"},"area_total_km2":{"wt":""},"area_total_sq_mi":{"wt":""},"area_total_dunam":{"wt":""},"area_land_km2":{"wt":"31.36"},"area_land_sq_mi":{"wt":""},"area_water_km2":{"wt":""},"area_water_sq_mi":{"wt":""},"area_water_percent":{"wt":""},"elevation_footnotes":{"wt":""},"elevation_m":{"wt":""},"elevation_ft":{"wt":""},"population_footnotes":{"wt":"{{cite web |title=Census Profile of Minto |url=https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/dp-pd/prof/details/page.cfm?Lang=E&SearchText=Minto&DGUIDlist=2021A00051304022&GENDERlist=1,2,3&STATISTIClist=1&HEADERlist=0 |website=Statistics Canada |access-date=17 January 2023 |date=6 December 2022}}"},"population_total":{"wt":"2,234"},"population_as_of":{"wt":"2021"},"population_blank1_title":{"wt":"Change (2016–21)"},"population_blank1":{"wt":"{{decrease}} 3.1%"},"population_density_km2":{"wt":"71.2"},"population_density_sq_mi":{"wt":""},"population_est":{"wt":""},"pop_est_as_of":{"wt":""},"population_demonym":{"wt":""},"population_note":{"wt":""},"timezone1":{"wt":"[[Atlantic Standard Time Zone|Atlantic (AST)]]"},"utc_offset1":{"wt":"−4"},"timezone1_DST":{"wt":"Atlantic Daylight Time (ADT)"},"utc_offset1_DST":{"wt":"−3"},"postal_code_type":{"wt":"[[Canadian Postal code]]"},"postal_code":{"wt":"[[List of E Postal Codes of Canada|xxx]]"},"area_code":{"wt":"[[Area code 506|506]]"},"blank_name":{"wt":"[[National Topographic System|NTS]] Map"},"blank_info":{"wt":""},"blank1_name":{"wt":"[[Geographical Names Board of Canada|GNBC]] Code"},"blank1_info":{"wt":""},"website":{"wt":""},"footnotes":{"wt":"[[Image:Flag of Canada.svg|center|44px]]"}},"i":0}}]}" id="mwBQ">Place in New Brunswick, Canada
Minto | |
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Coordinates: 46°08′59″N66°06′24″W / 46.14972°N 66.10667°W | |
Country | Canada |
Province | New Brunswick |
County | Queens County |
Parish | Canning Parish |
Municipality | Grand Lake |
Incorporated | 1904 |
Named for | Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto |
Area | |
• Land | 31.36 km2 (12.11 sq mi) |
Population (2021) [1] | |
• Total | 2,234 |
• Density | 71.2/km2 (184/sq mi) |
• Change (2016–21) | 3.1% |
Time zone | UTC−4 (Atlantic (AST)) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC−3 (Atlantic Daylight Time (ADT)) |
Canadian Postal code | |
Area code | 506 |
Minto is a community straddling the boundary of Sunbury County and Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada. It is located on the north shore of Grand Lake, approximately 50 kilometres northeast of Fredericton. Minto held village status prior to 2023, when it was amalgamated into the newly formed village of Grand Lake.
Minto is known to have taken its present name in 1904 upon the retirement of Canada's eighth Governor General, The Earl of Minto. [2] and the story remains that the village adopted its name from the local Minto Hotel. From the St. John Daily Sun of 1903:
"Just how the name of Minto came to be adopted is said to have occurred in this way. A letter which was sent from Moncton to Mr. Kennedy was enclosed in an envelope which bore the name of the Minto hotel, Moncton. The family thought Minto a good name for their hotel, and so it was named. Then the people generally adopted the name for the place, and so the railway people designated it." [3]
The Grand Lake Coal Mining industry began in the 1630s when French settlers, called Acadians, learned about surface deposits of coal in the Coal Creek area now called Chipman, NB. The French used coal in their fort at the mouth of the Saint John river and in 1639 began selling coal to the British colony in the area now known as Boston, USA. This commercial trade in coal has been recognized as a National Historic Event and the First Export of Coal in America, by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Parks Canada.
