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�O NTARIO
OFFICE OF
THE PRIME MINISTER AND PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL
It is with great pride and a feeling of achievement
that I join you in this official opening; another giant
step in the development of Ontario's vast Northwest.
Now, with this newly co~plete 87 mile stretch between
Fort Frances and Atikokan, Highway 11 becomes a second
trans-continental road link across Northern Ontario. For
1,056 uninterrupted miles from Toronto's waterfront to
Rainy River, the adventurous motorist can follow an exciting new circle route through villages, towns and cities
and vast regions of northern wilderness, connecting with
the Great River Road of the United Stateso
The outstanding achievement that has made completion
of this highway possible is the "island-hopping" Noden
Causewayo Three and a half miles in length, it is the
longest pre-stressed concrete project of its kind in the
British Conunonwealtho
This also marks a major step forward for Ontario's
rapidly expanding tourist industry. Great River Road
travellers can now extend their journey along a highway
that parallels the route of the Voyageur taken by early
17th century explorers. At long last we can point with
pride at the ease with which the tourist can reach the
unspoiled beauty of Northwestern Ontario.
Prime Minister of Ontario.
�Ontarie> Nlen e>f Visie>n
HoN. JOHN
P.
RoBARTS,
ivho played prominent roles
PRIME MINISTER, ONTARIO
"Today we are living in an era when the expansion of the northland can be compared to the great
push westward in early Canadian history . . . . The
people are turning a promising dream into a reality. They are working to attract more people, more
industry and to develop the land and its resources
to the fullest extent."
HOJ',,.
C.
s.
in getting Highway No. 11 completed
HoN. LESLIE M. FROST, Q.c.
Prime Minister 1949 to 1961
Acutely aware of the potential benefit for Ontario which lay
in the development of the Northern portions of the province, Hon. Leslie M. Frost, Q.C., during his tenure as Ontario's Prime Minister, led the way. Among other tasks he
sparked the completion of No. 11 Highway, as well as the
Trans-Canada and other important Ontario highways and
access and industrial roads that Ontario might grow economically stronger and move forward for the benefit of all its people.
MACNAUGHTON,
MINISTER,
DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAYS, ONTARIO
Living and working daily amidst the heaviest
highway traffic in the province, the minister, with
his coHeagues is ever mindful as well of the need
for highways in the less densely settled north
country, where roads mean economic devel'>ument
and where northern development benefits all of
Ontario.
These Three Men Were Ontario Highways Ministers
During the Completion of the Atikokan - Fort Frances Connecting Link of Highway 11
More and Better Roads for Ontario's North Country
Ontario is a very large province. It borders not only on
New York State but also on Minnesota and extends northerly to
James Bay encompassing Northeastern and Northwestern
Ontario.
Obviously the building of roads to provide communication
links between various parts of the province is a big job. In
the southern part of the province large urban industrial centres
require modern highways to handle ever-increasing volumes
of traffic and first-class roads are also necessary in the sparsely
settled areas of Northern Ontario to further the development
of this region. The Department of Highways program encompasses all types of road facilities and in the 1965-66 fiscal year
$329,000,000 will be expended on the construction and maintenance of roads throughout the Province.
The official opening of Highway 11, costing close to
$20,0CO,OOO for the new 85-mile section between Atikokan and
Fort Frances, constructed through extremely rugged terrain
and over an almost impossible water barrier is a sample of the
way new roads are opening large areas of the province for
recreation and development.
The scope of the Department's 1965-66 construction program
for Northwestern Ontario also attests to this fact. In addition
to the opening of Highway 11, construction is well advanced on
a new resources road extending Secondary Highway 599 southerly from Savant Lake to connect with Trans-Canada Highway
17 near Ignace, and this 80-mile extension is scheduled for
opening before the end of this year. Construction is also under
way on a new resources road leading north from Central
Patricia at the northern end of Secondary Highway 599 opening another large area of Northwestern Ontario. Under this
year's program the reconstruction of Highway 105 - better
known as the Red Lake Road - is being carried forward. To
date 49 miles of this route have been completely reconstructed
and paved and the reconstruction of the remaining 63 miles
will be under way this year. The reconstruction of Highway 71,
Ontario's portion of the Great River Road, is also slated for
reconstruction ·between Highway 11-17, and the first contract
marking the start of this important project will be awarded
this year. Work continues on sections of Trans-Canada 17
through Northwestern Ontario to bring this important transcontinental route to the high standard required for all TransCanada Highway mileage. Another important Northwestern
Ontario project now in the planning stages is the ControlledAccess Urban Expressway around the twin cities of Port Arthur and Fort William. The new expressway will be approximately 32 miles in length and will be subsidized by the Department of Highways on a 75 per cent basis.
In addition to the building and maintaining of Ontario's
King's Highway system the Department participates in the
building of Development Roads, Mining and _Access Ro~ds,
Industrial Roads, Roads to Resources, Roads m Unorgamzed
Territories and Municipal Road-building programs throughout
the Province.
In some respects, these roads are as important to the
economic development of ~tario's northland as the pri~ary
King's Highways. They provide for extended commumcations,
trade and commerce, which, in turn, helps provide more and
better jobs.
Highways are the lifeblood of commerce, trade and recreation. Their importance for the development of the sparsely
populated north country is recognized by the Department of
Highways of Ontario right along with the servicing of the
densely populated areas in the southern part of the Province.
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
HON. JAMES N. ALLAN
Minister 1955 - 1958
HoN. FRED M. CAss
Minister 1958 - 1961
HoN. \V. A. GooDFELLOW
Minister 1961 - 1962
Reams might quite easily be written to describe the important
parts played by each of the men pictured on this page. Deeds
and actions speak louder than words. These are the men who,
during the "closing of the gap" in this economically important
highway link were in places of r.e sponsibility where decisions
were made and where action resulted. Now the job is finished.
The whole area moves another step forward. Virtually all of
the people affected appreciate what has been accomplished.
W. G. NonEN, M.P.P.
Hardworking Member
for Rainy River
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
�NEW ROAD, SO WHAT?
So you've got a new highway, so what? There's roads and highways
all over the world. So what's so special about this Highway I I
that there's all the fuss about?
•
Highway
to discovery
reaches
Fort
Frances
A road's a road! So why the big hullabaloo?
Roughing out right-of-way and road bed
•
Yes, a road's a road, and you drive your car over it to get
from here to there. But is that all there is to it, just something
you can drive on if the desire prompts you?
To the people of the District of Rainy River particularly
and to those in all Northwestern Ontario in a lesser degree, this
completion of the final 85-mile link of Highway No. 11 is an
event of rather special and far reaching consequence.
Granted this is a spectacularly beautiful highway, particularly along the Rainy Lake shore line.
But the beauty alone of the terrain traversed would scarcely warrant the 20 million dollar expenditure this stretch of
exceptionally well built highway and water crossing has cost
the people of Ontario.
Nor would the fact that we could go for a pleasant drive
when we felt thus inclined warrant such a large sum of money
being spent.
They are, in fact, only the by-products, the bonuses, if
you will, of a far greater useful and rewarding purpose.
MORE AND BETTER JOBS
When one realizes that much of the $20 million for the
85-mile piece of new highway and causeway was spent on
wages, over the past five to seven years - and when one
realizes that much of it went to persons living in the District
of Rainy River, or in the Canadian Lakehead vicinity, it
may be difficult to imagine that this road, in future will have
the effect of producing even more and better jobs than those
which it created during the construction stage - extensive
and important as they have been.
Should you be one of the few persons in the area, competent to work, but without a job, this new highway may quite
well create a job for you or for some one or more members
of your family. If you have a job, it may in all likelihood
create a better one for you, or other things being equal, it
may well create a wage increase for you.
How does this come about?
In the vast area of so-called wilderness between Rainy
Lake and Atikokan there are extensive out-croppings of minerals. Geological mapping and casual prospecting indicates
the area is highly mineralized. In fact the new road has already prompted some staking of mining claims.
Ready access to these areas, now provided by Highway
Eleven, will obviously stimulate a wider, more extensive and
more diligent search for these minerals. The new road will
make it much less costly, less tiIIle consuming, to get men and
materials into these mineralized areas and search for and
locate this hidden wealth. Obviously jobs will result for willing
and industrious persons.
Just as pulpwood and saw log timber has been rolling over
Highway 11 west of town to the mills at Fort Frances so will
also timber be rolling in from the east. This will mean more
hauling for truckers and quite likely more jobs for pulp cutters.
From a number of areas east of Fort Frances pulpwood will
be transported to the papermill at less cost than watered wood.
In the clay and sand-clay areas in the Mine Centre, Glenorchy and Flanders vicinities profitably operated farms are
From June 28th, 1965, the Highway 11 extension from Atikokan to Fort Frances will be in full service. This new stretch
of road will open to prospectors a triangle of country lying
between Highways 11. 17 and 71.
The land within this triangle is good prospecting country. Soon Highway 11 will be in use by prospectors armed
with the tools of their trade - and the hunt will be on.
In this way, Highway 11 will be making an important
contribution to one of Ontario's vital industries. Intensive
prospecting is one of the foundations on which the success
of Ontario's mining industry is based. And the importance
of this industry to the country can be judged from the fact
that, last year, Ontario's mines earned $911,098,372.
The Ontario Department of Mines wishes to congratulate
all those who worked to bring Highway 11 to Fort Frances.
Their labours hove given a valuable impetus to the future
prosperity and progress of this province.
THE ONTARIO DEPARTMENT OF MINES
llll,CilO,C.WAJ.DltOtl:M,n,11erol \lt:tJ
0.1'.~:
O.,..~
TORONTO• CANADA
Road paved b~t minus white centreline
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
The Daily Bulletin of the fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
quite likely to emerge, now that it becames easier to get the
farm produce to market. The producing areas of west Rainy
River district should now likely be brought more closely into
contcat with the consuming markets of the Canadian Lakehead
and Atikokan. This will create more jobs for more people in
agriculture and transportation.
The construction of this new road has inspired a substantial
increase in the building of summer cottages and lakeshore
year-round residences both for Ontario and United States
residents. But what has already been done in this respect is
but a foretaste of what is to come in the future. As a consequence there has been a larger sale of building products
which will substantially increase. Moreover many jobs will
be created to build these lakeshore homes or cottages and the
roads leading from the highway to them.
In such a magnificent vacation countryside the new road
is bound to inspire the building of new tourist outfitters camps,
new resorts, motels, etc. thus further increasing sales of building products and jobs for building construction and related
trades.
It is quite probable more jobs will be created by catering
to the ever expanding tourist industry than by any other facet
of industry.
Enterprising young men and women will build outfitters
camps, tourist resorts, roadside or lakeshore motels, gasoline
service stations and service garages, restaurants, stores, coffee
shops, a rock shop or two perhaps. A small army of people
both men and women, will be required to help operate these
establishments. Winter resorts will also likely come into the
picture within a few years.
MONEY SAVED TOO
Then there's the possibility of savings for those who live
along this highway. Competition will become keener as the
isolation factor disappears. Certain foodstuffs will be brought
in over this highway from eastern supply centres which should
have the effect of lowered prices on those items.
Salesmen, from both east and west, who have heretofore
by-passed Fort Frances, and as a consequence also by-passed
Rainy River, will now call at these towns having the effect
of increasing competition or enlarging available choice of
merchandise or services.
The Lakehead cities which in some respects should be a
logical wholesale source for the western portion of the Rainy
River district, will now have ready access to this market. The
service which will accrue should be a benefit to the people of
the district who live west of Atikokan.
Thus, the opening of this new section of highway for traffic in a sense heralds a new era in the life and history of the
District of Rainy River, and to a lesser extent for Northwestern
Ontario.
To ride in an automobile over its surface, amidst majestic
natural beautiy is one reward for those who traverse this road.
But it is much more. The new road is destined to create more
jobs and better jobs, to enable business enterprises to ar'ise,
(and with proper management) to flourish. In short, it will
mean a better and a more rewarding life for a great many
people.
�Ontario's Northwest
'
,::~~~ -~
"'
··,
'
Keystone in the Arch of Canada
;~ ~
'I/
'-
By Alexander Phillips
:,,_ ~
GENERAL MANAGER, NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION
You can have
Northwestern Ontario hails the opening of the Voyageur Highway
as a major milestone in the region's march toward greater growth and
development. It will bn'.ng many benefits to the area but its paramount
utility will be an economic lifeline serving and stimulating the commercial
an.d industrial progress of the Northwest.
your cake
and eat it
too . . .
• • •
in Ontario's
Great
Northwest!
Photos Ontario Department Tourism and Information.
A region of scenic grandeur and rich in historic values
tracing back to the era of exploration is opened by the ·
new Fort Frances-Atikokan section of the Voyageur Highway.
Twentieth century explorers - the young in heart and
adventurous in spirit - will come in their myriad numbers
to enjoy its lakes and streams, its quiet forests and sunsplashed beaches.
But the new highway will do more than open a gateway to a natural wonderland. It will be an economic lifeline linking the Districts of Rainy River and Thunder Bay,
developing new commercial relationships and providing
new opportunities for growth.
Opportunities for growth! Where else in our muchblessed land is there a brighter prospect for the good life,
happily balanced between productive labor and enjoyment
of the great outdoors.
Yes, sir, within minutes of most of Northwestern Ontario's communities - right at the back door - the wonderful world of unspoiled nature beckons. Every sea~on
has its special recreation and fun for the whole family.
There is a zest to life and our people work hard and play
easy.
Industry, commercial concerns, individual entrepreneurs will like this part of Ontario too. You are invited to
visit us, to investigate our potential and join us in building a greater Northwest.
NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION
ROOM 201, NEWS CHRONICLE BUILDING
PORT ARTHUR, ONTARIO
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
'I
Regardless of its bountiful natural
riches, neither our region nor any region, can achieve its potential unless it is
accessible, enabling swift communication, commercial rapport and exchange,
intercommunity and social relationships,
and basic transportation. All are involved in the opening of this new avenue linking the heartlands of Rainy River and
Thunder Bay Districts.
The Voyageur Highway is an investment in the future of this tremendous
northwestern half of Ontario. It will pay
rich dividends in the years to come.
That has ,been the pattern of the past; it
will be emphasized in the decade ahead.
More than 5,000 miles of highways and
roads now serve the Northwest and
wherever a new link has been constructed, development has followed in the
wake of the bulldozer and the engineer.
For proof, one need refer to only a
few general figures on the region's advance in the past 10-year period during
which the area's highway system has
been extended and improved. The Northwest's population increased approximately 50,000 to about 230,000. MotoT vehicle
registrations almost doubled, from 36,500
to more than 66,000. Cheques cashed
doubled to the billion-dollar mark. Our
forest industry soared beyond $210 million in value of production, up $60 million, while the mining industry tripled
output of new wealth to a total of more
than $108 million. Manufacturing increased to more than $280 million, a $50
million gain while construction - industrial, commercial and residential rose to $30 million, nearly three times
the total a decade ago. Twice as many
telephones are in service now, 74,000
compared with 37,000 a decade ago.
Currently, it is conservatively estimated that more than $100 million is being 'invested in capital projects embracing the whole spectrum of development
in the Northwest: resource industries,
manufacturing plants, utilities, commercial enterprises, educational and hospital
facilities, transportation and communication services. Other major projects are
nearing the announcement stage, auguring well for a continued sharply upward
slant on the growth graph of the Northwest.
Gratifying as r~cent progress has
been, however, its impact is scarcely dis-
cernible on the great, rugged face of
Northwestern Ontario, a 213-000-squaremile province within a province. We still
are an under-developed and under-populated region in the very centre of the
nation whereas we see our destiny as the
keystone in the arch of Canada, cementing East and West in economic strength
and stability.
We have every reason to believe this.
Few areas on the globe are blessed with
so much and so varied a treasure of
natural resources: forests that color the
map green beyond vision and beyond
horizon, base and precious ores, arable
land by hundreds of thousands of acres,
immeasurable volumes of pure water.
We possess three quarters of a million
horsepower of developed electrical energy, natural gas piped from the West, seaway ports linked by water lanes to the
markets of the world; rail, air and road
transport services, dazzling communications and an educational system built to
the university level. And, beckoning
from the backdoor of every community,
is the world of the great outdoors, the
natural and unspoiled wonderland of lake
and river, of granite headland and conifer-carpeted island, most of it unchanged
since the first explorer ventured westward.
And now we have a new highway
that inevitably will draw together in
closer business and social ties the peoples
of two great districts. Rainy River termed the most beautiful of Canadian
place names by Peter Stursberg - is a
district 7,276 square miles in extent with
soil, water and minerals on a lavish
scale. Within its borders are more than
26,000 people deeply attached to their
urban and rural communities. The population is spread among two towns, 12
townships and an improvement district
with a total assessment exceeding $25
million. Of the larger centres, Fort Frances is the home of the Ontario-Minnesota
division of Boise Cascade Corporation,
one of the giant pulp and paper mills of
the Northwest; Atikokan is the hub of
iron ore mining on the Steep Rock Range
which already has produced more than
$300 million in mineral wealth. Soon,
most of us will get to know much better
the friendly communities of Rainy River,
Emo, Barwick, Stratton, Pinewood and
other rural communities where the beef
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
industry is growing steadily each year.
Thunder Bay District, 52,471 miles
in area, has a population of more than
140,000, two-thirds concentrated at the
Canadian Lakehead. The district has two
of Ontario's important cities, one town,
10 townships and seven improvement districts with a combined assessment of
nearly $200 million. Fort William and
Port Arthur are the transportation crossroads of the nation, western terminus of
the seaway, largest grain ports in the
world and third in total tonnage among
Canadian ports. They are the centre of a
growing complex of resources and secondary industry. Adjoining the Lakehead
are the productive rural areas of Shuniah, Neebing and Paipoonge. To the east
are the four important forest products
communities of Red Rock, Nipigon, Terrace Bay and Marathon. In the interior
is the model mining community of Manitouwadge and on the northern TransCanada Highway are Beardmore, Geraldton, Longlac and other mining and forest centres.
Rainy River District already is linked with Kenora-Patricia District via the
north-south Great River Road, reaching
into a huge domain of 153,220 square
miles that extends to Hudson and James
Bays. Its population of more than 55,000
is distributed among four towns, four
townships and three improvement districts with a total assessment of more
than $36 million. Of its large centres,
Kenora is queen of the beautiful Lake of
the Woods area, a forest products hub
and important pulp and paper mill town;
Dryden is a fast-growing paper manufacturing community in the geographic centre of the Northwest. Sioux Lookout a
rail and forest community, Keewatin a
flour-milling town, Red Lake and Balmertown growing communities in the great
Red Lake gold mining area. Sioux Narrows and Nestor Falls are enchanting
tourist centres.
Such is Ontario's Northwest, a spacious
and splendid domain, offering unlimited
opportunity for venture capital, for venturesome enterpreneurs, and for millions
of vacationers on wheels who simply seek
relaxation or recreation in the scenic
environment of its hospitable embrace.
Be sure to see more of our great
Northwest via the Voyage1 1r Highway
this year!
�Armstrong Did Lots of Work on No. 11
The Armstrong Companies of Fort Frances
There is a saying that a prophet is without honor in his
home territory. Another saying suggests that an expert is someone who comes from a far-off place.
We do .1ot normally like to concede that one or more of
our close acquaintances may possess special aptitudes. It is
a trait of human nature to take for granted our neighbors and
the persons who we know personally and meet frequently.
George Armstrong was a farm boy, who grew to manhood
in the District of Rainy River. George Armstrong, as a result
of the two companies he operates and manages in Fort Frances
has reached the stature in the road construction business where
he was a prime contractor on a 12½-mile stretch of Highway
Number Eleven both west and east of Bear Passage bridge.
The total work, involving two contracts, No. 62-222 for road
bed construction, and No. 64-242 for readying it for paving, to
over 100 per cent compaction, involves something over two
million dollars. He was also general sub-contractor for the
first 10 miles of road west of Atikokan. In fact, through being
low bidder the Armstrong Companies worked on Highway
Eleven as contractor and sub-contractor for seven years.
The two companies fulfilling these contracts are the George
Armstrong Company Limited ·and the Fort Frances Equipment
Limited. Persons who today drive over the sections of road he
built can judge for themselves that he is a qualified and competent road builder.
George, as we all know him, is a most energetic and
aggressive operator, a competent manager, a hard worker and
his interests are by no means confined to highway building.
