The province's place-name record for Diver Lake offers an origin story in one line: "This lake evidently formed by collapse of a coal mine here." A second note, in square brackets, adds that "diver" was early miners' slang for a pickpocket. Neither note says who wrote it, which mine, or when.
Diver Lake lies on Nanaimo's north side, southeast of Brannen Lake, in what the provincial records still call the Wellington Land District. Today it is a city park with a playground, a BMX track and a float for anglers. The questions about how it got there and what it was called have never been tidied up, and they make the lake more interesting than its size suggests.
A name on an 1859 map
BC Geographical Names, the provincial register, adopted the name Diver Lake on 4 October 1945, taking it from Geological Survey sheet 997A of the Nanaimo and New Westminster mining divisions, printed in 1908. The same record lists two other spellings. A British War Department map of 1859 labelled it "Divers Lake." A Davenport map of the Nanaimo to Alberni section in 1950 called it "Dive Lake."
The 1859 label complicates the mine-collapse note. Robert Dunsmuir, according to his biography in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, discovered the Wellington seam in 1869, five miles northwest of Nanaimo harbour, after years of secret surveys. If a lake was already on a military map ten years earlier, it was there before the Wellington mines that later surrounded it, unless the 1859 map showed an older or smaller water body, or the collapse involved an earlier working. The card does not say, and no source consulted for this article resolves it. Read the record yourself and the gap is plain: the origin note and the map label sit a few lines apart and are never reconciled.
The pickpocket note is equally hard to pin down. It reads as a marginal aside rather than an explanation, and nothing in the record connects the slang to the lake.
Wellington coal country
What is certain is the neighbourhood the lake sits in. Dunsmuir's Wellington claim became, in his biographer's words, the thickest and most extensive of the coal measures found until then in the Nanaimo basin. He needed a three-mile transport link from the pit-head to the wharves, which after 1870 meant a steam railway. The output climbed quickly. His biography gives 29,818 tons of coal in 1874, of which only 2,384 tons went unsold, and by 1878 Dunsmuir's 88,361 tons had overtaken the 82,135 raised by the older Vancouver Coal Mining and Land Company. By 1879 he described his works as having "4 ¾ miles of railway; 4 locomotives; over 400 waggons." By 1881 he was employing 547 men, more than half of them Chinese, and eventually five mines were in production on the Wellington deposit.
The biography also records the cost. Like other colliery owners of the period, the Dunsmuirs resisted many of the safety improvements demanded by provincial mine inspectors, which perpetuated the hazardous conditions behind accidents including the 1876 disaster at Wellington. The wealth from these mines made Dunsmuir the man Ottawa turned to for the island railway that grew out of the Pacific Scandal and the long fight over British Columbia's railway promise; his Wellington pits, found in 1869, were the next chapter of Nanaimo coal after the harbour seam.
How Diver Lake Park works
The city's description of the park is brief and practical. Diver Lake Park offers walking trails, wildlife viewing, a playground, a fitness circuit and a BMX track, and there is an accessible fishing float. Gas-powered boats are not permitted, but paddling and small electric motors are. The address is 2430 Black Franks Drive, and the city rates the park partially wheelchair accessible.
Dogs have a defined place here. As of May 2023 the large field next to the parking lot became an official off-leash area year round, while the rest of the park still requires a leash; the city's other off-leash parks in Nanaimo follow similar rules. The gate opens at 6 a.m. every day and closes at 11 p.m. from April through October and at 7 p.m. from November through March, and the city adds that the hours are subject to change.
Fishing is the park's most organised activity. The city's Fall Family Fishing Challenge, run from October 19 to 26 in 2026, asked families to visit one of six inner-city lakes and photograph their catch next to a business card for scale. Diver Lake was on the list with Westwood Lake, Long Lake, Green Lake, Brannen Lake and Colliery Dam. The same page reminds anglers that anyone over 16 needs a current licence to sport fish in non-tidal waters. If you are bringing teenagers to the float, check that rule before you go.
Lost Lake, the small one nearby
Two other lakes, one close by and one further up the island, round out the picture.
Lost Lake is the small one, a short distance north-east of Diver Lake. BC Geographical Names places it at the head of North Cottle Creek in the Wellington Land District, and its origin notes have not yet been transferred from paper records to the website, so the register is silent on how it got its name. The City of Nanaimo runs it as Lost Lake Trail, a park at 4877 Lost Lake Road with a 1 km trail that loops the lake over gravel, boardwalks and some stairs, set among mature trees. The creek shares its name with Cottle Lake, which the city's park list files under Linley Valley, the area at the centre of the long argument over Linley Valley West.
Horne Lake and its caves, further up the island
Horne Lake is the far one, an expansion of the Qualicum River west of Qualicum Beach. The provincial register says it was named after Adam Horne, the Hudson's Bay Company storekeeper at Nanaimo who "discovered" the lake in 1856, and it quotes the Akriggs' place-name book describing Horne as "a man of tremendous personal courage" who was "perhaps the first white man to cross the waist of Vancouver Island." The name was adopted in 1945 from a British Admiralty chart of 1867.
Today the lake has two parks side by side. The Regional District of Nanaimo's Horne Lake Regional Park is a 105-hectare park and campground below the cliffs of Mount Mark, with canoe and paddleboard rentals and a $6 boat launch fee; pets must be leashed and smoking is banned, campsites included. Next door, BC Parks' Horne Lake Caves Park was established in 1971 at the request of caving groups worried about damage to the caves and their crystal formations. BC Parks puts it 60 km north of Nanaimo and 26 km west of Qualicum, 12 km in from the Horne Lake exit off Highway 19 or 19A, and describes Vancouver Island as home to more than 1,000 caves.
