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• Lac La Pluie House 1818-1903
  The Hudson's Bay Company established Lac La Pluie House on this site to compete for furs with the North West Company's Fort Lac La Pluie. After the two companies merged in 1821, only Lac La Pluie House continued in operation. It was renamed Fort Frances in 1830 after a visit by HBC Governor Sir George Simpson and Lady Frances Simpson. The post traded with local Ojibwa for furs, wild rice, and isinglass (obtained from sturgeon)...

• Jacques de Noyon 1668-1745
  The coureur de bois Jacques de Noyon was born at Trois-Rivières and raised at Boucherville, near Montreal. In 1688, he led a trading party north of Lake Superior and explored further west than any Frenchman of his time. He ascended the Kaministiquia River, crossed Dog Lake and, through several portages, reached Rainy Lake. Near Fort Frances, on Rainy River, Noyon built a post where he spent the winter. He traveled on to Lake of the...

• Quetico-Superior
  A wilderness area of unequalled scenic beauty, Quetico-Superior has long been a focal point for recreationists and conservationists. At the turn of the century, public concern about outdoor recreation and wilderness protection in the Rainy Lake watershed led to the designation in 1909 of the Superior National Forest, the Minnesota Game Reserve and the Quetico Forest Reserve. Four years later, Quetico became a provincial park. Since that time, the governments of the United States, Minnesota...

• Canadian Northern Railway, The
  Incorporated in 1899 under the leading railway promoters Sir William Mackenzie and Sir Donald Mann, the Canadian Northern undertook construction of a line from Winnipeg to Port Arthur. Avoiding Lake of the Woods, the rail line left Manitoba at Sprague, crossed a small portion of Minnesota, and re-entered Canada at Rainy River. Construction of a rail bridge at Rainy River in 1902 coincided with completion of the railway to Lake Superior. By 1906, the Canadian...

• Fort Frances Canal 1878
  Constructed 1875-1878, during Alexander Mackenzie's administration as part of a larger project intended to improve communication with the West, the Fort Frances Canal provided unbroken communication between Rainy Lake and Lake of the Woods. In conjunction with land and water stretches of the "Dawson Road" between Shebandowan and Lake of the Woods, it provided a temporary connection with completed sections of the C.P.R. The importance of the canal diminished when the C.P.R. route was altered...

• Fort Lac La Pluie
  Erected on or near this site, sometime between 1775-1787 by the North West Company, and abandoned in 1821 at the union with the Hudson's Bay Company. The establishment included "Athabaska House," the depot where, owing to the distances to be covered during the short travelling season, the traders from Montreal met those from the Athabaska country and exchanged lading with them.

• Sieur de La Vérendrye 1685-1749
  Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Vérendrye, was born at Trois Rivières and saw military service in North America and Europe before entering the fur trade. While stationed at Lake Nipigon in 1727, he heard stories of the "Western Sea" which, Indians said, lay somewhere beyond Lake of the Woods. During the next twenty years, in attempting to reach this sea, he personally explored much of what is now northwestern Ontario, southern Manitoba and...

• Steep Rock Iron Range
  As early as 1897 the presence of hematite boulders on the shores of Steep Rock Lake led geologists to suggest that beneath its waters lay a substantial iron ore body. It was not, however, until 1938 that a drill set up on the ice by Julian Cross of Port Arthur led to actual discovery of the ore. Steep Rock Iron Mines, Ltd., formed in 1939, undertook to reach the ore by diverting the Seine River and draining the lake. In 1944, Steep Rock began mining, and in 1960, the Caland Ore company also came into production. By 1964, shipments by the two companies had totaled over 36 million tons.

• Dianna Boileau, Dr. Harold Challis and Transgender Rights
  In 1970, Dianna Boileau (c. 1930s-2014) became the first Canadian to receive gender-affirming surgery. The catalyst for Dianna’s transition was Dr. Harold Challis, a British physician at La Verendrye Hospital in Dianna’s hometown of Fort Frances, with a rare and progressive understanding of gender for the time. Dr. Challis saw Dianna frequently in her youth and learned of her struggles among her peers. His counsel helped Dianna and her family with her transition to begin...

• French Portage, The
  This 3.2 km portage around rapids in the nearby French River was among the most difficult on the Kaministiquia canoe route to the west, first recorded in 1688 by Jacques de Noyon and later used extensively by French and British fur traders. After 1867, following recommendations based on S.J. Dawson's survey of 1857-59, the government improved the route for westbound settlers and for military purposes. Tugs and barges were provided on navigable waters, and horse-drawn...