Chehalis Lake is a

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much lar ...

on the Chehalis River in the Lower Mainland of southwestern

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. The lake and the river share the name with the community of

Chehalis, British Columbia Chehalis is a small forestry, agricultural and First Nations community in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia located on Highway 7 on the west bank of the Harrison River The Harrison River is a short but large tributary of the Fraser Rive ...

, which is the home of the

Sts'Ailes The Sts'ailes (also known as Chehalis) are an indigenous people from the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Their band government is the Chehalis First Nation, formerly known as the Chehalis Indian Band. The band's name communit ...

people, a

Halqemeylem Halkomelem (; in the Upriver dialect, in the Island dialect, and in the Downriver dialect) is a language of various First Nations peoples of the British Columbia Coast. It is spoken in what is now British Columbia, ranging from southeastern ...

-speaking

Coast Salish The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the C ...

group. Their name ''Sts'Ailes'' is said to mean "beating heart"; the similarly named

Chehalis, Washington Chehalis ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lewis County, Washington. The population was 7,439 at the time of the 2020 census. Incorporated in 1883, Chehalis was primarily a logging and railroad town, with a shift towards farming in the ...

and Chehalis River in that area have a different meaning in the

Chehalis language The Chehalis language is a collective expression regarding two languages, Upper Chehalis language and Lower Chehalis language. Both are members of the Tsamosan (Olympic) branch within the Coast Salish subfamily of the Salishan language family. A ...

- "sand".

References

* Lakes of the Lower Mainland Douglas Ranges New Westminster Land District {{BritishColumbiaCoast-geo-stub