The region around Red Lake has been home to many Indigenous peoples for thousands of years, using the numerous lakes and rivers as a highway between the Great Lakes in the south, Hudson's Bay in the north, and Lake Winnipeg in the west. Fur trade posts were set up in the region by Europeans in the early 19th Century. By the 1870s Europeans were beginning to arrive prospecting for minerals. Gold was discovered in the 1890s, but due to the region's remoteness, there wasn't much further exploration until 1925, when Lorne and Ray Howey, among others, staked the claim that would become the huge Howey Mine overlooking Howey Bay. A frenzied gold rush began, the last in North American history, as thousands of prospective miners flew in on seaplanes and staked claims all around the region. For a time the Howey Bay Airport was the busiest in the world. Several other communities grew up around nearby mines, which are all today part of the Red Lake Municipality. These include Balmertown, Cochenour, Madsen, McKenzie Island, and Starratt-Olson. The mining tailed off over the course of the 20th Century, and tourism has come to take a central role in the local economy, as people travel from all over the world to experience the remote wilderness, abundant fishing, and beautiful wildlife the region has to offer.

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 Red Lake