Lake Errock

Area description

Lake Errock, overhung by the sheer forested rock-face of Harrison Hill, was one of the fishing-grounds of the Scowlitz people, and was known to them as Squakum Lake (‘squakum’ referring to a certain type of salmon found there.) The 1890s saw the arrival of a few ranchers, of whom the most notable was Arthur Ross, businessman and former MLA for Lisgar, Manitoba. The Ross Ranch occupied a whole section of land and was a very ambitious fruit-growing enterprise. He instigated the first post office, calling it Loch Erroch, after Lake Ericht in Scotland, and it operated from 1892 to 1896. However, the ranch appears to have been inactive by the late 1890s, and Ross died in 1901. After this, the area saw little new development until 1940, when a second post office started up, using a name similar to the first one – Lake Errock.

The south end of the lake receives the inflow from Holachten Creek, and at the north end is the outflow into the Harrison River at Harrison Bay. The CPR line and the Lougheed Highway pass close along one side of the lake, and gravel pits have bared the slopes above the highway. Nevertheless, the lake is sequestered from commercial traffic, and the residential communities that have grown up along the waterside since the 1960s continue to enjoy the beaches and the boating of picturesque Lake Errock.