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Northeastern Ontario Northeastern Ontario is a large and composite region contained entirely within the administrative districts of Timiskaming and Cochrane. Like the Near North it is an extremely tenuous region, for the most part adhering very close to its communication lines, the Ontario Northland and C.N. Railways and Highway Number 11, which extend for nearly 300 miles from Cobalt to Hearst. Here anti there, however, small areas of settlement occur as in the Timiskaming or Little Clay Belt, Kirkland Lake Mining Camp, Matheson District, Porcupine Mining Camp and the Cochrane, Kapuskasing and Hearst settlements along the Transcontinental Railway in the Great Clay Belt. North of this there stretches to the shore of James Bay a wilderness across which the northern branch of the Ontario Northland finds its way to Moosonee. The districts of Timiskaming and Cochrane cover about 58,000 square miles, but the combined area of the townships containing settlements is little more than 3,600 square miles. Timiskaming Because it was believed that Northeastern Ontario offered land for colonization the Ontario government in 1903 began to build the Timiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway. During its construction the silver ores of Cobalt were discovered and a great mining camp sprang up. Settlers also spread into the clay lands at the head of Lake Timiskaming, where about 20 townships, or 720 square miles, soon became pretty solidly taken up. Cobalt, said to have had 10,000 people in its boom days as a silver camp is now a ghost of its former self with a few mines producing small quantities of ore. Haileybury, was founded in 1883 but had few settlers before the Cobalt strike in 1903, when it was made the location of the mining recorder's office. In 1912 it was chosen as the judicial centre for the new district of Timiskaming. New Liskeard, located on Wabi Bay at the head of Lake Timiskaming was founded in 1895. It is a well built town which functions as the market and supply point for much of the nearby area. It has a woodworking plant, dairy product plant and canning factory. Kirkland Lake The town of Kirkland Lake is the largest of the settlements located in the important gold mining area which extends for thirty miles across the northern part of Timiskaming District from Swastika to the Quebec boundary. Swastika and Larder Lake, toward the east, were both staked by prospectors in 1906, but it was not until 1911 that Bill Wright made the great discovery at Kirkland Lake. Although containing a population of 8,248 ( 2006) Kirkland Lake has never been incorporated and remains part of the municipality of Teck township. It is an extremely haphazard urban agglomeration in which mines, business district and residential areas are closely intermixed. The physical difficulties of the site are great for sewers and water pipes must often be laid in solid rock. Rail transportation is provided by the Nipissing Central Railway which connects with the Ontario Northland at Swastika. Larder Lake is located 18 miles east of Kirkland Lake. Its mines are not as productive as formerly. The Matheson District The southernmost settlement of the Great Clay Belt is an area about two townships (12 miles) in width along the Ontario Northland Railway for 40 miles from Ramore to Potter, with lateral extensions toward the southern extension toward Iroquois Falls in one direction and the Porcupine gold field in the other. A large part of this area is drained by the Black River and its territories. This area has a fair proportion of reasonably good silt and clay soils and is favourably situated with respect to markets in the mining fields. It contains about 600 farms with an occupied area of 90,000 acres of which about 30,000 are classed as improved land. A number of dairy farms are being developed and potatoes are a crop specialty, especially on lighter soils. Matheson, is a centrally located village which serves as the business centre for most of the area. Here also are located the district offices of the Ontario Departments of Agriculture and Lands and Forests. Porquis is a junction on the O.N.R. with branches leading to Timmins and Iroquois Falls. A large airport is nearby. Iroquois Falls, on the Abitibi River, is the site of a large pulp and paper mill. It is a well planned town controlled by the paper company. Alongside stands Ansonville, an unincorporated village of crowded non-descript frame buildings which stand in strong contrast to the planned town and contains a larger population. Considerable land fit for settlement lies between Matheson and the Porcupine gold field but it has all been staked as mining claims. Timmins, was founded in 1911 by Noah Timmins in order to house the employees of Hollinger mines. However it is not a company town. Work was begun in September and its incorporation as a town dates from January 1,1912. Laid out in grid fashion on sandy terraces overlooking the Mattagami River, it had from the first its regularly designated business centre along Third Avenue and its first class residential section on the "Hill" which was the highest terrace. Unfortunately some of the later expansion of Timmins has been northward down the hill onto wet flats of clay and peat, rather than south onto the sand plains. Timmins is larger than many cities but takes pride in being "the largest town in Canada". It has many substantial brick business buildings and its workmen's homes though smaller than many in the south appear well designed for comfort in the long cold winters. There are numerous well built schools and churches. Eastward between the town and the mine is a large green space. Once a small lake, it was filled with mine "tailings", over which soil was placed to make a municipal playground and park. Other huge piles of tailings are to be found to the south of the town. To the west, on the banks of the Mattagami River, are large mills which make lumber from the logs brought down the river. About one-fifth of the people of Timmins are of foreign extraction, mainly Europeans. The remainder are about equally divided between French and English speaking Canadians. Hydroelectric plants at Wawaitin Falls and Sandy Falls furnish energy for the town and the mines. Power lines also bring electricity from the Abitibi River. Tisdale township has two chief settlements, Schumacher and South Porcupine. Neither of these are incorporated though each appears as a full-fledged town of several thousand people. South Porcupine on the shore of Porcupine Lake is the "capital" of the township. It has a modern appearing business