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Greater Sudbury Greater Sudbury (157,857), is the the largest city in Northern Ontario and sometimes dubs itself "the capital of the north". Within fifteen minutes drive from Sudbury post office, the "greater city" has a population of over 157,000. Sudbury was founded in 1883 as a collection of log shacks on Federal Government land, a mile north of Lake Ramsay. It was a C.P.R. construction camp and the railway controlled the townsite until the camps were moved to Biscotasing in 1885. Overnight the population dropped from 1,500 to 300 leaving only those who were interested in mining and lumbering. In 1887, the C.P.R. began to build the Soo line and Sudbury began to grow again. It was incorporated as a town in 1893 with 2,000 inhabitants. Its early growth was steady, reaching 8,000 in 1920 but, since then it has been one of the fastest growing towns in Ontario. It was incorporated as a city in 1930. The census of 2006 reported a population of 157,857. Modern Sudbury is a well-built city with more than 20 miles of paved streets. It has an extensive business section with many stores, hotels and large office buildings. Sudbury has many fine churches and schools. The Sudbury Mining and Technichal School, Sudbury High School and Sacred Heart College are noteworthy educational institutions. St. Joseph's Hospital serves the entire district. The city hall and the Sudbury District judicial buildings are also near the centre of the city. Bell Park is located on the shore of Lake Ramsay. The finest residential areas are located near the park and again on the heights north of the city centre. Sudbury is a railway centre, an administrative and commercial headquarters and a labour pool. The few industries in the city produce of goods including mining machinery, lumber and other wood products. More than three-quarters of the gainfully employed work in mining and metallurgy in the surrounding district, earning a higher average wage than the workers of any other Canadian city. The Sudbury District Copper Cliff, four miles west of Sudbury, was founded in 1885, when the Canadian Copper Company reopened its mine nearby. The mine has long since been closed but the town is the headquarters of the International Nickel Company and the site of its huge smelter. In earlier years, the sulphur fumes from the roasting ores destroyed the vegetation for miles around. This has been controlled by building three tall stacks the largest of which is 512 feet high with an inside diameter of 45 feet at the top. Nearby is a large refinery to treat the copper produced here, but the nickel is sent to Port Colborne for refining. The town is completely controlled by International Nickel and its citizens are nearly all company employees. Coniston, is about 8 miles east of Sudbury. It is a railway junction and the site of another smelter formerly operated by the Mond Nickel Company. Capreol, about 20 miles north of Sudbury is a railway junction and division headquarters on the Canadian National Railway. Chelmsford, is located 12 miles northwest of Sudbury on the Whitson River and is the centre of the agriculture district in the Sudbury basin. Mine settlements in the Sudbury nickel area include Falconbridge, Garson, Creighton and Levack. Mining is, of course, the greatest economic factor and mining and urban landscapes dominate the Sudbury area. Agriculture followed lumbering here, as well as elsewhere in Ontario, and has held on because of the market supplied by the mining towns. There are two agricultural landscapes; the contiguous settlement from Chelmsford to Hanmer in the Sudbury basin and the dispersed farms in small pockets among the ice scoured hills south and southwest of the city. The Sudbury Basin comprises a boatshaped area about 23 miles long and 8 miles in width at its widest. It is floored by clay, silt and sand deposited in an ancient glacial lake. Parts of this plain are too sandy or gravelly for good farming, there are some outcrops of rock, and the lowest part occupied by the meandering Vermilion River is too wet. The farmers are mostly French speaking people. In spite of the square system of the Ontario Land Survey, the farms are narrow strips and the rural homes are concentrated along the main gravel roads with six to twelve houses per mile. Fields are small and the crops are chiefly hay and oats with potatoes becoming an important crop specialty. Pasture is important, both in the improved area and the rough clearings. Milk production is insufficient to supply the demand in Sudbury. Even so, in the more isolated districts, some cheese is produced. In the dispersed settlements south of Sudbury there are large numbers of Finnish settlers. The farms are larger and there are some good dairy herds. Much of the land, however, is fit only for poor subsistence or part-time agriculture. Home