Dease Lake is a small community in the

Cassiar Country The Cassiar Country, also referred to simply as the Cassiar, is a historical geographic region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. The Cassiar is located in the northwest portion of British Columbia, just to the northeast of the Stikine ...

of the

Northern Interior of British Columbia Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

, Canada. It is 230 km south of the

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

border on Stewart–Cassiar Highway (Highway 37) at the south end of the lake of the same name. Dease Lake is the last major centre before the Alaska Highway while driving northbound, and also the junction to Telegraph Creek and the Grand Canyon of the Stikine. Dease Lake Indian Reserve No. 9 is nearby and is under the governance of the Tahltan First Nation band government. The town sits astride a drainage divide separating the basins of the

Dease River Dease may refer to: * Dease Strait, a strait in Nunavut, Canada * Dease Lake (British Columbia), a lake in BC, Canada ** Dease Lake, a town in BC, Canada *** Dease Lake Airport (CYDL), an airport in BC, Canada *** Dease Lake Highway, a highway in ...

(to the north) from that of the Tanzilla (to the south), a tributary of the Stikine. As this is a division point between drainage to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, via the Stikine, and the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, ...

, via the Liard and

Mackenzie River The Mackenzie River (French: ; Slavey language, Slavey: ' èh tʃʰò literally ''big river''; Inuvialuktun: ' uːkpɑk literally ''great river'') is a river in the Canadian Canadian boreal forest, boreal forest and tundra. It forms, ...

s, this is part of the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

. The town has a school, various stores, a fuel and service station, hotel, and a Northern Lights College campus. It used to have a restaurant and a pub, but both have closed. The town sees a large influx of visitors during the summer months from tourists on their way to the Alaska Highway,

, and

Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...

. A majority of these tourists are from Canada or the United States. Dease Lake is also a destination for hunting and other wilderness activities, and the local economy benefits from local gold, copper, and jade mining and exploration activities.

History

In 1837 a

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

post, known as Lake House, was created by Robert Campbell on the shore of Dease Lake about north of the

Stikine River The Stikine River ( ) is a major river in northern British Columbia (BC), Canada and southeastern Alaska in the United States. It drains a large, remote upland area known as the Stikine Country east of the Coast Mountains. Flowing west and ...

and south of where the present day Alaska Highway passes. The Lake had been named in 1834 for Chief Factor Peter Warren Dease, and would become a major junction for miners travelling to the gold rush in Cassiar (later an asbestos mine). Although the fort was abandoned soon after, the town based around the fort lived on, and was renamed Dease Lake in 1934 by then-Chief Trader John McLeod. During the 1960s and 1970s,

BC Rail The British Columbia Railway Company , commonly known as BC Rail, is a railway in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Chartered as a private company in 1912 as the Pacific Great Eastern Railway (PGE), it was acquired by the provincial ...

started to build an extension of their line towards Dease Lake, but construction was halted. Grading was completed all the way, and can still be seen from the air at .

Geography and climate

North of Dease Lake is Good Hope Lake () and the Alaska Highway (). South of Dease Lake is Iskut (), Stewart (), and Kitwanga (). Dease Lake has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dfc''), typical of northern British Columbia. Summers are mild, coupled with chilly nights while winters are severely cold and snowy, with annual snowfall averaging . Autumn typically begins by early September and lasts into October when winter begins. Winter can last into late March or sometimes early April. Spring usually lasts until late May or early June, after when summer begins. Due to Dease Lake's high elevation, snowfall is possible during any month of the year.

References

External links

Dease Lake WebsiteDease Lake Community Website

School District 87 (Stikine)
* {{authority control Unincorporated settlements in British Columbia Stikine Country Cassiar Country Populated places in the Regional District of Kitimat–Stikine Designated places in British Columbia Great Divide of North America Hudson's Bay Company trading posts