section, good schools and many blocks of neat small homes. The lake which is about two miles long and half a mile in width is the local air base for Provincial Government planes and those of commercial airlines. In winter the planes are equipped with skis to operate from the ice. Cochrane District The Cochrane community comprises the town of Cochrane and the agricultural settlement in ten surrounding townships. Cochrane was founded at the terminus of the T. and N. O. Railway in 1908. By 1911 it had 1,700 people. When the transcontinental line was built it became an important junction and division point. In 1922 it became the judicial and administrative centre for a district of 52,000 square miles. The town is the headquarters for a number of lumber and pulpwood operators and a market for surrounding farmers. A creamery, cold storage and egg grading station and a potato storage are found here. There are two parks, one of which surrounds a small kettle lake. The area immediately north of the town contains a number of fine dairy farms. There are one or two small cheese factories. The crops are mainly hay and oats, but potatoes are successful on the lighter and better drained soils. The Cochrane areas is undoubtedly one of the best in northeastern Ontario, yet one sees many abandoned farms. Smooth Rock Falls is an important pulp mill town on the Mattagami River about halfway between Cochrane and Kapuskasing. The adjoining townships have little agricultural settlement. From Cochrane the Ontario Northland Railway extends northward 187 miles along the Abitibi and Moose Rivers to Moosonee which lies on the estuary about 12 miles from the open water of James Bay. Thus a great portion of Northern Ontario is tributary to Cochrane. Along the railway are a number of pulpwood and sawmill operations as well as the important hydroelectric developments at Island Falls and Abitibi Canyon. The lignite mines at Onikawana are now abandoned and the pits are filled with water. Abitibi Canyon is an interesting place which may be regarded as typical of the outlying power plant settlements of Northern Ontario. The site itself is noteworthy, being located at the point where the Abitibi River makes its swift descent to the James Bay lowlands. A head of 297 feet is obtained making available about 250,000 H.P. Here surrounded by the wilderness is a community of 40 homes, a church, school, store, dispensary and recreation centre. The buildings are all heated by electricity. In summer the situation is not unpleasant but in winter the isolation is complete. Energy from the Abitibi station is transmitted by great power lines to pulp mills and mines far to the south. Moose Factory and Moosonee are interesting and contrasting outposts. Moose Factory is located on an island in the estuary of Moose River and was the second post of the Hudson's Bay Company being founded in 1671. It was captured in 1686 by a French war party from Montreal but was later reoccupied. The old "Factory" is a huge wooden structure, the ground floor of which is occupied by trading space whilst upstairs in the old storage lofts is a small museum containing many interesting relics of the fur trade. The village contains mission schools, Anglican and Catholic churches, the R.C.M.P. headquarters and a doctor's office. Sketched out along the river bank is a row of whitewashed Indian houses each with a small vegetable garden. Moosonee, founded in 1932, is located about four miles away on the western bank of the estuary. It is entirely new and modern with a small tourist hotel and a new Hudson Bay store, railway station and dock. The port, however, is so shallow that it can be used for small craft only. Kapuskasing The founding of the town of Kapuskasing may be said to date from 1914 when this way station was selected as the site of an internment camp during World War I. Later an experimental farm was established and a number of soldier settlers located near the town. During the 1920's a huge pulp and paper mill was erected and a new company town of neat painted houses replaced the tar paper shacks of construction days. A small amount of power is obtained at the site but the most of it comes from Smoky Falls, about 50 miles down the river. A railway, built to facilitate the construction of the power plant, now serves to haul pulpwood. The mill owns rights to 5,000 square miles of forest, north and south of the transcontinental railway. Hundreds of men find work in the pulpwood camps. Kapuskasing has a large airport from which T.C.A. maintain direct daily service to Toronto. Pontoon planes for local flights are based at Remi Lake near Moonbeam. Although not a regional capital like Cochrane, Kapuskasing may be regarded as a nucleus of the Clay Belt settlement extending for about 50 miles along the railway. The crops are mostly hay and oats but potatoes are important on lighter soils near Moonbeam. Hearst The most westerly settlement in the Great Clay Belt is found in the half dozen townships near Hearst. Hearst is a railway divisional point and the terminus of the Algoma Central Railway which connects with Sault Ste. Marie. It was also the terminus of the Provincial Highway until 1943, when the section to Geraldton was opened. In consequence, there are a considerable number of hotels and restaurants. Many woods workers make it their home during off-seasons. Results of Settlement The Great Clay Belt of Northern Ontario has been regarded as a field for agricultural colonization for over 40 years yet the resuits to date are not impressive. The greattest contribution to economic welfare in the area, apart from the mines on its southern border, comes from the three great pulp and paper mills. Ontario does not yet have sufficient population pressure to force even the best land of this area into agricultural production or even to ensure an economic return on the land which had been cleared. Compared with Southern Ontario, even the best land of the Clay Belt is of mediocre quality, despite the success of the occasional outstanding farmer. On the other hand the demand for wood seems to be constantly increasing and the best lands for agriculture are also the best for tree growth. Forestcrop management should be the keynote of land management, with enough subsidiary agriculture to supply home markets with the foods which may be easily produced. The geographic realities of the Clay Belt indicate that a multiple use husbandry should be adopted in which wood and food shall both be seen in true perspective as products of the soil. From such a basic assumption a geographic pattern and a programme of settlement might be worked out. Home