Adopted 3 November 1932 on 82L/NW, as labelled on BC map 1EM, 1915.

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

So-named because of a distinctive rock pillar on the west side of the lake. "...an 80-foot pillar of conglomerate capped with a large flat stone..." (Canadian Alpine Journal, 1963, p.44)

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

"Like a giant bony finger pointing skyward, balancing a precariously perched eight-tonne boulder on its tip, BC's 30-metre high Falkland hoodoo at Pillar Lake is an inexplicable phenomenon of mythical proportions. Legend has it that the Indian maiden To-no-ana loved to canoe on the lake until the water spirit Ton-ug-nik-nik persuaded her to join him beneath the waves. Her parents were heartbroken. Seeing their pain, Ton-ug-nik-nik built a giant pillar with a massive boulder on top, then told To-no-ana's parents to weep no more because their daughter was happy; he promised that if he ever caused her grief, the enormous rock would fall and he would return their beloved child. To-no-ana must be very happy [because] the gravity-defying boulder has never moved." (Silent Sentinel by Jan White, Westworld magazine, September 2001; including photograph)

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