Lost Lagoon

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. The lake 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 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:

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 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.

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