we fished there in 1963, flew from MN to Kenora and floatplaned it to Ball Lake. We were greeted on a red carpet and driven in a golf car to entrance of lodge. we couldn’t stop getting fish, amazing memories.
When I was about 8 or 9 years old I spent a week at Barneys with My Father around 1967 or so. It is one of the great memories of my life and was a very special bonding experience for a young boy and his Father. I still have a photo or two somewhere of a bunch of fish we had laid out on a dock after a morning's fish. We fished all week. We stayed in one of those cabins now abandoned in your video. I remember very clearly that bright yellow float plane in the old photo in your video and recall Barney exactly as he looked in that photo. They had quite a lot of planes. Very sad to see the complex in such a dilapadated and abandoned state. It underscores the eternal truth that time waits for no man. We flew in by float plane from somewhere. I think it was International Falls, MN. We would go out very early morning fishing with a local first nation's tribe member who served as expert guides. That alone was amazing for an 8 or 9 year old kid...getting to know these fascinating characters. I was from south Georgia and had never met a First Nations member in my life. They were kind and quiet and other worldly. I really liked and had a deep respect for those guys. I can still picture one man in particular in my mind. He was so nice to me. I wondered what secret knowledge he may have had about the area and life in general. My young mind was kind of awestruck by there uniqueness. We'd get up very early in the morning walk over to the main lodge and have a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs and sausage. It was the first time I had seen Canadian bacon! Then we would go out to the front dock where the planes were tied up in the water and there would be our guide waiting for us. We would all load up in one of the float planes and off we'd go. Just taking off in a plane from the water and flying over the beautifully wooded forests to other lakes was as good as a ride at Disneyland for an 8 year old. We would fly from lake to lake and catch Walleye, Pike and Muskie. I remember fishing one late morning out on the dock in front of the main lodge and catching huge Northern Pike every time I'd put my line in the water. It wasn't really even necessary to go out on the special expeditions by plane to other lakes. The fish were so plentiful right from the shore in front of the main facility where all the float planes were. That alone was really good enough. After a morning's fish we'd come back to the main lodge-house for lunch. They would have a huge buffet spread laid out with all kinds of cold cuts and exotic food. And they had this great pool table in the main lodge-house. My Father and I would play pool in the afternoon or evening. He was an excellent pool player and he taught me how to play on that table. So many wonderful memories. I have a memory of the big fireplace and even a vaugue memory of that big map of Canada in your video. Very sad to hear that it was ruined by irresponsible waste disposal practices. Funny though, I loved fishing so much but for some reason I never liked the taste of fish. My father could not get me to even take a small bite. So when we went out every morning and caught fish and then cooked them up on a campfire and everyone else was eating the fish we caught I would eat a boiled hotdog or some other sandwich they would bring for me. As it turns out that was a good thing considering the levels of Mercury that may have been in the fish. I"m not sure when they started dumping the mercury. Was it as early as 67? Hope not. I would hate to think my Father may have ingested even a tiny bit. Well he ended up living to December of 1996 and was otherwise healthy during the intervening period. So no harm I suppose. But I miss him and will never forget this wonderful trip and adventure he arranged and took me on to Barney's Ball Lake Lodge. Just amazing! Thanks so much for posting this video. It really took me back even though it's a bit melancholy to hear and see what happened and thanks to your video witness it in this lonely sad condition. A man's life work ruined. But I'm impressed with the integrity of Barney that unlike other lodge owners he shut the place down rather than consciously expose innocent people to a deadly poison. That's impressive. That era is long gone and time incessantly marches on. Thanks for the memories!
Guess I wanted to add, it hasn't been sitting abandoned as long as you thought. Definitely not 40-50 years. The old staff quarters, yes, but the lodge on the far right and cabins in the middle, no. It was sad to see it was being ignored completely after our group made several annual trips per year for many years. Men took spring and fall trips, wives joined in July. Thanks for posting.
