What is your favorite story about a BW lake's name?
For example, "...is Jap Lake even Jap Lake? Huh? Allegedly, in 1971 the U.S. Board on Geographic Names changed all geographic features named "Jap" to "Japanese" to eliminate this ethnic slur from maps. But as of 2003, officials are recommending the name be changed from "Japanese" Lake to "Paulson" Lake. What?!? Well, apparently, the name "Jap" never referred to anyone of Japanese origin but was rather an acronym for John and Addie Paulson, operators of an iron mine near the Gunflint Trail in the 1880's!" from

I heard Gunflint Lake was named after the early stone age settlers who made guns out of flint. The guns didn't work so well and these folks were soon extinct.

An old timer told me Gabimichigami meant something like " place where the birds migrate" . Not sure if it's true. I think maybe it is closer to the Ojibwa word for Lake superior.

Also I know for a fact that Bingshick means moose shit in Ojibwa. Maybe..:)
Might have been the same old timer that told me that.

quote AndySG: "
I heard Gunflint Lake was named after the early stone age settlers who made guns out of flint. The guns didn't work so well and these folks were soon extinct."

I heard that too about the first humans of Ashdick. They had a hard time procreating.

I had heard that Annie, Jenny, Eddy were named after 3 kids and jenny drowned (in jenny lake) so you might get the heebie-jeebies when paddling through that lake.

I've been to this lake, no heebejibees, but I've heard this story from several different people. It was on here back in 2006, posted by Voyagernorth. Peaceful lake, very quiet, you might even say dead quiet.


The story of the Indian woman reminds me of a story in a book "A Wonderful Country" The Quetico-Superior Stories of Bill Magie written by Dave Olesen

It told of a logger named Four Bottle McGovern marrying a Native woman from the Kawa Bay tribe. He liked to buy her fancy things, & negligees. The logging camp was based near Ensign Lake.

She cheated on him with a logging clerk. When her family came down to Ensign Lake to pick her up they couldn't find her. They went to a small nearby lake & found her floating face down, dead, dressed in a yellow negligee. (Now the lake is called Negligee Lake)

Her family found the husband in the woods and on the 90 rod portage near the Kawishiwi River & Alice, they hung him up. They took all his clothes off, hung his wrists over a tree and tied his ankles to another tree. They took a little knife & cut down through the skin enough so he'd bleed and left him hanging there.

I would guess that Winchell Lake was named after geologist Newton Winchell.

I often wonder how the 2 lakes East of Swamp Lake got there names...

I'm reading a book called "Trapping the Boundary Waters"..about a 19 year old guy who in 1902 decided to spend a year in the wild. Anyway, he says that Ottertrack Lake is so named because there are huge prehistoric otter tracks in stone somewhere there.

Don't know if it's right, but I was told that ottertrack was so named after what looked to be giant otter tracks in the cliffs.

What about Missionary, that could go a couple of diferent ways...

I've always wondered about some others, like the man chain, where did they come up with that? Or Ima Lake? Sometimes I think there may have been a we bit of drinking involved? "Hey look at me Ima lake" "no your a dumb..s, but we need more names, so I'll put it down"