It is situated between two long sills in the Superior Upland, causing the lake to be eight times longer east and west than it is north and south.

[7] Misquah Hill was erroneously identified as the highest point in Minnesota during the 1890s, until the United States Department of the Interior resurveyed in 1961, concluding that Eagle Mountain was taller by 74 feet.

[9] Separated from the mainland by these two watersheds are the Poplar, Cascade, and Devil Track rivers, which drain a total of slightly over 300 square miles of land themselves.

[12] It saw little development until the opening of a railroad that allowed loggers easier access to the interior of the Arrowhead region's dense pine forest.

A survey of the region was made by Ulysses S. Grant II and Newton Horace Winchell in 1893, which established the surface elevation of the Brule and the heights of many of the hills around it.

[15] Laws requiring the removal of pine slash were not being effectively enforced in the region, increasing the danger of forest fire.

[21][22] During the 1920s, Edward Wellington Backus was attempting to build hydroelectric dams on northern Minnesotan rivers,[23] and the blasting was likely connected to this development.

It has been variously blamed on land speculators trying to convince buyers that the Brule had enough flow to be a viable source of hydroelectric power,[22] or upon employees of a local development company working towards the same purpose.

[20] Brule Lake and much of the land around it gradually was brought under federal protection, and came to be incorporated into what is now the Boundary Waters Canoe Area.