Minto did not feel the depression, or at least did not feel it in the same way as most other places in Canada; during recession and the Great Depression, Minto was profiting from a coal mining boom. The coal brought a level of financial prosperity to the community in the early 1900s, which by the late 1930s turned into a profitable venture for companies, and brought starvation and disease to a then impoverished community. [4] As stated in the United Mine Workers' Journal of 1937, "Nowhere on the American continent, is there a strife which combines the elements of greed, harshness, cold, suffering, and want, as exists [in Minto]." [5]
Early in Minto's coal mining exploits, land owners were permitted to mine under their own land without obtaining a license from the Crown or paying any royalties, which ended in 1915. [6] During the boom, both mining conditions and the living quarters of miners' families degraded with lowering wages and lack of maintenance in the mines and homes supplied to the miners families. Although a tally of the number of deaths related to the coal mining industry in Minto is not available, deaths did occur. [7] [8]
On 1 January 2023, Minto was amalgamated with the village of Chipman and all or part of five local service districts to form the new village of Grand Lake. [9] [10] The community's name remains in official use. [11]
The villages of Minto and Chipman protested the forced amalgamation. The mayor of Minto (2021), Erica Barnett, stated in a letter posted on the Village of Minto's Facebook page that "the government's current plan is absolutely not in the best interest for either Minto or Chipman..." [ citation needed ] She mentioned also that this was a fact of reducing the provincial funding the villages got. This created an uproar among the townsfolk who were scared of losing the few things the village had, such as their cared-for arena. The public also feared "having to combine health clinics, schools and fire stations." [12] The distance of 24 km between the two villages could ultimately cause major issues.
The need of transporting coal brought the railway to Minto, and was to make the area "the most prosperous place in Canada." The New Brunswick Central Railway ended at Chipman (about 15 miles (24 km) north-east of Minto) and in 1901 [13] the railway was planned to be completed by constructing through the village to Fredericton, and connect with the Canadian Pacific railway. By 1904 the railway was completed as far as Minto, merging with the existing Central, however by 1905 completion to Fredericton was abandoned and the remaining railway was not built until 1913.
Although the railway lines through Minto have since been completely removed, the railway station continues on as a local museum. By the end of 2010, coal mining in Minto ended when the last coal mining company, NB Coal, closed.
During the early years of the Great Depression, the New Brunswick Power Corporation built the province's first thermal generating station south of the village on the shores of Grand Lake. Opened in 1931, the Grand Lake Generating Station accessed coal from nearby deposits. An NB Power subsidiary, NB Coal, was the only mining company left in the Minto area and performed strip mining. NB Power closed the Grand Lake Station when its operating license expired in June 2010. [14] As the Station has been NB Coal’s only customer since 2000, NB Coal closed in December 2009. On April 19, 2012 the Grand Lake Generating Station was demolished, [15] and by this time all coal mining in Minto had ended.
During the Second World War, the largest internment camp in eastern Canada was located in the hamlet of Ripples, 10 km west of the village of Minto. Originally it was home to German and Austrian Jews, both orthodox and non-observant, as well as to other anti-fascist refugees, [16] all of whom had fled the Nazis to England. [17] Some youths later became notable, including theologian Gregory Baum, chemist Ernest Eliel and physicist Walter Kohn. [18] Later after these anti-fascist refugees had been released into Canadian life, it became a camp mostly for German prisoners of war, [17] as well as some sympathizers such as Canadian fascist Adrien Arcand. Its most notable prisoner at this time was the anti-conscriptionist mayor of Montreal, Camillien Houde. [19]
This internment camp is now a protected site visited by tourists. The only structure remaining at the site is the base of a water-tower where a plaque stands, visible from the highway. A walking trail leads into the forest where a few ruins of the camp and posted signs describing the area may be found. There is a small museum dedicated to the camp located within Minto's municipal building. [17] [20]