In west Fort Frances he has a large gravel deposit from
which he provides for his customers crushed rock, gravel,
sand and also earth fill. Moreover, across Highway 11, north
from his gravel pits he operates a batch mix concrete plant
from which he can scoply and deliver ready-mix concrete to
any specifications required by his customers and can guarantee
that all deliveries will be to specification without variance.
From this plant, incidentally, Armstrong supplied every
yard of ready-mix concrete that went into the causeway.
both below and above water. Obviously that is a lot of cement.
He also provided the concrete for other structures on the
highway.
George got his start in road building about 25 years ago,
back in 1940, when he built his first bush road. It was a good
road, yet economically built. Then three years later Steep
Reck Iron Mines Limited were developing the Steep Rock
Lake iron 0re property. George helped build the road from
Atikokan to the mine, and also hauled quite a lot of iron ore.
He also built eight control dams for the mine, doing three of
them in the winter of 1955-56, which was a $175,000 contract.
• • •
the management, supervisors and the men who operated the machines,
trucks or otherwise worked on the jobs, are extremely proud to have had
the opportunity of playing such a prominent part in the building of the
final connecting link of Highway Number Eleven, including work on
the Causeway across Rainy Lake.
The Armstrong Companies Work Included:
One general road building sub-contract (for 10 miles on the Atikokan (or east) end of
the Atikokan-Fort Frances section).
One general road building contract (12½ miles, east and west of Bear Passage Bridge).
Another general contract including building the rock fill and gravel approaches to
west end of Causeway high level bridge structure and east end of low level structure.
• And several other sub-contracts, including:
ALL of the ready mixed concrete for the Causeway bridge structures and underwater and above water supports.
• Also sub-contract for lifting and placing into position the massive 65-ton high-level
deck and support concrete girder components from the ice surface in winter (ice
had to be more than 3 feet beyond normal thickness to carry the immense weight).
• Also road construction and bridge cement aggregates ( sand fill, gravel and crushed rock, etc.)
The George Armstrong Company Limited
Fort Frances Equipment Limited
GENERAL ROAD BUILDI~G CONTRACTORS
Road Construction Aggregates - Concrete Aggregates - Washed, Screened or Pit Run Gravel, Sand Fill for Roads - Earth fill for Homes
and Industrial Yards - Batch Plant Ready Mixed Concrete to any specifications, for any purpose required - Rock Blasting - Ditching - etc.
He built five dams in the fall of 1959, the cost of which exceeded $100,000.
A decade earlier, in 1948 he constructed the roadbeds for
several spurs in the Canadian National Railways yards at
Atikokan.
He also built the radar station at Atikokan. The development of the mine required the building of a town. As a consequence Armstrong dug many 'of the sewer and waterworks
trenches, laid the "mains," and built the streets.
Since a lot of new homes were being built to house the
influx of workmen and businessmen and their families into
Atikokan, much of the ready-mix concrete was supplied by
Armstrong. He also built a dam at the headwaters of the
Atikokan river which controls the town's water supply.
One of Armstrong's more spectacular road construction
feats occured at the causeway. Look up at the girders and deck
of the high level structure. Note how high they are - over
40 feet above water level. He took the sub-contract for lifting
and placing those huge 65-ton concrete girders in place up there
He did this unusually difficult job in winter, using the Rainy
Lake's ice surface as a platform for his cranes and hoists.
To make the ice strong enough to carry this immense weight
he increased the ice thickness three feet over all of the working
area.
No man anywhere, certainly not in the district, has walked
more miles over muskeg, swamp, hills and valleys, through
the roughest terrain, in search of gravel, than has George
Armstrong. He probably knows where every gravel deposit
in the distr1d of Rainy River is located, whether or not it is
accessible and what it would cost to move it.
And speaking of moving, George's crew moved a massive
2-storey frame building, 128 feet long and 30 feet wide, from
the Canadian National freight yards, along the railroad to the
Frog Creek crossing, thence over the railway tracks and onward to his gravel pits where it is now a huge warehouse, etc.
It required about a half million dollars worth of equipment
to do this :iob. There was 145 thousand board feet of lumber
in the building.
George has attracted to his organization an extremely
competent crew of men who work well as a team. He is a very
hard worker and so are they. He is unstinting in his praise of
his men and gives them credit where due.
Always alert to making a dollar where possible, George
recognized, in one of the rock cuts a mile east of Bear Passage on highway 11, that copper was present. There was a good
showing. He staked the grounds, contacted a mining company,
received a deposit and option, and the company started drilling,
with further investigation contemplated this year.
George advises that 95 per cent of his crew are from Fort
Frances or Atikokan or other parts of the Rainy River district.
In our 57th year of service to
Northwestern Ontario
i
We're Fort William's largest, most modern
department store and we're proud of it. We're
also proud of the complete selection of quality
merchandise we carry for every member of
the family, for the home, garden and sportsman. You'll love our gift shops too!
Fort William
Stores in the
Heart of Town
300 PIT ROAD 2 - FORT FRANCES, ONTARIO
STORES IN FORT WILLIAM -
Area Code 807 - 27 4-3294
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
RED ROCK -
SCHRIEBER -
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
BEARDMORE
GERALDTON -
MARATHON
�COME TO THE ...
Canadian Lakehead
FORT WILLIAM
ONTARIO
PORT ARTHUR
Twenty-six grain elevators dominate the waterfront at ·Port Arthur, Ontario, making it the
greatest grain storage area in the world. The elevators have a capacity of 110,000,000
bushel&. The cities of Port Arthur and Fort William, are known as a Head of the Lakes,
western terminus of the St. Lawrence Seaway. (Canadian Government Travel Bureav Photo.)
A Metropolitian Community of Over 100,000 People!
* Excellent accomn1odation
* Big city abnosphere
* Fine shopping centres
* Exquisite cuisine
* Boundless wilderness in the centre of Canada
* Game fish trophies
Road Contractors
Save Money
For Taxpayers
Roads cost a lot of money but on the other hand good road
beds with tirc,;t rate surfaces to economically carry motor vehicular traffic involve a lot more work than meets the eye.
Besides the actual construction of a first class highway, of
which the newer portions of Highway Eleven are samples,
there is the planning, surveying, cutting timber for right of
way, engineering, supervision, etc., etc. All this in addition
to the actual construction or building of the roadbed, provision
for proper drainage, and paving of the road surface.
Because this highway through the eastern part of the
Rainy River district traverses extremely rugged terrain a lot
of rock blasting was necessary, a lot of rock had to be hauled,
and a lot of sand and gravel had also to be hauled, some of it
for considetable distances.
Consequently only those road building contractors with a
lot of heavy equipment were competently equipped to do this
kind of a job satisfactory to the rigid inspection of the Ontario
Department of Highways.
These requirements for tremendous capital outlay for
equipment, combined with "Know-how" in economic use and
proper maintenance of this large and expensive machinery,
narrows down the field of road building contractors who are
competent to bid on these kinds of jobs.
Nevertheless competition is keen, and bidding is at times
extremely low in consideration of the work involved.
Road building contractors are in business to make money.
But they can only make money if they are working on road
building jobs. To get one of these jobs the road contractor has
to be a low bidder. He has to know, or ought to know in any
event, how he can do a job for less money than his competitor
and still make a profit so that he can stay in business.
Once a road contractor's bid is accepted by the Ontario
Department of Highways the contractor is required to fulfill
the contract according to all specifications involved, which in
the case of Highway Eleven between Fort Frances and Atikokan means a first class highway in every respect.
Unforseen difficulties encountered in the road building
job can nullify a contractor's intended profit; on the other hand
some work, because of ideal weather, or other factors, can
move ahead more readily than anticipated and a profit larger
than anticipated can result.
In the main, however, the road building contractors, with
their immense investment in equipment, the know-how of their
management and supervisory staffs, and the loyalty of their
men, results in substantial dollar savings to the taxpayers
in the building of their highways.
BOX 2000, PORT ARTHUR - FORT WILLIAM, ONT.
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
" By the end of 1965, more than JO million
tons of iron ore will have been mined from
Caland's open pit operations. The mine started
production in I 960."
Caland Facts:
Annual wages and salaries
Annual costs of goods and services
purchased in Northwestern
Ontario
Annual cost of other goods and
services
Annual rail freight cost
Capital investment, including $15
million pell.et plant under
construction
$ 2,500,000
$ 1,500~000
$ 2,750,000
$ 4,500,000
$75,000,000
Film available telling the Caland Story
CALAND ORE
For further information contact -
LAKEHEAD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
We hail the opening of the new highway
as an economic stimulant to the area
and a tribute to those who
made it possible.
l'ully Modem Motel and Houaekeeping Cottages-4 piece bathrooms
On Sylvan Lake, Highway II. 5 miles east of Alikokan
Safe swlmmlnq beach-Dlnlnq Room overlooking lake
Boats, canoes, motors for N!nt--Oulflttlng-Guldes
Centmlly located for the many scenic and fishing lakes
Phone 6888
Box 1390
Atikokan. Ontario
YOUR HOSTS, BEN ANO VI EYTON
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
COMPANY LIMIT ED
1
ATIKOKAN, ONTARIO
�Bill's Barges Helped
Build Highway No. 11
Back in l!Hl or 1912 the late Bruce Lloyd commenced outfitting canoe excursions on Rainy Lake and its countless bays.
The business grew until he had dozens of canoes on the lakes
some of them going as far north as Hudson Bay. In ~
sense it was the beginning of a rapidly expanding tourist industry for the Fort Frances area which has steadily increased
year after year to the present day.
Ultimately in 1940 he had two large cruisers, the Belle
Isle. and the Cascadia, operating on a daily service to the
Devils Cascades at the north end of Rainy Lake.
Roads, aircraft, tourist outfitters camps, motels, etc.
entered the scene and strenuous canoe trips became less popular.
Mr. Lloyd's son Bill, who literally "grew up on the water "
sensed that although canoes were dwindling in popularity the~e
was an increasing need for equipment to carry freight by
water.
His hunch paid off. Lloyds Tug and Barge Service has
h~uled much of the equipment to the construction sites along
Highway 11 ~here there was. no other feasible way to get it
over _to the Job. Not only did he transport equipment and
scpphes for the Department of Highways survey crews but he
also water-hauled much of that used by North Shore Temiskaming and Hacquoil, all of whom were prime contra~tors on
Highway 11 construction.
_In fact he also transported on barges much of Hacquoil's
eqmpment from Bear Passage to Little Grassy Lake or in
other words to Mine Centre. One barge load was vaiued at
One of Lloyd's barges moving some of Hacquoils
equipment ( a $126,00 load) from Bear Passage
to Shoal Lake to the job location at early stages
of building Highway No. 11.
$126,000.
PRECAST PRESTRESSED BRIDGE SECTION·S
BUILT by PITTS for RAINY LAKE CAUSEWAY
Under contract for the Department of Highways of Ontario
C. A. Pitts forces precast and prestressed by post tension ing,
256 concrete bridge sectio.!'s for the Ra iny lake Causeway,
located three miles east of Fort Frances, Ontario.
Pier caps, placing cone in anchorage at opposite and to jack
Bill commenced providing service on Highway 11 from the
first day that Boyle Brothers started diamond drilling the lake
bottom to locate a right of way on which to build the causeway
across the ~ake. In fact eyen to this day, or a few days ago he
was supplymg barge eqmpment for divers who are improving
the log glance dam directly north of the causeway. Purpose of
this dam, perpendicular to the high level structure is to keep
any part of 2 log boom completely out of the boat or ship
channel.
. Bill has a!so supplied service to Ontario Hydro, along this
highway, to timber operators, tourist camps, private summer
resort owners and others.
He also took members of the Fort Frances Chamber of
Commerce and officials of the Ontario government directly
al~ng the centre line of the causeway when there was only a
pair of surveyor's checkerboard signs on either side of the
lake w~ere the line actually was going to be established.
s_o 1t may truthfully be said that our first ride easterly
on Highway 11, but over the waters of Rainy Lake was in Bill
Lloyd's big tug boat.
'
We are extremely proud to have
had a prominent part in
Highway 11 construction
through seven years' utilization
of our
water transporation service.
LLOYD'S
The complete contract called for 168 - 65-foot girders,
eight - 81-foot girders and 80 precast boxes for pier caps,
and w~s completed well within the scheduled period.
Tug and Barge Service
Marine Freight Transportation
Air view of concrete girders and pier cap boxes.
MARI NE CONSTRUCTION, ROADS, BRIDGES,
PUBLIC WORKS, FOUNDATIONS, POWER DEVELOPMENTS
C.A.PITTS
GENERAL CONTRACTOR LTD.
TORONTO, ONT.
■
W. A. LLOYD - 315 ARMIT AVENUE
FORT FRANCES, ONTARIO
PHONE 274-6916
C. A. Pitt~ General Contractors lim\ted, Toronto, built or " poured"
the pre-stressed concret.a girders, etc., with expansion joints as shown
a~:,ve so as t~ provide for extreme temperature changes of the
ngorous local climate.
MONTREAL , QUE.
Highway 11 Offici11I Opening Souvenir Supplement of
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
�Besides Building Lake Terminal Elevators, Mining Structures, etc.
History of HighwaJ Eleven
Barnett-McQueen Built 1'hree No. 11 Bridges
One day in the late 1950's V. B. Cook, the young chief
engineer of an old Lakehead construction company, returned
from Toronto with three signed contracts tucked away in his
briefcase. These contracts committed the company to the construction of the complete plant at North Coldstream Copper
Mines; the very large and towering headframe at Geco Mines
at Manitouwadge and the building of a bridge over Little Pie
River, all in Ontario.
If at all needed, such documents provided ample evidence
that the half-century-old organization, Barnett-McQueen Company Limited of Fort William, was still operating in the major'
leagues.
Findley R. McQueen a red-headed Maratimer from New
Glasgow, Nova Scotia has taken some hard blows. The 1890
depression forced him to leave New Glasgow and head for
Chicago. There he constructed the site and erected the building~
for the 1894 worlds fair. Another depression put him in contact
with financier L. C. Barnett. Subsequently Barnett-McQueen,
a Canadian company, appeared on the scene to build huge
grain elevators at the Lakehead ports. The company is still
in the elevator building, repair and expansion business, but
their field today is much more diversified and Canada-wide.
This came about largely as the result of H. Cook becoming
part-owner in 1934. He went to war in 1939, was invalided out
near the end of the war and a new generation of Cooks appeared on the scene.
An unusual family it is. P. R. Cook, president of the
company is a 1943 Queen's University graduate. V. B. Coo~,
chief engineer, is a 1949 University of Toronto graduate m
merchanical engineering. J. H. Cook, another officer of the
company, who also handles J. H. Cook and Associates _in C~lgary and Medicine Hat, is a 1951 graduate from the Umvers1ty
of Manitoba, with a degree in architecture.
Chief engineer, V. B. Cook speaks rather wistfully of the
war years. "We had a distinguished record," he relates, "and
were one of the few Canadian companies to lose money during the war. My brother joined the company after the war ~n
a temporary basis to see if he could get it on its feet. He did
- and the Cooks have been in it up to their necks ever since."
Diversification beyond the traditional elevatoi; business
appeared to be a solution. They found it in erection of schools,
hospitals and radar stations, then moved !nto e~gineering ~nd
erection of heavier type structures, includmg bridges. They ve
built three on Highway 11, the one at Rainy River, at ~ear
Passage (longest welded single span in Ontario) and at Crilly,
(an entirely new type of structure, more or less A-frame,
requiring substantially less steel than traditional bridges spanning comparable distances.)
Each bridge, as do most of Ontario's bridges' possesses
aesthetic qualities underneath as well as above. Persons travelling on the highway note the tops-side aesthetics whi~e ·those
traveling by boat toward these structures see architectural
beauty in their abutments and undersides.
International bridge connecting Baudette on Minnesota Highway No. 11 with
Rainy River on western terminus of Toronto to Rainy River, Ontario Highway
No. 11. Note unique anti-snow bridge decking. A Barnett-McQueen (Fort William)
bridge structure.
Bear Passage bridge 25 miles east of Fort Frances, spans Rainy Lake. It was a
1964 design ,1ward winner, featuring longest welded plate girder span built
in Canada. The 491-foot bridge, including pouring of 1700 cubic yards of concrete counter balances is unique in Canada in that no piers could be erected to
support the bridge structure. Erected under adverse conditions in middle of
winter, to hasten highway construction, by Barnett•McQueen, Fort William. Magnificent scenic views.
The People of the
MUNICIPALITY OF
LAVALLEE
are extremely proud to participate in this
issue commemorating the dedication and official
opening of the final section of Highway No. 11.
Being strictly agricultural, it is our hope this new
road will help in more readily getting our
products to market. We trust some of our produce
will find a ready market at the Canadian Lakehead
cities. An excellent municipality in which to live.
For information contact Municipal Clerk,
Devlin, Ontario.
The Crilly bridge across Seine River, is a unique structure in that because of its
A-frame design it requires much less steel than normally would be required to
span an equiv.ilent distance. Erected by Barnett-McQueen, Fort William. Marvellous fishing here. Majestic scenery.
- photo by A. J. Klause
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
The Fulfillment of a Long Held Dream
"We've got to build a road connecting Mine Centre and
Toronto."
That was the concensus of a group of members of the
Ontario Provincial Parliament assembled in Mine Centre in
1898.
They had come from Toronto as far west as Rat Portage,
(now Kenora) then boarded the Keenora for a trip south on
Lake of the Woods, and past Morson, up the Rainy River
easterly past the Town of Rainy River and on through the
Manitou Rapids, on to the foot of Couchiching Falls, separating
two rather insignificant river side villages of Fort Frances and
International Falls. Thence to another boat, up Ranier Rapids
and easterly on Rainy Lake to Mine Centre.
They had come all the way from Toronto to see first hand
a roaring, most promising and producing gold mining camp.
Mine Centre gold mining rated high back in those days.
Today, June 28, 1965, the highway, thought necessary in
1898, is being completed and is being dedicated for the use of
public vehicular traffic.
Much happened in the interval. The Klondike gold rush
at~racted miners and prospectors from everywhere, including
Mme Centre. The gold boom burst, and Mine Centre, in spite
of sporadic efforts from time to time to revive gold mining
there, ceased to be an important gold mining camp. Hence,
no need for the mooted road.
Then in 1905 the railroad, which financially bankrupt its
builders, came through the District of Rainy River, necessitating impcrtant divisional points in Rainy River and in
Atikokan. A rail line south to Duluth mooted shortly thereafter
and later its construction, had the effect of inducing the building of papermills at International Falls, Minnesota, and Fort
Frances, Ontario, and attracted a large sawmill to be established with J. A. Mathieu, its manager, at Fort Fraoces.
Thus this town started gaining in stature and importance.
S~bsequently, high quality hematite (iron) ore was finally
discovered near Atikokan, under Steep Rock Lake in massive
quantities which resulted in two large-tonnage producing iron
mines, Steep Rock Iron Mines Limited and later Caland Ore
Company Limited, a subsidiary of Inland Steel of Chicago.
Even before iron mines started shipping ore from Atikokan
Fort Frances and Rainy River had reached a stature requir:
ing roads that would carry reasonably heavy traffic. Moreover
access by highway to other parts of Canada became imparative
with the development of this area largely engendered by the
expanding operations of the papermill at Fort Frances.
A road had meanwhile connected Kenora with Winnipeg.
Later, in 1935, a road was continued on from Nestor Falls to
Kenora, thus giving the paper milling, flour milling, sawmilling and recreational town of Kenora direct access to the
United States tourist market.
About the year 1924 the Northwestern Ontario Chambers
of Commerce was formed. Dryden had no access to the outside
world. Fort Frances and the Rainy River district wanted a
road directly east to the Canadian Lakehead cities. At Dryden,
in that year, a compromise was reached that since Dryden
was entirely without outside access by road while Fort Frances
could go south over the papermill railroad bridge onto the
Minnesota highway system, Dryden should be given priority by
the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of Commerce,
and that the Rainy River district road be the next one to be
promoted and built to the Canadian Lakehead.
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
And thus, once Dryden had a road for its people to travel
east and west, now the Trans-Canada highway, the road from
Fort Frances to Atikokan became the number one resolution
at each convention of the Northwestern Ontario Associated
Chambers, in fulfillment of the 1924 Dryden agreement.
