I received the following reply from Gary M. Ostry, a Manitoba government official involved in these matters:
"The old Diana [Gold] Mine that forms part of the Gem Wrathall Lakes Property is located in southeast Manitoba at approximately 50 degrees 43 minutes latitude and 95 degrees 10 minutes longitude. The closest community would be Bissett, Manitoba. For your information NTS stands for National Topographic System. The NTS is a grid system based on lats and longs that divides Canada into uniformly sized 1:250 000 scale map sheets (eg. 52L), that are further subdivided into 16, 1:50 00 scale maps (eg 52L/11). The 1:250 000 sheets encompass an area 1 degree lat. by 2 degrees long. (52L is found between 50 and 51 degrees latitude, and 94 and 96 degrees longitude). The 1:50 000 maps are 15 minutes of lat. by 30 minutes long. (52L/11 is found between 50 d. 30 m. by 50 d. 45 m. latitude and 95 d. and 95 d. 30 m. longitude). We do have a Mineral Deposit Series Report that describes all known metallic mineral occurrences in NTS 52L/11 and is available from our publications section. Our geological survey is or has published descriptions of all known mineral occurrences and deposits in the Precambrian of Manitoba, organized by NTS area."
Click HERE for a map of Manitoba showing Gem Wrathall Lake location, courtesy of the Manitoba Provincial Parks Guide .
" I have taken the following information on the name Wrathall Lake from our records:"Background:
- Latitude: 50 42 28 Longitude: 95 12 06
- Location Narrative: SE. of Manigotagan Lake
- Section/Township/Range: 20-17-E
- South East of Bissett, Manitoba.
"Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical Names records, 1975, noted that the name should be "Wrathall", not Rathall Lake (as on a 1927 Geological Surveys of Canada map) nor Rathal Lake (on National Topographic System map 52 L/5, 1950). It is believed to have been named after prospector James Wrathall , who staked claims in area, and advised that staking be done here as well. He apparently discovered gold around nearby Gem Lake, in 1925. He formed the Redstone Syndicate, and the area was staked by S. McDonald and D. Foster, in 1926.
"I trust this answers your inquiry. Should you be able to supplement our files with any additional info - we'd be happy to receive it. For your information - if the eldest next of kin can be confirmed, a commemorative name certificate could be made available."
So at this point it appears that the eldest next of kin in the direct descendancy is Robert Wrathall of Calgary, unless I hear from some of his distant cousins.
