This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(August 2016) |
Founded | April 12, 1907 |
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Areas served | Swastika, Ontario – Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec |
Owner | Ontario Northland Transportation Commission |
Parent | Ontario Northland Railway |
The Nipissing Central Railway (NCR), sometimes known as the Temiskaming Streetcar Line,[ citation needed ] is a railway operating in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The line was originally an interurban streetcar system connecting New Liskeard, Haileybury and Cobalt on the western bank of Lake Temiskaming in northern Ontario from 1910 to 1935. The operating company continues to be used to operate the Ontario Northland Railway freight spur line between Swastika, Ontario and Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec as it was incorporated under a federal charter, avoiding the need to re-charter either end in its respective provinces.
In 1902 the Ontario government chartered the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway (T&NO) to connect the towns of New Liskeard and Haileybury on Lake Temiskaming to North Bay on Lake Nipissing. During construction, silver ore was discovered near the Mile 103 post, just southwest of Haileybury. The Cobalt Silver Rush followed, leading to the incorporation of the town of Cobalt in 1906, and a swelling population reaching 10 to 15,000 by 1911.
As the population of all of the towns grew, the need for better transportation between them also grew. The Nipissing Central Railway was granted a federal (Dominion) charter on 12 April 1907, and opened the first portion of the line between Cobalt and Haileybury on 30 April 1910. The route followed King Street out of Cobalt, turning onto the city streets of what is today's North Cobalt (the outskirts of Haileybury) and turning downtown before ending at Main Street in Haileybury.
The line was purchased by the T&NO on 20 June 1911. An extension along Lake Timiskaming to New Liskeard opened on 1 November 1912, ending at Whitewood Avenue. In 1914, an existing spur line on the T&NO to Kerr Lake was electrified and joined to the NCR. This section was abandoned in 1924. Interurban operations on the NCR ended on 9 February 1935.
When the T&NO built a spur line between Swastika and Rouyn-Noranda, they operated it under the charter of the NCR, thereby avoiding problems with crossing the provincial border (the T&NO was incorporated in Ontario). The company exists to this day as the operator of the T&NO spur. The construction of the line was the subject of a legal challenge, The Attorney-General of Quebec v. The Nipissing Central Railway Company and another; it was decided in favour of the railway by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1926 [1] [2]
Swastika is a small community founded around a mine site in Northern Ontario, Canada in 1908. Today it is within the municipal boundaries of Kirkland Lake, Ontario. It has frequently been noted on lists of unusual place names.
The Ontario Northland Railway is a Canadian railway operated by the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, a provincial Crown agency of the government of Ontario.
Rouyn-Noranda is a city on Osisko Lake in the Abitibi-Témiscamingue region of Quebec, Canada.
Timiskaming is a district and census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. The district was created in 1912 from parts of Algoma, Nipissing, and Sudbury districts. In 1921, Cochrane District was created from parts of this district and parts of Thunder Bay District.
Temiskaming Shores is a city in the Timiskaming District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada. It was created by the amalgamation of the town of New Liskeard, the town of Haileybury, and the township of Dymond in 2004. The city had a total population of 9,634 in the Canada 2021 Census. Temiskaming Shores is Ontario's second-smallest city, in terms of population, after Dryden. Haileybury is the seat of Timiskaming District.
Cobalt is a town in Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada. It had a population of 1,118 at the 2016 Census. The population is now closer to 943.
Abitibi-Témiscamingue is an administrative region located in western Québec, Canada, along the border with Ontario. It became part of the province in 1898. It has a land area of 57,736.50 square kilometres (22,292.19 sq mi) and its population was 147,082 people as of the 2021 census. The region is divided into five regional county municipalities and 79 municipalities. Its economy continues to be dominated by resource extraction industries. These include logging and mining all along the rich geologic Cadillac Fault between Val-d'Or and Rouyn-Noranda, as well as agriculture.