Meanwhile Atikokan got such a shot in the arm from the
iron mine development and ore shipping that a town of a few
hundred peo~le grew quickly to one of about 5,000 persons.
The automobile age was now fully upon us. Obviously a road
was a necessity - and one was built to Shebandowan thus
providing access to the Trans-Canada highway and to the
Lakehead cities, or elsewhere.
'
The years were passing, the 1924 Dryden agreement was
partially forgotten by some sections of Northwestern Ontario,
and the Fort Frances to Lakehead road fell from top priority
at the association conventions to second place.
It is understandable that the Canadian Lakehead cities
wished to shift priority to completion of the Lake Superior
North Shore route from Marathon on through Wawa, to connect'
with Sault Ste. Marie, (a section of the Trans-Canada highway).
This road would give heavy tourist travel access to the
Lakehead from the densely populated areas of northern
Michigan and those adjacent. The effect on the Lakehead,
when this road was completed for traffic, a few years ago, was
electric. Some say it increased the Lakehead tourist traffic as
much as 90 per cent in the first year following the opening.
Meanwhile, lacking top position priority in the Northwestern Ontario road program, which had once been generally
promised by all Chambers, the project of spanning, with a
first-rate highway, the 85 miles between Atikokan and Rainy
Lake (five miles east of Fort Frances) was engineered, right
of way cleared and section after section of the road was built
over a period of about seven years, until today the highway is
officially open for public travel.
It is a first-rate highway, complying to rigid Ontario
Department of Highways standards. In some respects it is
well that the building of this road was not done in the 1920's
and '30's, because road construction standards of those earlier
years were not as high as those of today, and it is conceivable
the road might have had to be rebuilt. As it is, the present
road bed is virtually permanent.
For Building Your LAKESHORE HOME
or town or country residence, or a service station, garage,
or a complete tourist camp. For any type building see us We can do the complete job (arrange for landscaping, plumbing, etc. if you wish). Latest plans and ideas for summer
cottages or we will draw plans to your exact wishes.
FULL LINE BUILDING SUPPLIES
PRE-CUT TO YOUR SPECIFICATIONS
WILLER LUMBER
AND BUILDERS SUPPLY LIMITED
815 Williams Ave. -
Phones 274-5515 - 274-5636
CONTRACTORS -
SUPPLIERS
�THE TOWN THAT THE MINE BUILT
and the econo1nic influen('e its deuelopnient had not only
on Northweste,.n Ontario, but in hostening Highway Elei,en
by R.H. Larson
They're part of
your telephone service, too ...
Over 100 trucks and tractors, post-hole diggers and
cranes - many purchased from local dealers throughout Northwestern Ontario - represent an investment of some $400,000. Their purpose: to help
make your telephone service as efficient as any
in Canada!
That means more than just telephone service, of
course. A region as important as ours must be up-todate in every form of telecommunications. That's the
job these vehicles on the new Highway No. 11, and
their Bell crews, are working at.
There are 300 of us whose homes are right here in
this region. And we're all living by that little word
which you may have noticed in our Bell crest.
It says: "Service".
THE
BELL TELEPHONE
COMPANY OF CANADA
It required but a single day to complete the entire task.
It was back in 1935, just 30 years ago. The Fort Frances
Times required more subscribers and one of the ways to acquire them was to visit peopl~'s ho!Iles and as~ the~ to su!>scribe for our newspaper. This I did one day m Atikokan m
1935 - visited every home there at that time in a single day.
It was then but a Canadian National Railways roundhouse
terminal in the steam engine era.
But that was before the discovery that iron ore lay under
the waters of Steep Rock Lake rather than around it, as prospectors had assumed. The late Dr. Mackenzie of Fort Frances
had spent a lot of money, and many prospectors spent many
hundreds of hours, and money too, unsuccessfully seeking the
huge iron ore deposits which they were sure lay buried in the
vicinity of Atikokan.
Neil Edmonstone, vice-president of Steep Rock Iron Mines
Limited often comments that the reason these earlier prospectors failed to discover the main ore body is they were
afraid of getting their feet wet.
At any rate the late Julian Cross, wet feet or dry, con..
eluded that if the ore was not to be found on the shores of Steep
Rock Lake, the showings were so strong that it obviously had
to be t:nder the deep waters of the lake. He reasoned correctly.
Subsequently several ore bodies were found, each under what
had once been the lake.
Ore, under 80 to 300 feet of water and as much as a
200-foot depth of underwater silt, is of little or no economic
value unless it can be mined. Shaft mining at the outset proved
unsuccessful because of the water pressure and fractured
structure of the rock which resulted in flooding the mine.
What to do now'? M. S. "Pop" Fotheringham, who was on
the scene living in a tent when operations first started, and
now is president of the Company, concluded the ore would
have to be extracted by the open pit method, for some years at
least.
This m~ant obviously that the lake had to be drained and
all of the underwater silt and boulder overburden removed so
as to get at the valuable and high grade hematite ore. To accomplish this colossal feat required the constructi!)n of dams
to isolate the portion of the lake in which the or,e•,-bodies lay,
the diversion of the Seine River around the la~rough the
man made Esker Cut, a series of rock and gravel cuts, .:the
elimination of a hydro-electric power house, and finally -the·
pumping out of Steep Rock Lake to reach the ore.
.
The silt overburden had to be pumped out by electric
dredges that is, provided you continued mixing enough water
with the silt and rock so that the dredge pumps would suck
it up boost it through huge flexible pipe lines to the shore
pump which in turn boosted it high up over the rocky shore
and over int') a dewatered bay. Dredging was not only by far
the cheaper method, but also the OQlY feasible one.
At one time the combined requirements of all the barge
and shore pumps equalled the total output of a hydro-electric
power station on the Nipigon River.
.
This extremely costly development program m order to
get at the usable iron ore, required fabulous sums of money.
Through the efforts of Steep Rock's former pres~dents, Joe
Errington and Donald M. Hogarth, Cyrus Eaton, Cleveland
financier was brought into the development of Steep Rock
and rais~d most or much of the development capital required,
which accounts for his interest in this venture.
It has been a good venture for a lot of people in the District of Rainy River, as well as for• those of the Canadian
Lakehead cities, and in fact for much of Northwestern Ontario
generally.
Built, managed and owned by Canadians
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
Crilly Bridge under construction - final piece of work on Highway 11
Following the original exploration, drilling and major engineering studies from 1929 to 1942, and the river diversion
project from 1943, the Steep Rock range was brought into production in 1945. Ultimately a town of about 5,000 people; now
7,000 was brought into being. These people required access by
road to the outside world. Thus, Steep Rock Iron Mines Limited
was in effect responsible for the building of a road which would
connect Atikokan to Shebandowan, which in turn was connected to the Trans-Canada highway by a winding bush road,
now completely rebuilt, and thence on to Fort William and
Port Arthur.
The economy of Atikokan, and indeed of the Rainy River
district and the Lakehead, in particular, was bolstered further
when Caland Ore Company, a subsidiary of Inland Steel of
Chicago, came into the picture in 1953 as the result of a royalty agreement consummated between Caland and Steep Rock.
It was interesting to note .that, over the years many thousands of people benefited directly and indirectly as a result
of the Steep Rock ral)ge-..development, which incidentally produces mor-e tonna~ '8f iron ore than any other part of Ontario.
Many ~~sinesses came into being; a few went broke
for vanious reasons. Aside from actual mining and mine development work, hundreds of new jobs came into being, and
hundreds of persons who had jobs, received larger pay
cheques, partially as a result of the development of the Steep
Rock iron range.
The money Steep Rock .Iron Mines received for the sale
Qf its iron ore was widely distributed as it passed on through
the hand of employees and suppliers (not to mention taxes) and
service industries, then on to other service industries, and
their employees, and so on ad infinitum. Not only did Northwestern Ontario benefit in the exchange, but to a lesser degree
other provinces as well.
Management personnel of the Steep Rock Mine worked
constantly and in closest harmony with people of the west end
of the Rainy River district to urge earliest possible completion
of the "missing 90 mile link" in Highway Number Eleven
which would, among other important advantages, unite the
district in a single unit and thus ensure and encourage vital
closer contact.
Some companies specialize in being good corporate citizens. My experiences and observations involving Steep Rock
Iron Mines Limited lead me to place this particular company
in that classification.
Not only is Atikokan a town that the mine built; the benefits overflowed beyond a single town and in some degree stimulated the economy of a large and important sector of Ontario.
�The Voyageur's Highway
Building Better Roads
for the Future of Northwestern Ontario
HACQUOIL CONSTRUCTION LIMITED are proud to have played
a major role in the building of Highway Eleven, unitinq the Westem and Eastern sections of Rainy River District and for the first
time truly joining this progressive industrial, tourist and agricultural area to the Canadian Lakebead.
Good Roads require good men, good equipment and know-bow
. . . we are proud to possess these quallflcationa, assuring the
people of Ontario the highest standards of road building for their
tax dollar . . . building roads that will carry Northwestern Ontario
through the prosperous future of the next quarter century.
May the many benefits which will accrue from the completion of
Highway Eleven be reftected to everyone who lives ln this area.
FACTS ON HIGHWAY 11
(from Trans Canada iunction to Fort Frances)
►
Hacquoil's constructed in excess of
75 miles of Highway Eleven frorn
Shabaqua to Fort Frances.
► Our payroll on the project exceeded
$2,500,000 - most of which stayed
in Northwestern Ontario.
►
Over $2,000,000 of road construction equipment was employed on
various jobs on Highway Eleven.
►
Paving of the Noden Causeway 1s
an example of the fine paving we
have done in this area.
CONSTRUCTION LIMITED
MONTREAL
STREET
FO RT WI LLI AM,
MEMBER: ONTARIO ROAO
0 NT AR I 0
BUILOF.:RS ASSOCIATION
BRIDGES• HIGHWAYS• PAVING• SEWERS• BUILDING CONSTRUCTION
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
Why call Highway 11 the voyageurs highway?
Because, that in effect is what it was. Early fur traders
came down from Fort Albany (the oldest continuously inhabited
settlement in Ontario) to the Longlac-Geraldton vicinity, across
to Lake Nipigon, down to Lake Superior, (or westerly by more
northern routes) along the north shore of this largest fresh
water lake in America, to Prince Arthur landing, later Port
Arthur and Fort William.
They then took a southerly route to about Pigeon River,
walked the Grand Portage, and paddled westward along what
are today international boundary waters to Fort Frances and
westward. When the government of the United States started
collecting duty on Canadian furs transported over that route
the Canadian traders chose a more northerly route to avoid
United States customs collectors. They went from the Lakehead
via Dog Lake, Lac De Mille Lacs, Pickerel Lake, through what
is now Quetico Provincial Park and westward to the east
arm of Rainy Lake.
It is this route which Highway 11 closely parallels, and
so, as you travel this route and if you feel you're partaking of a
bit of early Canadian history - well, that's most assuredly
your privilege.
Speaking of voyageurs, they were the men who paddled
the big freighter canoes, and singing their French Canadian
songs while they were paddling. (We of today would probably
be content with puffing to regain our breath or conserve our
energy.)
It is said that a voyageur must be strong .in muscle, yet
short in stature, not over five-foot-two. The reason was astute
and economic. These were freight canoes, the shorter the
paddler the more room there was in the canoe for freight.
Moreover, it is said he was required to carry two 90-pound
packs on foot in each single trip over a portage. Some men!
And they even sang while they worked! It is further recorded
that nearing the end of long portages they ran foot races,
carrying the two packs to see who would be first to reach the
end of the portage! How this was accomplished over a single
foot path we will never know. Perhaps there were multiple
paths.
A parade of 1965 vintage voyaguers under the causeway is
a feature of highway dedication ceremonies. None of them
are required to carry either one or two ninety-pound packs.
Lake trout fishing al sunset on Eva Lake, just off Highway 11
Canadian Lakehead, Mecca for Millions
The Twiil Cities of Port Arthur and Fort William,· commonly known as the Canadian Lakehead, nestle around the shore
of Thunder Bay in almost the exact centre of Canada. A seaport
of renown, being the third largest in Canada, it is known as
the Granary of the World, because of its 26 huge cement grain
elevators extending around the harbour.
In addition, 4 paper mills contribute huge quantities of
newsprint for export to world ports. The forest cover of Northwestern Ontario hides untold fortunes in minerals as well as
the wood used in developing forest products including lumber,
paper, plywood, etc.
During the summer months the Lakehead and area is a
mecca for the ever increasing numbers of travellers who find
the fishing good and also the clean fresh air of the north
country. Scenery is fabulous and awe inspiring to the city
dweller. Roads are now in excellent condition and lead into a
wilderness area of lakes and streams off the main highways.
Trans-Canada highway circles the north shore of huge Lake
Superior and continues through the Lakehead on its way to the
Western prairies.
Fall weather brings hunters from far and wide to stalk
the mighty moose and the agile deer. Perhaps the largest
known reserves of moose are in the area surrounding the
Lakehead. In the midst of the hunting season the tree leaves
change colour, bringing a new loveliness to every hill.
The fun seasons run their full course, as the snow flies for
the first time in November and thickens up at Christmas to
create the best skiing conditions east of the Rockies. Four ski
hills within 10 miles of the cities' centres, give easy access to
pleasurable and modern recreation.
The Lakehead area is steeped in historical lore. Fur traders
and voyageurs paddled the north shore of Lake Superior to
land at Prince Arthur's Landing (now Port Arthur) and Fort
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
William, in preparation for their stream and lake paddling
through the \\'ilderness to Winnipeg and the west. A focal point
for trans-shipment to the west in olden days, it remains so for
the modern ships of today. _
"Nanabijou" the Sleeping Giant, guards the harbour of
the Lakehead. Legend says this Indian sleeping giant guards
a tremendous silver mine at the end of the Sibley. There is
much truth in this, as the Silver Inlet Mine was the first in the
area and gave up much wealth before being reclaimed by the
waters of Lake Superior. A panoramic view of the harbour and
the Sleeping Giant may be seen from Hillcrest Park, Port
Arthur and Mount McKay, Fort William.
Majestic Kakabeka Falls, 16 miles west of Canadian Lakenead
�W. G. Noden was Highway 11 Spark Plug
Via the moccasin trail, the word was getting around that
a boy was born in a log house in Quetico Park to Mr. and
Mrs. Sam Noden. They named the boy William. Some years
later Sam Noden fulfilled the final subcontract on the building
of the Canadian National Railways causeway which crosses
Rainy Lake, starting five miles east of Fort Frances. Rock fill
for this job was blasted out of the C.N.R. "borrow pit" to the
east o! what is today about the midway point of the now internationally famous and renowned 3½-mile highway crossing
or causeway.
When the work was finished, some unused black powder
had t~ be destroyed for reasons of safety. Sam Noden's
son, Bill, carted the unused black powder, in many trips from
the "borrow pit," in a wheel barrow, and dumped it into that
PEl!t of Rainy Lake now lying between the highway and the
railway, at a point where the railway originally crossed the
lake.
Some years later William married a young lady, one of
the Sherriff girls, Kate, of Fort Frances. It was a most natural
thing that their honeymoon should be in Quetico Park. While
paddling their canoe along the international waterways separating Canada and the United States. An Ontario forests (for
recreation) policy was clearly evident even at that time. The
American shores were nude of trees (they had been cut right
to the water line) whereas the Ontario shores were lush green
forests for as far back as you could see from a canoe - for 300
feet at least.
Among his other activities William G. Noden was a hardware merchant in Fort Frances. His partner was another
civic-minded person dedicated to public service for his home
town - Ralph Gillmor. While Bill and Ralph were on opposite
sides of the political fence - the arguments were truly something to hear - nevertheless when there was anything which
either of them could do for Fort Frances, or for the District
of Rainy River, arguments ceased and action resulted.
When in the 1940's, Bill Noden was prevailed upon to allow
his name to go before the district Conservative convention,
he pledged then, and to this day has never wavered from that
pledge, that he would use every effort at his command and
every persuasive ounce of energy he possessed to see that a
road connecting Fort Frances and the Canadian Lakehead
was built. Thus would the District of Rainy River, in truth as
well as in name, become effectively an integrated part of
Ontario.
There are but four members representing Northern Ontario
in the 90-member Ontario Provincial Parliament - and even
those four did not apparently see eye to eye concerning the
building of this highway.
First there was the road to Atikokan. Bill pulled his weight
on that project. He had a tremendous assist from the economic
fact that the Steep Rock iron range had come into being, resulting in a town of about 5000, and a 77-mile highway outlet
for these people was a further economic fact with which the
government quite naturally must reckon.
But the extension of that highway westward 85 miles,
including a 3½-mile crossing of Rainy Lake to the west shore
was quite another matter. True enough it would connect and
make of the political or administrative unit of Rainy River
district also an economic unit. The population was small; in
some areas the road would traverse it was virtually non-existant. The distance was appreciable. The water crossing over
a lake with an unstable bottom was hazardous and extremely
costly. Much of the terrain was granite-hard pre-cambrian
rock, with high ridges and deep gorges, and muskeg valleys.
To convince the other members of the legislature, the
ministers of various departments, and the civil servants involved that this project must be undertaken was no small task.
Bill Noden certainly had his work cut out for him. Obviously he did not accomplish this colossal feat alone. He would be
the last to claim all of the credit. There was on hand to help
him, even to precede his entry into the fray, the various district chambers of commerce, political associations and mu-
nicipal councils. The Northwestern Associated Charnbers of
Commerce played an extremely prominent part over many
years in convincing the government of this economic necessity.
The union of municipalities of Northwestern Ontario, formed
something over a decade ago, and the Northwestern Ontario
Development Association also played a part. The newspapers of
the area, particularly those at Rainy River, Fort Frances,
Atikokan and the two Lakehead cities devoted many pages or
sound and constructive argument as to why this road had to
be built.
Each member elected to the Ontario Provincial Parliament is quite naturally expected to exercise his ability as a
representative of his constituents to see that their interests
received due consideration. This is democracy in action. It
is to the credit of many members that they also possess a
wider perspective and work and legislate in the interests of
Ontario as a whole, looking to the future as well as serving
the present. Were this not the case it is doubtful if this dedication ceremony today of the opening of another new and impressive highway would be possible.
In this respect particular credit should be accorded the
Prime Minister and his immediate predecessor, the Minister
of Highways and at least three or four who also preceded him
in this high office, the various members of the treasury board
and the treasurer himseH, not forgetting those men in the
Department of Highways who make, or help make the decisions
as to which Ontario highways are to be built today and those
which will be built another day.
Obviously, as may be seen, the dedication of this highway
as a thoroughfare of the finest type of construction, now open
to public travel, is the result of an infinite amount of co-operation and teamwork involving members of the legislature, both
government and opposition, members of the cabinet, of civil
service and the general public, including .individuals as well
as organizations.
But, to keep everything moving in a co-ordinated manner
toward the desired end, a "spark plug" was needed.
That man was the member for Rainy River, W. G. Noden,
who around the legislature halls of Queen's Park, in recent
years became facetiously, yet affectionately known by members, opposition as well as government, as "Causeway Bill."
C. A.. Pitts Prefabricated
Prestressed Concrete Girders
Etc., for the Causeway
A lot or people have benefitted from the actual construction
of Highway Eleven. This includes the Indian band who live on
Couchiching reserve adjoining the northeast edge of Fort
Frances.
C. A. Pitts General Contractors Limited, Toronto, required
a large and level land area comparatively close to the site of
the causeway on which to construct the prestressed concrete
components which, a year or two later, were to be assembled
to form the causeway bridge structures. There were about
300 of them as shown in a photo in the C. A. Pitts advertise-ment in this picture supplement of the Times-Bulletin.
To acquire such a large land area the C. A. Pitts people
and Department of Highways rented a field from the Indian
band, constructed gravel roads, a portable railroad, office
buildings, warehouses, etc. When the job was finished and all
bridge components moved to the causeway, the area was converted back to an agricultural field.
The fantastic part of this work was that these huge components and girders, some as heavy as 65 tons, were moved
by portable railway to the lakeshore, loaded on huge barges,
and FLOATED over to the causeway site.
The Indian band also benefitted financially through sale of
large quantities of gravel for the causeway road approaches.
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
Engineering Breakthroughs accomplished by
Foundation Company on Causeway Engineering ·
embankments would displace the underlying soft clay.
'!o ensure displacement, sticks of self-propagating dynamite were detonated in the clay providing enough energy
to remould the clay and lower its shear strength.
