Balmer Hotel - Balmertown & Red Lake Accommodations
History of Red Lake
According to Ojibway legend, thousands of years ago two native hunters came upon a very large moose beside a lake. They believed the beast was Matchee Manitou (evil spirit) and tried to kill it. The blood of the beast coloured the water red, and the native hunters named the body of water Misque Sakigon, or Colour of Blood Lake. Over the years it became known as Red Lake.
From the mid 1870's to the early 1920's, the quest for furs and later minerals brought Europeans to the area. In 1922 there was a small silver rush in Red Lake. While panning for silver on the north side of McKenzie Island, a small amount of visible gold was found. Very few gold claims were staked at this time.
The year 1925 would be the beginning of the big gold rush to hit Red Lake later in 1926. In July of 1925 the Howey Brothers, Lorne and Raymond discovered visible gold under the roots of an overturned tree. The gold rush that followed the Howey's discovery had 5000 men rush 150 miles from the railroad in the winter, they staked 13,000 claims in the snow.
1930 would see the first producing mine in Red Lake, the Howey Mine, the first of many to come.
In 1936 Red Lake's Howey Bay was the busiest airport in the world with more planes landing and taking off than anywhere else. The Norseman bush plane has been a fixture in Red Lake ever since, the Norseman Festival in July brings the largest gathering of airworthy Norseman planes in the world.
Red Lake has had 21 mines past and present producing gold, they have produced 33 million ounces of gold over 80 years.
