Since around 1800, most of the land east of
Lake Winnipeg belonged to the
Anishinabe (
Saulteaux); before the arrival of the Anishinabe, the land was of the
Ojibway. In early 1911, a Ojibway
fur trapper named Duncan Two-hearts set out from his
trapline at
Turtle Lake. In addition to fur, Twohearts had a small bag full of rocks he had collected at
Rice Lake, which he was going to show to a trader at
Manigotagan, Manitoba, named Arthur Quesnel. The rocks had streaks of yellow running through them, which Quesnel and his friend Captain E. A. Pelletier recognized as being
gold. At Rice Lake in March 1911, Two-hearts took Pelletier to a boulder of rusty
quartz containing pure gold. Pelletier soon after
staked a claim on 6 March, calling it
Gabrielle, followed by other claims called
San Antonio,
Ross Fraction, and
Island Fraction. The discovery of gold precipitated an era of
prospecting in the Wanipigow River watershed and in the current-day area of
Nopiming. These regions became the hub of
gold mining in Manitoba. The area saw an influx of prospectors from
Kenora and Winnipeg, who came in canoes, following the old travel routes of the Indigenous peoples—the
Bird (Oiseau), the
Manigotagan, and other rivers. The only person who seems to have found success from the rush, however, was Pelletier.
Establishment of Bissett The community of Bissett came as result of Manitoba's first gold rush in the early 20th century. With the help of mining executive
John Draper Perrin, who helped finance the development of the town, the community was recognized in 1972, represented by a mayor and council. Situated on Rice Lake, the town was named after physician, surgeon and politician
Edgar Douglas Richmond Bissett, a
Member of Parliament from September 1926 until July 1930. The 1996 population was 159, and in 2012 it is approximately 125, although it rises significantly during the summer when the lake cabins fill up. A new mining project, San Gold, was started near the town in 2005 and ceased operations in June 2015. ==Climate==