By P. F. Andersen, P. Eng.
Foundation 9f Canada
• Engineering Corporation Limited
Although the demand for the Atikokan-Fort· Frances highway is as old as the communities it will now serve, Rainy
Lake has always remained the main obstacle and only
recent developments in Northwestern Ontario has justified
the expenditure for the crossing.
Following preliminary soil investigations conducted by
Geocon Ltd., the Department of Highways of Ontario select~ .a. route across Rainy Lake at its narrowest point in the
v1c1Illty. of Roc~y Inlet. Subsequent. ~esign of the causeway
and adJacent highway, and superv1s1on of construction for
part of the embankment fills and all of the structures on the
lake crossing were performed by the Foundation of Canada
Engineering Corporation Limited.
PHYSICAL CONDITIONS PROVIDE CHALLENGE
.The physical conditions of the 3½-mile lake crossing provides an interesting challenge to engineering skill. The
aver~g~ watei: depth encounter was 40 feet. The lake bottom
consIStmg mainly of soft varved clay in places 50 feet in
depth, overlies bedrock.
'
The causeway consists of two miles of rock embankment
an~ one mile of b~dge structure. Rock embankments were
bmlt by_ end dumpmg in shoal areas where the bottom clay
depth did not exceed 20 feet.
In order to obtain full stability, it was necessary that the
A MILLION YARDS OF FILL MATERIALS
Containing almost one million yards of fill materials the
embankments are 38 feet wide at the crown with a 22' foot
wide paved driving surface. Steel beam guide rails on either
side of the roadway extend the full length of the embankmen~. Much of the fill was placed during the winter when
the ice sheet on the lake reached thickness of 3 to 4 feet allowing tremendous loads to be hauled over ice roads which
~ere being ~onstantly maintained during the hauling' of the
fill by pumpmg and spraying large quantities of water over
the ice surface continuously.
,
The bridge structure, 6017 feet long is divided into three
separate units by two islands. The west half of the bridge
known as the High Level Section of the bridge structure'
provides 40 feet of clearance for large boats. The central:
and east half, known as the Low Level Section, clears the
water by 8 feet.
The substructures for the bridge consists of vertically-driven, concr~te-filled, s~l tube piles, founded on rock. The
average pile length IS 80 feet with pile diameters ranging
from 16 to 24 inches.
'
~xcept for . two 150 foot centre spans in the High Level
Bridge, the distance between pile bents is '¥1 feet throughout.
The superstructure consists almost entirely of precast,
(Continued on next page)
CHALLENGE
MET BY
FENCO
Twenty-five-and-a-half miles of roadway, including the key three-and-a-half miles of causew~y, was the challenge _met-:-and conquered by FENCO engineers. Today Rainy Lake Causeway
bridges the new Ontario Highway No. 11, opening the way to progiess and development in
Northwestern Ontario.
. Founda~ion of Canada_ ~ngineering Corporation Limited is proud to have been entrusted
~1th the de~1gn and supervISion of this multi-million dollar undertaking - another of the proJects on which we serve government, industry and commerce.
Complete Engineeiing Services from Consultation to Construction
IFENCOI
A member of the Foundation Group of Companies
St. John's -
Halifax -
Fredericton -
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
Montreal -
Hamilton -
Toronto_ Vancouver
�More A.bou.t Causeway
Rainy Lake Hotel Is Decided Asset to Fort Frances
(Continued from preceding page)
prestressed concrete units designed to encourage economical
mass production.
Tlie first task undertaken for the !bridge program was the
preparation of a storage -area for the bridge components.
For this purpose, 15 acres of flat land adjoining the Lake
were drained and serviced with roads and power lines.
The part of the storage yard nearest the lake served as a
casting yard for the heavy precast units, some of which
weigh 65 tons, in order that the haul from the storage to the
erection baz,ges be as short as possible.
All piles were driven by scow-mounted pile drivers. Most
of the precast units were also erected by floating equipment, ·although the precast girders fot the High Level
Bridge were erected in the winter from the ice, which was
increased to almost double its natural winter ithickness to
withstand with safety, the heavy load.
The prestressed girders for the two main spans were cast
in place, the supporting falsework being a steel truss which
was moved and reused eight times.
The toler.ance on dimensions for precast units, on pile
driving, and on the control survey required that the utmost
accuracy be applied to all phases of the worlr. The reinforced concrete deck slab was cast in place.
The road width is 28 feet with an asphalt wearing surface
.and three-foot wide curbs on either side.
The bridge contains approximately 28,000 cubic yards of
concrete, 3500 tons of steel piling material and 9000 feet of
aluminum guide rails.
Fort Frances is a Good
Town for Shopping
Normally one identifies the better shopping centres with
the larger cities. This, to some extent at least, is generally
true.
Fort Frances is not a large city. Population is slightly
under 10,000 so it is only a town.
It is, however, one of mid-Canada's most important ports
of entry for motor vehicles and one of the largest in all Canada for aircraft entry and exit.
The impact of this substantial amount of United States
tourist traffic has had the effect of stimulating good merchandising in attractive premises by competent, courteous and
helpful sales persons.
Although this is the stimulus which has had the effect
of "smartening up" Fort Frances stores, it constitutes by
no means the major volume of business. Sales to local district
and townspeople constitute, we would estimate, 80 per cent
of total business volume.
Yet, this added 15 to 20 per cent to annual sales has helped
provide the revenue needed for better and smarter stores,
clean and well lighted premises, excellent varieties of merchandise priced for the home market rather than for a transient
tourist trade.
On any visit to Fort Frances you are indeed most cordially
invited to call at the various modern up-to-date stores and see
for yourself what is available and which of your needs can
best be supplied in Fort Frances.
A mountain of rock was reduced to shattered rOC?k and rubble ~ith
a single blast when W. G. Noden, M.i'.P., second from right,
pressed down the detonating plunger. ~er Andersen~ author of the
accompanying article, is at left following blast, minus safety hat
which apparently Mr. Noden must have borrowed.
Many towns today would be better towns if they had a
better hotel.
Fort Frances is extremely fortunate in having on its main
thoroughfare, in the very heart of the shopping district, and
with ample down-town parking facilities, a smart, welloperated, modern, 60-room hotel. Most rooms have private
baths and all have telephones. The hotel is situated right on
Highway 11.
The Causeway Room, focal point of the h o t e 1, with its
large, colorful wall mural of the causeway, is quite widely
and most favorably known for-the finest cuisine and the
ultimate in service. Add to this room, the Canadian Room,
the Sportsman's Room, the Windsor Room, the Club Room
and the quite large Ballroom and you have a hotel that provides well for the needs, comfort and pleasure of its community residents and transient guests.
With these several rooms of varying size, the Rainy Lake
Hotel serves as the focal point of the town and district for
club luncheons, afternoon teas, evening and daytime meetings, banquets of varying sizes up to nearly 200 persons,
dances, conventions, wedding parties, family dinners, and
similar gatherings.
•
Fort Frances counts itself indeed fortunate that it can
boast of a hotel that so well serves the needs of its many
thousands of visitors and also those of its own residents.
Fort Frances is one of the fortunate towns which has a
good hotel.
Historical Sites along No. 11
West End of Causeway High level Bridge
structure under construction.
Piers which carry the superstructure at the highest portion of the
high level bridge partially completed,
Acknowledgements
Obviously we acknowledge with genuine gratitude the
assistance which has been provided by select advertisers in
the purchase of space, without which this somewhat unique
publication could not be produced. Special appreciation is
accorded to the Ontario Department of Travel and Publicity
and Department of Highways for substantial assistance and
loans of excellent photographs.
We further acknowledge most useful photographs taken by
Willard Price of Fort Frances, of which above three are
examples. Appreciation is further extended contributing authors of several excellent articles.
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
For those who like to see and stop at places which in
earlier days were of significance there are several places to
visit near Highway 11.
Coming from the Lakehead you drive over either Red
River Road from Port Arthur or the Dawson trail from Fort
William, routes which were travelled by early settlers of the
Red River valley (Winnipeg today) and points intermediate
and beyond.
Approaching Atikokan, and before you come to the Dawson
entrance to Quetico Provincial Park (25 miles east of Atikokan)
you come to WindegusUgwan lake where the foundations of a
trading post were discovered almost intact and where it is
proposed that it will be rebuilt. This is part of the water route
taken by early voyageurs from Lac de Mille Lacs to Pickerel
Lake and westward ultimately to Rainy Lak,e. There's also
Dawson Trail entrance to Ontario's second largest provincial
park, probably the best known of all North American canoe
country to United States residents.
In Fort Frances there's a replica of Fort St. Pierre, winter
headquarters, in the early fur trading days, of Pierre LaVerendrye. In search for a Northwest Passage his party came
upon the M'issouri River, erected a plaque on the banks near
what is today South Dakota's capital city, Pierre, named after
the Montreal fur trader who headquartered on the shores of
Lac la Pluie, now called Rainy Lake.
In the westerly part of Fort Frances, one block south of
Highway Eleven, on the shores of Rainy River, there is a
cairn marking the site of Athabaska House. Here, in earlier
days the fur traders came all the way by canoe from Saskatchewan's far northern lake Athabaska to exchange their furs
for supplies which they took home with them. The canoe trip
required almost an entire summer. Meanwhile they were met
by fur traders and voyageurs from Montreal who had come
via the St. Lawrence river, the Great Lakes, and "The Voyageurs Trail" to Athabaska house, bearing in their canoes
supplies for themselves and for western trappers and returning with furs to Montreal headquarters.
Bills of lading were meticulously recorded as if they
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
were shipping by rail or sea-going vessel today. Moreover the
canoes adhered quite rigidly to time schedules.
On another site, about 35 miles west of Fort Frances, b~s
been discovered the largest mounds ever to have been built
by the mound builders in Canada.
.
. .
.
If required permission can be obtamed, exteDSive mvestiga•
tion by a competent and fully equipped archiological party,
either federal or provincial, or both, is . contemplated. ~at
is found could conceivably result in establishment of a national
park which would have the effect of being a substantial source
of income for a band of Indian residents nearby, as well as
being an economic boon for the whole district.
In every town there's THE hotel ...
... in FORT FRANCES it's the
Rainy Lake Hotel
60 Rooms with Private Bath ...
. .. telephone in each room
ENJOY DELIGHTFUL MEALS and relaxing comfort
in the ...
CAUSEWAY ROOM
Excellent Cuisine - Good Service
CANADIAN ROOM
.
Licensed under the Liquor License Act of Ontario
SPORTSMAN'S ROOM
Mens Public House
WINDSOR Room •
CLUB Room
for dinner parties, afternoon teas, meetings
The BALLROOM
for banquets, dances, meetings
The ultimate in goo.d service and good food.
Dry Cleaning Service
... with daily pick-up and delivery
For tourists, and others, there is
SAME DAY SERVICE ON REQUEST
Also, Laundry Service
Agents for Peck's Furs, Winnipeg
CLEANING
•
GLAZING
•
STORAGE
Sanitary Dry Cleaners
578 Scott St.
•
Phone 274-3643
Downtown Office • 122 Scott St. • Phone 274-3714
�Official Highway Opening
Program of events:
••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
GJ
Early
Morning: Start of caval<;ades from Duluth-superior, Dryden,
Kenora, Rainy River and other points.
Central
Daylight
Time
M
A.M.
9 :00 Cavalcade leaves Lakehead.
*
Highway 11 Provides Additional Circle Tours
AN/TOBA
~
I
I
!
_r
~DY.';;
1
--~
G
(
t
u
JO
11
SCALE
M I LES
INl/g"'"'~~-;!!._..,,.I.AKE
I./IIDSON.-..s1011x
12:00 Noon Cavalcades from the west join Atikokan following
official program there.
~
UJDK0Vr
E
S
-,-
e
12:00 Buffet Luncheon -Atikokan.
1: 00
Causeway closed to traffic until
after opening ceremony.
4 :30 Official Opening of Highway 11
1:30
Street entertainment on Scott Street, Fort Frances.
Honourable John Robarts, Q.C.,
3:00
Motorcade from Boundary Road starts parade
through Fort Frances to causeway.
3:30
Colorful water flotilla starts off from
Pithers Point to causeway.
4: 15
Motorcade from Atik.okan arrives at causeway.
(Follow official program)
7:00
Crowning of causeway queen.
7:15
Awarding prizes school essay contest winners.
P.M.
2 :00 Cavalcade leaves Atikokan.
Prime Minister of Ontario Officiating.
5:15 Unveiling of Plaque of Causeway
Honourable Chas. S. MacN aughton,
Minister of Highways - Officiating.
IT
,,,.,,,.
~
M
6 :00 Reception and W estem Style Dinner
at Fort Frances Memorial Arena.
10:00
Gigantic fireworks display.
The opening of Highway Eleven, Voyageur's Route, will
as the above map indicates, provide for motorists several
new and interesting and shorter circle tours in addition
to those which were previously available in the Pre-Cambrian shield country of clean, clear, cold drinking water
fishing lakes. For information contact Department Tourism and Information, Parliament Buildings, Toronto 5,
Ontario, or Chambers of Comerce in communities you
desire to visit, or drop in at the Department of Tourism
and Information Centres located in larger centres.
Cities, Towns and Villages along Highway 11
TORONTO
(Lake Ontario
Waterfront)
ENGLEHART
Tarzwell
KenogamI
RICHMOND Hn.L
AURORA
Bradford
BARRIE
OR!LLIA
Washago
Gravenburst
HUNTSVILLE
Novar
Scotia
South River
Powassan
Callander
NORTH BAY
Timagami
Latchford
Earlton
KIRKLAND LAKE
Wavell
Ramore
MATHESON
Monteith
Porquis Junct.
Nellie Lake
Potter
KAPUSKASING
Valrila
Harty
Opasatika
Lowlher
Reeser
NIPIGON
Red Rock
Hw-kelt
Dorion
OJimet
Mattice
Pearl
Val Cote
Hallebourg
Loon
Mackenzie
HEARSl'
Long Lac
LitUe Long Lac
GERALDTON
COCHRANE
Hardrock Mines
Driftwood
Jellicoe
SMO<Ym ROCK FALLS Nezah
Stricl<Jand
Beardmore
Fauquier
Mac:diarmid
Orient Bay
Moonbeam
ATIKOKAN
Flanders
Crilly
Mine Center
Bear Passage
Windy Point
FORT FRANCES
crouer
La Vallee
Devlin
Emo
PORT ARTHUR
FORT WILLIAM
Kakabeka Falls
Barwick
KaministikwiB
Stratton
SUn.shine
Pinewood
Shabaqua Corners
Sleeman
Sbebandowan
Kashabowie
RAINY RIVER
Ka.... ene
International BridgE
Quetico Park
Entrance
Minnesota Highway
Sapawe
No. II
YOU WON'T NEED A
J a:, S, p
11:t El
any longer to get
over Highway Eleven!
BUT, as many of you know the JEEP
played a prominent role in the building
of Highway No. Eleven.
BUT, there'll be other places you
want to go ....
and a JEEP WILL GET YOU THERE!
Deluxe smart automobiles too, like the
JEEP WAGONEERS. See it, drive it at
FORT FRANCES BUS LINES LTD.
617 Mowat Avenue - Fort Frances - Phone 274-6255
Clarence Wright (sales)-James Froome--Delores Weir
An Obligation
to the community
as well as to
our customers
IN 1923, when R. V. Green opened his small
furniture store in Fort Fran<:es, he recognized
that there was an obligation to the community as
well as to his customers. For that reason, he was
one of the many civic-minded Fort Frances men
who worked unceasingly for the completion of "the
road to the Lakehead." Today his son Van, bis
successor in managing the many-times enlarged
furniture store, also is active in community projects because this obligation still remains. Both
are happy in extending their congratulations to
the Ontario Government for completing the road
and to those responsible for building it.
TODAY, of R. V. Green Furniture Ltd., it can be
said that it is 42 years old in experience and 42
years young in ideas. Quality and Service remain
the cornerstone of its sales policy. You are invited
to shop "at Green's" in Fort Frances.
R. V. Green Furniture Ltd.
516 Mowat Ave., Fort Frances, Ont.
R. V. Green, president Van Green, secretary-treasurer
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
UNITED
...
to Serve Northwestern Ontario
:
FORT FRANCES TIMES LIMITED
111 Church Street
Fort Frances, Ontario
Dial 274-5373
Its publications in Fort Frances:
THE DAILY BULLETIN
THE (Weekly) TIMES, and
THE (Monthly) NORTHERN SPORTSMAN
(almost 10,000 U.S.A. anglers and hunters)
CREIGHTON & SHERLOCK LIMITED
324 Memorial Ave.-on Highway 11, Port Arthur, Ontario, Dial 344-2398
►
CREATIVE
PRINTERS
AND
PUBLISHERS
. .. and all those on our staffs who work with and for us, extend sincere
congratulations on a job well done and look to the future for more such
expansionary feats to be accomplished in Northwestern Ontario.
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
�Fort Frances Bids You Welcome
By John R. McVey
MAYOR OF FORT FRANCES
The completion of the Fort Frances-Atikokan link of Highway No. 11, bringing into reality the dream of a highway
connecting the fertile valley of the Rainy River with t h e
Lakehead Cities, is a tribute to the many men and women of
Northwestern Ontario who have worked hard over m an y,
many years, towards this goal. It emphasizes, once again,
the value of co-operation among the communities which comprise this vast area.
~t also is a tribute to the Ontario governments which have
~ealized the need of this highway and have brought it into bemg. For that reason, we of Fort Frances are particularly
pleased_~ welc~me Prime Minister John P. Robarts Q.C.,
who officially will o p e n the highway, Highways Minister
Charles S. MacNaughton who will unveil the causeway
plaque, members of the legislature and many of our friends
from both Canada and the United States.
The name "Fort Frances" dates back to September 25
l!J30 althou&11 Jacques de Noyons wintered here in 1688 and:
smce that time, thousands of birch bark canoe flotillas have
traversed Rainy Lake south of the causeway.
The town, itself, was incorporated on April 3 1903. Its
growt!t w~ assured with the erection in 1914 of ~ay's The
O~tario-Mmnesota Pulp and Paper Company Limited papermill. The network of railway lines and highways emanating
fr~m _Fort Frances has emphasized its importance as a distnbution and transpoprtation centre.
T~ay, Fort Frances looks to the future.
. ~ifty years ,ago Fort F'.r~ces began catering to the tourISt mdustry and, as conditions have changed, its approach
also has changed but_ we can say Fort Frances has supported
and helped to advertise the recreation areas in Northwestern
1
Local Firm Welds 90-foot Causeway Steel Pilings
Others could do the job but nobody could touch West End
Welders, n~w _known as Fort Frances Steel and Welding
Company Limited for the low price quoted for the sub-contract.
Ho~ did ~ Busch do it so cheaply, and at a profit?
Besides bemg a ~ood machinist, welder, steel boat and
bar~e and pontoon builder, he is an inventor.
His formula for welding those big 16- and 24-inch 30-footlong <or shorter) steel cylinders into piles as long as 90
f~et (to support the c~useway from bedrock base) was
simple. He simply made himself all of the machines he needed
even to a tr1:1ck that ran backwards instead of forward, to en~
sure sp~ed, m movement of pipe and accuracy in placement
for weldmg. The real secret of the job was that the welders did
not have t? move from their stations.
The _pipes to be welded together merely rotated in complete 1;1mson and_ t;he welder welded with his torch in virtually
a sta_tionary positior_i. The ingenious machine which could rotate. m compl~te umson 90 feet or more, consisting of several
s~ct1ons of pipe was invented and built by Mr. Busch. Engmeer~ from as far off as Britain were intrigued and did
extensive photography of the novel operation.
T~ere was much more to it, but the above suffices to indicate how Mr
~usct, crew welded all of the 856 steel pilings required to support the high
;~:ks ridge st ructure of the causeway in a matter of a few weeks.
6
Fort Frances Steel and Welding Limited
5320 F ront Street on Rainy River
Phone 274-6431
Steel Boats, Barges, Pontoons-steel fabrication of ,all types
Welding virtually any type of material.
Complete machine shop facilities
Prompt service.
Marine railway and large bo,at storage.
Ontario as they have devloped. While we, now, will turn our
attention to this new vacation area and summer home sites
opened up by this new highway, other areas will continue to
receive our support.
