WELCOME TO
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 (Highway 37) at the south end of the lake of the same name. Dease Lake is the last major centre before the Alaska Highway, 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.
Originally a Hudson’s Bay Company trading post, established in 1837 by Robert Campbell. Today the community offers full services for travelers.
The town sits astride a pass separating the basins of the Dease River (N) from that of the Tanzilla (S), 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. 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.