The provenance of this picture by repute is that the original owner purchased this painting from a Group of Seven exhibition at Eaton's in Toronto in 1921, drawn to its resemblance to the landscape near his Lake Muskoka cottage on Moon River. Johnston had held a major solo exhibition at Eaton's in December 1920, featuring nearly 200 older and recent tempera paintings, and it is likely that this work was in fact included in and purchased from that exhibition.

Throughout the early 1920s, Johnston travelled extensively with fellow Group of Seven artists through the Algoma region of northern Ontario. At the same time, he had begun looking westward toward Manitoba, where he would eventually settle. Drawn to the landscape of Lake of the Woods, he made repeated trips from Toronto to sketch the area; which, based on the distinctive landscape, this picture appears to depict. Lake of the Woods remained one of Johnston's most important subjects; returning each summer to a family cottage there, he found enduring inspiration in the region's rugged shoreline and island-dotted wilderness, producing a significant body of work based on the area. Although Johnston joined Harris, Jackson, and MacDonald on a sketching trip to Algoma in the fall of 1920, he resigned from the Group of Seven before the opening of its second exhibition in May 1921, concerned that his association with the group might hinder his career. This painting was likely realized during his brief tenure as a member of the Group of Seven and before he left for Winnipeg to become principal of the Winnipeg School of Art.