"grubstake", from an old college friend, and hired a Cree guide to take her north to Beaver Lake by dogsled. She then traveled further north by canoe to Brochet to begin prospecting. On this first foray, Rice discovered zinc showings at Reindeer Lake but did not stake the claim as there was no railway to the area and it would be difficult to develop. In 1915, she took her own dog team to explore the Beaver Lake area where she went on to stake her first claims. During this time Rice hired "Old Isaac" a local Cree Elder, to teach her how to trap, hunt, mush dogs, and shoot. The local Cree called her "Mooniasquao" ("white woman"). The following year, Rice entered into a partnership with Richard "Dick" Woosey. Woosey was a veteran of the British 18th Royal Hussars Regiment who had fought in the Boer War, in India and along the Afghan border. The two built a remote cabin together and worked as a team until Woosey's death in 1940. While there was frequent speculation about their personal relationship, Rice always insisted it was strictly professional. In 1917, Rice staked more claims at Herb Lake and had them surveyed, proved, and assessed. For several decades afterward, Rice prospected the Wekusko Lake, Herb Lake, and Snow Lake areas, as well as in the Burntwood and Flin Flon mineral belts. In 1928, Rice visited Toronto, where she began to garner media attention as "...a most picturesque feminine visitor" who was making a name for herself in the notoriously rugged world of northern trapping and prospecting. (Rice was hard to overlook, standing six feet tall with golden blonde hair bobbed around a brilliant mind.) For years afterwards, the Toronto Star would hound her while she was on her regular visits south to see her parents and international papers as far away as Australia would regularly record her exploits. Rice occasionally wrote well-received articles for the Toronto Star about topics of more interest to her than to tabloid journalism. Rice was once offered $500,000 for one of her claims, but decided to hold out for twice that amount. Unfortunately, the buyer eventually walked away and she was only able to sell it for $20,000 to International Nickel (INCO). Rice and Woosey were later sued by C. E. Hermann, a former associate, for breach of contract involving another claim that was valued (for a