Otter Lake is immediately north of Tulameen in the Similkameen region of south central

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, Canada. Accessed via Coalmont Rd, which borders the western shore, the northern tip is by road about south of Merritt and the southern tip is about northwest of

Princeton Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

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Often called Tulameen Lake, the official name is Otter Lake, indicating the noticeable presence of

otter Otters are carnivorous mammals in the subfamily Lutrinae. The 13 extant otter species are all semiaquatic, aquatic, or marine. Lutrinae is a branch of the Mustelidae family, which includes weasels, badgers, mink, and wolverines, among ...

s. The length is about . The surface area is and elevation is above sea level. The mean depth is and maximum depth is . The shoreline is .

Fur trade and pioneer era

The earliest written mention of the lake was in the reports of

Alexander Caulfield Anderson Alexander Caulfield Anderson (10 March 1814 – 8 May 1884) was a British Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) fur-trader, explorer of British Columbia and civil servant. Anderson joined HBC in 1831 and emigrated to Canada from Europe. He was placed ...

. While surveying possible

Hudson's Bay Brigade Trail The Hudson's Bay Brigade Trail, sometimes referred to simply as the Brigade Trail, refers to one of two routes used by Hudson's Bay Company fur traders to transport furs, goods and supplies between coastal and Columbia District headquarters at For ...

routes between the

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 ...

(HBC) forts at

Kamloops Kamloops ( ) is a city in south-central British Columbia, Canada, at the confluence of the North Thompson River, North and South Thompson Rivers, which join to become the Thompson River in Kamloops, and east of Kamloops Lake. The city is the ad ...

and

Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's own life, or the world at large. As a verb, Merriam-Webster defines ''hope'' as "to expect with confid ...

, he was welcomed by

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

Chief Blackeye at the lake and his party served a

carp The term carp (: carp) is a generic common name for numerous species of freshwater fish from the family (biology), family Cyprinidae, a very large clade of ray-finned fish mostly native to Eurasia. While carp are prized game fish, quarries and a ...

dinner.

Ice harvesting

In 1915, a ice loading conveyor was installed at the lake. Handling up to a day, the conveyor could be used to load 16

boxcar A boxcar is the North American (Association of American Railroads, AAR) and South Australian Railways term for a Railroad car#Freight cars, railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simpl ...

s simultaneously. Associated infrastructure included a bunkhouse, dining room, kitchen, engine room, and horse barn. Each winter until 1925, blocks of ice were cut from the lake to be used for refrigeration. Special Great Northern Railway (GN) trains ran at all hours to

Oroville, Washington Oroville is a city located in the northern bulk of the Okanogan Highlands in north-central Washington, United States. Oroville is a member municipality of Okanogan County, Washington situated between Omak and Penticton. The population was 1,79 ...

, from where the ice was distributed to GN facilities. A single steam locomotive could haul the average 60-car trains because of the steady downhill grade to Oroville. In 1921, the season volume peaked at 2,300 loaded boxcars. When modern refrigeration ended the need for such ice, this infrastructure was dismantled in 1926.

Fishing

In 1900, DeBarro and Thynne opened the Otter Flat Hotel at Otter Flat primarily as a resort for fishing, hunting, and boating, on the lake. In 1910, a gasoline launch was placed upon the lake. In 1923, stocking of the lake with

trout Trout (: trout) is a generic common name for numerous species of carnivorous freshwater ray-finned fishes belonging to the genera '' Oncorhynchus'', ''Salmo'' and ''Salvelinus'', all of which are members of the subfamily Salmoninae in the ...

spawn Spawn or spawning may refer to: * Spawning, the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals Arts, entertainment and media * Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise ** ''Spawn: Armageddon' ...

began. Nowadays, Summerland Trout Hatchery stocks the lake with

rainbow trout The rainbow trout (''Oncorhynchus mykiss'') is a species of trout native to cold-water tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Asia. The steelhead (sometimes called steelhead trout) is an Fish migration#Classification, ...

fry to provide excellent sport fishing opportunities. Ice fishing is possible on the lake in wintertime.

Camping and picnics

In the early 1920s, John Hosey purchased a site on the lakeshore, cleared the underbrush, installed a cookhouse, picnic tables, changing stalls, boardwalk, and high diving tower, and opened a small refreshments store. The venue soon proved popular with visitors and improvements were added over the years. In 1929, new owners took over this cabin and camping enterprise. Over subsequent decades, various organizations held picnics at the lake.
In recent decades, the Otter Lake Park has catered to picnics and camping. The smaller picnic and day-use area is at Tulameen and the lakeside campground in the main park is about farther north along the road.

References