Very interesting but very sad. As a teenager back in the early 1960's, I worked as a guide at this beautiful lodge for $8/day. I am now in my early 70's. Can't tell for sure but I think the building you were standing in at the beginning of the video was either the women's staff residence or Barney's personal summer residence where he lived with his wife Marion and daughters. The two buildings were located side by side so can't tell from the video. Many of the guides lived in the small one room cabins to the rear of that building, although a number of the aboriginal guides lived on their own or with their families in small cabins just down the shoreline. There was a staff recreation hall with jukebox as well as a central washroom/shower building in this "staff" area. The main lodge which you refer to as the "dance hall"( never heard it called this) housed the dining room, bar and recreation area( billiards tables, etc) for the guests. It was a beautiful log building with a large fireplace, hand crafted log furniture & many wildlife /fish mounts. Was pretty much off-limits to the guides. Attached to the main lodge building was a small dining room where staff met at two long tables at 6:00 a.m. for breakfast and at 6:00 p.m. for supper. There were many other buildings on the property including a church complete with stained glass windows, large office/warehouse, fish cleaning/freezer building, small retail store, generator building, etc., etc. The grounds and buildings were maintained in meticulous condition. I last canoed to the lodge back in the late 1970's, at which time there was still a caretaker looking after the place, but it was starting to look rundown. Saddened to see the lodge in it's present condition as it holds many special memories for me as I am sure it does for Barney's daughters who all reside in the USA. Barney was an amazing person and a wonderful story teller who cared for his guests and for all the people who worked for him.
I as an 6 or7 year old Flew in Barney's on Grummen Goose,Norseman and even a PBY Catalina that Mr.Lamm had in his fly in fleet of seaplanes it was a great place and I became friends with his daughter..She had a horse and a big turtle with a chain attached through a small hole drilled in the shell she was keeping as a pet .I also remember there was a mechanical slot Machine in the hall that took Canadian Nickles that my dad would let me play. The shore lunches where FANTASTIC made by the local native guides...They would fry bacon first to render the grease in an iron pan , open a big can of baked beans they would set in a fire to heat...Filet the walleye you caught and coat it with a mixture of eggs,condensed milk and then coated with crushed corn flakes...Unbelievable Good Somewhere I have Movie film my Father took of once when we where there I really loved that place!
My father is in the hospital currently and I went searching for Ball Lake Lodge so he could reminisce and I found your video. He absolutely loved seeing it again. He went there in 1960 and 1962. Barney Lamm also owned Caribou Falls Lodge and 2 other places on Gods Lake in Manitoba. My dad has filled my childhood with stories of Ball Lake Lodge and it was wonderful seeing this place come to life. Thank you for this video
My name is Davidschwarz, my grandparents, Charlotte peters and Wille\William peters would come to Barney’s all through the 60s. She was a St. Louis television personality. And would absolutely love it. My father and brother-in-law has been to Barney’s in the early 2000s. And I just recently went back in 07 with a small group of guys and really had a great time. Fishing was pretty good. The guides were quite remarkable. We actually stayed in the servants cabins that were and probably still are decent shape. And then we ate and the servants that’s closer to their cabins. Thank you for sharing this. I will pass it along.
Love your videos of the resort. Was in a nice area in 94. Drove all the way from park Rapids Minnesota to 70 miles into Canada. Stayed a weekend. Nice friendly people. Miss it.
I did some canoeing on the English River back in 1976...started at Ear Falls Ontario, Ball Lake, Umfreville Lake, Grassy Narrows, Tetu Lake, ...all the way to Selkirk, Manitoba.
I was at Ball Lake Lodge in 80's and 90's. What a wonderful place to fish. The story as I know it was after mercury in the water decreased, the resort was given to the local Indian government with a million dollars. It was thought it would provide jobs and income. Back when I was there staff and guides were all native, and where wonderful people. Problem was none of the money ever went back into maintaining the property. If I ever win a 100 million dollars...I'd would have loved to buy the property. So many great memories.
Was there in the 60’s. There were scientists there checking the Mercury poison levels. Great fishing. The lodge served breakfast, for lunch you ate the fish you caught that morning. Fresh Walleye fried over open fire. The Indian guides were the best. Fishing all afternoon, back to camp and Dinner in the lodge. Having it be light almost all night made this a trip I’ll never forget.
That was a big camp! Some of those buildings are salvageable. Amazing they just walked away from it. Too bad they didn't keep it for even just a catch and release fishing lodge but I guess that doesn't fit the times back then. Sad knowing that people probably had the best times of their lives there and made some of their best memories. To let it get like that is a shame. Hopefully people respect the stuff left behind and leave it be. Theres a lodge near the lodge I work at that had the main lodge burn down and they walked away from it like that one and there is nothing left at the place everyone has stolen everything that wasn't bolted down and even things that were!