Above ground, a short trail runs from the visitor centre across a suspension bridge over the Big Qualicum River and uphill to the cave systems, and the Phil Whitfield Interpretive Trail makes a 950 m loop past limestone karst, disappearing streams and fossils. Neither the trails nor the caves are wheelchair accessible. In the fall, the park page says, eagles can be seen feeding on trout at the campground area next to the park. Cave tours run on the hour from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in summer, and BC Parks advises warm clothing even then, because the air underground stays cool and damp.
The BC Parks page is not fully consistent with itself. One section says the park has two small caves visitors can explore on their own, while another states that the caves are only accessible by guided tour. Anyone planning a visit should confirm with the park operator before going in without a guide.
What the city measures at Diver Lake, and what it does not
The rules around the shoreline are set in planning law rather than park signs. The city's watercourse protection page says that since 1997 land use beside watercourses has been regulated through development permit areas and the zoning bylaw. Lakes, wetlands and marine foreshore all carry a 15-metre setback, measured from the wetland boundary for lakes and ponds. Streams are graded differently: rivers with significant riparian areas get 30 metres, most streams and creeks 15 metres, and minor isolated streams 7.5 metres, measured from the top of the bank. The city frames the purpose as habitat protection, flood prevention and erosion control. No new structures, driveways, parking lots or fences can generally be built inside it without a development permit, and a permit has to maintain what the city calls a "no net loss" of habitat.
Water quality is less clear. Each summer the city samples popular swimming beaches and publishes weekly reports, and a sample with high E. coli in fresh water can close a beach. The August 28, 2026 report covered Brannen Lake, Long Lake East and West, Lower Colliery Dam, Westwood Lake North and South, and the beaches at Departure Bay and Maffeo Sutton Park. Diver Lake was not on it, and swimming does not appear in the city's description of Diver Lake Park.
For a lake with a fishing float, a bylaw setback and a name on a map from 1859, the public record is thin in one obvious place: none of the city or provincial sources consulted gives its depth or its area.
More lakes, marshes and shorelines are gathered in Land and Sea.
Questions
Where is Diver Lake in Nanaimo?
BC Geographical Names places it southeast of Brannen Lake, in the Wellington Land District on Nanaimo's north side. The city's park on its shore is at 2430 Black Franks Drive.
Can you swim in Diver Lake?
The city's park page does not list swimming among the park's activities, and Diver Lake was not among the freshwater beaches in the city's weekly water-quality reports for summer 2026. Without that testing there is no public bacteria data for the lake, so check with the city before planning a swim.
Can you fish at Diver Lake?
Yes. The park has an accessible fishing float, and the city included Diver Lake in its Fall Family Fishing Challenge for October 2026. Anyone over 16 needs a current freshwater fishing licence.
Are boats allowed on Diver Lake?
Gas-powered boats are not permitted, according to the City of Nanaimo. Paddling and small electric motors are allowed.
Is Diver Lake Park off-leash for dogs?
Partly. Since May 2023 the large field next to the parking lot has been an official off-leash area year round, and dogs must stay on a leash everywhere else in the park.
What are the gate hours at Diver Lake Park?
The city says the gate opens at 6 a.m. all year. It closes at 11 p.m. from April 1 to October 31 and at 7 p.m. from November 1 to March 31, with hours subject to change.
Why is it called Diver Lake?
The provincial place-name record does not settle it. It notes the lake was labelled Divers Lake on a British War Department map of 1859, says the lake evidently formed by the collapse of a coal mine, and adds that diver was early miners' slang for a pickpocket.
Was Diver Lake really made by a mine collapse?
That is what a note on the province's place-name card says, but it gives no date, mine or source. The 1859 map label comes ten years before Robert Dunsmuir found the Wellington seam in 1869, so the explanation is best treated as unconfirmed.
Where is Lost Lake in Nanaimo?
BC Geographical Names puts Lost Lake at the head of North Cottle Creek, north-east of Diver Lake. The city's Lost Lake Trail park at 4877 Lost Lake Road has a 1 km loop around the lake with gravel, boardwalks and some stairs.
Who was Horne Lake named after?
It was named after Adam Horne, a Hudson's Bay Company storekeeper at Nanaimo who reached the lake in 1856, according to BC Geographical Names. The lake lies west of Qualicum Beach on the Qualicum River.
How far is Horne Lake from Nanaimo?
BC Parks gives the distance to Horne Lake Caves Park as 60 km north of Nanaimo and 26 km west of Qualicum, reached from the Horne Lake exit off Highway 19 or 19A. The regional park and campground sit next to it.
Sources
- Diver Lake, BC Geographical Names, Government of British Columbia
- Diver Lake Park, City of Nanaimo
- Fall Family Fishing Challenge, City of Nanaimo, 2026
- Beach Reports, City of Nanaimo, 2026-08-28
- Watercourse Protection, City of Nanaimo
- DUNSMUIR, ROBERT, Daniel T. Gallacher, Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 11
- Lost Lake, BC Geographical Names, Government of British Columbia
- Lost Lake Trail, City of Nanaimo
- Nanaimo Park List, City of Nanaimo
- Horne Lake, BC Geographical Names, Government of British Columbia
- Horne Lake Regional Park, Regional District of Nanaimo
- Horne Lake Caves Park, BC Parks
