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Fort Frances
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Fort Frances

Ontario, Canada
Also known as: Fort-Saint-Pierre
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Fort Frances, town, centre of the Rainy River district, western Ontario, Canada. It lies on the north bank of Rainy River (the Canada-U.S. boundary), opposite International Falls, Minnesota. Originating as a fur-trading post, Fort-Saint-Pierre, built near the present townsite in 1731, it was renamed Fort Frances in 1830 in honour of the wife of Sir George Simpson, general superintendent of the Hudson’s Bay Company. The town’s early growth was aided by commercial fishing and logging operations, its position on a trade route, and a canal built in the late 1870s that circumvented falls at the outlet of adjacent Rainy Lake.

A busy point of entry and the centre of a popular hunting, fishing, and canoeing area, Fort Frances remains primarily a lumbering town. Milling operations in paper, pulp, and lumber utilize hydroelectric power, which is generated nearby. Inc. 1903. Pop. (2006) 8,103; (2011) 7,952.

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Rainy Lake
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Rainy Lake

lake, North America
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Rainy Lake, narrow lake astride the Canadian-U.S. border, between the U.S. state of Minnesota and the Rainy River district of northwestern Ontario, Can. It has an area of 360 square miles (932 square km), is about 50 miles (80 km) long, 35 miles (56 km) of which form the international boundary, and has an average width of 5 miles (8 km) with a maximum of 27 miles (43 km). Its shores are irregular and deeply indented, and it contains more than 500 islands. Drainage is westward through the 85-mile- (137-kilometre-) long Rainy River into Lake of the Woods.

Rainy Lake was discovered in 1688 by a French explorer, Jacques de Noyon. A power station on Rainy River just downstream from the lake supplies electricity to the lumber, pulp, and paper milling industries of Fort Frances (Ont.) and International Falls (Minn.). The region is the site of several Indian reservations and is popular for hunting, fishing, and canoeing.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.
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