At various times during the lake's human history, it has attracted interest from several First Nations tribes, duck hunters, military trainers, sodium sulfate producers, conservationists, and birdwatchers.

The older women volunteered to stay behind to tend the fires through the night in the hope of fooling the Blackfoot into believing that they were not abandoning their camp to escape.

Using this diversion as cover, the rest of the Cree successfully fled back to their home territory in the Qu'Appelle valley.

[10] A variant telling of this narrative states that the Blackfoot warriors were so impressed by the women's courage that they left them alone and allowed them to rejoin their own people.

[12] According to some First Nations traditions, the spirits of the dead women continue to haunt a small island in the lake from which their voices can be heard at night.

[14][15] In 1861, the British politicians Sir Frederick Johnstone and Henry Chaplin visited the area to hunt bison, antelope, and elk for sport.

[8] Teepee rings and other artifacts discovered near Old Wives Lake attest to a First Nations presence in the area long predating their contact with Europeans.

The two pilots in this aircraft were able to parachute out and inflate emergency rubber dinghies enabling them to remain afloat until their rescue by a helicopter based out of CFB Moose Jaw.

[21] In certain years, including 1951,[22] 1959,[23] 1980[24] and 1997,[25] large numbers of ducks were found dead at the lake due to outbreaks of botulism.