Harrison Lake is the largest

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

in the southern Coast Mountains of

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, being about 250 square kilometres (95 mi²) in area. It is about 60 km (37 mi) in length and at its widest almost 9 km (5.6 mi) across. Its southern end, at the resort community of

Harrison Hot Springs The Village of Harrison Hot Springs is a small community at the southern end of Harrison Lake in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia. It is a member of the Fraser Valley Regional District; its immediate neighbour is the District of Kent and i ...

, is c. 95 km east of downtown Vancouver. East of the lake are the

Lillooet Ranges The Lillooet Ranges are the southeasternmost subdivision of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains of British Columbia. They are located between the drainage of the Lillooet River and Harrison Lake on the west and the canyon of the Fraser Rive ...

while to the west are the

Douglas Ranges The Douglas Ranges are a subrange of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains of the Canadian province of British Columbia, about east of downtown Vancouver, north of the Fraser River and between the valleys of Stave and Harrison Lakes. They ...

. The lake is the last of a series of large north-south glacial valleys tributary to the

Fraser Fraser may refer to: Places Antarctica * Fraser Point, South Orkney Islands Australia * Fraser, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Belconnen * Division of Fraser (Australian Capital Territory), a former federal e ...

along its north bank east of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. The others to the west are the

Chehalis Chehalis may refer to: People * Chehalis people, a Native American people of Washington state **Lower Chehalis language **Upper Chehalis language * Sts'Ailes people (Chehalis people), a First Nation in British Columbia * Chehalis First Nation, Bri ...

, Stave, Alouette, Pitt, and

Coquitlam River The Coquitlam River ( /koʊˈkwɪtləm/ or /kəˈkwɪtləm/) is a tributary of the Fraser River in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The river's name comes from the word Kʷikʷəƛ̓əm which translates to "Red fish up the river". The na ...

s. At the north end of the lake is a small

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

community of the

In-SHUCK-ch Nation The In-SHUCK-ch Nation, also known as Lower Lillooet people, are a small First Nations Tribal Council on the lower Lillooet River south of Pemberton- Mount Currie in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The communities of the In-SHUCK-ch a ...

Port Douglas Port Douglas is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Douglas, Queensland, Australia, approximately 60 km north of Cairns. In the , Port Douglas had a population of 3,504 people. The town's population can often double, however, with the in ...

, known in the St'at'imcets language as ''Xa'xtsa'' (ha-htsa). There are three hot springs along the shores of the lake or near it, including near Port Douglas, at Clear Creek, a tributary of Silver River, and at

. Doctors Point on the lake's northwest shore was a village and Transformer site, with a large rock painting depicting either the spirit of the winds that rule travel on the lake, or a medicine man turned to stone by the Transformer. The lake has imposed a higher risk to recreational users than other BC lakes as it is colder than many of the lakes in the surrounding areas. Harrison Lake was implicated in the deaths of three people in 2015, and five total since 2008. Aerial View of Harrison Lake

The main waterflow coming into the lake is the

Lillooet River The Lillooet River is a major river of the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia. It begins at Silt Lake, on the southern edge of the Lillooet Crown Icecap about 80 kilometres northwest of Pemberton and about 85 kilometres northwest of W ...

, where there is a small bay named Little Harrison Lake. At the head of this bay was one of

's main

ghost towns Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by Alle ...

, Port Douglas; today on its eastern shore is the

rancherie A Rancherie is a First Nations residential area of an Indian reserve in colloquial English throughout the Canadian province of British Columbia. Originating in an adaptation of '' ranchería'', a Californian term for the residential area of a ''ran ...

(village) or the Port Douglas Band of the

. Halfway down Harrison Lake on its eastern shore is the valley of the Silver River, also known as the Big Silver River, one of its tributaries being the Little Silver. Opposite Silver River on the west shore of Harrison Lake is Twenty-Mile Bay. Mid-lake between the Silver River and Twenty-Mile Bay is the northern end of the lake's longest and largest island, aptly named

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

, 9.5 km long, 2.6 km wide. The other main island of any size in the lake is

Echo Island ''Echo Island'' is an Irish television programme for children and young adults, shown on RTÉ Network 2. It was shown at 17:00 during '' The Den'', after which programmes like ''The Legend of the Hidden City'' would air. The show effectively to ...

, 4 km long and 2.2 km wide. It is offshore from

, and is immediately east of the forested canyon of the

Harrison River The Harrison River is a short but large tributary of the Fraser River, entering it near the community of Chehalis, British Columbia, Canada. The Harrison drains Harrison Lake and is the ''de facto'' continuation of the Lillooet River, which feeds ...

at the lake's outflow. The Harrison enters the

near the community of

. Harrison Lake was important in the early history of British Columbia as one of the water links on the

Douglas Road The Douglas Road, a.k.a. the Lillooet Trail, Harrison Trail or Lakes Route, was a goldrush-era transportation route from the British Columbia Coast to the Interior (NB another route known as the Lillooet Trail was the Lillooet Cattle Trail, which ...

, which accessed the goldfields of the upper Fraser during the

Fraser Canyon Gold Rush The Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, (also Fraser Gold Rush and Fraser River Gold Rush) began in 1858 after gold was discovered on the Thompson River in British Columbia at its confluence with the Nicoamen River a few miles upstream from the Thompson's c ...

of 1858-60. It was named "Harrison" by Hudson's Bay Company Governor Simpson, after

Benjamin Harrison Benjamin Harrison (August 20, 1833March 13, 1901) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 23rd president of the United States from 1889 to 1893. He was a member of the Harrison family of Virginia–a grandson of the ninth pr ...

, a director (later Deputy Governor) of the Hudson's Bay Company.

Panorama

References

{{British Columbia hydrography Lakes of the Lower Mainland History of British Columbia Pacific Ranges New Westminster Land District