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Research dossier · Places & Architecture

Cat Lake (Ontario)

lake in Kenora District, Ontario, Canada (lat 51.70, lon -91.85)

Architectural plans, a scale model, maps and brass measuring instruments
Places and architectureInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 30, 2026
Entity authorityQ5051041 ↗
Source-derived summary

Cat Lake is a lake in Kenora District in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. It is the source of the Cat River. In spite of this, Cat Lake lacked fresh water for 12 years; from 2006 to 2018. The Cat Lake First Nation served by Cat Lake Airport is on the central north shore of the lake.

Editorial summary

“Cat Lake (Ontario)” enters the record as lake in Kenora District, Ontario, Canada (lat 51.70, lon -91.85). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Lake, Ontario and lake can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewMost useful as a place-based finding aid connecting the present description to earlier jurisdictions, maps and built evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2006, 2018—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Lake, Ontario and lake.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Cat Lake (Ontario)” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Lake, Ontario and lake provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5051041. Authority coordinates are 51.706, -91.851. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2006 and 2018.

Critical limits

A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.

Best used for
  • Historic place names
  • Jurisdictional context
  • Routes into maps and plans
Verify next

Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Cat Lake (Ontario)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Cat Lake (Ontario) primary sources, Cat Lake (Ontario) archive and Lake research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Cat Lake (Ontario)”?
  2. Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
  3. Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Cat Lake (Ontario)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.