The Clay Belt is a vast tract of fertile soil in Canada, stretching across Cochrane District in Ontario and Abitibi County in Quebec, covering 180,000 square kilometres (69,000 sq mi) in total with 120,000 square kilometres (46,000 sq mi) of that in Ontario. It is generally subdivided into the Great Clay Belt to the north running eastward from Kapuskasing, past Lake Abitibi and on to Amos, and the V-shaped Lesser Clay Belt to its south, running from Englehart down to the Wabi River to the northern tip of Lake Timiskaming, and long the eastern side of Timiskaming and back up to Rouyn-Noranda. The Clay Belt is the result of the draining of the Glacial Lake Ojibway around 8,200 BP, whose lakebed sediment forms the modern landform. The Clay Belt is surrounded by the Canadian Shield, forming an island of "southern flatlands" in the midst of the hilly and rocky surroundings. Similar "glaciolacustrine deposits" dot the northern areas of Ontario, Quebec, and Labrador.
Englehart is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located on the Blanche River in the Timiskaming District.
The Francophone Association of Municipalities of Ontario is a Canadian political organization of municipalities in the province of Ontario which have significant Franco-Ontarian communities. The organization oversees the maintenance and development of municipal government services in French, and works with other levels of government, as well as organizations in other Canadian provinces, on issues unique to francophone and bilingual communities.
Edmund Henry (E.H) Horne, was a Canadian businessman and prospector. He was most famous for being the founder of Noranda, a mining and metallurgy company originally from Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, Canada.
Devil's Rock is a granite escarpment located 5 kilometres (3 mi) south of Temiskaming Shores, Ontario, Canada. The cliffs rise 300 feet (91 m) above Lake Timiskaming and extend nearly as far underwater as they do above, giving Devil's Rock a cliff face roughly 600 feet (180 m) tall.
Gauthier is a township municipality in Timiskaming District the Northeastern Ontario, Canada. The township had a population of 138 in the Canada 2016 Census. Its main population centre is Dobie, located just north of Ontario Highway 66, 18.5 kilometres (11.5 mi) east of Kirkland Lake.
Timiskaming is a word from the Algonquin Temikami or Temikaming, from tim 'deep' and kami 'open waters'. Alternate spellings include Temiskaming, Témiscaming and Témiscamingue. The word Temagami comes from the same root.
Charlton and Dack is a municipality in the Canadian province of Ontario, located within the Timiskaming District. Its population in 2016 was 686.
The Timiskaming Professional Hockey League (TPHL) was a minor professional ice hockey league based in the area of Lake Timiskaming, Canada. Founded in 1906, the league is notable for providing teams and Ambrose O'Brien, a founder of the National Hockey Association and the founding owner of the Montreal Canadiens.
The Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC), or simply Ontario Northland, is a Crown agency of the Government of Ontario responsible for providing transportation services for passengers and goods in Northern Ontario. It reports to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario through the Minister of Transportation.
The Cobalt silver rush was a silver rush in Ontario, Canada that began in 1903 when huge veins of silver were discovered by workers on the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway (T&NO) near the Mile 103 post. By 1905 a full-scale silver rush was underway, and the town of Cobalt, Ontario sprang up to serve as its hub. By 1908 Cobalt produced 9% of the world's silver, and in 1911 produced 31,507,791 ounces of silver. However, the good ore ran out fairly rapidly, and most of the mines were closed by the 1930s. There were several small revivals over the years, notably in World War II and again in the 1950s, but both petered out and today there is no active mining in the area. In total, the Cobalt area mines produced 460 million ounces of silver.
South River Railway Station is located in the community of South River in Ontario. The station was originally constructed by the Northern and Pacific Junction Railway, a subsidiary of the Northern and Northwestern Railway, in 1884. It was subsequently owned and operated by the Grand Trunk Railway and Canadian National Railways. It was a significant station stop along the historic route connecting Toronto to North Bay, and the Canadian Pacific Railway (1885). Transcontinental trains traveling between Toronto and Vancouver once frequented the station. It is likely the oldest wooden railway station in north-eastern Ontario. It is now a community heritage building in the town of South River.
The Hole Story is a 2011 documentary film and web documentary directed by Richard Desjardins and Robert Monderie about mining in Canada and its impact on the environment and workers' health. The film focuses primarily on the mining communities of the Northeastern Ontario and Abitibi-Témiscamingue regions, including Sudbury, Timmins, Cobalt, Rouyn-Noranda, Val-d'Or and Malartic.
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