Hatzic Prairie & Durieu

Area description

Hatzic Prairie is the flat low-lying district immediately north of Hatzic Lake. Its western boundary is approximately at Stave Lake Road and the eastern boundary about at Sylvester, while the northern boundary might be roughly defined as Durieu Road. Through the area flows Hatzic Slough, whose waters enter the north end of Hatzic Lake. The name ‘Hatzic’ originates from the First Nations people who lived around the lake in by-gone days.

In the colonial era the district was known as ‘Burton’s Prairie’, named after Ralph Burton who raised cattle here. It was also listed as ‘Kanaka Prairie’ in some records. It received the official name of Hatzic Prairie when a post office started up in 1889. However, this post office changed to Durieu in 1910, since the community had by then become largely French-Canadian, and they wished to honour their priest, Bishop Durieu.

The prairie, with its lush green meadows and maze of waterways, appeared ideal for cattle ranching, and other investors followed Burton, but were disillusioned when the land proved very vulnerable to flooding. Dyking became a permanent concern, and even in more recent times the flood of 1948 caused damage as far up as Dale Road. To this day the lake still tends to overflow and maroon those residents whose homes are on the lower part of Hatzic Island.