Due to abundance of natural resources in the area, the small community started living off the land: fishing, hunting, trapping and logging.

Weagamow Lake, Ontario helped them start a sawmill operation, as well as to fly in tools, gas and grocery supplies.

Until it officially gained reserve status in 1976, Muskrat Dam was a satellite community of the Big Trout Lake.

[3] On September 11, 2015 that Muskrat Dam Election committee held a nomination meeting, with the majority of the 14 people in attendance voting to bar candidates who had previously resigned from seeking re-election.

Federal Court of Canada Justice Cecily Strickland ordered the results quashed with a new election to be held within six months of April 7.