Appears as “Burnt L” on Milton and Cheadle map of 1865.

In 1813 the North West Company established a post on Brûlé Lake as a “provision depot with the view of facilitating the passage of the mountains through Athabasca Pass.” By 1817, Jasper House was on the west shore ofthe lake, according to Ross Cox [1793–1853].

James Hector [1834–1907] wrote of his explorations in January 1859:

At three o’clock we reached the point where the Athabasca emerges from “Lac à brulé,” which lies at the base of the mountains, which rise from its western shore at least 3,000 feet. This lake was swept by such a violent wind from the south that we could hardly make way against it over the smooth ice. Its eastern shore is formed of immense sand-hills; and as we reached its upper part we found the ice so covered with the same material that the dogs could hardly pull the sleds.

Frederick Arthur Ambrose Talbot [1880–1924] makes the following comments on the constriuction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway in the area around 1911:

Here and there the builders were confronted by tre- mendous difficulties, such as in the vicinity of Brule Lake, at the entrance to the Rockies. This sheet of water is in reality an enlargement of the Athabaska River, the southern bank being deeply indented, and the soil a light sand. The railway skirts the southern bank, and in order to preserve the grade, heavy embankment work was requisite. The remarkable feature of this sheet of water is that it is always swept by a wind which at times assumes the fury of a gale. Even at the time of my arrival in mid- summer, when the air a few hundred yards inland was oppressively still, a keen breeze played across this lake. This peculiarity is attributed to the fact that the expanse lies in the path of the funnel formed by the passage of the river through the mountains, and through this constricted channel the wind is forced to make its way like a huge draught, to expend its force upon this area of water. Be that as it may, its existence resulted in a pretty battle between Nature and the engineers, and the struggle for supremacy lasted a long time.

As fast as the sand was excavated from a cutting and dumped to form an embankment, it was picked up by the wind and driven back again. On this short length of line around the lake there are two notable pieces of work, a cutting from which 87,000 cubic yards were removed, and an embankment built up of 117,000 cubic yards. The broad, high surface of the latter suffered from the full force of the wind, which picked up the sand in dense clouds and drove it irresistibly forward into the cut. At last the engineers erected a series of screens which deflected the eddying, circling wind laden with dust, the latter falling helplessly against these obstructions, and in time forming a natural protection to the cutting. So far as the slope of the embankment was concerned, the expedient of protect- ing its surface with scrub was adopted and found to be highly successful.

Scottish explorer Alexander Mackenzie [1764–1820] travelled the river in 1798 the hope it would lead to the Pacific Ocean, but instead reached its mouth on the Arctic Ocean on 14 July 1789. There is a story, likely apocryphal, that he named it “Disappointment River”, but eventually it was named after him.

Mackenzie was also the first European to cross North America north of Mexico. In 1793 the North West Company of Montréal approved Mackenzie’s plan to search for a route to the Pacific Ocean to facilitate the fur trade. Starting in northern Alberta, Mackenzie led a company up the Peace River. They crossed from the Arctic watershed to the Pacific over an unnamed pass that led to the Fraser River, which Mackenzie assumed to be the Columbia River, the Fraser then but little known. South of the big bend in the Fraser, the party headed west over land and reached salt water. Mackenzie concluded that the route was impractical.

“Mackenzie River / Fleuve Mackenzie” is among the 75 “Pan-Canadian names,” large and well-known Canadian features and areas designated in Treasury Board Circular 1983-58 to require presentation in both official languages of Canada on federal maps. In French, a fleuve is a river that flows into an ocean or sea.

Detail of Trutch 1871 showing “Cowdung L.”

The name “Cowdung L.” appears on B.C. Surveyor General Joseph Trutch’s 1871 map of British Columbia, between Moose Lake and the Yellowhead or Leather Pass.

The name appeared as “Cow dung L.” on John Arrowsmith’s 1859 map.