, and argued for it to instead be filled in for use as a sports field. The park board retained the services of T. Mawson and Associates, an architectural landscaping firm that had designed the park's zoo and many other facilities in Stanley Park. The proposal the board settled on featured an artificial lake with a sports stadium on the northwest side and a large museum on the southwest shore. The $800,000 price tag, however, proved too steep for the board's budget, and the non-lake parts of the proposal were quashed.

The next phase in the lake's development came in 1929, when the saltwater pipes entering from Coal Harbour were shut off, turning it into a freshwater lake. The BC Fish and Game Protection Association was given permission to stock the lake with trout. The Stanley Park Flyfishing Association was formed, and charged members to fish in the lake, while the park board profited from the canoe and boat rentals. This came to an end in 1938 when the walkway around the lake was constructed and the area declared a bird sanctuary. Civic budgets were significantly reduced during the depression, but the park board benefited from the free labour of relief recipients, who were used to landscape...

It was once part of the ocean of the salish sea before it became landlocked by settlers cutting the lagoon off from the ocean , in the history of the area the native people would do food gathering here used the low tide mudflats as a source for clams, and a midden on the north side indicates that a large dwelling once stood there. In the Squamish language, the name is Ch'ekxwa'7lech, meaning "gets dry at times". Settlers also built cabins around the lake, which were all removed between 1913 and 1916 during construction of the causeway.The lake was created in 1916 by the construction of the Stanley Park causeway; until then, Lost Lagoon was a shallow part of Coal Harbour, which itself is an extension of Burrard Inlet.

The name for Lost Lagoon comes from a poem written by Pauline Johnson, who later explained her inspiration:

I have always resented that jarring unattractive name [Coal Harbour] for years. When I first plied paddle across the gunwale of a light canoe and idled about the margin, I named the sheltered little cove Lost Lagoon. This was just to please my own fancy for, as that perfect summer month drifted on, the ever restless tides left the harbor devoid of any water at my favorite conoeing hour and my pet idling place was lost for many days; hence my fancy to call it Lost Lagoon.

The lake was officially named Lost Lagoon in 1922 by the park board, long after Johnson's death and, ironically, after the lagoon had been permanently lost after becoming landlocked. ....... This area has lots cool trails and wildlife . Its near public transportation sites and parking spots. Lots of benches around to sit on and...

I have been walking the lost lagoon for decades. Up to 2017 there were beautiful swans they are gone since 2018. Otters that used to frolic and run across the path in the summer and play on the ice in the winter are gone. One of North Americas largest colonies of the great blue heron which started as far back as 1921 has diminished to a handful of nesting birds. There used to be so many jumping huge fish in this lagoon with birds swooping down and catching them. I have many photos and video footage of all the wildlife I am writing about. In approx 2019 the fish started dying, now there are no fish except a few tiny ones struggling to come back. There were no birds swooping down in search of food. Today I saw one heron which was struggling to find fish. I saw two geese and no goslings. There were a small handful of ducks with no ducklings and like the geese they are all but gone. The coyotes were all purposely killed a few years ago. There are no more raccoons. There may be the odd coyote and raccoon and they look weary as the their family structure has been destroyed. The bugs on some days are so bad you cannot walk through this once...