One insflance in this is the expenditure of some $1,950,000
on a sewage treatment plant which will help in cleaning up
the Rainy River, described over the ages as "the most beautiful" on the original Voyageurs' Route. With the continuing
co-operation of industry, this river once again can become
one of our vacationland assets, especially to the down-river
communities.
Additional millions are being invested in watermain and
sewer extensions, paved streets, curbs and gutters, to meet
the needs of an expanding building program within our town.
West of Fort Frances lies an agricultural area which is
slowly coming into its own with beef and dairy cattle being
the principal agricultural commodities. Needless to say cash
income also is realized by the sale of pulpwood to the Fort
Frances papermill. The importance of this area to F o r t
Frances cannot be underestimated and we in Fort Frances
are fulfilling our obligations to it. Many district residents
turn to Fort Frances to educate their children in our modern
high and technical school; to be restored to health through
our medical clinic and modern LaVerendrye hospital, named
after that intrepid voyageur who visited here in 1731; and to
the many services which Fort Frances firms supply.
Fort Frances, closely linked to the western part of the
District of Rainy River, now welcomes an opportunity of becoming more closely associated with the communities and
people of this distrct to the east - formerly isolated by the
broad expanse of Rainy Lake - and with our neighbors of
Thunder Bay. We are looking forward to being able to visit
you and, in return, to welcome you to Fort Frances, as we do
on the occasion of the official causeway and highway opening.
A wonderful place to stop and eat
SMITTY'S DRIVE INN
in West Fort Frances on HIGHWAY 11
Chicken • Shrimp • Fish Sticks • Hamburgers
Hot Dogs • Sloppy Joes • Sandwiches
Operated by Thelma and Dick Smith
Dick's Aluminum Sheet Metal Shop
408½ Armit Avenue Phone: Area Code 807 27W477
Fort Frances, Ontario
Richard Siniarski
Highly specialized repair service, aircraft,
aircraft floats, aluminum boats, etc.
with the opening of Highway 11, I am now available to
go to the Lakehead, and beyond to provide quick service.
SERVICING ALL OF NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO
Congratulations
I wish to congratulate and sincerely thank
Mr. W. G. Noden, M.P.P., George Armstrong
Ltd., Hacquoil Construction Co. Ltd., and everyone who had a part in building our Highway
No.11.
George C. B. Smith, Smith Fisheries
Bear Passage
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
The Men Who Staged Highway Celebration
The dedication ceremonies for the official opening of the The Couchiching Indian Band, :and several other organiza85-mile final and connecting link between AtJikokan and Fort tions, and cowitless private individuals who have pitched in
Frances has an impact far greater than that being felt by these to help make June 28, 1965 a memorable day indeed.
two communities. Virtually this ceremony heralds a new era
in the progress of Northwestern Ontario.
It is therefore appropriate that the co-ordinatin1 committee
should be represented not only from Rainy River, the far westTo publish an issue about road dedication without mention
ern terminus of Highway Eleven, but also from the Lakehead
where the impact of this road may be felt to an even greater of the district's early road system and its author, presently a
extent than any other local communities being served by this 95-year-old Fort Frances sawmill operator at Rainy Lake,
would be a gross omission.
new stretch of road.
"Build a gravel road to every farmer's house in the disThe causeway, being the most spectacular portion of this
85-miles of new highway, it was quite natural it should be the trict." That was the philosophy of J. A. Mathieu when, as
focal point for the celebration. •F ort Frances being but five Ontario member for this riding, he laid out one of the finest
miles from the causeway it quite naturally fell to the Oiamber road systems of any district in Ontario. It served his purof Commerce to set in motion the arrangements for an appro- pose: to get logs to his sawmill; iand it served at the same
time to develop the Rainy River •District as one of the very
priate event to commemorate such an auspicious occasion.
Because of the general impact of the highway opening on good agricultural areas in Ontario.
"What good is a highway if the people who live in the disa large area, all communities along Highway 11 from Rainy
River to the Lakehead inclusive, quite naturally felt it was trict can't drive from their homes t.o it?" was the question
appropriate that they should participate in this great oc- to critics in the legislature when he was challenged on his
road-building philosophy.
casion.
That kind of forward thinking may be why, although now
In due course the following were elected or appointed to
serve on or to head up the various committees, as follows: 95, J. A. Mathieu, is always looking 10 or 15 years ahead
'
General Chairman: E. W. Wilkins and Manager, Don Plas- and thereby lies the secret of keeping going strong.
kett.
The Steering Committee of the Fort Frances Chamber consists of: E. W. Wilkins, Chairman; R. Cousineau; R. Lidkea;
G. Lockhart, chamber president and L. Hebert, acting secretary.
The Co-Ordinating Committee, comprised of representatives of communities all along the highway are E. W. WilERRATA
kins, Chairman; A. Brockman, Mayor of Rainy River; Mrs.
Both place and date are reported incorrectly in H i s t o r y
A. Eustace, member of Fort Frances Town Council; A. Pal- of llighway 11, page 15. The place was Sault Ste Marie, not
mer, Rainy River Chamber; Owen Boland, president Atikok- Dryden, and the year was 1930. It was referred in earlier
an Chamber of Commerce; G. Jackson, Reeve of Chapple; days to the Dryden Agreement, because the late Alfred Pitt,
and Bryan O'Brien, Chairman Tourist Committee of Lake- prominent Dryden merchant, persuaded Fort Frances to forehead Chamber of Commerce.
go its request for road, ahead of Dryden. The promise, and
Sub-Committees, drawn from the Fort Frances Chamber he saw that it was carried out, was that all Northwestern
of Commerce include: Finance, C. Thorpe; Publicity, Don Ontario Chambers would support the Fort Frances appeal,
Fawcett; l'ransportation, Van Green, (Motorcades from the after Dryden got a road. The late Colin Russell represented
west) and B. O'Brien (of Lakehead Chambers), (Motorcades Fort Frances at that meeting.
from the east).
~ther Sub-Committees are: Housing, D. Battagelli; Entertainment, G. McTaggart; Programme, A. Tibbetts; Banquet, N. Johnson; Essay Competition, A. M. Halliday;
~::i~eway Queen, D. Plaskett; and Concessions, W. McDonYou don't have to leave Highway 11 to shop at
95-yr.-old Lumberman, Road Builder
1
When it was discovered early in the preliminary planning
that a tremendous amount of work would be involved the
Bell Telephone Company of Canada was prevailed upon to
lo~ to the committee as general manager the company's district manager Don Plaskett, to devote the major portion of his
time for two months preceeding the celebration on June 2.8 to
the committee. This the company did in spite of an extensive
expansion and construction Bell program in progress which
would normally have required all of Mr. Plaskett's time and
attention. Shifts within the company of duties and responsibilities were made so as to make Mr. Plaskett available to
this committee.
Countless meetings, trips over the Crilly bridge on foot and
by night, trips by boat across the Seine River from the Lakehead to Fort Frances and to Atikokan were made to prepare
for the celebration in which all present are today participating.
It is worthy of comment to mention that W. G. Noden,
M.P.P., came from a heavy schedule of business in Toronto
to attend two of the earlier sessions, to return immediately
after each to Toronto where the Provincial Parliament was
in session.
The management and committees wish to acknowledge
with appreciation the substantial contributions which have
been made by the Fort Frar..ces service clubs, some unions,
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
WRIGHTWAY FOOD MiARKET
in the west end of Fort Frances
500 COLONIZATION ROAD
The big Food Store right on Highway 11, featuring complete line of meats, groceries, fruits and vegetables.
Quality and Service the highest.
Millwork for Summer Cottages
Herrem Woodworkers Ltd.
TULLA TOYS
812 Victoria Avenue -
Phone 274-6225
�A Papermill
• • • A Highway
a Prosperous Town and District
By R. H. Larson
"The road you are asking for will be built"
Above is a picture of one of the several delegations who waited upon the Ontario cabinet to urge the
completion of the highway connecting Atikokan and
Fort Frances. Leader of the above delegation, in 1956,
was Bert Forsberg of Fort Frances, president that year
of the Northwestern Ontario Associated Chambers of
Commerce. The above indicates in part why the
Associated Chambers, under president Cy Binder, are
We've lived to see the day
Many years of work, personally by ourselves, by various organizations and by the
government ultimately made a long held
dream come true. · Today we dedicate a
highway that all of us who lived here knew
must become a reality if this part of Ontario was to reach its ultimate potentiality.
Although frustrating at times as we now
look back, there is a genuine satisfaction
in having played a part in this important
progressive step, through having had the
honor and privilege of serving as one of
the presidents of the Northwestern Ontario
Associated Chambers of Commerce.
Visitors to Fort Frances and residents
alike may be pleased to know we're still at
the old stand - after nearly 40 years in
business - with complete line of men's and
boys wear.
FORSBERG & LINDBERG
LIMITED
Across from the Post Office
•
FORT FRANCES
holding the interim sum mer meeting in Fort Frances
the day following the highway opening ceremonies.
Above photo was taken in cabinet room adjoining the
Prime Minister's office at Queen's Park. This is the
delegation to which the then Prime Minister, Hon.
Leslie M. Frost, made the commitment that the road
would be built.
Motorists Please Note . . .
Whether you are a Fort Frances resident
or a visitor, you'll get
Marvelous Service
from
THE
Tire Man
COMPLETE RANGE of TIRES AND TUBES
All Sizes
•
All Grades
WHEEL ALIGNMENT AND WHEEL BALANCING
GAS- OIL- SERVICE - (The Works)
COMPLETELY . .
, , . • ~4,o MA
STOCKED , . , . . . ,
•• .,, STORE
MOWAT AVENUE AT FIRST STREET EAST
Conveniently located just one block off the main street of •
FORT FRANCES
Before or any time after
the official opening of Highway 11,
be sure to make your headquarters at
the TIRE MAN .
• •
For Service Deluxe!
The construction of a new road, particularly up here in
·the north country where there are not many roads, is an event
of mome~tous c~n~ern to the people of any community.
Certainly th.IS 1s no less true of the completion of Highway
~o. 11. _It will ~t long_ last unite the District of Rainy River
mto a smgle umt. It will connect the Town of Rainy River to
the_ Ontario capital of Toronto with a good highway bearing
a smgle number - No. 11.
The construction of a paper mill in Fort Frances was in its
<lay a momentous occasion. It converted, at the outset and
over a period of years, a village of a few houses, trading posts
a few stores, some boarding houses which paraded under th~
.name of hotel~ and mud s~eets where horse-drawn drays
bogged down, mto a very ruce, clean town of nearly 10,000
wi~ paved streets, attractive homes, fine churches, large well
-eqmpped schools, a memorial arena and other recreational
facilities, library, etc., etc.
Not only did the paper mill arrive on the scene almost
60 years ago but it is still here today, and bigger than it ever
was in size of plant and equipment, in personnel and in production and sales, thanks to the steady and enduring program
of plant modernization, of improvement in technology through
expanded research, of consideration for the welfare of its employees and of aggressive marketing of its products, followed
by the former parent company, Minnesota and Ontario Paper
Company. •
In January of this year the parent company merged with
one of the larger North American processors and distributors
of forest products, the Boise Cascade Corporation an event
which offers even greater opportunities for growth a~d development.
The former Minnesota and Ontario Paper Company common shares became preferred shares of Boise Cascade Corporation and both the preferred and Boise common stock were
listed on the New York and San Francisco Stock Exchanges on
Wednesday, June 2, 1965. R. V. Hansberger, president of Boise
Cascade, purchased the first 100 shares at a listing ceremony
with Keith Funston, president of the New York Stock Exchange,
which marked the start of trading. The ticker symbol is BCC.
The combination of the assets of these companies should
substantially improve the position of their operations in a
highly competitive market and sheuld result in expansion of
sales for the products of the Fort Frances and Kenora mills
as well as for those of the entire company.
The basis of the economy of Northwestern Ontario is forest
products, and more particularly their conversion to paper.
This is no less true in the District of Rainy River which is
traversed end to end - east to west - by the section of Highway No. 11 being officially opened this month. Without the
paper manufacturing operations in Fort Frances, and the
harvesting and transportation of wood from all sections of the
district, there would quite probably be no Fort Frances or a
need for the fine roads this district now boasts.
The paper company's mills are dependent upon the harvesting of a continuous crop of pulpwood. Through the application
of sound forestry principles and orderly methods it strives
to insure a perpetual supply of wood to meet its responsibilities
to its employees, customers and shareholders and to the communities in which it operates, and in doing this the company
co-operates closely with government agencies and forest
associations in developing sound forest management practices
on the Crown lands under license from the Ontario Department
of Lands and Forests.
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
In Canada, family-type logging camps and bunkhouse
camp~ are operated on the lands so held. This source of raw
material for the Fort Frances mill is supplemented annually
by . purc~ases ~f I?ulpwood from about 650 residents of the
Ramy River J?istrict. The sale of timber products made up
36% of the agr1cult~a.l income in this district in the year 1964.
In order that district suppliers may share in the benefits to
be _derived from the application of sound fores try methods to
thelr own lands, the company has established a Timber Management Advisory Service. To date, 74 management plans
have been prepared for district residents and there is a back
log of applications on hand. These 74 pl~s recommend management practices covering 17,500 acres of farms and woodlots, of which 10,200 acres are wooded. Recognition of the
benefits to be derived from proper forest management is
demonstrated by 28 residents who have had lands certified as
Tree Farms by the Ontario Forestry Association.
Poplar, you doubtless know, is considered a weed tree in
many parts of our country. However, here many thousands of
cords of poplar are utilized at both Fort Frances and International Falls. Probably no mill in Ontario utilizes a higher
percentage of _poplar than does the mill at Fort Frances. Th.is
1s made possible by the integration of paper manufacturing
at Fort Frances with the production of "Insulite" building products fabricated basically from wood fibre at the sister mill in
International Falls, Minnesota, just across the international
Rainy River.
. Company management over the years has demonstrated
its support for the development of a nice, attractive town with
all possible amenities for a good life as a place for the homes
of its. e~pl~yees._ To this end, besides providing the town's
and d1str1ct s basic payroll, the company has assisted in many
ways.
A FEW STATISTICS
(Fort Frances and Kenora combined -1964)
Payroll
- $11,000,000 plus
Local Pulpwood Purchases
(Ontario)
- $ 3,600,000
Payments to Logging
- $ 1,400,000
Contractors
- $ 5,600,000
Freight Payments
Th~ Mayor, Council and Citizens of
KENORA
warmly congratulate the
Voyageur Circle Communities
on the Official Opening of Highway 11
between Fort Frances and Atikokan
LONG AWAITED AND WELL DESERVED
�JI
TOWN of RAINY RIVER
WESTERN TERMINUS
of
0 NT AR IQ, KIN G'S HIGHWAY
NO·. 11
Come to Rainy River, Ontario-to visit, to live, to build your industry.
Many small town advantages.
Hydro-elechic, Bell telephone, sewer, water, sidewalks, paved
streets - all add up to comfortable living.
New ten-room high school, all regular church denominations.
Fine sports centre unexcelled community hall, hockey arena,
baseball diamonds, three-r,heet curling rink.
Good highway connection:: to Winnipeg - 4-hour daily bus service C.N.R. passenger service thrico weekly to Winnipeg and Lake•
head.
Clean, tree-shaded streets, riverbank park, lifeguard servico.
Lake of the Woods - world famous fishing and hunting. - Provincial
Park within twenty-five miles.
Bargains in real estate, low tax rate. Seek no further.
RAINY RIVER AND DISTRICT
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
W. T. Matthew, Pres.
J. H. Hammond, Sec'y.
CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF
RAINY RIVER
A. A. Brockman, Mayor
V. K. Croxford, Clerk
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
RAINY RIVER
• • •
A lovely town
Near ,nagnificent, widely famous Lake of the Woods ...
Westeni terniinus High1vay 11; Toronto is Eastern terrninus
"Rainy River . . . which I would nominate as the most
beautiful sounding name in Canada." These are the words of
Peter Stursberg, noted Canadian correspondent, journalist and
news commentator in "Saturday Night," August 19th, 1961.
Casual visitors and former residents spontaneously agree
that this small community nestled in a corner between the
river of the same name and nearby Lake of the Woods deserves its beautiful name. A clean, tidy, little town, with more
than the usual quota of paved roadways and plans underway
for hard-surf acing the streets of all the principal residential
section, it invites visitors to its tree-shaded streets and its
neat riverside park. The present residents are determined
to preserve and increase its attractiveness.
•Providing all the requirements for pleasant, comfortable
living it invites those who are looking for a place to settle and
relax. Hydro-electric service, Bell Telephone, sewer, water,
sidewalks, paved streets, expanding high school accommodation, most regular church denominations • all are available.
The town also contains a fine Red Cross Hospital and elementary public and Roman Catholic Separate Schools. Various
service clubs and lodges are active.
An outstanding recreational centre with an unexcelled
community hall, an excellent hockey arena, fine baseball diamonds and three-sheet curling rink provide varied entertainment for the sports-minded. For the lover of the outdoors. the
Rainy River with a trim little park is at your doorstep. Within
twenty miles is the magnificent Lake of the Woods, with is
countless island beauty-spots and world-famous fishing and
hunting, becominp; increasingly popular for the establishment of
summer homes. Lake of the Woods Provincial Park, with its
excellent and extensive sand beach, being steadily developed,
is less than twenty-five miles distant.
Ontario Highway No. 11, now officially opened, provides
good connections with the Canadian Lakehead cities, only five
adomobile hours distant. Minnesota No. 11 and Manitoba No.
12, with its last fifteen miles of gravel to be paved this summer, place Winnipeg three and a half hours away. Grey Goose
Bus Lines provides twice daily bus service in both directions
in only slightly slower time. Canadian National Railways serve
with passenger trains thrice weekly in each direction. An alternate route of the Mississippi Parkway or Great River Road
leads from Blackduck, Minn. to Baudette and across the very
beautiful international bridge, opened in 1960, to the Canadian
Customs plaza and accommodations reputed to be the finest
in Western Canada. It is indeed a beautiful and attractive entrance into Ontario. As this route becomes better known its
use increases steadily.
Prices for real estate are unbelievable bargains when compared with those asked in cities and larger industrial towns.
Taxes per capita are the lowest among the towns of Northwestern Ontario.
'
Being a small town there are no problems of transportation
and distance. Bank, post office, municipal office, stores and
business houses, churches, school, all are within ten minutes
walking distance.
The economy of the community is based on the Canadian
National Railways, two or three small industries, an expanding
agricultural development, particularly in the production of
beef cattle, and a steadily increasing tourist traffic.
Are you looking for a pleasant place to live? Here hdeed
is your answer.
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
Customs Building at Rainy River Bridge.
Pigeon River B~ldge.
SNOW BRIDGE
It was away back in 1933. They were extending the road
( now Highway 11) from the J. A. Mathieu sawmill eastward to
what is now the five-mile dock.
There was no way of hauling gravel across the ravine and
creek. No pile driver was available to build a bridge. It was a
winter relief project and should not at all costs be discontinued
because many from Fort Frances and district were depending on this work for their next meals.
It was Saturday and it looked as if the work would have
to close down.
Harold B. Armstrong of Fort Frances was foreman of the
job. On Saturday afternoon he authorized the men to haul
snow into the ravine and pack it. By Monday morning the
snow bridge had frozen sufficiently to carry wagon loads of
gravel on its surface.
Thus work continued. The road to t"e dock was graveled.
Part of that road, from Mathieu's mill entrance, over the
railroad, and on to the new paving just west of the Causeway
was built with man and shovel, with team and wagon hauling
gravel over a snow bridge.
'
. Don't feel too unkindly toward the fell ow who today puts
tickets on your over-time parked automobile. He helped build
Highway Eleven.
�New World for District Saw milling ...
Atikokan
Jim Mathieu Limited uses every part of tree
is honoured
to play host to visitors
for the ofjicial opening of
the Atikokan - Fort Frances
connecting link of Highway 11,
The Voyageurs'
Highway
... Gateway to the
Internationally renowned
Quetico Park
,,
1•
The Iron Ore Capital of Canada
A nice town in which to live ... and work ... and do business ... an
interesting town to visit ... a nice town in which to rear a family ... good
schools ... churches ... playgrounds ... hospital ... library ... good streets
... good homes ... a comparatively new town ... a dean town ... lots of
facilities for recreation the year round with emphasis on outdoor recreation:
Fishing ... Hunting ... Canoeing ... Swimming ... W aterskiing
... Camping ... Motoring ... Sightseeing ... Photography ... Canoe Derby
... Snowmobile Derby ... Ice Fishing ... Curling ... good hotel, motel and
tourist outfitter camp accommodations ... good meals served ... courteous
service people to make your stay more pleasant ... good retail stores where
you can shop with confidence that quality and prices are right and variety is
quite good.
