Blind River, Ontario

Coordinates: 46°11′N 82°57′W / 46.183°N 82.950°W / 46.183; -82.950
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Blind River
705
Websitewww.blindriver.ca Edit this at Wikidata

Blind River is a town situated on the North Channel of Lake Huron in the Algoma District, Ontario, Canada. The town, named after the nearby Blind River, celebrated its centennial in 2006.

History

trappers settled along the rivers flowing into Lake Huron. One of the rivers, just three miles (5 km) east of the Mississagi mouth, was called Penewobecong, which translates to "smooth rock or sloping". The voyageurs named the river the Blind River because the mouth was not easily visible along the canoe route. The name Blind River was adopted by the settlement that grew at the mouth of the river. Blind River's post office was established in 1877.[2]

The Canadian Pacific Railway station in Blind River, c. 1910.

The logging industry developed because of the accessibility of

Algoma Mills to Sault Ste. Marie.[3]

By 1906, when Blind River had been incorporated as a town, a second larger sawmill had been erected on the west arm of the Blind River. Today the west arm is the location of the Blind River Marine Park. In 1929, the Carpenter Hixon Company built a state-of-the-art pine sawmill producing 89 million board feet of lumber in its first year. Through boom and bust the mill survived under the name McFadden Lumber Company for over forty years as the largest white pine sawmill east of the Rocky Mountains, with an annual capacity of 120,000,000 board feet (280,000 m³) of lumber, an output never reached in actual production.. The Great Mississagi Fire of 1948[4] led to a depletion of timber, difficult economic conditions and the eventual closing of the mill in 1969. The lumber history is commemorated in the Timber Village Museum.

In 1955,

Cameco Corporation, which processes uranium concentrates from all over the world into uranium trioxide
.

Main article: Uranium mining in the Elliot Lake area

The town of Blind River made headlines in 1991 for a double homicide that occurred at the local rest stop off the

NBC-TV's Unsolved Mysteries. No one has ever been charged in the homicides, but a suspect, Ronald Glenn West
(a former Toronto police officer convicted of two rape-murders in Toronto in 1970 for which he is currently serving two life sentences, and of a series of robbery-assaults in Sault Ste. Marie in 1995), was under suspicion. Gord McAllister died on February 14, 2012.

Until 1997, Blind River had its own radio station,

Elliot Lake
.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Blind River had a population of 3,422 living in 1,600 of its 2,207 total private dwellings, a change of -1.4% from its 2016 population of 3,472. With a land area of 513.98 km2 (198.45 sq mi), it had a population density of 6.7/km2 (17.2/sq mi) in 2021.[5]

Canada census – Blind River community profile
202120162011
Population3,422 (-1.4% from 2016)3,472 (−0.44% from 2011)3,549 (−6.1% from 2006)
Land area513.98 km2 (198.45 sq mi)526.46 km2 (203.27 sq mi)526.46 km2 (203.27 sq mi)
Population density6.7/km2 (17/sq mi)6.6/km2 (17/sq mi)6.7/km2 (17/sq mi)
Median age52.8 (M: 51.2, F: 53.6)51.8 (M: 51.7, F: 51.8)
Private dwellings2,207 (total)  1,600 (occupied)2,219 (total)  2,248 (total) 
Median household income$66,500$53,222
References: 2021[6] 2016[7] 2011[8] earlier[9][10]

Population trend:[11]

  • Population in 2016: 3,472
  • Population in 2011: 3,549
  • Population in 2006: 3,780
  • Population in 2001: 3,969
  • Population in 1996: 3,152 (or 4,374 when adjusted for 2001 boundaries)
  • Population in 1991: 3,355

Economy

Harbour on the North Channel in Blind River

Its main businesses are tourism, fishing, logging, and uranium refining.

Transportation links are

Highway 555 (Granary Lake Road) from Blind River to meet Spine Road in Elliot Lake, creating a new route which would reduce the length of a commute between the two communities by approximately 20 kilometres.[12] Although the ministry has announced no firm plans to construct the proposed road, Elliot Lake City Council passed a motion in August 2015 calling for the project's revival on the grounds that it would provide significant economic benefit to both communities.[12]

The town also provides services to the surrounding communities through its District Health Centre, two high schools (W.C. Eaket Secondary School and École secondaire catholique Jeunesse-Nord) and three elementary schools (Blind River Public School, St. Mary's Catholic School and the French-language École Catholique St-Joseph). Blind River has seven churches, as well as a Kingdom Hall located just outside the town, and a variety of merchants and service industries.

Blind River has many beaches on Lake Huron, including Fourth Sand, Sellers Park, Boom Camp, Forest Glen Beach, as well as many others. Blind River is home to a large

Cameco Corporation
, which is situated just outside town as well as a world-renowned golf course by the name of Huron Pines Country Club, which is just 1.5 kilometres away from one of the longest running businesses in the area, MacIver's Motel & Camp Ltd, which has been family operated since 1946.

It is also home of Lauzon Aviation Co. Ltd since 1959. Lauzon Aviation is a family owned and operated outfitter offering Fly-In Hunting & Fishing Wilderness Vacations. They have appeared in several TV episodes of Fishing Canada and The New Fly Fisherman and featured in articles in Ontario Out of Doors, Field & Stream, Outdoor Life and published Trade History of the North Shore and Lake Huron.

Sports and culture

In pop culture

Well, it was back in Blind River in 1962
When I last saw you alive
But we missed that shift on the long decline
Long may you run.

  • The Black Fly Song
    ", about a survey crew in northern Ontario in 1949, has a verse about a cook named "Blind River Joe".
  • In the 1959 film, Anatomy of a Murder, the character Mary Pilant, played by Kathryn Grant, was born in Blind River, Ontario.
  • The Blind River Beavers are mentioned in the 1986 film Youngblood, starring Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze.

Notable people

See also

  • List of francophone communities in Ontario

References

  1. ^
    2016 Census of Population
    . Statistics Canada. Retrieved June 7, 2019.
  2. ISBN 0-7715-9754-1
    .
  3. ^ "Canadian Pacific Railway Company Eastern Division". Old Time Trains. 2004. Retrieved 27 July 2020.
  4. ^ Michael Commito, " 'The Biggest, Blackest Graveyard': A Socioeconomic History of the Mississagi Fire and Salvage, 1948-1973" Masters Thesis, Laurentian University, 2010.
  5. ^ "Population and dwelling counts: Canada, provinces and territories, census divisions and census subdivisions (municipalities), Ontario". Statistics Canada. February 9, 2022. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
  6. 2021 Canadian Census
    . Statistics Canada. February 4, 2022. Retrieved 2023-10-19.
  7. 2016 Canadian Census
    . Statistics Canada. August 12, 2021. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  8. 2011 Canadian Census
    . Statistics Canada. March 21, 2019. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
  9. 2006 Canadian Census
    . Statistics Canada. August 20, 2019.
  10. 2001 Canadian Census
    . Statistics Canada. July 18, 2021.
  11. 2016
    census
  12. ^ a b "Council considers old idea for new road" Archived 2015-09-23 at the Wayback Machine. Elliot Lake Standard, August 5, 2015.
  13. ^ "Events". Rocking on the River. Archived from the original on November 3, 2016. Retrieved November 1, 2016.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Blind River, Ontario.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Blind River.
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