About Lake Louise

Lake Louise is named after the Princess Louise Caroline Alberta (1848-1939), the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria, and the wife of the Marquess of Lorne, who was the Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883. The unique emerald colour of the water comes from rock flour carried into the lake by melt-water from the glaciers that overlook the lake (Lefroy glacier). The lake has a surface of 0.8 km² (0.3 sq mi), and is drained through the 3 km long Louise Creek into the Bow River. The eastern shore of the lake is dominated by Chateau Lake Louise, one of Canada's grand railway hotels, a luxury resort hotel built in the early decades of the 20th century by the Canadian Pacific Railway. Moraine Lake and Lake Agnes are also accessible from Lake Louise