Gander: Located in central Newfoundland 331 km (206 mi) by road from St. John's and 568 km (353 mi) from Port aux Basques, the town of Gander has earned the nickname as "The Cross Roads of the World" because its airport was used to refuel planes before they "attempted" to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

Since 9/11, when the airport and the town sheltered more than 1000 distraught tourists when the airspace over USA was closed, Gander has become synonymous with "unselfish neighbourly help".

In comparison to other communities in Newfoundland, Gander is very "young", as permanent settlement did not begin until 1936, with the construction of the international airport. The population 2011 was 11,054 and from then until 2016, the population increased by 5.7%.

In 2016 there were 11,688 residents. It is believed that the town got its name from the presence of wild geese (i.e., "Goosey-Goosey- Ganders") in the area.

Not only is there a Gander River (see section on Rivers), but there is also Gander Lake and Gander Bay, all believed to be named after the town (or vice versa).

Gander River: The second longest river on the island of Newfoundland is the Gander River.

It is 110 miles (177 km) long and originates at Partridgeberry Hill, south of Grand Falls-Windsor. The river then flows northeast to Gander Lake and on to Gander Bay on the Atlantic Ocean.

As mentioned earlier, it has been suggested that it was Gander River that was named first, due to the abundance of "goosey goosey ganders" (i.e., wild geese) that "hung around" waiting to migrate south for the winter.

Later the town was named Gander, and the nearby lake, Gander Lake and a second community, Gander Bay all come from the original name of the water feature (for additional information on Gander, please refer to section on Feature Shift Names).

JONATHAN'S POND PROVINCIAL PARK RESERVE:

Located 16km (9.9 mi) north of Gander on Rte. 330, Jonathan's Pond Provincial Park Reserve takes its name from nearby Jonathan's Pond. This park reserve preserves a majestic stand of white birch in central Newfoundland.

It is 3.43 km2 (1.32 mi) in size. While it was not possible to find out who Jonathan was, the research team did uncover that the pond is commonly known as Big J's by the locals, and the most popular fish caught there are Brown trout and Brook trout.

Jonathan's Pond was recently in the news. From the Sept. 21, 2020 issue of The Canadian Mining Journal comes the following:

Mariner Resources has just become the largest land tenure holder in Newfoundland following its acquisition of a 100% interest in Exploits Gold, a private company focused on gold exploration in the Exploits subzone in the central region of the province.

Following the buyout, done by issuing 18.9 million shares, Mariner also changed its name to Exploits Discovery, as it now holds strategic land positions in discrete blocks along the full length of the Exploits subzone.

Overall, the company holds 1,760 sq. km of gold exploration ground, with its core assets being the Mt. Peyton and Jonathan's Pond projects, located two and 25 km west and northeast, respectively, of New Found Gold's Queensway discovery.

According to the miner, Jonathan's Pond hosts visible gold-bearing quartz veins up to 3 metres wide, with a current strike length of 450 metres, open in all directions with grab samples from outcrop of up to 28.82 g/t gold.

The property is also situated on a 15-km magnetic anomaly, coincident with anomalous float grab samples of up to 25.8 g/t gold.
up"We are pleased to have closed this transaction and to focus on the exploration of the advanced exploration targets on Mt Peyton, Jonathan's Pond, True Grit and Dog Bay while we expand and develop additional targets with our compilation and gold prospect follow up on other ground," Michael Collins, Mariner/Exploits CEO, said in a media statement.

Used with permission from "Uncovering the Origin of 1001 Unique Place Names in Newfoundland and Labrador" 2021 Jennifer Leigh Hill

Address of this page: http://nl.ruralroutes.com/Gander