"Columbia Lake (not Upper Columbia Lake)" adopted 7 January 1913 (Ottawa file OBF 0024) and published in the 12th Report of the Geographic Board of Canada, 30 June 1913.

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office

Labelled "Upper Columbia (Otter) Lake" on G.M. Dawson's 1886 Reconnaisance Map of the Rocky Mountains, published by Geological Survey of Canada. The Shuswap [Secwepemc] name means Otter Lake.

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office

"Discovery of the source of the Columbia River is usually credited to David Thompson, who was satisfied to say that the river rose in [this lake]. Certainly he was captivated for he tell us: "I could never pass this singular place without admiring its situation and romantic bold scenery...other rivers have their sources so ramified in rills and brooks that it is not easy to determine the parent stream, this is not the case with the Columbia River; near the foot of a steep secondary mountain, surrounded by a fine grassy plain, lies its' source, in a fine lake of about eleven square miles of area, from which issues its' wild rapid stream, yet navigable to the sea, its' descent is great." (Thompson's Narrative, 1784-1812, Champlain Society, p.458) See Thorington's further argument that Dutch Creek is the source of Columbia River, not Columbia Lake.

Source: Thorington, J.M; The Purcell Range of British Columbia, American Alpine Club, NYC, 1946, p.71-