Kate Rice (December 22, 1882 – January 3, 1963) was a Canadian prospector, adventurer, and writer from Ontario who homesteaded, prospected and mined in northern Manitoba.

She garnered widespread attention for her adventurous life, brilliant mind, statuesque beauty, and for succeeding in the mineral industry, which very few women were engaged with at the time.

Rice taught his daughter to canoe and to camp along the St. Mary's River, at the age of six, regaled her with tales of Daniel Boone,[3] and imparted a life-long taste for adventure and the outdoors.

In 1914, Rice borrowed money, a "grubstake", from an old college friend,[5] and hired a Cree guide to take her north to Beaver Lake by dogsled.

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.

[2] During this time Rice hired "Old Isaac" a local Cree Elder, to teach her how to trap, hunt, mush dogs, and shoot.

[4] 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.

[11] 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 time) at $5 million.

[8] From 1940 onwards Rice lived in her log cabin on her island on Wekusko Lake, writing, gardening, fishing, trapping, and prospecting in her small 12 ft canvas canoe "Duckling".

With the aurora borealis illuminating her pioneering trail, her courage and ethics spoke volumes, while her deeds and prospecting helped define the North we know.

"[14] In 2009, the Snow Lake newspaper, Underground Press, spearheaded a fundraising campaign to erect a headstone on Rice’s grave in Minnedosa which read "Prospector and Pioneer of the North, Extraordinary Woman of the Wilds".