The Ministry of Natural Resources, through its Fort Frances District Fisheries Management Pla, has determined that walleye and northern pike are being over-harvested on Rainy Lake. The over-harvesting problem is particularly acute for walleye on the North Arm where walleye stocks are also stressed by localized spawning habitat degradation, water […]
100 years, 100 stories
The History of the Rainy River District
The following pages are a testament to the history of Rainy River District. The articles appear as they did when originally published and have not been edited in any way. The articles, published in the Fort Frances Times and Rainy River Herald, describe how the area was developed including the gold rush around the turn of the century, the birth of the logging industry and how railways and highways opened the area to the rest of the country.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PHOTO ALBUM
THE GREAT GOLD RUSH
THE BIRTH OF THE LOGGING INDUSTRY
TRANSPORTATION —THE OPENING OF THE WEST
DEVELOPMENT
SETTLEMENT
MAJOR EVENTS —WAR, CRIME, DISASTERS, POLITICS
BIOGRAPHIES OF INTERESTING CITIZENS
Credits Feedback
This Digital Collection was produced under contract to the SchoolNet Digital Collections Program, Industry Canada.
There must have been a school in Atwood Township in the early 90’s for in the fall of 1894, Mr. McQuaig, Public School Inspector for Algoma “including Rainy River”, issued a permit for Miss Edith Cathcart to teach “in Atwood No.8” until July 1, 1895. In 1901 the “old log […]
One of the first actions taken by the Town of Fort Frances subsequent to its incorporation, was establishment of a fire department. What follows is a history of that department. It’s a story of people who made it work and the equipment they used to achieve maximum efficiency. In 1903, […]
When J.A. Osborne could not find housing in the village of Koochiching, he moved across to Fort Frances and when he heard that the Canadian Northern Railway was to be was to be built through Fort Frances, he moved his newspaper, the Rainy Lake Herald and Koochiching Advertiser across the […]
When LaJemeraye beached his canoes at “the Point” in the fall of 1731, he was accompanied by LaVerendrye’s eldest son, Jean Baptiste, 25 voyageurs and a guide. When the Town of Fort Frances was incorporated in 1903, the resident population was only “approximately 650 souls”. The town’s expansion paralleled its […]
On April 11, 1903, the Corporation of the Town of Fort Frances came into being. It consisted, according to early records, of approximately 720 acres and “approximately 650 souls in number.” Oliver Mowat, who as premier and attorney-general of Ontario had battled both the Dominion and Manitoba Governments to keep […]
When a graceful Twin Otter, bearing the familiar orange, white and blue colours of Norontair, glides in for a landing at the Fort Frances Municipal Airport some 90 minutes after departing from Thunder Bay, it is a far cry from the early days when travel was by canoe over the […]
Rainy River. Our Town. Our Lives.
Trouble had been smoldering for weeks that summer of 1910. There had been early season rains; then droughts. The forests grew close in all settled areas. Transportation was either by boat or by train. An occasional trail would through the woods from one homestead to the other. The towns of […]
Fort Frances paid tribute to the Sisters of Charity, or of Grey Nuns on Thursday afternoon and evening for their 34 years of dedicated service as owners, administrators and operators of LaVerendrye General Hospital, prior to the transfer of ownership to a non-profit, charitable corporation, the LaVerendrye General Hospital (Fort […]
Robert John Nicholson Pither, whose residency on the point of land where Rainy Lake discharges into Rainy River, gave rise to its name as Pither’s Point, was born on October 29, 1824 in Montreal. His parents were Robert and Margaret (Nicholson) Pither, of English birth. He was educated in Montreal […]
Excellent quality bleached pulp being produced The Fort Frances kraft mill, costing $45 million and acclaimed as the most modern in Canada, is now operating but still in the start-up phase, according to Jack Haase, mill manager for the Ontario-Minnesota Pulp and Paper Co. Ltd. Production of bleached pulp to […]