Thomson first visited Algonquin Park in May 1912,[1] venturing through the area on a canoe trip with his Grip colleague Ben Jackson.

[2][3] His early works, such as Northern Lake (1912–13) and Evening (1913), were not outstanding technically, yet they did illustrate an above average ability regarding composition and colour handling.

[10] David Milne, a Canadian artist and critic, praised the painting, writing in a letter, Just plain impossible, but he has done it, it stirs you.

[15] Given Thomson's love of poetry,[16] the title of the work may be a reference to the William Wilfred Campbell poem, A Northern River.

[10] Curator Charles C. Hill has instead suggested that the sketch was "[p]robably painted in his Toronto studio, it is most likely a memory—an amalgam of experiences rather than a specific site.

[17] This is apparent with other sketch-painting pairings, such as Opulent October, Spring Ice, The Jack Pine and The West Wind, amongst many other examples.

To make the eventual studio painting livelier, he included reds, oranges and yellows within the foreground, though still maintaining the original gouache blends in the sky.

[8][13] Curator and scholar Joan Murray has written that the final canvas closely follows the original study, but with key differences.

"[24] The National Gallery of Canada purchased the painting from Thomson in 1915 for $500 (equivalent to CAD$13,000 in 2023),[25][26] essentially a years wage for a painter like himself.

[7] Since then, it has appeared in over 30 exhibitions, including shows at Musée & du Jeu de Paume in Paris; Los Angeles; London; and Mexico.