.
Important Events In
Atikokan In 1965
HIGHWAY ELEVEN OPENING
AND DEDICATION
VOYAGEUR STATUE DEDICATION
l\'IINING PLAQUE DEDICATION
INTERNATIONAL CANOE DERBY
Atikokan to Ely, Minnesota
ATIKOKAN, (Indian name for Caribou crossin~) is a bustling, thriving mining town of 6,000, an
enJoyable two hour's motor trip from the Canadian
Lakehead cities, and about the same distance
silghtly less, from Fort Frances and Internationai
Falls, both located on the Great River Road.
Attractively laid out in lovely crescents, with
nearly all homes comparatively new and modern
in. design, ATIKOKAN is virtually a jewel in the
midst of a wilderness with crystal clear fishing lakes
and good hunting territory in all directions from
this lovely community. Excellent hotels, motels and
outfitters camps for those who wish to stay in or
near the town for hunting and fishing trips.
Whenever traveling Highway Eleven - The
Voyageur's Route, for goodness sake, do stop in at
Atikokan and say hello to your friends. They'll
warmly welcome your visits - be they brief or
lengthy.
Write for Fishing Map of the Atikokan1 Area.
The Improvement District of Atikokan
Reeve: S. G. HANCOCK
Clerk: D.R. BUIE
Councillors: Bert Booth, D. K. Hay, James F. Pringle, A. V. Slater
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
It's a new world for the eastern Canadian lumberman. Big
The advent of the St. Lawrence seaway gives rise to the
fogs and big waste are out, and producers who operated under very definite prospect of lumber manufactured in our own
that concept have either left the industry or are on the verge Rainy River District eventually being used in construction in
of doing so. Today's producer must work with smaller logs, •Europe, and the West Indies. When this happens, Rainy River
and achieve a far greater utilization out of the wood in each District will, for the first time, become directly involved in
tree so as to compete in the world market place. This new world trade. Through our improved transportation systems of
trend has led to the resurgence of lumber manufacture in east- road, and water, we are no longer an isolated community.
ern Canada.
Jim Mathieu Lumber Limited has the stated objective of
Located at Sapawe, Ontario, Jim Mathieu Lumber Limited sustained, planned growth for the betterment of the area. The
has been one of the leaders in this new trend. Its new facilities proper utilization of our forest resources so that trees are harare designed to fully implement the "maximum utilization" vested as they mature With the rrunimum of waste is a definpolicy. Wood is harvested and hauled to the mill in treelength ite part of its planning.
form where it is cut to log lengths for processing. All wood
Company development of market acceptance of jackpine
not used in lumber, including the tree tops (which are even
smaller than conventional pulpwood) is processed into wood- lumber has given rise to considerable improvement in balancchips for use in the manufacture of paper products. This year ing the specie harvest in our district. Wood is our major rewill see lumber production which, if placed end to end, would newable resource and this development is creating considerable
reach halfway around the world, and chip production sufficient employment. Indeed, this is the first instance of fully planned,
proper multi-specie utilization in our area.
to keep the average paper machine busy most of the year.
The forests create jobs and prosperity for all district
Clearly lumbering is returning to its former place of eminence as a major district industry. Its products are presently residents. Continued growth of forward thinkiing forest resource
marketed in Eastern Canada and a ten-state area in the firms should be encouraged to help foster the type of area
development which ultimately benefits everyone.
United States.
A- Unique "School" for Young and Old
in a Wilderness Lakeshore Setting
How would you describe the Quetico Conference and Training Centre? It is doubtful if the directors themselves could
adequately describe what it is, or its functions, or exactly how
it operates.
They would probably be unanimous on one score - it certainly is different. It is in a wilderness. It is located on the
shores of magnificent Eva Lake.
About 25 or so miles east of Atikokan a very good road
leads off northward to what was once the il'ailway siding of
Kawene. The railway station is gone, but Quetico Conference
and Training Centre is still there, only a mile away, growing
and expanding each year;
From what was once a forest protection service air base
the centre has grown in stature until today in educational
circles it is one of the most interesting in Canada.
How would you describe it? There are art classes with
the most competent teachers. There are courses for business
management, and also courses for labour union officials and labour relations courses. Here they teach classes in guiding fishing and hunting parties. There are courses for municipal councils and courses for Indian councils; courses in woodcraft, camp craft, canoeing, survival in the woods, for boys
and girls. There are courses for unemployed persons who are
paid to go back to school and improve their knowledge or
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
skills; courses in handicrafts for Indians and for others alike:
courses in souvenir crafts, mechanical and also strictly manual.
All this right out amidst the bush country. What is it, or
what kind of school is it? There are adult classes and there
are conferences for teenagers; even a political convention.
Toward its building there are businessmen who have contributed materials and there are labour union members from
as far off as the Canadian Lakehead who have contributed their
labour. One of Canada's largest industries has taken a great
interest in ~ts progress; another has guaranteed a substantial
bank loan; yet one of the top officials of one of Canada's largest
labour unions sits on the board of directors. What is it? You
name it!
The Ontario government has made substantial contributions
financially and otherwise!
Its functions, operations and purposes beggar description,
yet there are rather fantasic results.
You should see it yourself. Only about three miles off
Highway Eleven. H you stop long enough to observe classes,
visit with those taking the courses and those teaching them.
You may not be able to describe what you've seen, but you will
come away with a feeling that here at Quetico Conference and
Training Centre something truly wonderful is really happening.
�Official Dedication Highway 11 Coinciding with
Hydographic Charting of Rainy Lake
ALBERTON FALLS
AT FORT FRANCES
ABOUT 18l5
Whether by design, or pure coincidence it is worthy of
special comment that almost simultaneously with the completion of Ontario Highway Eleven that the Canadian Government hydrographic survey of Rainy Lake, crossed by the
fabulous causeway, should get under way.
The trend today to small boat ownership has hit Rainy
Lake with an impact such as never heretofore encountered.
The large beautiful lake is a natural for boating pleasure, but
a chart of its waters is needed to make boating on it safe as
well as enjoyable.
. . . . the original Voyageurs' Highway
FORT FRANCES, ONTARIO, inhabited since 1731 when Fort St. Pierre was erected
at what is now Pither's Point Park (and being replaced today), received its present
name on September 30, 1830 in honour of the gracious Lady Frances Simpson whose
picture hangs in the council chambers. The town was incorporated on April 3, 1903
and enlarged on November 30, 1948 with the annexation of the Municipality of Mclrvine.
Today it has a population of 9473.
. . . . the modern Voyageurs' Highway
Pulp and paper
manufacturing
•
Popular Canadian
port-of-entry
•
Entrance to famed
Fishing and Hunting
237 YEARS LATER, with the opening of Highway No. 11 between Fort Frances and
Atikokan, the modem Voyageurs' Highway, the Town of Fort Frances extends its
sincere congratulations to all those who made it possible - of great importance to
this region as well as Ontario and Canada.
THE JUDICIAL, SHOPPING AND SERVICE CENTRE for the District of Rainy River,
Fort Frances once again finds itself on a main East-West highway, adding to its importance as a transportation centre with its numerous highway and railway connections
to the United States and Canada. A new $3,000,000 sewage treatment plant, sewer and
water service programs as well as an extensive street paving program, together with
a new industrial site, have added immeasurably to the development of the town. For
more information, write: Industrial Development Department Committee, P.O. Box 38,
Fort Frances, Ontario.
•
Growing summer
home population
To remedy this and to assist in attracting small boat owners to the lake, the Canadian Hydrographic Service of the
Department of Mines and Technical Surveys charged one of
its field parties this year with the task of charting the lake
and of outlining shoals and other underwater dangers.
The party is under the direction of hydrographer, Austin
Quirk, of Ottawa, and comprises hydrographers, L. V. Robertson and L. P. McIntyre, also of Ottawa, a student assistant
and seven crew members.
Quirk and his men are carrying out a reconnaissanc~type
survey with emphasis on meeting the requirements of the
small boat owner. The shoreline of the lake has been compiled
from air photos and they are using survey control data obtained by the department's Topographical Survey two years ago
during the testing of a new electronic distance measuring
instrument, the aerodist, over the area.
Quirk's party hopes to complete the survey of the lake
this year. They have been at work since mid-May and plan
to continue well into October as long as weather permits.
Their work will result in the publication of the first chart of
the whole lake. Part of the lake - the area lying along the
Ontario-Minnesota boundary-has already been charted by the
~.s. Lake Survey.
The party is equipped with two-inboard-outboard runabouts with speeds up to 25 knots. Standard hydrographic
launches are too slow for this type of survey and draw too
much water. These runabouts are fitted with echo sounders
and other gear equipped for the survey. Auxiliary vessels include a Boston whaler, a freight canoe and steel punts powered by outboard motors. During part of June and September,
the party will use a Bell helicopter to spot shoals and other
underwater dangers from the air.
•
•
The new chart of the lake, which should be ready in from
1½ to 2 years after the completion of the survey, will be in a
format most useful to the small boat owner. The new strip
charts being put out by the Canadian 'Hydrographic Service for
this purpose are proving very popular.
FORT FRANCES IS
A GOOD TOWN for SHOPPING
Before or after the official opening and dedication ceremonies of the causeway
and Highway 11, the Retail Merchants Committee of the Fort Frances Chamber of
Commerce cordially invites you - any one and all of you - to call in and meet and visit
with the store owners, managers, and clerks, and to browse around and see if we have
in stock, items which you would wish to buy to supply your needs. Once you've been
in oµr stores we feel quite confident you'll agree Fort Frances is a good town for
shopping.
LIST OF MEMBERS 1965
Betty's of (F.F.) Limited
Bud's Office Supplies Limited
FORT FRANCES
" FROM THE AIR"
TODAY
THE CORPORATION OF THE TOWN OF FORT FRANCES
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
Brockie's Jewellery
E. E. Doman Limited
Del Hardware Limited
Esquire Shop
Silver Fur Shoppe
Forsberg and Lindberg Ltd.
Howarth's Home Furnishings
Veteran Electric
Tiny Tot Shop
W. J. Gagne Drugs Limited
R. V. Green Furniture Ltd.
Clinic Pharmacy Limited
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
Lerman's Department Store
Don Law Limited
Murray's Music & Gift Shop
McTaggarts' Men's Wear
Fort Frances Motor Products
Tire Man
Niznick's Limited
Garton's Jewellery
D. M. Taylor Electric
Rijnol Gift Shop
Mel Newman Limited
Canada Safeway Ltd.
Shop Easy Stores Ltd.
�PROGRESSIVE PORT ARTHUR
Gateway to the Seven Seas
PORT ARTHUR SAYS:
NEIGHBOUR!
by Mayor Saul Laskin of Port Arthur
The new highway link gives Rainy River District a
direct outlet to the major market of Port Arthur
and a trading area of 150,000 population.
For Port Arthur, distributive hub for Northwestern
Ontario, it provides swift access to a growing and
important area, hitherto semi-isolated.
Even more, the new highway ends where the Seaway
begins, linking another great region of the Ontario's
Northwest with water highways to the rest of the
world.
This makes Port Arthur additionally attractive as a
location for industries, branch plants, sales offices
and distributive depots.
On behalf of our citizens may I extend our best
wishes and congratulations on this great occasion.
LILLIAN DENNIS
City Clerk
SAUL LASKIN
Mayor
Gillons' Agency (Fort Frances) Ltd.
Recognizes An Important Milestone
In The History Of The
Rainy River District
CONGRATULATIONS
TO
ALL THOSE WHO
Friends and clients of the Gillons will perhaps be interested in knowing that James Thompson, great grandfather
of Jack Gillon, was in the real estate and insurance business
in Fort Frances from 1897 to 1901. Then, in 1924, Gilbert F.
Gillon founded the present insurance business which has
been serving the Rainy River District for forty-one years and
which is now being operated by Jack Gillon.
HAVE WORKED
SO LONG
AND
ALL THE YEARS SINCE 1897
THE HIGHWAY TO THE EAST WAS A DREAM
SO HARD
FOR
NOW
THE BUILDING
Hon. W. l\'I. (Bill) Benidickson
OF
HIGHWAY 11
Member of Parliament
for
Kenora-Rainy River
and
Minister of Mines and
Technical Surveys
GILL.QNS' AGENCY
LIMITED
(Fort Frances)
congratulates all those who worked to
make the new highway
"a deam come true!"
Insure with Gillons' Agency!
STILL THE BEST PLACE IN THE DISTRICT
TO BUY INSURANCE
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
On this historic and joyous occasion of the official dedication of
The Voyageur Highway, Port Arthur
proudly salutes sister communities of
neighbouring Rainy River District.
We now are linked in firmer bonds
of mutual effort and action to achieve
the aspirations of all our people from
beautiful Lake of the Woods to
mighty Lake Superior.
One cannot over-estimate the significance of this new highway link. Its
functions will be many. It will be a corridor of commerce,
stimulating the economic growth of the whole region traversed
and served; it will be an avenue of access to a rich and largely virgin area hitherto remote and isolated; it will enable us
to share with myriads of the motoring public from distant
provinces and states with grandeur and the glamor of our
Northwest; and, just as importantly, it will help us grow in
friendship and in appreciation of the bountifully blessed domain that is uniquely ours.
Thousands of our Port Arthur citizens, in the months ahead,
will travel on this new roadway to visit Rainy River District.
They will penetrate a region made historic by the first explorers, missionaries and traders to venture into the western
wilderness. Much of this land is unchanged, unspoiled and uninhabited since the bark canoe and the moccasined feet of the
first nation-builders moved bravely toward the setting sun
centuries ago.
We know that a warmly hospitable welcome awaits our
fellow citizens beyond the magnificent causeway that spans
Rainy Lake. There will be much for them to see and do, not
once but many times in the years to come.
In turn, it is our sincere hope that thousands from Rainy
River District and the American states to the south will visit
PQrt Arthur via the new highway on pleasure - or business bent. The welcome mat is out!
Our roots, too, are imbedded deep in the historic past more than 300 yea.rs to the explorations of Radisson and
Grosseliers along the Lake Superior shore. The birth of Port
Arthur is traced back more than a century to 1857 when Simon
Dawson, pioneer pathfinder, built his base camp on the shore
of Thunder Bay - The Station - f,rom which he surveyed
the first overland road to the Great West. Over it, ox carts and
boats carried the first Canadian settlers to the virgin soil of
the prairies. In 1970 Colonel Garnet Wolseley en route west to
quell the Northwest Rebellion, named the tiny hamlet Prince
Arthur's Landing. The final name change - to Port Arthur was made in 1883 and the community incorporated in 1884.
Port Arthur will mark the diamond jubilee of its status as a
city in 1967, simultaneously with Canada's centennial celebration.
'
What of the city of today? See it now in the glory of
Summer. View it from Hillcrest Park. From this vantage lookout on the heights, you gaze across the rooftops of our city,
over our terraced streets, across the white caps of Thunder Bay
to the Sleeping Giant, etched by eons in the recumbent posture
of timeless slumber. The majestic panorama rivals the Golden
Gate and the Bay of Naples. At anchor in the bay or berthed
in the busy harbour are the lean leviathans of the lakes and
the high-prowed salties that sail the seven seas and fly the
lags of many maritime nations. A sight unforgettable, an
1ucation and inspiration for young and old.
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
With its neighbor municipalities of Fort William, Shuniah
and Neebing, Port Arthur forms the Canadian Lakehead community of more than 105,000 population - one of Canada's
important centres. Literally the crossroads of the nation, the
Lakehead is the world's greatest grain port, the western
terminus of the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes waterway,
more than 2,000 miles from the Atlantic, and the hub of a growing complex of resource and secondary industry. Third port
in Canada, the Lakehead handled more than 18 millions tons
of bulk and general cargo in 1964. Its battery of 25 grain terminals, towering 200 feet above the harbor, can store 106 million
bushels of grain. You could wrap the whole globe in paper
from the prodigious complex of pulp and paper mills.
See and visit these industries. Cruise the harbour, enjoy
our parks and flower gardens, golf links and quality stores.
View the Lakehead University where your children some day
will study.
We know you will agree with us that Port Arthur is moving
forward, in the vanguard of the nation's progress, a fine city
in which to establish an industry, build a business, hold a
convention - or simply be an honored guest.
Highway 11 Should Assist Prospectors
In Locating Indicated Mineral Deposits
Far from least of the benefits anticipated from the completion of Highway 11 and the opening of a direct route to Atikokan and the Lakehead is the opportunity of ready access
which will be afforded to prospectors and others seeking
economic deposits of minerals in that potentially rich area.
Although the country which will be traversed by the new
highway has seen some limited prospecting and explo~ation
activity, because of the difficulty of access and travel 1t has
not been subjected to the same intensive search that has resulted in the development of most of Ontario's major mining
areas.
It is reasonable to expect that, with this new means of
access, steps will be taken to prove up some of the indications
of mineralization in this area that are now on record as the
result of geological surveys, the recent government-~po!l~ored
airborne magnetometer surveys and the past work of md1v1dual
prospectors ~nd exploration companies.
It could well be that the construction of this section of
Highway 11 and the consequent exposure of the area to development will prove to be a real milestone in Ontario's mining
history.
�EMO
• • •
a darn fine place to live!
It is hardly likely that anyone would find a town with a
shorter name . . . only three letters . . . EMO! They may be
short on name but the people of Emo, both in the village and
in the country, are long on hospitality and they're long on
working together, too!
When they want something for the betterment of the community or for greater enjoyment of the people, they get it.
Be it a Legion community hall, or a riverside park, or a curling
rink, or an outdoor rink for safe skating for the municipality's
youngsters, they get it by the simple expedient of everyone
pitching in together, donating their work and materials and
scraping up the necessary finances, and they get what they're
after. By the simple expedient of helping themselves. Whether
they live in or out of Emo village, it's all the same to them.
They just pitch in and go to it!
That's perhaps why Emo, one of the oldest settlements in
Rainy River district and on Highway Eleven has also, for a
long time, been one of the most important centres of the district. Today it boasts a department of highways machinery,
men and material concentration point, a Provincial Police
detachment housed in excellent quarters, Liquor Control Board
outlet, etc., a medical clinic and a Red Cross hospital, a fine
new public school, and several nice churches. Extremely good
service is provided motorists by the several modern, up to date
garages and service stations.
Emo boasts one of the largest hardware stores in the district and a drug store superior to most in any town of similar
size.
Magnificent Main Street alongside the River.
No town in North America can boast more magnificent
views from its main street than Emo provides. Nestled high
up on the river bank, a neat, tidy line of well built and well
kept retail stores line the sidewalk and paved street, with
modern lighting. Look if you will up the beautiful river; or
down the magnificent river; or across the enthralling Rainy
River into Minnesota; out comes your camera, for you must
capture on film for all time the heart-throbbing waterscapes
which thrill you!
They're installing new waterworks, sewers and a waste
disposal system in Emo so that now there will be quite a
number of additional lots with these services available. And
at reasonable prices, too.
It is doubtful if there is better farming land anywhere in
the fertile Rainy River valley than some parts of Emo municipality. It's the centre of agriculture for the district. The
agricultural representative's office is in Emo. The district
fall fair is held each fall in Emo. Many farm demonstrations
and short courses are held there. The junior farmers have
their headq~arters building in Emo. Moreover, there's a quite
large fore st products industry in Emo. If you were planning
to build a new home, lumber is less costly in Emo.
This progressive village is strategically located geographically so as to be the dual gateway to the famous Lake of the
Woods and Clearwater Lake tourist areas and is the supply
centre for thousands of visitors to this part of Canada.
Then, too, there is the future possibility of an iron mine in
Emo. Important decisions in financial and mining circles concerning extent of development are currently being formulated.
Any way you look at it, Emo is a darned fine place to live,
either on a farm or in the village. If you're contemplating
a move sometime in the future, investigate Emo's possibilities
before you make a decision.
For an enjoyable experience
.. A very nice little town
with the amenities of a
much larger town.
