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Port Arthur, Ontario
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Port Arthur, Ontario
Port Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario, Canada, located on Lake Superior. In January 1970, it was amalgamated with Fort William and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay.
Port Arthur became the district seat of Thunder Bay District with the appointment in June 1871 of Delevan Decatur Van Norman as the district's first stipendiary magistrate. It is historically notable as a temporary (1882–1885) eastern terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). It served as a major transshipment point for lakers that carried cargo to Port Arthur from across the Great Lakes. CPR's completion to the east did little to affect the city's importance for shipping; the Canadian Northern Railway was constructed to serve the port, and it built numerous grain silos to supply lakers. This rail and grain trade diminished in the latter half of the 20th century.
The government of the Province of Canada determined in the late 1850s to begin the exploration and settlement of Canada west of Lake Superior. With Confederation in 1867, Simon James Dawson was employed by the Canadian Department of Public Works (DPW) to construct a road and water route from Thunder Bay on Lake Superior to the Red River Colony (now Manitoba).
DPW's depot and settlement on the lake, where it landed and stored its supplies, acquired its first name in May 1870, just after a fierce forest fire had occurred. Colonel Garnet Wolseley, commander of the Red River expeditionary force, named the tiny fire-ravaged settlement as Prince Arthur's Landing, in honor of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (1850–1942), son of Queen Victoria, who was then serving with his regiment in Montreal. In 1871 the Ontario government of Premier John Sandfield Macdonald surveyed the Prince Arthur's Landing Town Plot, thereby officially confirming the name and opening the land for legal possession. In May 1883 this unwieldy name was changed unilaterally by Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) officials in Winnipeg to Port Arthur. The namesake prince did not visit the settlement until May 1890, when he and his entourage briefly stopped there.
The residents of Prince Arthur's Landing developed the Thunder Bay District's first municipality, the Municipality of Shuniah in March 1873. This early form of regional government covered an area that reached from Sibley Peninsula to the United States (US) border. The residents of Prince Arthur dominated Shuniah, which was resented by the few residents of Fort William, Ontario. In 1881, they established their own Municipality of Neebing. They began a long and ultimately successful competition with Port Arthur to secure all the operations of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which moved to Fort William later in the century.
Prospering from the CPR railway construction boom of 1882–1885, Port Arthur was incorporated as a town in March 1884. The CPR erected Thunder Bay's and western Canada's first terminal grain elevator on the bay in 1883, later leasing it to Joseph Goodwin King.
In the late 19th century, Port Arthur was greatly affected by changes in the economy. The CPR completed its construction along the north shore of Lake Superior and decided to centralize its operations along the lower Kaministiquia River. This abruptly reduced business in Port Arthur. In addition, silver mining had been the mainstay of the economy since the 1870s, but the boom in silver mining ended in October 1890. The U.S. Congress passed the McKinley Tariff, cutting off profitable exports to the US.
The town was in dire economic straits until 1897–1899, when the entrepreneurs William Mackenzie and Donald Mann acquired the Ontario and Rainy River Railway and the Port Arthur, Duluth and Western Railway. They chose Port Arthur as the Lake Superior headquarters for the Canadian Northern Railway. Port Arthur thrived as a transhipment and grain handling port for the CNoR after the railway line was opened through Rainy River District to Winnipeg, Manitoba in December 1901.
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Port Arthur, Ontario
Port Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario, Canada, located on Lake Superior. In January 1970, it was amalgamated with Fort William and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay.
Port Arthur became the district seat of Thunder Bay District with the appointment in June 1871 of Delevan Decatur Van Norman as the district's first stipendiary magistrate. It is historically notable as a temporary (1882–1885) eastern terminus of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). It served as a major transshipment point for lakers that carried cargo to Port Arthur from across the Great Lakes. CPR's completion to the east did little to affect the city's importance for shipping; the Canadian Northern Railway was constructed to serve the port, and it built numerous grain silos to supply lakers. This rail and grain trade diminished in the latter half of the 20th century.
The government of the Province of Canada determined in the late 1850s to begin the exploration and settlement of Canada west of Lake Superior. With Confederation in 1867, Simon James Dawson was employed by the Canadian Department of Public Works (DPW) to construct a road and water route from Thunder Bay on Lake Superior to the Red River Colony (now Manitoba).
DPW's depot and settlement on the lake, where it landed and stored its supplies, acquired its first name in May 1870, just after a fierce forest fire had occurred. Colonel Garnet Wolseley, commander of the Red River expeditionary force, named the tiny fire-ravaged settlement as Prince Arthur's Landing, in honor of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (1850–1942), son of Queen Victoria, who was then serving with his regiment in Montreal. In 1871 the Ontario government of Premier John Sandfield Macdonald surveyed the Prince Arthur's Landing Town Plot, thereby officially confirming the name and opening the land for legal possession. In May 1883 this unwieldy name was changed unilaterally by Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) officials in Winnipeg to Port Arthur. The namesake prince did not visit the settlement until May 1890, when he and his entourage briefly stopped there.
The residents of Prince Arthur's Landing developed the Thunder Bay District's first municipality, the Municipality of Shuniah in March 1873. This early form of regional government covered an area that reached from Sibley Peninsula to the United States (US) border. The residents of Prince Arthur dominated Shuniah, which was resented by the few residents of Fort William, Ontario. In 1881, they established their own Municipality of Neebing. They began a long and ultimately successful competition with Port Arthur to secure all the operations of the Canadian Pacific Railway, which moved to Fort William later in the century.
Prospering from the CPR railway construction boom of 1882–1885, Port Arthur was incorporated as a town in March 1884. The CPR erected Thunder Bay's and western Canada's first terminal grain elevator on the bay in 1883, later leasing it to Joseph Goodwin King.
In the late 19th century, Port Arthur was greatly affected by changes in the economy. The CPR completed its construction along the north shore of Lake Superior and decided to centralize its operations along the lower Kaministiquia River. This abruptly reduced business in Port Arthur. In addition, silver mining had been the mainstay of the economy since the 1870s, but the boom in silver mining ended in October 1890. The U.S. Congress passed the McKinley Tariff, cutting off profitable exports to the US.
The town was in dire economic straits until 1897–1899, when the entrepreneurs William Mackenzie and Donald Mann acquired the Ontario and Rainy River Railway and the Port Arthur, Duluth and Western Railway. They chose Port Arthur as the Lake Superior headquarters for the Canadian Northern Railway. Port Arthur thrived as a transhipment and grain handling port for the CNoR after the railway line was opened through Rainy River District to Winnipeg, Manitoba in December 1901.