Forestry is the main economic activity of the sector. Recreational tourism activities come second, thanks to a navigable body of water of 64.8 kilometres (40.3 mi) length, including the Doda Lake (in the North-East) and the Françoise Lake (to the northwest). The latter is formed by an enlargement of the Opawica River and has a dam built at its mouth.
The watershed of Father Lake is accessible via the R1051 forest road from the north, serving the large peninsula that stretches east for 15 kilometres (9.3 mi). This peninsula is surrounded to the north by lake Du Guesclin and Françoise Lake; to the East and to the South by Doda Lake; Southwest, by Father Lake. The large bays of this peninsula give the shape of an F at Father Lake.
The surface of Father Lake is generally frozen from early November to mid-May, however, safe ice movement is generally from mid-November to mid-April.
Geography
This lake has a length of 29.6 kilometres (18.4 mi) in the form of an inverted hook, a maximum width of 8.4 kilometres (5.2 mi) and an altitude of 338 metres (1,109 ft). Father Lake has many bays, peninsulas and islands. Father Lake is part of a group of lakes formed by Doda Lake, Françoise Lake, Stina Lake and Du Guesclin Lake.
Father Lake obtains supplies from the Southwest side of lakes Windfall, Croft, Podeur, Rouge and Roméo; Northeast, by the Skokiaan Lake outlet.
The mouth of this Father Lake is directly connected by a short strait to Doda Lake. This mouth is located at the bottom of a bay in the Northeast at:
12.9 kilometres (8.0 mi) South of the mouth of Doda Lake;
"Father Lake" and "Doda Lake" were considered until the 19th century as two designated twin lakes and named as a single lake. The English term Father derives from 'Doda Sagaigan’, meaning '’father's lake’' or '’fathers lake’'. Thus, the ancient form Father's Lake has been normalized toponymically. The form "Doda Sagahaigan or Father's L." is indicated in 1900 on a map of the surveyor Henry O'Sullivan.[2]
^Distances from the Atlas of Canada (published on the Internet) of the Department of Natural Resources Canada.
^Source: Names and places of Quebec, a work of the Commission de toponymie du Québec, published in 1994 and 1996 in the form of a printed illustrated dictionary, and under that of a CD-ROM produced by the company Micro-Intel, in 1997, from this dictionary.