My dad used to go there in the late 1950's and early 60's with Harold Ensley "the sportsman's friend" who had a local hunting and fishing show originally on KCMO TV in Kansas City, Missouri.
Ron Cymbalisty! My father Ches Scott and Barney were good friends and he lived the agony of the mercury fiasco as his friend. Watching this video was like watching the movie Titanic, only worse, the above water version. Knowing the history and the family did that to me. It certainly drives home the point that all things are transitory. Barney was a force of nature and it is not a mere expression to say that 'they don't make 'em like that anymore'.
Barney Lamm closed his resort as soon as he found out about the mercury poisoning in 1970 and he fought Dow Chemical and the Canadian government for many years on behalf of his business and Grassy Narrows Reserve. After winning the settlement Barney gave it all to the Grassy Narrows Reserve and sold the camp to them for one million. Much less than it was worth. I worked there from 1965 through 1969.
I used to come here with my dad in the 60s. It was the premier fishing camp in Canada. John Wayne, the hunt brothers, politians and media stars from the Midwest, high profile labor leaders, etc would frequent Barney’s lodge. There was room for 75 guest daily, Barney put kanora on the map with dozens of flights per day. Barney employed employees from the local tribe and raised their standard of living. Here’s what really happen, see link attached, the net is the Dryden paper and pulp dump thousand of gallons of mercury daily into the English river for 10 yrs. the government told Barney to not let guest for 3 months, Barney hired experts from japan and the finding were mercury levels were 100 times higher and will be in the lake for hundreds of yrs. Barney closed the lodge immediately and took government and paper plant to court. The net today, the mercury has decimated the local tribe who have been eating the fish.
Such an amazing place. I wish it was still around. I was born in 1988 so the resort was already closed by the time I was born. Sad to see a place like this go to waste.
That main lodge is gone now. As well, all the buildings north of the sandy beach (towards the powerhouses) are all demolished and heaped in a pile. There is obviously some cleanup project going on.
O If ( that map is pre 1965)you look at the border between Ontario and Quebec, they asked Ontario back in about 1965,to give them,Quebec, a 100 mile wide strip off of Ontario's land, because the French fur trappers supposedly complained they had to go into Ontario to use the French river,to access their trap lines further up in Quebec! So the Aurora,Ontario museum had an original copy of Ontario 's original boundaries! When I visited when I was 30,back in 86!
I stayed at this resort in the late 90s through the early 2000s when the Grassy Narrows tribe was loosely operating it. Shadow of its former self but proved shelter and close proximity to some great fishing! The mercury that still exists is minimal but eating fish every day would eventually get ya.
A few weeks ago in the beginning of June 2021, a group of outsiders on atv or what ever you call them, went to the resort and trashed it up, before that happened there was people from the rez that went there to repair some of the cabins, turn it into a summer getaway, try to use what was left of it, but now those idiots trashed them up
Stayed there back in the 90s or early 20s after the Indians took it over, great fishing . We came in by our own boats. The big problem was ever year in the winter the Indians would burn a cabin down, instead of going out and finding firewood.
I found this 1975 article that describes what happened to the Lamms including all the threats they received from other business owners who wanted them to keep quiet about the mercury contamination. people.com/archive/in-canada-a-family-wages-a-lonely-war-against-a-threatened-new-minamata-vol-4-no-7/
You are naive to think anything posted on the web cannot easily be found. A Fluke if you will.......speaking of which, the tourist mindset is drive right down to the water; after all, they have driven so far.....they are entitled to tear and rut things up to experience me and mine. ? What do you benefit by selling out supposed lovely/sacred fishing spots as mere show n tell? Best lake for whatever experience in your opinion and then show the entire world of it's very soul?
@@wilderfish they used mercury oxide (red powder in that form) to keep the logs from rotting. there was heavy logging in missanabie ont. where they also used it. the fish and bottom sentiment samples as of 2015 no longer shows any traces of mercury. this was done by the M.N.R. and biologist. so, it does dissipate with time.
Well it's never completely gone, but the levels might are probably below hazardous levels now if you limit the size and number of fish you eat. People do fish the area and keep the fish.
