Most of the population is concentrated in the district's extreme south where some agriculture is possible: the main crop is
barley. Traditional
native activities such as hunting and fishing dominate the north of the district outside of mining settlements.
Mining The area near Lake Minnehaha saw a gold rush between 1902 and 1909. The settlement of Gold Rock served 14 area mines, which included the Big Master, Laurentian, Detola and Elora. According to Barnes, "Approximately 180,000 ounces of gold was won from 27 mines in the Kenora district from 1880 to 1976," with "over 331 known gold occurrences." The more successful mines included the Bully Boy, Cameron Island, Champion, Combined, Cornucopia, Gold Hill, Golden Horn, Kenricia, Mikado, Oliver, Olympia, Ophyr, Regina, Scramble, Severn, Stella, Sultana, Treasure and Wendigo. Mining is currently extremely extensive in northern Kenora District, which contains some of the world's largest and highest-grade reserves of
uranium and some of the world's major producers of nickel. A major mining exploration project is currently underway in the
Ring of Fire region, centred on the district's isolated
McFaulds Lake. ==Transportation==