Duane Hicks
The Noden Causeway is turning 50 this year—a milestone the Fort Frances Museum is marking with its newest exhibit.
“The Story of the Noden Causeway” opened on the main floor gallery this week and will be there through August.
An opening reception is slated for June 24.
The exhibit features photographs from a number of sources, including many from the collection of George Armstrong Co., the well-known local contractor who played an integral role in the building of the causeway.
In addition, the exhibit outlines the events leading up to and including construction, as documented by the Fort Frances Times and other sources.
The causeway was completed on June 28, 1965, which officially opened Highway 11 between Atikokan and Fort Frances.
But its story stretches back to 1898, when a group of the Ontario parliament assembled in Mine Centre and declared the causeway a high priority.
“The whole thing was many, many years in the making, with all the planning that went into it,” noted Fort Frances Museum curator Sherry George.
“It was a huge deal,” she added. “[And] it was very expensive.
“One thing I saw said $3 million but I think the final tally on the project was closer to $6 or $7 million by the time they finished building it,” George said.
“It was a huge commitment from the Ontario government.”
George noted many local and provincial politicians, as well as local businesspeople, were committed to planning and co-operating to make the causeway a reality.
Once built, it was the largest pre-stressed structure in North America at that time.
“It was a big deal,” reiterated George. “We don’t think of it—it’s just part of our background—but at the time it was a big, big deal.
“It opened up the lake country for all of us to enjoy but it’s also a significant thing economically,” she noted.
“It opened up logging; it opened up the highway transportation for a lot of goods and services that come through here,” she remarked.
“It’s significant socially,” George added. “It helps people get to the next level of education or health care [in Thunder Bay].”
As noted, the exhibit will be marked with an opening reception on Wednesday, June 24.
Doors will open at 4:30 p.m., with opening remarks at 5 p.m.
Refreshments will be served and the public is welcome to attend.
“It’s a little birthday celebration for 50 years for the causeway,” George said.
She noted municipal, provincial, and federal dignitaries will be invited, as well representatives from area First Nations.
George said Couchiching First Nation “was significant in the building of the causeway.”
“The main pieces were actually constructed on Couchiching, east of the church I believe, and then they were barged over to the site,” she remarked.
“It was a huge site.”
George also said that the late George McPherson gifted Bill Noden with traditional regalia.
The McPherson family has donated this regalia to the museum, which will be on display by the time of the reception.
Members of the “Heart of the Continent Partnership” also will be in town for a meeting that week, and are expected to take in the reception as part of their activities here.
The museum also has put out a call to amateur photographers to dig out their best causeway-themed photos, or takes new ones, and bring them in as part of a contest.
Photos will be displayed in the small gallery upstairs starting in June.
As patrons visit the exhibit, they’ll be able to vote on their favourite photos of the Noden Causeway.
The voting will continue through the evening of June 24, after which a winner will be announced.
The prize is bragging rights.
The photo exhibit will stay up through August.
The museum is open daily from 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
