Originally known to the First Nations of the Okanagan Valley as Khiluk, which was- and remains today revered as a sacred site producing therapeutic waters. During World War I the minerals of Spotted Lake were used in manufacturing ammunition. Later the area came under the control of the Ernest Smith Family, for a term of about 40 years. In 1979 Smith attempted to create interest in a spa at the lake. The First Nations responded with an effort to buy the lake; in October 2001 they finally struck a deal. First Nations arranged the purchase of 22 hectares of land for a total of $720,000, and contributed about 20% of the cost. The Indian Affairs Department paid the remainder.

A South Korean diver clad in Santa Claus costume swims with sardines at The Coex Aquarium on December 8, 2012 in Seoul, South Korea. Even though the official religion of South Korea is Buddhism, about 30 percent of it is Christian and Christmas is one of the biggest holidays to be celebrated in South Korea. (Photo by Chung Sung-Jun)

An Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga female officer bites a snake while demonstrating skills during a graduation ceremony in the Kurdish town of Soran, about 100 kilometres northeast of the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region Arbil, on February 12, 2020. (Photo by Safin Hamed/AFP Photo)

Firefighters are seen through heat from flames as they battle the Apple fire near Banning, California on August 1, 2020. 4,125 acres have burn in Cherry Valley, about 2,000 people have received evacuation orders in the afternoon of August 1. Around 8PM the fire spread to 12,000 acres. (Photo by Josh Edelson/AFP Photo)

Bo, a 55-day-old baby Echidna known as a puggle, rests in the hands of vet nurse Annabelle Sehlmeier at Taronga Zoo in Sydney November 1, 2012. The puggle was brought to the zoo after it being found by itself on a walking track north of Sydney and will be fed by hand until it is weaned at about six months of age. (Photo by Tim Wimborne/Reuters)

In this Sunday, June 17, 2018, file photo, an Indonesian resident walks past graffiti on a downtown street in Hong Kong. There are 370,000 foreign domestic helpers in the Chinese territory and about 49.4 percent from Indonesia. (Photo by Vincent Yu/AP Photo)

Siberian Husky dogs of the Royev Ruchey Park team pull a rig during a practice session for the Karadag Sled Dog Rally on the frozen Mana River, with the air temperature at about minus 21 degrees Celsius (minus 5.8 degrees Fahrenheit), in the Siberian Taiga area outside Krasnoyarsk, Russia February 6, 2018. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)

Horses are spooked as the Woolsey Fire moves through the property on Cornell Road near Paramount Ranch on November 9, 2018 inAgoura Hills, California. About 75,000 homes have been evacuated in Los Angeles and Ventura counties due to two fires in the region. (Photo by Matthew Simmons/Getty Images)