Dease Lake


Dease Lake is a small community located in the Cassiar Country of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Located a few hours south of the Yukon border, it is located on Stewart–Cassiar Highway at the south end of the lake of the same name. Dease Lake is the last major centre before the Alaska Highway while driving north bound, and also the junction to Telegraph Creek and the Grand Canyon of the Stikine. Dease Lake Indian Reserve No. 9 is located nearby and is under the governance of the Tahltan First Nation band government.
The town sits astride a pass separating the basins of the Dease River from that of the Tanzilla, a tributary of the Stikine. The pass is part of Continental Divide and is a division point between drainage to the Pacific Ocean, via the Stikine, and the Arctic Ocean, via the Liard and Mackenzie Rivers.
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, Yukon, and Alaska. 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 post, known as Lake House, was created by Robert Campbell on the shore of Dease Lake about north of the Stikine River 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. 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 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

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

Climate

Dease Lake has a subarctic climate, typical of northern British Columbia. Summers are mild, coupled with chilly nights while winters are severely cold and snowy, with annual snowfall averaging 84 inches. Autumn typically begins by early September and lasts into October where Winter begins. Winter can last into late March or sometimes early April. Spring usually lasts until late May or early June, where summer begins right after. Due Dease Lake's high elevation, snowfall is possible at any month of the year.