The fate of downtown Burns Lake was won in a poker game when Barney Mulvany won an entire tent camp plus equipment. He hired some help and packed up the gear at Priestly onto a construction flat car and took it to Burns Lake.

There it was re-erected. One 12-room tent became the first hotel in Burns Lake, and the second tent was the cook house. Barney named it his "tent town."

All the existing businesses near Burns Lake, the Burns Lake Trading Company and the Gerow Hotel, were stationed on Gerow Island just south of the town site so Barney became known as the founder of the village of Burns Lake.

In 1915, after the Grand Trunk Railway was completed through Burns Lake, Barney applied to have the "town" properly surveyed so that lots could be sold and buildings erected. Meanwhile, Barney added more tents to his own town. In 1916, there were still no buildings north of the railway track except for the railway station and the tents. By 1917 the survey was completed after much disagreement.

Barney said he wanted the main street to run parallel to the tracks, regardless of the hills and other obstacles, but the surveyor insisted on running the road around Barney's barn and corral where he kept his horses (the corner at Third St. and Alaska Drive)

Barney told people that the surveyor was drunk and had followed the cow trail that went around his property. What did result for sure was a crooked main street and many complaints since.