Minaki Lodge ( ), formerly part of the chain of Canadian National Hotels, was originally built in 1914 by the

Grand Trunk Pacific Railway The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway running from Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a Pacific coast port. East of Winnipeg the line continued as the National ...

(GTPR). Located on the route of the

National Transcontinental Railway The National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) was a historic railway between Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Moncton, New Brunswick, in Canada. Much of the line is now operated by the Canadian National Railway. The Grand Trunk partnership The completion o ...

(NTR) at

Minaki, Ontario Minaki ( or ) is an Unincorporated area#Canada, unincorporated area and community in Unorganized Kenora District in northwestern Ontario, Canada. It is located at the point where the Canadian National Railways Transcontinental railroad, transco ...

, between

Sioux Lookout Sioux Lookout is a town in Northwestern Ontario, Canada, with a population of 5,838 people (up 10.8% since 2016). Known locally as the "Hub of the North", it is serviced by the Sioux Lookout Airport, Highway 72, and the Sioux Lookout railway ...

and

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

, where the railway crosses the

Winnipeg River Winnipeg River is a Canadian river that flows roughly northwest from Lake of the Woods in the province of Ontario to Lake Winnipeg in Manitoba. This river is long from the Norman Dam in Kenora to its mouth at Lake Winnipeg. Its drainage basin, w ...

, the rustic resort hotel named Minaki Lodge and the railway station, also called Minaki, is an

Ojibwa The Ojibwe (; syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: ''Ojibweg'' ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (''Ojibwewaki'' ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ) covers much of the Great Lakes region and the northern plains, extending into the subarctic and thro ...

word that has been variously translated as "beautiful water" or "good land." Guest cabin at Minaki Lodge

The NTR and GTPR went bankrupt and were nationalized as part of the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

s. The CNR president, Sir Henry Thornton, rebuilt the hotel on a more lavish scale, but it burned down as it was about to open in 1925. Undaunted, he rebuilt it on an even more lavish scale using Scottish stonemasons, Swedish lot cutters and English gardeners to build and landscape a soaring granite and log building that opened in 1927. Thirty trainloads of soil were brought from a farm in Manitoba to build a golf course on the rock of the

Canadian Shield The Canadian Shield ( ), also called the Laurentian Shield or the Laurentian Plateau, is a geologic shield, a large area of exposed Precambrian igneous and high-grade metamorphic rocks. It forms the North American Craton (or Laurentia), th ...

Minaki Lodge remained a luxurious resort until after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, but travel patterns changed and the railway, emphasizing freight and no longer interested in attracting passenger traffic, sold it in the early 1950s. Over the next 50 years, the hotel passed through many hands and many renovations. The Ontario government owned it for some years and spent an estimated $50 million on upgrading it, only to sell it to a hotel chain for $4 million. The Progressive Conservative government, which spent most of the money, called the resort the "Jewel of the North." Opposition

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

and

New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party (NDP; , ) is a federal political party in Canada. Widely described as social democratic,The party is widely described as social democratic: * * * * * * * * * * * * * The Editors of ''Encyclopædia Britann ...

politicians called it a boondoggle and a sinkhole. Owners since then have included a nearby Indian band, a Texan speculator and a Calgary real estate developer. The main building, which was not insured, burned to the ground in a spectacular fire in October 2003, and the resort has not operated since. The resort's nine-hole golf course has been tended only sporadically in recent years. In 2012, former Manitoba cabinet minister Bob Banman and real estate developer Bob Schinkel submitted a plan to redevelop the former site of the lodge as

condominium A condominium (or condo for short) is an ownership regime in which a building (or group of buildings) is divided into multiple units that are either each separately owned, or owned in common with exclusive rights of occupation by individual own ...

apartments and individually-owned cottages. The local cottagers' association opposed the development, expressing concerns about the project's sewage treatment facilities. In 2019, the Minaki Cottagers Association reported that the owners proposed a trailer park for the site. Minaki Lodge Marina building

References

*Historic lodge uninsured, ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', Oct 14, 2003, Lavish lodge was product of grand dreams, ''The Globe and Mail'', Toronto, Oct 13, 2003. *The mystery of Minaki, ''The Globe and Mail'' editorial, Jan 9, 1986 *$48 million later Minaki Lodge is open, ''The Globe and Mail'', July 16, 1983 *Can't sell it, Ontario to renovate its white elephant, ''The Globe and Mail'', July 6, 1978 {{Defunct hotels in Canada Hotel buildings completed in 1914 Canadian National Railway hotels Grand Trunk Pacific Railway hotels Defunct hotels in Canada Hotels established in 1914 Burned buildings and structures in Canada Rebuilt buildings and structures in Canada 1914 establishments in Ontario Hotels disestablished in 2003 2003 disestablishments in Ontario Golf clubs and courses in Ontario Hotel buildings completed in 1927