Skaha Lake is a

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

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 ...

, through which the

Okanagan River The Okanogan River (known as the Okanagan River in Canada) is a tributary of the Columbia River, approximately 115 mi (185 km) long, in southern British Columbia and north central Washington. It drains a scenic plateau region called th ...

flows, in the

Okanagan The Okanagan ( ), also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is par ...

region of south central

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, ...

. Along the shoreline are

Penticton Penticton ( ) is a city in the Okanagan Valley of the Southern Interior of British Columbia, Canada, situated between Okanagan and Skaha lakes. In the 2016 Canadian Census, its population was 33,761, while its census agglomeration The ce ...

(north),

Kaleden Kaleden () is an unincorporated community about midway along the western shore of Skaha Lake in the Okanagan region of south central British Columbia. Adjacent to BC Highway 97, the locality is by road about south of Penticton. Agriculture As ea ...

(west), and

Okanagan Falls Okanagan Falls (also known as OK Falls) is a community located on the south end of Skaha Lake in British Columbia. History The community was founded in 1893 as Dogtown, which was derived from the name Dog Lake ("skaha" means "dog" in the Okanagan ...

(south).

Name origin

The lake was labelled L. du Chien on Anderson's map (1867) and Du Chien L. on Trutch maps (1866 and 1871). Likely named by

French Canadian French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

rs, the origin is unknown. The translation as Dog Lake was later adopted. When changed to Skaha Lake in 1930, the Shuswap name for dog was mistakenly chosen. The

meaning of Skaha is horse.

Ferries

In the early years, the Okanagan depended upon water transportation from the rail terminal at

Okanagan Landing Okanagan Landing was an unincorporated settlement and steamboat port at the north end of Okanagan Lake in the Southern Interior of British Columbia. Located southwest of the city of Vernon, it was the terminus station for the Shuswap and Okanaga ...

. Penticton separates

Okanagan Lake Okanagan Lake ( oka, kɬúsx̌nítkw) is a lake in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. The lake is long, between wide, and has a surface area of 348 km2 (135 sq. mi.). Hydrography Okanagan Lake is called a fjord lake as i ...

from Skaha Lake. In 1893, W. J. Snodgrass acquired a new boat, the ''Jessie,'' named for his daughter. Plying the Okanagan Falls–Penticton run, this boat burned at the Falls in 1898. In 1894, the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

(CP) built the

sternwheeler A paddle steamer is a steamship or steamboat powered by a steam engine that drives paddle wheels to propel the craft through the water. In antiquity, paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were w ...

SS ''Fairview'' for this run but soon moved to Okanagan Lake, where the vessel burned in 1897. The ''Greenwood,'' launched in 1897 at Okanagan Landing, burned at the Falls around 1903. In 1899, Snodgrass purchased another boat, the ''Maude Moore,'' named after his youngest daughter. In 1905, the vessel relocated to

Naramata Naramata is an unincorporated community in the Okanagan region of south central British Columbia. On the eastern shore of southern Lake Okanagan, the locality is by road about north of Penticton. Name origin In November 1906, John Moore Robinso ...

. In 1910, CP launched the ''Kaleden'' for the Penticton–Okanagan Falls run. Encountering navigational difficulties on the connecting river, the sternwheeler remained in Okanagan Lake after the initial run. In 1909, James Ritchie bought the launch ''Mallard,'' which he renamed ''Kaleden'' for his

subdivision. For two years, the vessel towed

scows A scow is a smaller type of barge. Some scows are rigged as sailboat, sailing scows. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, scows carried cargo in coastal waters and inland waterways, having an advantage for navigating shallow water or small ha ...

carrying building materials. The absence of wharves meant the scows were run up onto the beaches for loading and unloading. In 1911, J.F. Campbell and A.S. Hatfield bought the ''Kaleden'' to form the South Okanagan Transportation Company. The next year, they built wharves on the lake at Penticton, Kaleden, and Okanagan Falls. That year, they bought the new launch ''Cygnet'' and sold the ''Kaleden.'' In 1914, the ''Mallard'' entered service, which included the river route. During 1920–1931, CP's SS ''York'' pushed

rail barge A railroad car float or rail barge is a specialised form of lighter with railway tracks mounted on its deck used to move rolling stock across water obstacles, or to locations they could not otherwise go. An unpowered barge, it is towed by a tugb ...

s on the Penticton–Okanagan Falls leg. The ferry service was subsidized in 1900 and 1910–1922.

Ecology

In the chain of Okanagan lakes, Skaha Lake is south of Okanagan Lake and north of

Vaseux Lake Vaseux Lake is a shallow freshwater lake located along the course of the Okanagan River in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia, Canada. Name origin The name "'' vaseux''" is French, meaning muddy or murky, which is descriptive of the lake ...

. Possessing an approximate surface area and depth, the lake lies as the boundary between the

Okanagan dry forests Okanagan dry forests is a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion in the Pacific Northwest of North America, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system. It is closely associated with the Okanagan region of British Columbia an ...

to the northeast and the

Cascade Mountains leeward forests The Cascade Mountains leeward forests are a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of North America, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system. Setting This is a band of mountain habitat running north–south along the le ...

to the west. To the south lies the Columbia Plateau shrubland, the only

xeric shrubland Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deserts and xeric (ancient Greek xērós, “dry") shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth's land surface area. Ecoregions in this ...

ecoregion in Canada. The lake hosts a variety of fish including

kokanee salmon The kokanee salmon (''Oncorhynchus nerka''), also known as the kokanee trout, little redfish, silver trout, kikanning, Kennerly's salmon, Kennerly's trout, or Walla, is the non-anadromous form of the sockeye salmon (meaning that they do not migrat ...

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead (sometimes called "steelhead trout") is an anadromous (sea-run) form of the coasta ...

, and smallmouth bass. The most recent forming of thicker ice occurred in the mid-1990s and 2014.

Footnotes

References

* Penticton Similkameen Division Yale Land District Lakes of the Okanagan {{OkanaganSimilkameen-geo-stub