Climate data for Minto | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °C (°F) | 13.9 (57.0) | 15.6 (60.1) | 18.0 (64.4) | 29.0 (84.2) | 35.0 (95.0) | 35.0 (95.0) | 35.6 (96.1) | 35.0 (95.0) | 34.4 (93.9) | 27.8 (82.0) | 23.3 (73.9) | 15.0 (59.0) | 35.6 (96.1) |
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | −3.3 (26.1) | −2.2 (28.0) | 3.0 (37.4) | 9.1 (48.4) | 16.5 (61.7) | 22.3 (72.1) | 25.2 (77.4) | 24.3 (75.7) | 19.3 (66.7) | 13.0 (55.4) | 6.3 (43.3) | −1.1 (30.0) | 11.0 (51.8) |
Daily mean °C (°F) | −8.9 (16.0) | −8.1 (17.4) | −2.4 (27.7) | 4.1 (39.4) | 10.7 (51.3) | 16.4 (61.5) | 19.6 (67.3) | 18.7 (65.7) | 13.8 (56.8) | 8.1 (46.6) | 2.3 (36.1) | −5.7 (21.7) | 5.7 (42.3) |
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −14.6 (5.7) | −14.2 (6.4) | −7.9 (17.8) | −1.1 (30.0) | 4.8 (40.6) | 10.3 (50.5) | 14.0 (57.2) | 13.1 (55.6) | 8.3 (46.9) | 3.2 (37.8) | −1.7 (28.9) | −10.8 (12.6) | 0.3 (32.5) |
Record low °C (°F) | −40.0 (−40.0) | −39.4 (−38.9) | −31.0 (−23.8) | −17.0 (1.4) | −5.0 (23.0) | −3.5 (25.7) | 3.3 (37.9) | 2.5 (36.5) | −2.5 (27.5) | −10.0 (14.0) | −18.5 (−1.3) | −33.3 (−27.9) | −40.0 (−40.0) |
Average precipitation mm (inches) | 82.0 (3.23) | 72.7 (2.86) | 69.4 (2.73) | 72.9 (2.87) | 85.8 (3.38) | 80.0 (3.15) | 83.7 (3.30) | 81.6 (3.21) | 87.0 (3.43) | 90.5 (3.56) | 97.6 (3.84) | 108.4 (4.27) | 1,011.5 (39.82) |
Average rainfall mm (inches) | 27.6 (1.09) | 26.2 (1.03) | 34.7 (1.37) | 56.5 (2.22) | 85.4 (3.36) | 80.0 (3.15) | 83.7 (3.30) | 81.6 (3.21) | 87.0 (3.43) | 90.3 (3.56) | 85.0 (3.35) | 51.3 (2.02) | 789.3 (31.07) |
Average snowfall cm (inches) | 52.1 (20.5) | 45.4 (17.9) | 34.9 (13.7) | 16.6 (6.5) | 0.5 (0.2) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.0 (0.0) | 0.6 (0.2) | 12.0 (4.7) | 55.9 (22.0) | 218.0 (85.8) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 9 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 10 | 117 |
Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 3 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 94 |
Average snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm) | 6 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 25 |
Source: Environment Canada [21] |
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Minto had a population of 2,234 living in 1,043 of its 1,145 total private dwellings, a change of
Though Minto is a very small community, there are recreational activities that take place year-round. It has the Minto Centennial Arena, [22] [23] lighted and unlighted ball parks, two family parks, nature trails, mountain bike trails, [24] and hunting and fishing resources.
Each year, there are two festivals in Minto. In summer, the Minto Coal Mining Festival [25] is celebrated in June–July, [26] first run in 1972. [25] The Santa Claus Parade and Tree Lighting Ceremony [27] is celebrated in November–December, with the first annual parade held in 2010.
Once a year, mountain bike racers [28] descend on the town of Minto for a race [29] known as 'The Coal Miner's Lung'. [30] [31] [32] The endurance race covers 20 km, 40 km, or 60 km of Minto single track.
There are two schools in Minto: Minto Elementary and Middle School, and Minto Memorial High School. Both schools offer extracurricular activities including sports clubs, destination conservation, peer helpers and student government. While Minto Elementary and Middle School is a newer building, Minto High has required some updates since the school was founded in 1939; the gym on the main floor has recently been renovated into a theatre (which MEMS has) and got a new gym located in the basement along with a shop room. In 2011 the New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) Fredericton campus established a satellite campus [33] the Minto Regional Delivery Site. [34]
Marjorie Taylor Morell (1918-2004), author of Of Mines and Men; 1995 recipient of United Nations Community Service Award
Fredericton is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, also known by its Indigenous name of Wolastoq, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the dominant natural feature of the area. One of the main urban centres in New Brunswick, the city had a population of 63,116 and a metropolitan population of 108,610 in the 2021 Canadian census. It is the third-largest city in the province after Moncton and Saint John.