VISIT EMO
20 MILES WEST OF FORT FRANCES
For Consistently Good Values
••• Newwatermains
and sewer services
to village homes
SHOP ,·n E~o
.IQ'
40 MILES EAST OF RAINY RIVER
For a nice hometown
LIVE in EMO
EMO
In the heart of an agricultural district.
Agriceltural Representative's Office in
Emo. A few good buys in good farm
lands. Investigate.
ONT. HYDRO ...
GOOD BELL
TELEPHONE
SERVICE
If you're an agriculturalist
FARM in EMO
MUNICIPALITY
HOME OF THE DISTRICT ANNUAL FALL FAIR
THE MUNICIPALITY OF EMO
Reeve - C. R. Ducharme
Municipal Clerk - M. G. McComb
Councillors - Elder Jack, Douglas Carlson, Dennis DeGagne, F. M. McMillan
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
No1·-Shor Motor Hotel
A Nice Place to Stay While
Port Arthur
"May we have a picture for printing
which will illustrate how The Nor-Shor
Motor Hotel appears to motorists traveling along Highway 11 or 17, the Trans-Canada as it traverses Memorial Avenue
in Port Arthur?"
That was the query made by The
Fort Frances Times publisher while enjoying a morning cup of coffee with Mike
Zale in his beautiful Amethyst Room
which is the very smart and artistically
appointed dining room of The Nor-Shor
Motor Hotel.
"But then, by the time we get the
picture developed, you may be building
and adding even more sections and we
will have to take another picture to keep
up to date with your expansion program," was our further comment.
The story of the rise and development of the Nor-Shor Motor Hotel in Port
Arthur under the direction of its genial
and very capable owner and manager,
M. R. Zale, has been one of repeated
expansion every few years, witil today
there are 104 rooms (the newest 45-room
section opens in July 1965). In addition
to the magnificent Amethyst Dining
Room, there's the Jasper Lounge, featuring nightly live entertainment, and the
Agate Ballroom. All three are air-conditioned. The guest rooms in the new
wing are also air-conditioned.
Dining room guests in the lovely
Amethyst Room comment enthusiastically about the miniature waterfalls and
lighted pool ( with gold fish) crossed by
a stone bridge right in the centre of the
room among the tables - with linen
table cloths of course.
Besides the Amethyst, Jasper and
Agate rooms ( their names pay tribute to
Lake Superior gem stones) there is also
an attractively appointed and comfortable coffee shop featuring the ultimate
in good service.
INDOOR SWIMMING POOL
The focal point and prime attraction
of the Nor-Shor Motor Hotel is the indoor
heated swimming pool (open year
'round) with colorful lights emphasizing
its aesthetic appearance. A unique feature of the Nor-Shor Motor Hotel is the
sauna or steam bath or Finnish bath.
A scenic section of Highway 11 west of the hlcehead
near Kashabowie and Shebandow1tn Lake areas.
This is something which attracts many
guests to the Nor-Shor.
Trade mark of the Nor-Shor Motor
Hotel is the famous Nor-Shor clock
overlooking Memorial Avenue (which is
traversed by the Trans-Canada (No. 17)
and the newly completed Highway No.
11). Under the famous clock is the
slogan "Time to rest."
Traveling from the west, to reach
The Nor-Shor you would pass through
Fort William following Highway 17 and
11 and after crossing under the big Port
Arthur Welcome arch, you would pass
the Inter City Shopping Centre, cross
under the C.N.R. Ore train overpass featured with the big red CN sign over the
centre of the highway, and then watch
for The Nor-Shor Clock on the left-hand
side of the highway.
If on the other hand you drive in
on highway 17A and llA, after entering
Port Arthur city limits proceed to the
second stop light on High S~reet, turn
right and pro~eed south on High Str~et,
past scenic Hillcrest Park, (overlookmg
the City and Lake Superior) and proceed
down the long hill, coming to a stop at
The Nor-Shor just before High Street intersects Memorial Avenue and Highways 17 and 11.
If coming into Port Arthur from the
east follow Highways 17 and 11 through
the business section, proceeding toward
Fort William beyond the three-street intersection, where there are a number of
stop lights, and onward westerly to the
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
Nor-Shor Clock, which you will see several blocks before you come to the big
red CN sign on the C.N.R. iron ore train
overpass.
The Nor-Shor is situated conveniently
in a large "V" formed with the intersection of High Street and Memorial
Avenue, so there is ample parking on
either side of this fine new motel advantageously located between and quite
close to the shopping and business centres of both Port Arthur and Fort William.
The rapid growth and steady expansion of The Nor-Shor Motor Hotel is quite
obviously the result of extremely fine accommodation, modestly priced, which in
effect has made 'it the lakehead home for
countless numbers of people from Northwestern Ontario as well as for those
traveling from greater distances.
The Nor-Shor Motor Hotel is the obvious result of extremely nice accommodation modest rates, superb service,
perso~al attention to details by the management, and ideal location of the premises.
Incidentally, there are self-dial telephones in each of the 104 rooms - just
another little service which guests appreciate.
Moreover The Nor-Shor Motor Hotel
provides excellent accommodations for
dinner parties, family gatherings, business conventions, nightly live entertainment, in some respects the very hub of
Northwestern Ontario.
�"What's Good for Northwestern Ontario is Good for us!" -
HARVEY
W.
Bogged Down in Red and Grey Clay
SMITH
By R. H. Larson
... Lakehead Freightways Progresses
, with Highway 11
The. construction of new and Jmproved highways and
~ccess roads, accelle~ated by the steady population growth
!n NorthW:stern. Ontario and the rapid expansion of the woods
m~ustry, mvolvmg pulp and paper manufacture combined
with accellera~ activity in mining, manufacture ~nd tourism
has been attributed by Harvey W. Smith, founder and presi~ent of ~kehead Freightways Limited, as the major factor
m the rapid growth of this transportation firm.
Harvey Smith grew up in Northwestern Ontario In the
early thirties he lived at Hudson, jumping-off point· for the
Red Lake gold rush .
. He _got ~ foretaste of modern transportation running tractor
tram~ m wmter and barges in summer hauling mountains of
supplies to the Red Lake gold camp which was without road
or railway contact "to the outside."
. Not many trucking transportation company presidents get
their start at the bottom. Harvey Smith did. Back in the
'30's as a common labourer he helped build the "Heenan" high'!fay, now Highway 71 connecting Kenora and Fort Frances. It
is the self-same highway over which his company's cargo-laden
transports 1·011 today.
Following a stint as a timber hauling contractor he founded Lakehead Freightways in 1948. From its modest beginnings
Mr. Smith's operations grew consistently with the development
of Northwestern Ontario.
Im_aginative planning combined with sheer hard work,
exceptionally good service ought to succeed in the building
of a successful trucking transportation company that was fully
dependent and locally owned, reasoned Mr. Smith. Obviously
this objective has been achieved.
With headquarters in Port Arthur, there are terminals
in nearly all major communities of Northwestern Ontario.
Lakehead Frei~tway~ franchi~ ext~nd from Winnipeg to
Sault Ste. Marie offering east-west freight service with total
interchange with other carriers from coast to coast.
A north-south service also exists with United States carriers. An international bonded truck warehouse at Port Arthur
allows the company to offer trailer interchange with American
carriers serving most of the United States.
With the opening of Highway 11 the company can now offer
fast, efficient and direct daily service to Atikokan and Fort
Frances from Winnipeg and the Lakehead cities.
~ the past y~ar Lakehead Freightways Limtied operated
250 pieces of equipment to move 91,696 tons of freight over
1,265,916 miles of Northwestern Ontario highways. The company employed 127 of a staff earning $637,793 (approximately
more than $5,000 per employee). The company's fleet consumed 348,292 gallons of fuel and produced, with licence fees
and othe~ t'!-xes, $410.96 in revenue every day for 365 days for.
the provincial and federal governments.
•
A policy of Lakehead Freightways is to buy locally in
Northwestern Ontario. Mr. Smith stated that truck-trailer purchases from the Fort William plant of Canadian Car has to
date exceeded $200,000 and that this year their purchases
from that company will be around $125,000.
. Mr. Smith insists Northwestern Ontario has been good to
him and to Lakehead Freightways. To show his good faith
Mr. Smith not only has been buying locally, but he and his
staff are consistently providing top notch freight transportation
service.
The net result is that Lakehead Freightways has become
the largest locally-owned interprovincial freight carrier in
Northwestern Ontario.
a significant step forward
The completion of Highway Eleven is
a significant step forward enabling us to
offer Fort Frances, Atikokan and the remainder of Rainy River District a fast,
direct daily express freight service from
Sault Ste. Marie, the Canadian Lakehead
and Eastern Canada as well as from Winnipeg and Western Canada.
• • •
I
;
MANITOBAj
;
i
;
ONTARIO
,·::··
'&.~
---=-.
• )C?',q~Q'..._ -""••..,...
e::,
Lakehead Freightways grew up in
Northwestern Ontario and is owned and
managed locally. We fully appreciate the
varied requirements of our customers in this
area and endeavour to provide them with
the best service possible.
--·
*..-.,.,.T . . C.fll'UUC
- * ~,_
-
OUI DAl.1 IRYICI
~MDCNnWA11flllllUIIMI
CONNECTING CARRIERS TO All POINTS IN THE U.S.A.
LAKEHEAD FREIGHTWAVS LIMITED
Head Office: 774 Fort Street
Port Arthur, Ontario
WINNIPEG · KENORA • RAINY RIVER· FORT FRANC ES· ATIKOKAN • PORT ARTHUR. FORT
WILLIAM
Telephone 345-6501
and
intermediate
points. SAULT
STE .
MARIE
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
As we whiz along at "60 per" over a stretch of Highway
Eleven road a few miles west of the Crilly Bridge ( 60 miles
east of Fort Frances) it is difficult to surmise that this
stretch of road through clay country should provide any difficulty to a road building contractor.
Perhaps if it had not rained nearly every day in the Spring,
Summer and Fall of 1964, the situation might not have been
quite as troublesome.
Both the Department of Highways and the contractor,
Hacquoil of Fort William, had surmised that this piece of road
would have been sufficiently completed by the Fall of 1963 to
carry light traffic. But then the rains came, and kept coming,
endlessly day after day, with no drying days in between.
I had heard they were having road building trouble down
around Crilly last Fall but I could not conceive it was as
serious as related to me, and so I took a jaunt down to have
a look-by car over the highway to the Bear Passage Bridgeand over the highway, or right of way, by helicopter to the
clay section a few miles west of Crilly.
Fortunately, just before getting into the chopper I put on
my high top boots. When I alighted at the clay mud scene, I
could hardly believe my eyes.
The huge scrapers were coming out of the clay side-hill
"cut" with quarter-loads, and could not move even such
small loads without assists from large crawler type tractors.
They would scrape off a little mud from the surface of the
cut, and in doing so, would "chew up" the ground so ba?lY
that they had to haul rock back into the "cut" to pro~ide
traction for the scrapers. Even then, the huge scraper tires
would cut knee-deep furrows with a single "pass." These
would be filled with rock for traction and another quarter load
of clay would be moved out of the cut and into the valley
where the fill was required.
One wondered, while watching the desperate proceedings,
whether they were not hauling in more rock than the clay they
were hauling out.
Of course they were not, because this was to be a 14-foot
deep cut and they had. already c~opped ten feet _off th~ top _of
that particular clay hill, and this was accomp~1s~ed m spite
of the fact they had to haul all of traction-prov1dmg rock out
of the cut which had been hauled into it. The rock was of
course so mucked up with the soupy clay that it could not be
re-used for providing traction and fresh rock wot:ld have to be
hauled in.
Even with rock for some sort of traction the big self-propelling scrapers were unable t? propel themselves and, _when
loading had to be pushed by big crawler tractors. Occasionally a sc~aper would get pushed almost crossways of the right
of way.
To me it looked like a hopeless mess.
This was an oily type of clay, in alternating red and grey
layers averaging from a half inch to two inches to each layer.
The red clay probably colored by iron, was extremely oily to
the touch, an'd even when bone dry it feels oily.
Ultimately the frost came, and firmed up the surface . The
other clay fills were gouged out during the winter with drag
lines employed to fill the scrapers or trucks. To prevent the
face of the cuts from freezing so hard that they could not be
deg out the crews worked three shifts around the clock.
I suppose none of us, as we whiz along in comfortable
automobiles on super highways, give any thought to all that
must have been done by many people to make the road we
travel a super-highway.
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
BOGGED DOWN-Artist's sketch of a Hacquoil Construction Ltd. 2112 yd. North-
west 80 D shovel which sunk in muskeg near Mine Centre. A second 80 D shovel
lifting plus two D 8 Caterpillar tractors pulling recovered the huge machine afler
a back hoe dug out a trench which was filled with rock base.
THE HACQUOIL STORY
A LOT OF BIG EQUIPMENT, AND A LOT OF EQUIPMENT
MAINTENANCE IS REQUIRED TO BUILD A GOOD ROAD
When you look out your car window and see a few pieces
of heavy road-building equipment at work making a new road
it is doubtful if one realizes how much heavy and other equipment actually is required for a contractor to be in the road
construction business.
A trip uut to Hacqt:oil Construction and their 28-acre plot
( a former iron foundry) out near Canadian Car, on the
shores of the Kam River (where huge lake freighters and
some ocean going vessels can dock) gives a person some idea
of the immense amount of equipment required, the variety of
machines, and related equipment. One quickly realizes also
that these big machines wear out or break some of their parts.
To keep these machines in first class working order so that
they won't break down too often on the job, requires a mammoth machine shop equipped with a fantastic array of machines for specialized repair jobs and a large staff of competent and experienced machinists.
While Hacquoil's is perhaps not the largest road contractor
in the business this firm is certainly far from being the smallest.
Wearing a hard hat we toured the maintenance shops this
past Spring and as a consequence certainly obtained a much
deeper appreciation for what goes into good roads.
The Hacquoil Company is owned and operated by three
brothers Ozzie, Clifford and Vincent. Some refer to them as the
"triumverate" because no major action or decision is taken
by one without consultation with the other two.
It is apparently a good arrangement becal..!se, although a
comparatively young company, started in 1950, it has grown
to the largest road building and heavy equipment contracting
firm in Northwestern Ontario, and in fact, the largest in all
Northern O.1tario.
This is attested in part by the fact that this progressive
road building company, Hacquoil Construction, over the years
built 75 miles of the new Highway Eleven from the TransCanada to Fort Frances. To do this work they employed upwards of $2,000,000 of equipment. Wages for the work they did
is estimated at around $2,500,000, much of it being paid i:o
people who live in the vicinities adjacent to where the h!ghway was built. Thus much, or most of the wage money was
received and spent in Northwestern Ontario.
To keep first hand check on their far-flung road building
and other ooerations with a minimum loss of time , lhe
Hacquoil Brothers have a Grumman Widgeon Amphibious airplane available at all times.
�One of Lakehead's Largest Industries
Northern Wood Preservers Lilllited
TREATED
TIMBER
CULVERTS
smooth the road
OUR NEWEST HIGHWAY LINK
~
-
A symbol proudly stamped on products produced by Northern Wood Preservers Limited.
The products from this industry, one of the largest at the
Lakehead and of its kind in Canada, affect the lives of almost
everyone in this coentry.
From thousands of track tries for our two major railroads
to timber c!Ulverts, bridges and road tar for our highways,
treated timber and pilings for our waterways, drainage systems for our airports, utility and telephone poles for power
and communications distribution and lumber for construction,
these things play an essential part in our way of life.
A traveller in our vast country can find the NWP sign
from the Alaska Highway to Newfoundland.
Founded over a quarter century ago by the late R. D.
Prettie, the company has expanded into the most completely
integrated forest produce user in Northwestern Ontario with
marketing and manufacturing facilities for spruce, jackpine,
poplar, birch and fir species.
From these raw materials harvested mainly by Northern
Forest Products, its wood division, products ranging in size
from tiny nieces of lumber for box manufacturers to giant
100-foot poles for the department of transport; from rough
utility lumber to highly detailed framing requirements for mine
shaft timbers, anything in wood can be produced for the builder and contractor.
In 1952 a fire that destroyed the planing mill "sparked" a
general overall modernization program that has touched every
department in the company.
The rebuilt planing mill is one of the most modern in the
country featuring two high speed planers, a timber sizer, two
band resaws, automatic planer feeds, precision trimming and
packaging equipment. Combined with such creatures as fork
lift trucks and lumber straddle carriers the old cliche "un~
touched by human hand" could almost be applied to this whole
operation.
Recognizing the value of lumber that is dry, three dry
kilns are in operation around the clock. Increasing its strength
as much as 20 per cent, labor saving and warp resistant, kiln
dried wood is now demanded by the discerning buyer. All NWP
lumber is kiln dried and grade stamped.
• LAST TO FREEZE • FIRST TO
Pressure Treated For Extra Long Service
Impervious to cottosive soil conditions,
road salts and insect attack.
A PRODUCT OF
Automatic Sawmill
NORTHERN Mlooo PRESERVERS LTD.
Manufacturers of LUMBER - POLES - PILING - CULVERTS - BRIDGES - WHARFS
ROOFING PITCH· PITCH COKE - ROAD TAR - "TARCOATE" SPECIALTY PRODUCTS
AND
NORTHERN TAR CHEMICAL AND WOOD LTD.
Manufacturers of TAR BASED PIPELINE ENAMEU
Distributors of KOPPERS BITUMASTIC COATINGS
PORT ARTHUR, ONT ARIO
■Alp
N lllnll
Modern Progress
~
----
P. 0. BOX 990
Boasts Coast -to - Coast Sales
PHONE: Area Code 807
Producing at a rate of 8,000 FBM an hour, equivalent to
the lumber required for one good sized home the sawmill
seizes the debarked sawlogs and cuts, slices and trims them
into the best commercial value to which they can be put.
Waste and edgings from this operation, are carefully
steered to a conveyor that feeds all cuttings to a roaring
chipping machine that chews up small and big pieces with ease
and spews out carefully cut and screened wood chips directly
into cars for shipment for making sulphite pulp at a paper mill.
About all that is left from the sawlog now is sawdust but
even this is used to feed the three giant boilers adjacent to the
sawmill, as are the shavings from the planing mm. From the
steam generated, the heat for the dry kilns and the pressure
plant is drawn.
A somewhat smaller version of the main lumber sawmill
is the tie and stud mill.
Producing track ties at a rate of 2,200 per day, together
with the recently advertised "Blue Chip" studs, the small mill
344-8451
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
• • • • •
is a welcome addition to the local wood manufacturing industry.
In a small booklet available at Northern Wood Preservers
entitled "The Lasting Treatment" R. J. Prettie, President,
makes this observation in a forward. "Properly treated timber
will outlast untreated timber as much as 10 times. It takes
from 60 to 80 years to grow a tree to Hydro or telephone pole
size.
When pressure treated such a pole will last 60 to 80 years
- long enough to grow another tree."
As the demand of wood increases with the growing population and industry, it is becoming ever more evident that
our methods of using our harvest must become more efficient.
From Mr. Prettie's statement, pressure treatments are playing
a huge part in conserving our natural wealth. Together with
other woods industries the company contributes in a very large
way to the full utilization of the species found in our forests.
The result of over 100 years of scientific development,
pressure treatments used by "Northern" have proven to be
the most effective for giving truly extended life to all parts of
the timber. The "Lasting Treatment" gives some astounding
examples of "service life" from lumber and timber treated
under pressure.
These include wharves, poles, track ties, culverts and pilings. C.S.A. specifications for all treatments are strictly adhered to in order that the treating industries' motto can be
proudly upheld: ''Treated Timber has service records unequalled by any other structural material."
Tar Plant
In conjunction with the treating plant is the tar plant which,
by distillation of coal tar obtained from steel mills in Hamilton
and Sault Ste. Marie, produces creosote, roofing pitch, road
tars and pitch coke as well as the line of Tarcoate specialty
products of waterproofing compounds.
The treating plant itself has recently completed installation of the second of its giant treating 7' dia. x 140' long 'i:reating cylinders, which has almost doubled its treating capacity.
The framing department is capable of precutting timbers,
large and small to detailed drawings to fit any requirements;
cutting in this manner before treatment leaves no exposed
surfaces.
The pole department machine shaves, cuts to lengths, and
classifies utility poles. These are then stacked for seasoning
before treating and shipping out. This department also produces thousands of smaller poles for farm building construction
used extensively in Eastern Ontario.
