Aqua-Plano Indians of the Upper Great Lakes

Photo by Thomas William Kirkbride - March 10, 2006

Plaque Location

The District of Thunder Bay
The Township of Shuniah
At Boegh Park, a picnic area on Highway 587 near Pass Lake - about 32 km east of Thunder Bay

Plaque Text

In 1950 archeological investigations in this area uncovered a site which had been used as a workshop camp by a group of the earliest known people in this part of the Upper Great Lakes basin. Called Aqua-Plano Indians because they migrated from the western plains to fossil beaches of glacial and post-glacial lakes in this region, they appeared about 9,000 years ago following the retreat of glaciers and the northward movement of plants and animals. They developed a distinctive tradition based primarily on large game hunting using weapons and specialized tools made of taconite, a stone that was obtained locally. Their way of life, which was closely related to the environment, disappeared as the climate grew warmer.