Here’s the link to the true story of Barney lodge and mercury poisoning I mention below , people.com/archive/in-canada-a-family-wages-a-lonely-war-against-a-threatened-new-minamata-vol-4-no-7/
It certainly was abandoned when we were there. I am glad to hear they are doing something with it. But if there are more trespassers I think it's because the road someone cut in there made it accessible. Thanks for the update!
Your music is too loud compared to you voice audio. When you are talking I had to turn the audio up alot, and, when the music started to play, I had to turn the audio down alot. You need to work on that. Presentation was good though.
we fished there in 1963, flew from MN to Kenora and floatplaned it to Ball Lake. We were greeted on a red carpet and driven in a golf car to entrance of lodge. we couldn’t stop getting fish, amazing memories.
I was with Robert on this trip in 1963. My Dad flew us on his Bonanza from Crookston, MN to Kenora, ON. We had a blast.
Oh my goodness. Thank you for posting this! I am Barney's youngest grandchild & never got to see what the resort looked like.
That's awesome!
When I was about 8 or 9 years old I spent a week at Barneys with My Father around 1967 or so. It is one of the great memories of my life and was a very special bonding experience for a young boy and his Father. I still have a photo or two somewhere of a bunch of fish we had laid out on a dock after a morning's fish. We fished all week. We stayed in one of those cabins now abandoned in your video.
I remember very clearly that bright yellow float plane in the old photo in your video and recall Barney exactly as he looked in that photo. They had quite a lot of planes.
Very sad to see the complex in such a dilapadated and abandoned state. It underscores the eternal truth that time waits for no man.
We flew in by float plane from somewhere. I think it was International Falls, MN. We would go out very early morning fishing with a local first nation's tribe member who served as expert guides. That alone was amazing for an 8 or 9 year old kid...getting to know these fascinating characters. I was from south Georgia and had never met a First Nations member in my life. They were kind and quiet and other worldly. I really liked and had a deep respect for those guys. I can still picture one man in particular in my mind. He was so nice to me. I wondered what secret knowledge he may have had about the area and life in general. My young mind was kind of awestruck by there uniqueness.
We'd get up very early in the morning walk over to the main lodge and have a hearty breakfast of bacon and eggs and sausage. It was the first time I had seen Canadian bacon! Then we would go out to the front dock where the planes were tied up in the water and there would be our guide waiting for us. We would all load up in one of the float planes and off we'd go. Just taking off in a plane from the water and flying over the beautifully wooded forests to other lakes was as good as a ride at Disneyland for an 8 year old. We would fly from lake to lake and catch Walleye, Pike and Muskie.
I remember fishing one late morning out on the dock in front of the main lodge and catching huge Northern Pike every time I'd put my line in the water. It wasn't really even necessary to go out on the special expeditions by plane to other lakes. The fish were so plentiful right from the shore in front of the main facility where all the float planes were. That alone was really good enough.
After a morning's fish we'd come back to the main lodge-house for lunch. They would have a huge buffet spread laid out with all kinds of cold cuts and exotic food. And they had this great pool table in the main lodge-house. My Father and I would play pool in the afternoon or evening. He was an excellent pool player and he taught me how to play on that table.
So many wonderful memories. I have a memory of the big fireplace and even a vaugue memory of that big map of Canada in your video.
Very sad to hear that it was ruined by irresponsible waste disposal practices. Funny though, I loved fishing so much but for some reason I never liked the taste of fish. My father could not get me to even take a small bite. So when we went out every morning and caught fish and then cooked them up on a campfire and everyone else was eating the fish we caught I would eat a boiled hotdog or some other sandwich they would bring for me. As it turns out that was a good thing considering the levels of Mercury that may have been in the fish. I"m not sure when they started dumping the mercury. Was it as early as 67? Hope not. I would hate to think my Father may have ingested even a tiny bit. Well he ended up living to December of 1996 and was otherwise healthy during the intervening period. So no harm I suppose. But I miss him and will never forget this wonderful trip and adventure he arranged and took me on to Barney's Ball Lake Lodge. Just amazing!
Thanks so much for posting this video. It really took me back even though it's a bit melancholy to hear and see what happened and thanks to your video witness it in this lonely sad condition.
A man's life work ruined. But I'm impressed with the integrity of Barney that unlike other lodge owners he shut the place down rather than consciously expose innocent people to a deadly poison. That's impressive.