With capacity of 100,000 utility poles, 500,000 track ties and
millions of feel of timber and lumber each year, all from local
forest products produced by local labor and processed with
Canadian materials for Canadian markets, the company contributes substantially each year to our economy in wages and
purchasing power.
"In 1964, the parent company of the organization, Northern
Tar, Chemical and Wood Limited, acquired the distribution
right to Koppers Limited products throughout Canada, as well
as that company's plant at Port Arthur producing tar based
pipe line enamels for t};}e gas, oil and water industries. This
new acquisition has increased our product base and meant the
expansion of our office facilities at Port Arthur and the opening
of a branch 'in Calgary, Alta. All this confirms our faith in the
future of our great Northwest area and we hope will be only
a beginning of better things to come," declares Mr. Pretty.
�PROGRESSING
1959
1961
WITH THE
1963
1965
ROAD
1966
50 1nillion
OUR PRODU:CTION OF L .:MBER
(Board Feet)
10
3
million
•
ROAD
PROGRESS:
ROAD IN ALL CONTRACTS
PROGRESS
LET
THRU TRAFFIC
PERMI'ITED
PAVING
COMPLETE*
PROJECTED"
The forerunner of progress is faith in the future of the area. It gives
impetus to investment in development. Just as the gover:nment has invested tremendously in the area's future through completion of this new road,
so also have industries tried to fulfill their role. Over the past six years
JIM MATHIEU LUMBER has invested $2,500,000.00 in machinery, plant
and equipment to make our growth possible.
WE BELIEVE IN TH.E FUTURE OF THIS AREA
JIM MATHIEU LUMBER LIMITED
HEAD OFFICE AND PLANT: SAPAWE, ONTARIO
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
General Description and History
CALAND IRON ORE LIMITED
Caland Ore Company Limited was formed in 1949 as a
wholly-owned subsidiary of Inland Steel Company of Chicago.
In that year Caland signed an option with Steep Rock Mines
Limited to explore the "C" orebody of the Steep Rock Lake ore
deposit. On January 1, 1953 Caland signed a 99-year lease with
Steep Rock Iron Mines which permitted Caland to proceed with
the development and mining of the "C" orebody. This property
would provide high grade iron ore for the Inland Steel Company
furnaces at Indiana Harbor, Indiana. The lease called for
Caland to produce 750,000 tons of ore in 1960, with a gradual
increase to 3,000,000 tons by 1969. The deposit was located at
Falls Bay of Steep Rock Lake about five miles north of Atikokan, Onta1·io. Atikokan is about 125 miles west of the Canadian Lakehead cities of Port Arthur and Fort William.
During the seven-year period after the signing of the lease
and prior to the first ore shipments in 1960, a tremendous
amount of development work had to be completed to maintain
the schedule. The orebody was overlain by silt to an average
depth of 300 feet plus 100 feet of water. A dredging contract
was let to Construction Aggregates Corporation (C.A.C.) of
Chicago in 1953 for the removal of an estimated 160 million
cubic yards of lake bottom material. Two 36-inch suction
dredges were assembled at the site, along with piplines, booster
stations and other shore facilities. The pumping began in
March, 1955 and was completed on September 30, 1960 when
162 million cubic yards of lake bottom material had been
removed. The bulk of the material was pumped a distance of
4 miles to the Marmion Lake disposal basin.
Another phase of the development work, carried out
simultaneously with the dredging operation, was the construction of water control facilities to divert and pump run-off water
from a 25-square mile drainage area surrounding the mine site.
Through engineering studies it was determined that 60 per
cent of the run-off from this area could be diverted to other
watersheds by the construction of dams and diversion tunnels.
In the South East Arm area of the original Steep Rock Lake,
run-off from an 11-square mile drainage area was diverted
into the Atikokan River watershed by the construction of the
Hardy Dam and three diversion tunnels. At the mouth of the
South East Arm of Steep Rock Lake, the Fairweather Dam
was constructed to impound the run-off from an additional
3-square miles of drainage area, and to provide a railroad
crossing over the old lake bottom. Both dams are earth-fill
structures built on the silt and clay foundations provided by
the original lake bottom.
To the north of the mine site the Grossman Dam, a 25-foot
concrete structure with four sluice gates, was constructed to
provide control over the amount of recharge water returned
from Marmion Lake to the dredge pool. With the completion
of the dredging, this dam now impounds run-off water f_rom th_a
North and South Twin Lakes catchment areas and diverts 1t
northward to Marmion Lake. This water would otherwise run
southward to the mining zone.
A total of 23 dams were constructed around the perimeter
of the origL11al lake, the last of which was complet~d in 1961.
In the summer of 1960 a complex surface pumpmg system
was installed to handle run-off water from a 10-square mile
drainage area where gravity drainage was not practical. This
system, designed to handle a 1 in 20-year flood,_ consists ~f five
separate pumping locations with a total pumpmg capacity of
26,700 U.S. gallons per minute.
As dredging lowered the water in Falls Bay, construction
went ahead on the ore handling facilities. In 1957 a conveyor
system running from the Lime Point Mine, at the north end
of the ore zone, to the railroad loading plant was constructed.
This consisted of a 36-inch belt conveyor in three flights,
totalling 5,000 feet in length, with a lift of 480 feet. The lower
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
PROCESSING AND PELLETIZING PLANT NOW UNDER CONSTRUCTION
end of this system was relocated in the winter of 1963-64 to
bring it closer to the actual mining operations in the main or
central part of the ore zone. The revised system ·consists of
four flights totalling 5,000 feet in length, with a lift of 680 feet.
An underground 8-compartment shaft called the Falls
Point Shaft was sunk to a depth of 1,330 feet in the footwall
granite. The sinking was completed in 1958. Three Swedishmade friction hoists, comprised of two skip hoists and one
cage hoist, were installed and over 6,000 feet of lateral development has been done to date. Although the underground mining
operations have been deferred, the shaft and skip hoists are
used as part of a unique transportation system for handling
open pit ere from the Mink Point Open Pit Mine from which
first shipments were made on July 31, 1961.
A total of close to 60 million dollars has been expended
on the development of the Caland property.
In 1959 Caland initiated an open pit mining operation in
the Lime Point area at the north end of the ore zone. It was
natural that this part of the orebody would be the first mined
because it was the highest in elevation and consequently the
first ore to be exposed by the dredging. On May 3, 1960 initial
shipments of ore were made from the Lime Point Open Pit
Mine. The table below shows shipments of iron ore from the
Caland operations through 1964.
Scheduled tons Tons actually shipped
1959
1960
750,000
764,893
1961
1,000,000
1,009,356
1962
2,000,000
2,003,472
1963
2,000,000
2,002,918
1964
2,000,000
2,000,822
Total
7,750,000
7,781,461
I11 late 1963 the Company announced plans to build an ore
processing and pelletizing plant. The plant is being designed
to handle Z1h million tons cf high grade ore per year. The ore
preparation part of the plant will divide the ore into a coarse
fraction consisting of particles bigger than 3/ 16" and into a
fine fraction consisting of particles 3/ 16" or under. The coarse
will be shipped directly to the steel mill without further treatment. The fines will undergo a variety of processing including
drying, stockpiling, grinding, screening and balling before
being fed in~o the pellet plant. These fines will emerge in the
form of ½" pellets - about 1,000,0C0 tons a year. The addition
of the ore preparation and pelletizing plant is an outgrowth
of the steel mill's demand for ores with improved physical
characteristic. Cost of the plant is estimated at 15 million
dollars.
�For bette,· and closer communications
On Highway 11-17
at the Canadian Lakehead
Highway Development and Bell Telephone
Expansion Move Forward Simultaneously
NOR SHOR L~: I~ E5 o
71,e MOTOR HOTEL
•
4-piece bath, individual controlled heat,
T.V. and Radio
•
Traveller's Cert's. Hand. - Sample Rooms
•
Dine in the Amethyst Room
•
Nightly Entertainment in the Jasper Room
View of the 45-room new addition including enclosed
heated Swimming Pool, Sauna, Coffee Shop and
Dining Room ... opening this summer.
►
◄
View of Nor-Shor Motor Hotel as you enter
Port Arthur from Fort William on Highway
11 and 17.
NOR SHOR ! -,~ /o
71,e MOTOR HOTEL
L~
G~~-~
I
,,,,, ff
450 MEMORIAL AVENUE
PORT ARTHUR, ONTARIO, CANADA
TELEPHONE DI 4-9621
TELEX 033-236
~dfflQ---' BARNETT-M,OUEEN COMPANY
LIMITED
I
•
We are pleased to have had the opportunity to contribute to the construction
of the new section of Highway Eleven. This highway has brought the vast
territory of Northwestern Ontario and its resources closer together again.
The highway will prove to be of the greatest importance for the future
development of our area and the Province of Ontario.
q;/M'~~At~~r~
@1"f01£&J'd
and ~1,,0£,w,r/~
9 : t ~ @daff«Y
SPECIALISTS IN HEAVY CONCRETE AND STEEL STRUCTURES
Serving Northwestern Ontario for over 60 years
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement of
The opening of the Causeway-Highway link between the
Fort Frances-Rainy River area and the Lakehead might be
termed a "LAND" step while others, like those the Bell Telephone Company of Canada has taken in the past 16 years
might be termed "Investment" steps. Both the Highway link
and the communications link are instrumental in harnessing
this rugged north country's vast natural resources.
A l~year tenure in the region has meant an annual investment of close to $2 million to the Bell. Today, the company's total capital outlay is well over the $27 million mark. It
has been utilizing its financial, technical and manpower resources to provide modern communications wherever they
are needed.
These needs have stretched all across the region - from
Fort Frances in the south to Fort Severn on the shores of
Hudson Bay, From White River on the East to Rainy River
on the West. The Bell today serves a total of over 18,500 Telephones in 49 separate exchanges, as well as providing long
distance ser-vice for more than 40 thousand other telephone
users like the subscribers of the municipal systems of Fort
William, Port Arthur, Dryden and Kenora.
Direct distance dialing (DDD) was introduced into the
Thunder Bay - Riainy River region last fall. The system
which permits telephone users io dial ,their own long distance
calls to more than 90 million telephones on the North American continent will be extended to most of Northwestern Ontario within the next few years.
TWX, the Bell Telephone's "Dial-it-your~eH" teletype
system which has served Northwestern Ontario for the last
two ye~rs, was expanded in Februa~y to include an ~~ditional
188 thousand stations in 100 countries to the 60 m1lhon stations scattered over the North American continent. Unlike its
predecessor TWX, makes use of the regular long distance
network so' that you can exchange typewritten messages with
any oth~r TWX machine, eliminating the need for a private
line. Messages are sent as simply as on would place a DDD
call.
Looking at buildings across the region, there are a total
of 41 exchange buildings, four long di'Stance centres and two
work centres, which represent an investment (excluding
equipment) of $2,090,000 over the past ten years. The newest
work centre on Mclrvine road, in Fort Frances, has facilities
to store 30 vehicles, repair bays, and lunch and meeting
rooms.
But with the Bell Telephone it's not just an investment
of dollars and cents in Northwestern Ontario; it's also an investment in people.
For example, arriving in Fort Frances last fall as local
manager, Don Plaskett quickly became involved in community projects to the extent that the Bell was asked to free him
from his company duties to head a committee setting up arrangements for the official opening of Highway number 11 and
the fabulous Causeway. A plan was worked out by the
Company which allowed him to devote the majority of his
time to the community celebrations for two months preceding the June 28 opening.
The Daily Bulletin of the Fort Frances Times - Monday, June 28, 1965
Pictured top is llell Telephone dial exchange at Mine Centre. Below is Bear
Passage dial exchange. Located east on Highway Eleven, the stations were
built simultaneous with the highway; one in what was once a roaring
mining town; the other in solid bush.
There are 299 other Bell employees like Don Plaskett
scattered across the vast region, both building a better communications network and better communities.
In 1957 The Bell assumed responsibility for telephone service in Fort Frances, subsequently converted the system to
dial operation and then embarked on a program of expansion
and improvement westward to the Lake of the Woods. As a
result, it now operates exchanges at Devlin, Emo, Barwick,
Stratton, Rainy River, Morson and Nestor Falls. Similarly,
Microwave facilities were extended from Vermillion Bay to
Fort Frances in 1963, linking into the Trans-Canada network
and across the border into Minnesota.
At present the Company is busily engaged in a program
of what telephone people call "Dedicated Plant". Simply explained, it means a permanent circuit is established between
the customer's premis~s and the switching centre.
Looking eastward along the route of the new highway,
The Bell has already established two dial exchanges at Bear
Passage and Mine Centre. With base station facilities at Fort
Frances, "fringe radio service" is available to subscribers
where there are no land lines. This Telephone-By-Radio permits users to contact any point presently served by Telephone on the continent.
�Early stage of opening up the Roberts Open Pit lying between the Errington and Hogarth Mines.
SPEAKING OF HIGHWAYS
1.
Canada's HIGHWAY TO PROSPERITY is exports. The
Canadian Mining Industry plays a dominant role in this
prosperity, accounting as it does for approximately 30% of
the value of Canada's exports.
2.
The new Lakehead-Atikokan-Fort Frances Highway is
another HIGHWAY TO PROSPERITY. Its opening would
still be generations away had it not been for the development of the vast iron deposits on the Steep Rock Range.
3.
4.
A
CASE
IN
POINT
No other industry plays so effective a role as the mining
industry in opening up the remote and otherwise unproductive regions of Canada.
ATIKOKAN -
Population before development of the mines 300.
- Population after development of the mines 6500.
1'11ines' Payroll
$5,500,000 Rail Freight
$5,700,000
STEEP ROCK IRON MINES LIMITED
Mines and Exploration and Head Office
STEEP RocK LAKE, ONTARIO
Highway 11 Official Opening Souvenir Supplement
�Approximately two thousand cords of wood for our Fort Frances mill are towed on Rainy Lake by O-M tugboat.
Congratulations to the Ontario Department
of Highways and related departments on the official opening
of the Atikokan to Fort Frances section of Highway No.11
Frances and Kenora has increased from $260,000
to more than $11,000,000.
With the opening of this important link we
anticipate continuation of the development of
northwestern Ontario and look to the future
with confidence.
The Ontario-Minnesota Pulp and Paper Company
Limited is proud of its contribution to the growth
and development of this area. During the past 50
years the number of our employees has increased
from 360 to more than 2,000, and the annual payroll
of our paper mills and woods operations at Fort
NEWSPRINT-Many newspapers in the m iddle western
states and prairie provinces use MAN DO newsprint.
QUALITY
THE
PRODUCTS
CONVERTING PAPERS-End uses for MANDO'S converting
papers Include business forms, adding ma.chine paper,
tablets and laminated foil.
FOR
PRINTING
ONTARIO- MI NNESOTA
•
PULP
PACKAGING
AND
PRINTING-Magazines, periodicals and books printed
on MANDO papers are found 1n nearly every home.
•
PAPER
BUILDING
CONSTRUCTION
COMPANY
LIMITED
�
Dublin Core
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Title
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Dedication Ceremonies and Official Opening: Atikokan-Fort Frances Section, Highway 11
Subject
The topic of the resource
Transportation
Communities in Northwestern Ontario
Description
An account of the resource
Souvenir program celebrating the opening of Highway 11 between Atikokan and Fort Frances. A Special Supplement of the Fort Frances Times and Daily Bulletin.
Creator
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Fort Frances Times and Daily Bulletin
Date
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1965-06
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PDF
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English
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Text
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Canada - Ontario - Fort Frances
Canada - Ontario - Atikokan
-
https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/8438d91beaf8411b6c347705dd7dcf48.jpg
e7a2644393883f0deed2e89580067c8c
Dublin Core
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Title
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Thunder Bay Finnish Canadian Historical Society Collection
Subject
The topic of the resource
Finnish-Canadians
Life in Thunder Bay
Description
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Photographs collected by the Thunder Bay Finnish Canadian Historical Society from a wide range of collectors, documenting Finnish immigration to and life in Thunder Bay.
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Thunder Bay Finnish Canadian Historical Society
Publisher
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Lakehead University Library
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Title
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Railroad bridge at Nolalu
Subject
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Business and Industry
Communities in Northwestern Ontario
Description
An account of the resource
Railroad bridge at Nolalu, Ontario.
Format
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JPG
Type
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Still image
Identifier
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MG8,D,1,4,C,123
Coverage
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Canada - Ontario - Nolalu
-
https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/b9ff9083b5c6782a93d8ff1a86ad74c2.jpg
43fc2ab850b9deb2b962b02b903a07df
Dublin Core
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Title
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Thunder Bay Finnish Canadian Historical Society Collection
Subject
The topic of the resource
Finnish-Canadians
Life in Thunder Bay
Description
An account of the resource
Photographs collected by the Thunder Bay Finnish Canadian Historical Society from a wide range of collectors, documenting Finnish immigration to and life in Thunder Bay.
Creator
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Thunder Bay Finnish Canadian Historical Society
Publisher
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Lakehead University Library
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Title
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Trappers with dog team
Subject
The topic of the resource
Communities in Northwestern Ontario
People
Description
An account of the resource
Trappers with dog team, Nipigon, Ontario. People in photo: Joe Sault.
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
JPG
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Still image
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
MG8,D,1,3,E,I74
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Canada - Ontario - Nipigon
-
https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/3377ffdb36fb6f654d4d86ab9086da92.png
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Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
David Belrose fonds
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Belrose's Speech Page 1
Subject
The topic of the resource
Communities in Northwestern Ontario
Description
An account of the resource
The first page of David Belrose's Speech during the first Thunder Pride Week
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
David Belrose
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2011-06
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Png
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Canada-Ontario-Thunder Bay
-
https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/aab7fd5410eed9822afe200205146164.png
44cc42bf9269c3a0c1864170d56fa00f
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
David Belrose fonds
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Out and About Volume 1, Issue 1 Cover
Subject
The topic of the resource
Communities in Northwestern Ontario
Description
An account of the resource
The cover of the first issue of Out and About Volume 1
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Out and About
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1998-03
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Png
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Canada-Ontario-Thunder Bay
-
https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/4a7b0bf5544eb44ed6cfc248edb0e39b.png
60905667e994ddd041a915c6a73b9551
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
David Belrose fonds
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Northwest Connections June 1997 Cover
Subject
The topic of the resource
Communities in Northwestern Ontario
Description
An account of the resource
The cover of the June 1997 edition of Northwestern Connections
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Northwest Connection
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1997-06
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
png
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Canada-Ontario
-
https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/9185d4e909abcbb7ba3d0fbc61bcc964.png
812ee3da716d6dfb769fcf2d65808a18
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
David Belrose fonds
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
reACT-Believe Summer 1989 Cover
Subject
The topic of the resource
Communities in Northwestern Ontario
Description
An account of the resource
The cover of the reACT-Believe Summer 1989 issue.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
AIDS Council of Thunder Bay (ACT-B)
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1989
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
PNG
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Canada-Ontario-Thunder Bay
-
https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/393da22b71fabe37154d1a1501456c0c.png
4c8f7da1f84a2cf26114cdff78118f25
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
David Belrose fonds
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Gays of Thunder Bay Magazine July 1980 Cover
Subject
The topic of the resource
Communities in Northwestern Ontario
Description
An account of the resource
The cover of Gays of Thunder Bay Magazine's July 1980 issue.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Gays of Thunder Bay
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1980-07
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Png
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Magazine Cover
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Canada-Ontario-Thunder Bay
-
https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/c328ddcc052c2ef70c469e330b991840.pdf
55a86c42b2afe370f503d7b44db06e74
PDF Text
Text
��
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
David Belrose fonds
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Thunder Pride Display Table Request
Subject
The topic of the resource
Communities in Northwestern Ontario
Description
An account of the resource
Information on how to request a display table at Thunder Pride 2011.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Thunder Pride
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Thunder Pride
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2011
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
PDF
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text
-
https://digitalcollections.lakeheadu.ca/files/original/dcc8f6623fc86d651fa9b802963f8c57.pdf
2f87fcf7047e9a30e3db507752a110b7
PDF Text
Text
��
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
David Belrose fonds
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Thunder Pride Advertising Opportunity
Subject
The topic of the resource
Communities in Northwestern Ontario
Description
An account of the resource
Advertising opportunities for businesses who wanted to support Pride week.
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Thunder Pride
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Thunder Pride
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
2011
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
PDF
Language
A language of the resource
English
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
Text