| ugh you might think of Manitoba as a “Prairie | | | | The mounds and mountains of frozen ice that |
| Province “ smack dab in the middle of flat | | | | formed the glaciers and fed Lake Agassiz also |
| and barren Canada far away from any oceans | | | | prevented its draining. However with climate change |
| – flat and waterless Manitoba indeed has 3 of | | | | resulting in warmer temperatures and weather, the |
| the larges lakes in the world. These could be called | | | | ice age or ice ages ended. The vast mountains and |
| Manitoba’s “Great Lakes”. The | | | | barriers of glacial ice that had restrained and held |
| biggest of these lakes is Lake Winnipeg; the other | | | | back the flow out the lake disappeared. The gigantic |
| two are Lake Manitoba and Lake Winnipegosis. These | | | | Lake Agassiz was able to drain its waters into the |
| large lakes are what are left over from what was | | | | sea. So much water flowed into the oceans that the |
| the largest freshwater lake in the world – | | | | oceans and seas levels rose – some estimate |
| Lake Aggasiz | | | | by as much as a meter (3 feet in height). It is |
| How and where did these lakes occur smack dab in | | | | thought by some authorities that the biblical story of |
| the middle of the Canadian prairies? These large lakes | | | | Noah and the great flood correlates indeed to the |
| are the remainder and remainders of a vast glacial | | | | time of melting of the gigantic glacial fields and the |
| lake – a glacial lake that existed before | | | | draining, emptying and dispersal of Lake Agassiz. |
| recorded history. As ice ages occurred and glaciers of | | | | What were the final impacts of this gigantic lake |
| ice formed in the cold and then melted the waters | | | | – Lake Agassiz? For one the great areas of |
| served to form giant and gigantic “Lake | | | | water that remained – the residual leftovers |
| Aggasiz”. Lake Aggasiz was formed not once | | | | of what was then the largest lake in the world. |
| but at least 4 times during the past 15,000 years. | | | | These lakes are the “Great Lakes “of |
| Indeed Lake Aggasiz was the largest freshwater lake | | | | Manitoba – Lake Winnipeg, Lake Manitoba and |
| in the world before finally drying up and receding | | | | Lake Winnipegosis. Geographic reminders of the large |
| approximately 8,000 years ago. | | | | lake remain – raised beaches, miles and miles |
| How large was this gigantic freshwater lake, Lake | | | | away from any known waterfront areas are one, |
| Aggasiz, which was the result of the melting of the | | | | river and river valleys formed are another. Very |
| ice of these ice ages? Lake Aggasiz was so large | | | | importantly the flat fertile fields and soils of the Red |
| that it covered most of the areas of Southern | | | | River areas including areas of the northern American |
| Manitoba along with major portions of what is now | | | | states of North Dakota and Minnesota are another. |
| Northwestern Ontario. Minnesota, North Dakota along | | | | However the most important legacy of all of |
| with large areas of the Canadian province of | | | | prehistoric, gigantic Lake Agassiz may be mythical |
| Saskatchewan. All in all this amounted to a size of as | | | | tale of folklore – of the great flood. We know |
| much as 450, 00 square kilometers. To put this into | | | | this tale best as that of Noah’s flood in the |
| context Britain is 130,000 square kilometers. | | | | bible. However Lake Agassiz’s effect on the |
| At its peak Lake Aggasiz was more than three times | | | | waters of the world has spread across the world and |
| the size of Britain, and larger than the American state | | | | across almost all cultures as their own mythical and |
| of California. | | | | moral tale of the giant flood. |