That era is long gone and time incessantly marches on. Thanks for the memories!
Thank you so much for sharing that. Means a lot to me to hear a first hand experience like yours!
Thanks for your story! Must have been totally awesome times!! Never been on a fly in.
Guess I wanted to add, it hasn't been sitting abandoned as long as you thought. Definitely not 40-50 years. The old staff quarters, yes, but the lodge on the far right and cabins in the middle, no. It was sad to see it was being ignored completely after our group made several annual trips per year for many years. Men took spring and fall trips, wives joined in July. Thanks for posting.
Very interesting but very sad. As a teenager back in the early 1960's, I worked as a guide at this beautiful lodge for $8/day. I am now in my early 70's. Can't tell for sure but I think the building you were standing in at the beginning of the video was either the women's staff residence or Barney's personal summer residence where he lived with his wife Marion and daughters. The two buildings were located side by side so can't tell from the video. Many of the guides lived in the small one room cabins to the rear of that building, although a number of the aboriginal guides lived on their own or with their families in small cabins just down the shoreline. There was a staff recreation hall with jukebox as well as a central washroom/shower building in this "staff" area.
The main lodge which you refer to as the "dance hall"( never heard it called this) housed the dining room, bar and recreation area( billiards tables, etc) for the guests. It was a beautiful log building with a large fireplace, hand crafted log furniture & many wildlife /fish mounts. Was pretty much off-limits to the guides. Attached to the main lodge building was a small dining room where staff met at two long tables at 6:00 a.m. for breakfast and at 6:00 p.m. for supper. There were many other buildings on the property including a church complete with stained glass windows, large office/warehouse, fish cleaning/freezer building, small retail store, generator building, etc., etc. The grounds and buildings were maintained in meticulous condition.
I last canoed to the lodge back in the late 1970's, at which time there was still a caretaker looking after the place, but it was starting to look rundown. Saddened to see the lodge in it's present condition as it holds many special memories for me as I am sure it does for Barney's daughters who all reside in the USA. Barney was an amazing person and a wonderful story teller who cared for his guests and for all the people who worked for him.
Thank you so much for sharing this, very informational.
I as an 6 or7 year old Flew in Barney's on Grummen Goose,Norseman and even a PBY Catalina that Mr.Lamm had in his fly in fleet of seaplanes it was a great place and I became friends with his daughter..She had a horse and a big turtle with a chain attached through a small hole drilled in the shell she was keeping as a pet .I also remember there was a mechanical slot Machine in the hall that took Canadian Nickles that my dad would let me play. The shore lunches where FANTASTIC made by the local native guides...They would fry bacon first to render the grease in an iron pan , open a big can of baked beans they would set in a fire to heat...Filet the walleye you caught and coat it with a mixture of eggs,condensed milk and then coated with crushed corn flakes...Unbelievable Good Somewhere I have Movie film my Father took of once when we where there I really loved that place!
Sounds like some great memories, thanks for sharing this!
Please share the video link here if you can find it. I love the English River and fish there every year.
Great video. I flew for Barney for Ontario Ventral Airlines (DC3) in 1979 out of Gimli Manitoba. He was honest and a true gentleman.
My father is in the hospital currently and I went searching for Ball Lake Lodge so he could reminisce and I found your video. He absolutely loved seeing it again. He went there in 1960 and 1962. Barney Lamm also owned Caribou Falls Lodge and 2 other places on Gods Lake in Manitoba. My dad has filled my childhood with stories of Ball Lake Lodge and it was wonderful seeing this place come to life. Thank you for this video
My name is Davidschwarz, my grandparents, Charlotte peters and Wille\William peters would come to Barney’s all through the 60s. She was a St. Louis television personality. And would absolutely love it.
My father and brother-in-law has been to Barney’s in the early 2000s. And I just recently went back in 07 with a small group of guys and really had a great time. Fishing was pretty good. The guides were quite remarkable.
We actually stayed in the servants cabins that were and probably still are decent shape. And then we ate and the servants that’s closer to their cabins. Thank you for sharing this. I will pass it along.
Very cool thanks!
Love your videos of the resort. Was in a nice area in 94. Drove all the way from park Rapids Minnesota to 70 miles into Canada. Stayed a weekend. Nice friendly people. Miss it.
