The History of Minaki, Ontario, Canada

Native Indian people have lived on the Winnipeg River in the Minaki area for at least 700 years. Archaeological evidence includes various potshards and arrow heads that indicate a very long and extended period of settlement. The Winnipeg River was a major canoe route for the early explorers and fur traders and many trading relationships between the area's aboriginal peoples were established with the Hudson Bay Company in the 18th and into the 19th centuries. In the 1800s the HBC built a trading post a just a few kilometres north of where the village is today. With this began the process of European settlement in the area.

The modern community of Minaki emerged around 1910 when the National Transcontinental Railway built a bridge across the river. The area which also included a hotel was then known as the Winnipeg River Crossing. The fast growing city of Winnipeg was about three hours travel to the west by train, and in no time there was a land boom in vacation properties on the small lakes along the railway. This was also the beginnings of the region's present day status as a tourist mecca.

The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, which operated the line for the National Transcontinental, built a rustic resort hotel that it called the Minaki Lodge and renamed the railway station Minaki (pronounced Mi-na'-kee), an Ojibwa word that has been translated as noth Beautiful Water or Good Land. This beautiful lodge burned to the ground in the fall of 2003. The official cause of the fire was listed as undetermined.

Today the community that is surrounded by water and many islands is home to about 130 year round residents and many more seasonal residents. The hamlet of Minaki is the gateway to lakes and rivers of the of the Winnipeg River system, including Gun, Sand, Pistol and Roughrock lakes.