People uprooted from Sproat Lake (2)

Sproat Lake, located on the traditional territories of the Hupač̓asatḥ People in the Alberni Valley, was known by itʼs Indigenous name, Kleecoot. In the 1850s and 1860s, the settlement was established by non-Indigenous settlers, and it was named Sproat Lake. In 1861 the lake’s first sawmill opened. Sproat Lake developed into a logging hub where many Japanese Canadians worked. Mills in the area included Alberni-Pacific, Bainbridge, Great Central, McLean, and the Sproat Lake Lumber Company. By 1910, much of the land around the lake had been bought by settlers for summer cottages.