I did some canoeing on the English River back in 1976...started at Ear Falls Ontario, Ball Lake, Umfreville Lake, Grassy Narrows, Tetu Lake, ...all the way to Selkirk, Manitoba.
I was at Ball Lake Lodge in 80's and 90's. What a wonderful place to fish. The story as I know it was after mercury in the water decreased, the resort was given to the local Indian government with a million dollars. It was thought it would provide jobs and income. Back when I was there staff and guides were all native, and where wonderful people. Problem was none of the money ever went back into maintaining the property. If I ever win a 100 million dollars...I'd would have loved to buy the property. So many great memories.
Was there in the 60’s. There were scientists there checking the Mercury poison levels. Great fishing. The lodge served breakfast, for lunch you ate the fish you caught that morning. Fresh Walleye fried over open fire. The Indian guides were the best. Fishing all afternoon, back to camp and Dinner in the lodge.
Having it be light almost all night made this a trip I’ll never forget.
Fascinating.
That was a big camp! Some of those buildings are salvageable. Amazing they just walked away from it. Too bad they didn't keep it for even just a catch and release fishing lodge but I guess that doesn't fit the times back then. Sad knowing that people probably had the best times of their lives there and made some of their best memories. To let it get like that is a shame. Hopefully people respect the stuff left behind and leave it be. Theres a lodge near the lodge I work at that had the main lodge burn down and they walked away from it like that one and there is nothing left at the place everyone has stolen everything that wasn't bolted down and even things that were!
My dad used to go there in the late 1950's and early 60's with Harold Ensley "the sportsman's friend" who had a local hunting and fishing show originally on KCMO TV in Kansas City, Missouri.
That's great to hear! I used to watch Harold's show in the 1970's it was on a channel in Mason City, Iowa.
Ron Cymbalisty! My father Ches Scott and Barney were good friends and he lived the agony of the mercury fiasco as his friend. Watching this video was like watching the movie Titanic, only worse, the above water version. Knowing the history and the family did that to me. It certainly drives home the point that all things are transitory. Barney was a force of nature and it is not a mere expression to say that 'they don't make 'em like that anymore'.
Barney Lamm closed his resort as soon as he found out about the mercury poisoning in 1970 and he fought Dow Chemical and the Canadian government for many years on behalf of his business and Grassy Narrows Reserve. After winning the settlement Barney gave it all to the Grassy Narrows Reserve and sold the camp to them for one million. Much less than it was worth. I worked there from 1965 through 1969.
I used to come here with my dad in the 60s. It was the premier fishing camp in Canada. John Wayne, the hunt brothers, politians and media stars from the Midwest, high profile labor leaders, etc would frequent Barney’s lodge. There was room for 75 guest daily, Barney put kanora on the map with dozens of flights per day. Barney employed employees from the local tribe and raised their standard of living. Here’s what really happen, see link attached, the net is the Dryden paper and pulp dump thousand of gallons of mercury daily into the English river for 10 yrs. the government told Barney to not let guest for 3 months, Barney hired experts from japan and the finding were mercury levels were 100 times higher and will be in the lake for hundreds of yrs. Barney closed the lodge immediately and took government and paper plant to court. The net today, the mercury has decimated the local tribe who have been eating the fish.
All true. I worked there 65 - 69. Last saw him 91 in Gimli. Quite a guy. He taught my Dad to fly a Piper cub on skiis the winter of 46 at Ball Lake.
Such an amazing place. I wish it was still around. I was born in 1988 so the resort was already closed by the time I was born. Sad to see a place like this go to waste.
So sad to see so much beauty going to waste those fireplaces were amazing
That main lodge is gone now. As well, all the buildings north of the sandy beach (towards the powerhouses) are all demolished and heaped in a pile. There is obviously some cleanup project going on.
O
If ( that map is pre 1965)you look at the border between Ontario and Quebec, they asked Ontario back in about 1965,to give them,Quebec, a 100 mile wide strip off of Ontario's land, because the French fur trappers supposedly complained they had to go into Ontario to use the French river,to access their trap lines further up in Quebec!
So the Aurora,Ontario museum had an original copy of Ontario 's original boundaries!
When I visited when I was 30,back in 86!
I think our last trip to the lodge was 2012 or 2013. Fishing was good, but not like when we were there earlier in the 2000s. Fond memories.
