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QUESTION One night at our cottage on Sand Lake, just northeast of Verona, Ont., discussion turned to the small island on the lake. It's about 20 metres long by 10 metres wide and has just four small trees. A friend suggested that to be officially named an "island" in Ontario the land mass must have at least three trees. Is this true? Reb Millar, Sand Lake, Ont.
ANSWER No, there are no such criteria for defining a feature such as an island - as opposed to, say, an islet or a rock - according to Jeff Ball of the Ontario Geographic Names Board, which advises the Ministry of Natural Resources on matters of geographic naming. Steve Westley at Natural Resources Canada's Centre for Topographic Information, who kindly looked up your island for us, confirms that it has no official name at the moment. It shows up on the 1/50,000-scale map sheet for the area, map number 31C/10, as a small cross - the cartographic symbol for a small island (or a big rock). As Sand Lake cottagers, you can, if you wish, submit a name for it to the Geographic Names Board. The name must first pass through the board, then other stakeholders (such as your fellow Sand Lake cottagers and residents) will be surveyed. For more information, see "Dumming Up" in the March '04 issue of Cottage Life. Jo Currie
* Published in the April/May 2004 issue of Cottage Life |