Spotted Lake is a saline
endorheic alkali lake draws countless visitors from around the world located
near the city of Osoyoos in British Columbia Canada. The Lake has rich of
minerals such as magnesium sulfate, calcium and sodium sulphate and contains
extremely high concentrations of minerals such as silver and titanium. In
summer, Lake Water evaporates leaving behind colorful mineral deposits. The
ameoba-shaped Spotted Lake, changes colors throughout the year and during the
summer time divides itself into white, green, blue and yellow pools. It is said
that the lake has the highest natural concentration of this mineral in the world.
The colorful large spots appears
according to mineral composition, Magnesium sulfate normally crystallizes in
summer play a major role to spot color and remaining minerals in the lake
harden to form natural walkways around and between the spots. Nowadays, the spotted lake is surrounded by a
fence to keep people off, but you can get a good view of it from the highway.
These minerals were used in the
manufacture of ammunition during First World War. Chinese labour force skimmed
up ton a day of salts from Lake Surface and shipped them to munitions vendors
in eastern Canada. Later on, the site came under the control of the Ernest
Smith Family for a term of about 40 years. The Ernest Smith attempted to create
interest in a spa at the lake in 1979.
Spotted Lake is a strange and
significantly important site having great potential of commercial exploitation
presently hype much controversy. The native peoples used the lake mud and water
for the treatment of aches and ailments. Therefore, officially, Spotted Lake is
on private land and therefore theoretically not accessible for close up
observation. It is actually recognized to the First Nations of the Okanagan
Valley as Kliluk. The spotted lake is surrounded by cairns rock piles often
indicating graves. You cannot miss this historic landmark as you drive along
the highway just west of the city. A lot of people stop on the side of the road
for a longer look.
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