I stayed at this resort in the late 90s through the early 2000s when the Grassy Narrows tribe was loosely operating it. Shadow of its former self but proved shelter and close proximity to some great fishing! The mercury that still exists is minimal but eating fish every day would eventually get ya.
I have pictures of my great grandpa/grandpa's trip's to this spot in the 60s, HUGE frying pan with fish for lunch.
I would love to see those pics!
A few weeks ago in the beginning of June 2021, a group of outsiders on atv or what ever you call them, went to the resort and trashed it up, before that happened there was people from the rez that went there to repair some of the cabins, turn it into a summer getaway, try to use what was left of it, but now those idiots trashed them up
Man that really posses me off.
Check out the table at 6:16 and then the table at 7:55. Amazing. So sad to see it this way!
where did you stay when you were in the area fishing ? I use to go up there when was a kid
We camped on crown land.
Wonderful
Such a shame. The wood from the buildings and walls would make a fine cabin complex
Agreed
Stayed there back in the 90s or early 20s after the Indians took it over, great fishing . We came in by our own boats. The big problem was ever year in the winter the Indians would burn a cabin down, instead of going out and finding firewood.
Too bad, it could really be a nice place if the right people took the time to take care of it and get it running again.
I found this 1975 article that describes what happened to the Lamms including all the threats they received from other business owners who wanted them to keep quiet about the mercury contamination. people.com/archive/in-canada-a-family-wages-a-lonely-war-against-a-threatened-new-minamata-vol-4-no-7/
Great video looked AMAZING 👍👍
Stayed at this resort in the mid 2000s. The Indians maintained about three building and rented them to us fishermen who loved fishing up by the falls.
Be interesting to see how much of that stuff disappears now that this video has been put online, thieves and trespassers everywhere.
Yeah, I hope you're wrong but we'll see. The difficulty of access makes it tough so that helps.
You are naive to think anything posted on the web cannot easily be found. A Fluke if you will.......speaking of which, the tourist mindset is drive right down to the water; after all, they have driven so far.....they are entitled to tear and rut things up to experience me and mine. ? What do you benefit by selling out supposed lovely/sacred fishing spots as mere show n tell? Best lake for whatever experience in your opinion and then show the entire world of it's very soul?
Some gold mining operations use mercury.. Any history of gold mining around there?
Not that I know of, but the mercury was clearly traced to the paper mills upstream.
@@wilderfish they used mercury oxide (red powder in that form) to keep the logs from rotting. there was heavy logging in missanabie ont. where they also used it. the fish and bottom sentiment samples as of 2015 no longer shows any traces of mercury. this was done by the M.N.R. and biologist. so, it does dissipate with time.
@@williamkechkaylo7915 Thanks for the input! Interesting.
The Dryden paper mill dumped the mercury in the Wabigon river which drains into the English River.
Anyone out there 9/4/24 have any update??
You need to test the water the mercury might be gone now
Well it's never completely gone, but the levels might are probably below hazardous levels now if you limit the size and number of fish you eat. People do fish the area and keep the fish.
@@wilderfish They estimated with the amount of mercury dumped it will take 100yrs to be relatively safe. No mercury levels are really safe are they?
Here’s the link to the true story of Barney lodge and mercury poisoning I mention below ,
people.com/archive/in-canada-a-family-wages-a-lonely-war-against-a-threatened-new-minamata-vol-4-no-7/
Not true. Not abandoned. Grassy Narrows First Nation in rebuilding the lodge. Notice more trespassers since this video came up.
It certainly was abandoned when we were there. I am glad to hear they are doing something with it. But if there are more trespassers I think it's because the road someone cut in there made it accessible. Thanks for the update!
It is owned by gnfn
Your music is too loud compared to you voice audio. When you are talking I had to turn the audio up alot, and, when the music started to play, I had to turn the audio down alot. You need to work on that. Presentation was good though.
To each his own.
SOMETHING WAS TRULY NOT RIGHT 💯. WHY DID THEY ABANDON IT??? SMFH ITS SOMETHING THEY NOT TELLING.
It was primarily a fishing resort and when people were told they couldn't eat the fish, the business just crashed.
@@wilderfish OOOOHHH OK. THANKS 🙏🤗
Get rid of that useless music. Otherwise, a very interesting video and interesting resort.
LOL many people love that music!