is the largest
Lake in the southern
Coast Mountains of
Canada , being about
250 Square Kilometres in area. It is about 60 km in length and at its widest almost 9 km across. Its southern end, at the resort community of
Harrison Hot Springs , is c. 95 km east of downtown Vancouver. East of the lake are the
Lillooet Ranges while to the west are the
Douglas Ranges . The lake is the last (and of course largest) of a series of large north-south glacial valleys tributary to the
Fraser along its north bank east of
Vancouver . The others to the west are the Chehalis,
Stave , Alouette,
Pitt , and Coquitlam Rivers.
At the north end of the lake is a small
First Nations community of the
In-SHUCK-ch Nation ,
Port Douglas, British Columbia , known in the
St'at'imcets Language as Xa'xtsa (ha-htsa). There are several hot springs along the shores of the lake or near it, including at Port Douglas, Twenty Mile Bay and
Harrison Hot Springs .
The main waterflow coming into the lake is the
Lillooet River , where there is a small bay named Little Harrison Lake. At the head of this bay was one of
British Columbia 's main
Ghost Towns , Port Douglas; today on its eastern shore is the
Rancherie (village) or the Port Douglas Band of the
In-SHUCK-ch Nation . Halfway down 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 is Twenty-Mile Bay, site of one of the lake's many hotsprings; 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, 9.5 km long, 2.6 km wide. The other main island of any size in the lake is Echo Island, 4 km long and 2.2 km wide. ; it is offshore from
Harrison Hot Springs , and is immediately east of the forested canyon of the
Harrison River at the lake's outflow. The
Harrison enters the
Fraser near the community of
Chehalis .
was important in the early history of
British Columbia as one of the water links on the
Douglas Road , which accessed the goldfields of the upper Fraser during the
Fraser Canyon Gold Rush of 1858-60.
