Burns Lake, BC, Village, pop 2107 (2006c), 1947 (2001cA), inc 1923. Burns Lake is located on Highway 16 in the geographical centre of British Columbia on the Nechako Plateau, 226 km west of PRINCE GEORGE in central BC. Tourism is the village's main industry but it also serves as the local trading and service centre for agriculture and forest industries in the region known locally as the Lakes District. The area was first settled late in the 19th century during construction of the Overland Telegraph line to Alaska and Siberia. The village is named after Michael Byrnes, a surveyor for the Collins Telegraph Co who passed through in 1866.

There was little development until after construction of the GRAND TRUNK PACIFIC RAILWAY, now the Canadian National Railway, between JASPER and PRINCE RUPERT in 1914. Four major mines, producing molybdenum, copper, gold and silver, were opened in the region in the 1960s and 2 large sawmills were built nearby in the 1970s. In 1993 a lumber manufacturing plant was built. Cattle ranching is also important in the district. Two First Nations bands have reserves that form part of Burns Lake.