History of Wizard Lake
Wizard Lake is a long, serpentine lake lying in a heavily forested, deep glacial meltwater channel 50 km southwest of the city of Edmonton. The valley provides excellent shelter from winds, making this lake very popular for water skiing. The northern shore of the lake is in Leduc County and the southern shore is in the County of Wetaskiwin.
Until the late 1960's the popular name for the lake was Conjuring Lake (Alta. Cult. Multicult. n.d.). Indian legends said strange noises in the lake came from "conjuring creatures" (Stout 1956). The creek draining the lake is still called Conjuring Creek. Homesteaders began to arrive in 1904 and a sawmill opened near the lake in the same year, only to close in 1905 when the railway was not built across the area as expected (Stout 1956). An underground coal mine operated on the south shore until the 1940's; the two mine entrances still exist (Riddett 1988). Land was set aside on the north shore for a park in the 1920's; it has now been developed by Leduc County as Jubilee Park.
Until the late 1960's the popular name for the lake was Conjuring Lake (Alta. Cult. Multicult. n.d.). Indian legends said strange noises in the lake came from "conjuring creatures" (Stout 1956). The creek draining the lake is still called Conjuring Creek. Homesteaders began to arrive in 1904 and a sawmill opened near the lake in the same year, only to close in 1905 when the railway was not built across the area as expected (Stout 1956). An underground coal mine operated on the south shore until the 1940's; the two mine entrances still exist (Riddett 1988). Land was set aside on the north shore for a park in the 1920's; it has now been developed by Leduc County as Jubilee Park.
Financial Assistance for this website was provided by the
Land Stewardship Centre
Land Stewardship Centre