The Hanson Lake Road.

And then there was Olaf Hanson, of the Hanson Lake Road, who still as far as I know, goes out in the bush prospecting. People with a dream, an idea, or whatever it is that keeps them going, wonderful people that way

The Parres family is well-known to the Canadian mining fraternity, having participated in a number of rushes in famous mining camps across Canada.

Lew Parres first began prospecting in the early years of the Depression. Accompanying his father, C. R. Parres, and his brother, Jim, Lew took part in development work on claims at Snow Lake, Manitoba (which later became the Nor-Acme Mine); Beaver Lake, Saskatchewan; and Kississing (Cold Lake), Manitoba. During this time they trenched by hand-steel and blasted on gold discoveries made by Lew's father.

While attending the University of Saskatchewan in 1934, Lew was a member of an expedition composed of students and directed by his father. Travelling by canoe down the Saskatchewan River to Beaver and Snow Lakes, the party drilled, blasted and trenched on the Parres properties. This exploration venture proved to be inspirational for many of the crew, particularly Waldo Clarke, Earl Crull, Chuck Donald, Rus Garnett, Bill Robinson, Jim Robinson, Jim Scott, Mel Thompson, and Lew's brother, Jim, who all went on to carve out successful careers in mining.

The following year, Lew took part in mapping the Churchill River in Saskatchewan for the Geological Survey of Canada. In 1938, he returned to Snow Lake with Eric Swanson to map and trench on the Nor-Acme Gold Mines property. It was optioned to Howe Sound Mining Company in 1941 and put into production seven years later. For the next ten years, over five million tons were mined. More recently, the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Company carried out a deep drilling program on this property with encouraging results. Lew Parres serves as president of Nor-Acme.

Another major rush that Lew Parres was involved in was that of Mystery Lake" in the late 1940s. At this time he discovered what "mystery" lay behind the lake's name:

Walter Johnson, Neal Thurber and I were completing the staking of the west bay of Mystery Lake, we decided to have lunch on a sand beach located just west of the north narrows. We landed on the sand beach and noticed an odd six-by-two foot, rectangular growth of grass and muskeg. It appeared at first that this queer formation had either floated there or was the result of erosion. Later it was determined that it had floated there from some other location.

Upon digging into the grass and moss we discovered that it was the grave of a person who had been murdered. We found a knife in the ribs and a pipe in a pocket. The pipe, which I still have, was carved from a rock high in talc, the police were notified and the body was removed. The story is told that the reason the name "Mystery Lake" was chosen is that two trappers went into the bush a number of years ago, but only one came out so it was a mystery as to what had happened to the missing trapper. It is believed we solved this mystery by finding the corpse on the sandy beach.

In the 1950s, Mr. Parres was active in a variety of mining camps, including Thompson, Hanson Lake, and the Prince Albert area (in particular the Choiceland deposit). He discovered the Pinebay orebody in 1967, which is presently under option to the Hudson Bay Mining and Smelting Company and being developed with deep diamond drilling planned for the winter of 1981. Hudson Bay had surveyed the property prior to Parres' arrival, using the original Boliden Horizontal Loop method with a penetration of about 90 feet. Parres, however, used a Ronka Horizontal Loop method, which had a penetration ability of about 150 feet, the main part of the Pinebay orebody proved to be lying 149 feet below the ice surface.

Mr. Parres, a longstanding director and member of the Prospectors and Developers Association, keeps very busy these days, with interests in a gold and silver mine in Nevada, as well as another two prospects in silver and a gold placer.

Parres' Nor-Acme continues development of its potentially large gold prospect. - (Excerpts from Hanula et al., 1982, p. 280-282)

This 225-mile road between Smeaton and Creighton, providing a direct link between Prince Albert and Flin Flon, was officially opened on July 25, 1965. The project was started in July 1958 under the Federal-Provincial Road to Resources program. Built by the Construction Branch of the Saskatchewan Department of Natural Resources, it was turned over to the Department of Highways and designated 106 Highway. This road traverses a land rich in resources and opens up a vast area of fishing, hunting, prospecting and mining.

The Hanson Lake Road was named after Olaf Hanson, a veteran trapper, prospector and outdoorsman, who spent many of his years in the area between Flin Flon and Smeaton. He also assisted the Construction Branch of the Saskatchewan Department of Natural Resources in building the road, taking part in locating and supervising blasting crews where the road traversed part of the Canadian Shield. His knowledge of the area was invaluable as the road crossed large areas of muskeg, lake and river as well as rocky outcroppings. It is a fitting tribute to Olaf Hanson that he lent his name to this road.