Colonial Despatches

Nicola Lake is located roughly 10 km northeast of Merritt in the southern central interior of British Columbia.

The lake was named after famous Nlaka’pamux head chief, Hwistesmexe’quen, who was given the nickname Nicolas by early fur traders.1 “Nicolas” was recognized by traders as the most powerful and influential chief in the southern interior of British Columbia.2 John Tod, an HBC trader at Kamloops, wrote that Nicola was a very great chieftain and a bold man.3

• 1. G. P. V. Akrigg and H. B. Akrigg, British Columbia Place Names (Vancouver: UBC Press, 1997), 190.
• 2. Ibid.
• 3. Ibid.