Dowker Island

Dowker Island

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Geography
Location	Saint Lawrence River
Coordinates	45°24′10″N 73°53′40″W
Archipelago	Hochelaga Archipelago
Area	1 km2 (0.39 sq mi)
Length	1 km (0.6 mi)
Width	1 km (0.6 mi)
Administration
Canada

Dowker Island is part of the Hochelaga Archipelago in Lake Saint Louis, Quebec, between the Island of Montreal and the Île Perrot. Although near the towns of Baie-d'Urfé and Beaconsfield, it is administratively part of Notre-Dame-de-l'Île-Perrot.

The flat, wooded, and uninhabited island is about a kilometer in length and breadth.

Dowker Island, then known as île Sainte-Geneviève, was granted to François-Marie Perrot, the governor of Montreal, by Jean Talon, on 29 October 1672, along with the île Perrot. In 1897, the eponymous Leslie Rose Dowker, acquired the island. Older navigational charts and some maps have the island marked as "Lynch Island" while the northern point of land is labelled as "Dowker Point".

In the summer the island is easily accessible by small boat, and in winter on foot over the frozen lake. The water north of the island is popular for ice fishing.

Ruins on Dowker Island

The ruins of the house in the winter.

The ruins of a two-story house stand at the northern edge of Dowker Island. The house was built by Leslie Rose Dowker after he bought the island in 1887. He lived there until his death in 1945. The house burned down in 1960. Additionally, there is an older ruined structure in the middle of the island, near scattered agricultural tools and a vehicle.