Steep Rock Lake is a body of water near the township of Atikokan, northern Ontario, Canada. It was originally fed by the Seine River. Geography Steep Rock Lake and the surrounding region was carved out by retreating glaciers. The lake was carved out as a sprawling "M" shape and is 14 miles long with a surface area of 7 square miles. The lake lies 6–7 km (4 miles) north of Atikokan and 215–225 km (135–140 miles) west of Thunder Bay. The ridges around the water rose 25 meters in places, often with visible outcrops of iron. The area straddles two major fault systems: The Quetico Fault and the Steep Rock Lake Fault systems. Active speculation about mining the area began as early as 1885, when land deposits were bought by the McKellar and Graham families. However, a patchwork terrain of deep soil, swamp land, and boulders hindered exploitation. Julian Cross, a mining prospector, later came to the area in 1926 and in 1937 through exploratory drilling located a major orebody under Steep Rock Lake. During World War II, a program was implemented to drain the lake. This diversion of the river allowed open-pit mining of hematite iron ore under the middle arm of the lake by Steep Rock Iron Mines Limited and the East arm was mined by Inland Steel Company through its subsidiary Caland Ore Company Limited. By 1949, the site was producing a million tons of ore per year and had an estimated 500 million tons of ore deposits. This lake was the site of an elaborate UFO hoax dubbed the "Little Green Men of Steep Rock Lake" in 1950. In 1957, a caribou antler was discovered in the exposed silt. This specimen may have been deposited here by a barren-ground caribou at the end of the last ice age, demonstrating that the species once lived in this region. These caribou are now found much further to the north. Early Mining Efforts & Discovery During the war years, in both Canada and the United States, was accorded to the steel industry. One result of this was a revival of iron-ore mining in Ontario, with one of the most difficult and spectacular mining projects ever undertaken in this country-and perhaps in any other. The first speculation of iron ore being under Steep Rock Lake was in 1891, when Professor Henry L. Smyth, of Harvard University, came across boulders containing