European exploration of the area we now call Northern Ontario began in the early 1600s. These early French and English explorers were searching for a shorter trade route to the Pacific Ocean and Asia. By the mid-1600s, it had become very clear that no easy route to Asia existed. Initially, the discovery of New France (now Canada) was important to France an the rest of Europe because of its new-found wealth of furs. Sprawling farmlands and over-harvesting in the Old World resulted in scarcity and high prices for beaver pelts to feed the demand for the fashionable felt hat.
Along the North Channel of Lake Huron, the Mississaugi First Nation people hunted and trapped these animals for food, clothing and utensils long before the European traders arrived. To the French traders exploring with Samuel de Champlain in 1608, and to those who followed, New France was a wonderland. The First Nation peoples did the hunting, cured the hides, and transported them in great bundles over long distances to barter for beads, blankets, coloured cloth, iron hatchets, ammunition, and brandy.
In 1608 the French allied with the Hurons and helped them in battling the Iroquois. As the St. Lawrence River above Montreal was Iroquois territory, the French and Hurons were prevented passage along this route. The discovery of the Upper Great Lakes was made by an alternate route. By 1615 Champlain had been introduced to a passage along the Ottawa River, up the Mattawa River, crossing Lake Nippissing, down the French River into Georgian Bay, and into the North Channel of Lake Huron. French explorer, Etienne Brule would be the first "coureur du bois" scouting the shorelines of Lake Huron with the Jesuit missionaries.
The French had extended the trade to Lake Superior and Michigan by 1663, while the English established interest in the watershed to the north to Hudson Bay. In 1670, King Charles 11 granted a charter to Prince Rupert and his associates, appointing the "...true and absolute Lordes and Proprietors..." of all the seas and lands of Hudsons Bay and its entire drainage system known as "Rupert's Land".
This new trade route would prove highly profitable to "...the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England..." later known as the Hudson's Bay Company.
The First Nations people assisted in diverting the fur trade from the North Channel to the new route. In response, a group of Montreal merchants formed the North West Company to recapture the great lakes fur trade. The struggle manifested in the construction of trading posts as territorial markers would continue for many years until finally the cost of transporting cargo over the longer Great Lakes route would mean the North West Company could no longer compete. The two companies were merged in 1821 and the legacy of trading posts throughout Rupert's Land became the property of the Hudson's Bay Company.
The territorial importance of the trading posts and Mississaugi River, LaCloche River, and Green Lake declined and they remained in operation serving local needs as supply centres. In 1891 the LaCloche Post was closed, and the Mississaugi and Green Lake posts were later closed in 1900. Furs were now routinely shipped north over the shorter route to England, and the fur trade along the North Channel of Lake Huron would go into decline.
In the 1600s, however, the Jesuit Missionaries had reported the existence of copper along the North Channel, and as the fur trade declined during the 1800s, attention would turn to mining and prospecting.
Among the first efforts was the English firm called the Montreal Mining Company formed in 1845.
It purchased copper deposits in Bruce Mines in 1846. Early mining development was relatively simple, with mineral deposits at surface levels all along the North Channel. At its peak, the mine employed 350 men and boys, with 200 of them working underground. In 1848, the engine house collapsed, and a few years later the smelter structure burned to the ground during an attempt to melt the ore. In 1862 the entire village of Bruce Mines was burned down in a brush fire.
In 1865, the West Canada Company took over the mine, but operated with discouraging results due to transportation costs, inefficient ore handling, lack of funds, and unreliable market price.
Along with these early efforts in mineral extraction and processing rose logging operations along the North Channel to supply timber needs for mining and smelting materials.
Among the first of these lumber milling operations was formed by Joseph Salvail, under agreement with the Bruce Mines operation to construct a facility closer to the mine in 1853. He chose a location along the Blind River for the construction of dams to support the milling operation. Thus began the next wave of economic and population boom in the region in supplying white pine to the world.
After a major cave-in, in 1876, the operation at Bruce Mines was also abandoned. Mining operations along the entire North Channel would, however, continue in various forms through to the more recent uranium finds that gave rise to the establishment and growth of the planned community of Elliot Lake.
Mining and lumbering operations have continued to generate both growth and decline in the region in response to world markets and technology changes. The resulting colourful regional history and characters of our past are captured in detail in various publications and the museum collections of the area today. Your complete guide to the development and settlement of the area can be found in the book Trade History of the North Shore, available at the "Timber Village Museum", Blind River.
some north shore events
DEER TRAIL STUDIO TOUR:
Last weekend in September....
Follow the Deer Trail driving tour, enjoy autumn's colourful panorama, and stop periodically to admire works of art created by local artists and artisans. While you enjoy the refreshments available at these sites, you may wish to chat with the creative minds behind these incredible works of art and consider a purchase or two.
Info: Arts Council of Elliot Lake and District at (705) 848-1034
ELLIOT LAKE WINTERFEST:
Fourth Week in February..
Community festival offering a variety of activities including snow sculpting, toboggan runs, sleigh rides, snow volleyball, ski and snowboard races, snowmobile poker run, Snow Queen Pageant and fireworks display.
Info: Economic Development Office of Elliot Lake (705)461-7240
ELLIOT LAKE
URANIUM FESTIVAL
last week in June
Community Festival including a parade, fishing derby, horse show, dances, food vendors, fire truck and float plane rides, beach party, fireworks, and slow pitch, volleyball, shuffleboard, dart, and basketball tournaments. Fun for the whole family.
