Lake Waihola was used in the Central Otago goldrush. Ships used to travel up the Taieri River and across to the southern side of the lake where prospectors would traverse the hills and on to Gabriel's Gully. In the early days of settlement a paddle-steamer, the Betsy Douglas, plied the lake's waters from Owhiro, near Henley in the north to Clarendon at the lake's southern end.
