Est 1923 ~ 100 years of being awesome!
We’ve been officially incorporated since December 6th, 1923, marking a whole century of doing what we do best: being awesome. Sure, the Village is a sprightly 100 years old, but the heart of the community? That goes way, way back.
Oral history and archaeological evidence suggest that Indigenous people have lived along the shores of Tselh K’iz Bin (the Witsuwit’en name for the body of water we now call Burns Lake) for hundreds if not thousands of years. There was a thriving indigenous community here when American travel writer Hamlin Garland passed through in 1898, and at least three Witsuwit’en families were in residence when Trygarn Pelham Lyster “Barney” Mulvany camped nearby in 1906.
The area’s wealth of natural resources attracted the attention of colonial interests in the nineteenth century. Although representatives of the Northwest Company (and, later, the Hudson’s Bay Co.) traded with the region’s Indigenous people in the early 1800s, it wasn’t until surveyors for the Collins Overland Telegraph passed through this area in 1865-66 that Euro-Canadians got their first good look at what is today Burns Lake. The Collins Overland Telegraph— and, thirty-three years later, the Yukon Telegraph—constructed a maintenance cabin on what is now Richmond Loop. The unknown telegraph operator who manned the station was likely Burns Lake’s first permanent Euro-Canadian resident.
A few hardy settlers, like George “The Boer” Wallace, Dick Carroll, and the Gerows (Don and Robert), followed, but it wasn’t until the completion of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in 1914 that a community of any size existed here. That’s when a redheaded adventurer named Trygarn Pelham Lyster “Barney” Mulvany won the contents of an entire railway construction camp in a poker game and decided the place he camped in 1906 would be a good town site. Mulvany pitched two tents a couple hundred yards from the shore of Burns Lake. We could go on and on, to find out more about the rich history of the Lakes District stop in at the Lakes District Museum, conveniently located next to the Visitor Information Centre.
What is it about Burns Lake?
You know when someone says something and you just go, “Oh yep, classic Burns Lake”?
- The one (yes, ONE) traffic light in town — and we’re kind of proud of it.
- All four seasons in an hour. Bonus points if it’s May Long and snowing sideways while you’re BBQing in flip-flops.
- A “welcome home” isn’t official until you’ve crushed a #5 from China Moon and snagged a sausage roll from the Bakery.
- Our sarcasm is basically an art form. Dry, quick, and absolutely everywhere.
Many of our young folks grow up itching to spread their wings, but somehow, Burns Lake always pulls you back — in the coziest way.
So what makes us unique? It’s not just one thing — it’s the whole quirky, weather-wild, sausage-roll-slinging, heartwarming vibe. Come for the scenery, stay for the stories.
Lots has changed since the infamous red-headed Mr. Mulvaney won a tent town in a game of poker.
Burns Lake has survived countless fires, the Great Depression, and a couple of minor recessions since 1923. Today the village Mulvany fondly referred to as “this old tent town of mine” is a thriving, modern community with a bright future. And while much has changed here in a hundred years, the community spirit that played such a key role in building this town remains intact. The one constant thing that has remained tried and true is Burns Lake’s crooked little street!
