Huerquehue National Park lies to the east of the lake. During summer the outflow river may dry out but due to high levels of underground infiltration the waterfalls Ojos del Caburgua never run dry. In the Holocene the valley was blocked by lava flows from the Volcanes de Caburgua.
The earliest Caburgua inhabitants before the Spanish were the Pehuenche, a subdivision of the Mapuche, who lived in the southern Andes and moved back and forth across the mountains. Numerous descendants of these people live in Caburgua today. Local residents do not usually distinguish Mapuche subdivisions, rather, they call Mapuche all the people who still speak the native language and have Mapuche surnames. The forests where the Mapuche lived stretched from the Pacific coast to the Argentine pampas.
They were ancient and very productive. The Mapuche have various ways to consume the nuts: roasted, ground into flour, boiled, or in a fermented cider. Taking advantage of natural meadows, the Mapuche planted corn, potatoes, and other vegetables. The Mapuche did burn the trees and make dugout canoes, but without iron tools they could not make lumber.
When the Spanish conquered the forested regions, they likewise had trouble developing a lumber industry for lack of machines and transportation. In spite of Caburgua's isolation, it is part of Chile's fascinating history. In the 16th century when the Spanish first settled in Chile, they quickly founded Santiago in , Concepcion in , and Villarrica in During the latter's first decade, the Mapuche rebelled and destroyed the settlement, but the Spanish rebuilt it.
In , however, a Mapuche rebellion forced the Spanish to abandon Villarrica and many other communities. For almost three centuries these towns disappeared. Not until the construction of the railroad in Southern Chile in the s was Villarrica reestablished. Although a number of sizable estates were formed in this region, due to poor soils of volcanic sands, as well as numerous lava deposits in the Caburgua Valley, this area remained unattractive to large farms and ranches.
