Bright Lake (Pakawagamengan) is a lake in Ontario, Canada, North America.

^[2]It is one of many remote Northern Ontario Lakes.

Bright Lake is located in Day and Bright Townships and belongs to the Municipality of Huron Shores, about 30 km south east of Sault Ste.

Marie in the Algoma country.

Its outlet, the Bolton River drains via the Mississagi River into Lake Huron.

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When the area was first settled, it was a rich farming region.

Logging and other industries were established.

In this era, canoeing from Bright Lake to T *ally Ho or Blind River * was common for people.

The first school was opened in 1883; this was located in the Day Township and called the Day Mills School.

This school ran until 1899 with various teachers, until a new school was built by Thomas Cordukes at Bright Lake.

Aside from farming, the early economy was driven by the lumber industry.

In 1871, the Dyment Mill was established in Thessalon.

The Mill was started by Nathaniel Dyment.

Another local person, William Harris built a sawmill in Day Mills in 1883.

His son, James Harris built another sawmill in 1903, which was purchased by the Smith Lumber Company in 1910.

In 1918, *J.J.

McFadden* purchased the lumber mill in Blind River, where many workers from Huron Shores were employed.

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Iron Bridge newspaper reported 7 people had drowned in Bright Lake.

The headline reads:

This clipping can be found in the Gardiner/Allen scrapbook 1700's - 1954 ^[8]

Bright Lake is one of many remote northern Ontario lakes that often experience cyanobacteria blooms in late summer and fall.

In response to a toxic cyanobacterial bloom, half of the 107 residents formed the Bright Lake Association, Inc. (BLA) ^[10]in 2009, a not- for - profit organization, and commenced collaboration with scientific partners to identify the major causes for these blooms and develop a community - based remedial action plan.

BLA applied successfully to the Ontario Trillium Foundation for a Grant to support a thorough limnological evaluation of Bright Lake (Press Release) ^[9].

In particular, the study was to determine the causes of the blue - green algae blooms and recommend remedial options that would improve Bright Lake‟s water quality.

Remediation of Bright lakes appears to be particularly important since it drains via the Bolton River into Mississagi River which is a tributary to Lake Huron.

The final report from the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) was entitled the Watershed Unification Project ^[10]

A sports fishermen from Ohio caught a 104 pound sturgeon in Bright Lake.

The sturgeon was confirmed by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

It measured 6'2" long and 30" around and somewhere between 70 and 100 years old.

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Closest beach is Sunset Beach located 4 km's south of Bright Lake.

Bright Lake is located off of Highway 17 - 5km's Northwest of Day Mills and 6km East of Iron Bridge.

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Latitude: 46° 16' 7.9" (46.2689°) north

Longitude: 83° 18' 17.1" (83.3047°) west

Elevation: 178 meters (584 feet)

Bright Lake is a popular hot spot for tourists and avid sports and leisure fisherman.

This lake is home to a variety of species including Walleye (Pickerel), Largemouth bass, Pike, Perch and Smallmouth bass.

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Other small game include Catfish, Sunfish, Gar, Snapping turtle and Sturgeon.