The lochan was created by David Alexander Smith, a native of Forres, who became Lord Strathcona. He emigrated to Canada as a young man and prospered to the extent that he become High Commissioner for Canada in London in his seventies. He bought the Glencoe estate in 1895 and built Glencoe House. The lochan was created for his wife Isabela who was born in Canada and had native American grandparents.