Perth-Andover is a former village in Victoria County, New Brunswick, Canada. It held village status prior to 2023. It is now part of the village of Southern Victoria.
Fredericton is a federal electoral district in New Brunswick, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1988. Its population in 2021 was 87,436. Its predecessor riding, York—Sunbury, was represented in the House of Commons from 1917 to 1988.
Waterborough is a geographic parish in Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada.
Sussex is a town in Kings County, New Brunswick, Canada. Sussex is located in south central New Brunswick, between the province's three largest cities, Saint John, Moncton, and Fredericton.
The history of coal mining goes back thousands of years, with early mines documented in ancient China, the Roman Empire and other early historical economies. It became important in the Industrial Revolution of the 19th and 20th centuries, when it was primarily used to power steam engines, heat buildings and generate electricity. Coal mining continues as an important economic activity today, but has begun to decline due to the strong contribution coal plays in global warming and environmental issues, which result in decreasing demand and in some geographies, peak coal.
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New Brunswick Electric Power Corporation, operating as NB Power, is the primary electric utility in the Canadian province of New Brunswick. NB Power is a vertically-integrated Crown corporation by the government of New Brunswick and is responsible for the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. NB Power serves all the residential and industrial power consumers in New Brunswick, with the exception of those in Saint John, Edmundston and Perth-Andover who are served by Saint John Energy, Energy Edmundston, and the Perth-Andover Electric Light Commission, respectively.
Route 10 is a 144 kilometre long highway starting in Fredericton and ending in Sussex. The road goes northeast from the Fredericton suburb of Barker's Point to the village of Minto, then loops around Grand Lake through Chipman to Youngs Cove. Until 2001 this was the end of the highway, but with the opening of a new 4-lane section of the Trans-Canada Highway, it now follows the old alignment of that highway from Youngs Cove to a junction with Route 1 in Sussex. While passing through Minto, Route 10 forms Pleasant Drive, and in Chipman, it forms parts of Bridge Street and Main Street.
Chipman is a community in Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada. It held village status prior to 2023 and is now part of the village of Grand Lake.
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Minto City, often called just Minto, sometimes Minto Mines,Minto Mine, Skumakum, or "land of plenty", was a gold mining town in the Bridge River Valley of British Columbia from 1930 to 1936, located at the confluence of that river with Gun Creek, one of its larger tributaries. The mine prospect was never much successful although a model townsite was built by promoter "Big Bill" Davidson, who imported soil to build a specially-built rodeo ground and baseball diamond on the rocky site. The larger mine of Bralorne was nearby. The mine shut down in 1936 due to productivity issues, but restarted in 1940. The valley has since been significantly altered when most of the vestiges of the town were inundated by the waters of the Carpenter Lake reservoir following completion of the Bridge River Power Project. In 1941, around two dozens of Japanese Canadian families were relocated to Minto Mine, and ordered to live in the empty miners' houses due to the impacts of the war.
Grand Lake is a lake located in central New Brunswick, Canada. It is approximately 40 kilometres east of Fredericton; and the province's largest open body of water being a total of 20 kilometers long and 5 kilometres wide. The lake drains through the Jemseg River and the Grand Lake Meadows into the Saint John River.
Grand Lake is an incorporated village, straddling the boundary of Sunbury County and Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada. It was formed through the 2023 New Brunswick local governance reforms by amalgamating the villages of Chipman and Minto, and certain previously unincorporated areas of Northfield Parish, Canning Parish, Sheffield Parish, and Harcourt Parish, contiguous to the area. The municipality is divided into four wards.
Ripples is a community in the Canadian province of New Brunswick near the village of Minto and Route 10 on the Little River.
Fibe is the brand name used by Bell Aliant for its suite of fiber to the home (FTTH) unified communication services, including Internet access, IPTV, and home telephone service, available in much of Atlantic Canada and previously in some regions of Ontario and Quebec. The Fibe service covers an entire urban area with a fibre optic network.
Canning is a geographic parish in Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada.
Chipman is a geographic parish in Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada.