Tatlayoko Lake is a lake

Lake

A lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...

 on the Homathko River

Homathko River

The Homathko River is one of the major rivers of the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia, and one of the few rivers that penetrates the range from the Chilcotin Plateau to the coastal inlets, entering the sea at the head of Bute Inlet adjacent to the mouth of the Southgate River, just to...

 in the western Chilcotin District

Chilcotin District

The Chilcotin District of British Columbia is usually known simply as "the Chilcotin", and also in speech commonly as "the Chilcotin Country" or simply Chilcotin. It is a plateau and mountain region in British Columbia on the inland lea of the Coast Mountains on the west side of the Fraser River....

 of the Central Interior of British Columbia

British Columbia Interior

The British Columbia Interior or BC Interior or Interior of British Columbia, usually referred to only as the Interior, is one of the three main regions of the Canadian province of British Columbia, the other two being the Lower Mainland, which comprises the overlapping areas of Greater Vancouver...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, located on a north-south axis just upstream of the entrance of the series of canyons of the Homathko, including the Great Canyon of the Homathko, on its route to the sea at the head of Bute Inlet

Bute Inlet

Bute Inlet is one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast. It is 80 km long from its head at the mouths of the Homathko and Southgate Rivers to the continental headlands at its mouth, where it is nearly blocked by Stuart Island, and it averages about 4 km in width...

. The community of Tatlayoko Lake, British Columbia

Tatlayoko Lake, British Columbia

Tatlayoko Lake is an unincorporated settlement and locality on the Homathko River just north of that river's entry into the lake of same name, which is located in the western Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada.-Climate:...

 is located at its northern end.

History

Tatlayoko Lake is part of the land claim of the Tsilqot'in

Tsilhqot'in

The Tsilhqot'in are a Northern Athabaskan First Nations people that live in British Columbia, Canada...

 People of Xeni (aka Xeni Gwet'in First Nation

Xeni Gwet'in First Nation

The Xeni Gwet'in First Nation is a First Nations government located in the southwestern Chilcotin District in the western Central Interior region of the Canadian province of British Columbia...

 or the Nemaia Valley Indian Band) and is called by them Talhiqox Biny ("biny"-"lake"). One of their number, Klattasine

Klattasine

Klattasine was the young chief of the Chilcotin tribe who became famous during the British Columbia gold rush....

 or Klatsassan, led a party of warriors to attack a crew building a gold-rush era route known as Waddington's Road in the Homathko's canyons, which was the opening round of the Chilcotin War

Chilcotin War

The Chilcotin War, Chilcotin Uprising or Bute Inlet Massacre was a confrontation in 1864 between members of the Tsilhqot'in people in British Columbia and white road construction workers...

 of 1864. Relief troops, including the governor of the colony's own party and escort, came to the Chilcotin via Tatlayoko Lake.

Tatlayoko Lake and the Homathko River are components in a proposed diversion project involving Chilko Lake

Chilko Lake

Chilko Lake is a 180 km² lake in west-central British Columbia, at the head of the Chilko River on the Chilcotin Plateau. The lake is about 65 km long, with a southwest arm 10 km long. It is one of the largest lakes by volume in the province because of its great depth, and the...

, across the mountains on the east side of the lake. Run-of-the-river hydroelectric licenses have been let for the Homathko downstream from the lake.

Etymology

The first comprehensive map of British Columbia was produced under the authority of Joseph Trutch

Joseph Trutch

Sir Joseph William Trutch, KCMG was an English-born Canadian engineer, surveyor and politician.-Early life and career:...

, and was published in 1871. This map gives the name as Ta tlah co Lake, which is similar to the Tsilqot'in

Tsilhqot'in

The Tsilhqot'in are a Northern Athabaskan First Nations people that live in British Columbia, Canada...

 name Telhiqox. A few years later, George Dawson

George Dawson

George Dawson may refer to:* George Dawson , American author, learned to read at age 98* George Dawson , English cricketer in the 19th century* George Dawson , English preacher of the 19th century...

 surveyed the geology of the area, and his 1878 report to the Geological Survey of Canada used the spelling Tatlayoco. Maps of British Columbia published in the 1880s and 1890s continued to use minor variations of Tatlahco Lake, while many geological publications used Dawson's spelling of Tatlayoco.

The existence of many different spellings for a geographic location was not unusual for that era, and the Geographic Board of Canada

Geographical Names Board of Canada

Geographical Names Board of Canada is a national committee of the Canadian Government Department of Natural Resources which authorizes the names used on official federal government maps of Canada since 1897. The board consists of 27 members including one from each of the provinces and territories...

was established in 1897 to standardize these spellings. Their "Rules of Nomenclature" included the following:

• The name that is published first will be preferred
• If an indigenous name is used, the spelling should approximate the true pronunciation
• The name should not include any redundant or unpronounced letters
• Any hard "c" should be replaced with a "k"

The Geographic Board of Canada was unaware that the lake was named Tatlahco, which they erroneously thought was a name for a tributary to the Bella Coola River. They were only aware of Dawson's spelling of Tatlayoco, which they adopted as the official name in 1911, after changing the hard "c" to a "k". The name therefore came to be spelled Tatlayoko, despite the fact that Tatlahco was published first, is a better approximation of the original Tsilhqot'in word, and reflects the actual pronunciation of the name (TA-tla-ko).
According to the Rules of Nomenclature, Tatlahco should have been respelled Tatlako.