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Chapter 5 Sudbury (1883–1939) The interval between 1883 and the outbreak of the Second World War witnessed numerous changes in the nickel belt area, among them the creation of the Town/City of Sudbury. The arrival of the CPR in 1883 was the first step to shedding the region’s previous isolation . As Sanford Fleming noted, “no civilized man, so far as known, had ever passed from the valley of the upper Ottawa through the intervening wilderness to Lake Superior.”1 As late as the 1880s, transformation was barely noticeable. There was little evidence that any settlement of significance would emerge from this lonely dot on the transcontinental mainline. Only the foolhardy could envisage that by the Second World War, Sudbury would emerge as the largest urban centre in Northeastern Ontario with more than 30 000 inhabitants. Locally, Sudbury was rivalled only by Inco’s company town showcase of Copper Cliff with its almost 4 000 residents. Arrival of the Canadian Pacific Railroad A condition of British Columbia’s entry into Confederation in 1871 was the completion of a transcontinental railway from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean. Preliminary surveys undertaken along the North Shore in the 1870s were followed by the incorporation of the CPR in 1881. One of its first acts was to acquire the Canada Central Railway and other lines that gave the company a connection between Pembroke and Montreal. It was originally intended that the main trunk line would stretch westward from Sudbury via Sault Ste. Marie, with Callander serving as the regional headquarters of the CPR and McNaughton as a major depot on the Sault line. Late in 1882, a crucial decision was made to build the railway further northward, bypassing Sault Ste. Marie in favour of a line running through the Shield to the top of Lake Superior.2 The Sault Branch, however, was to remain part of the mainline, providing connections with the American Midwest. For administrative purposes, the northern route linking Fort William to Callander west Sudbury (1883–1939) 63 of North Bay was known as the Lake Superior East Section. At the time, Callander served as the western junction of the Canada Central Railway. From 1882 to 1885, the Sudbury Junction at the intersection of the Sault Branch line and the CPR mainline became a hub of construction activity. The size of the transient labour force varied, estimated to be as low as 1 500 and as high as 3 500.3 Construction of the mainline from Callander westward began early in 1883. By February, a tote road (one built for hauling supplies) had been completed to a junction site north of Lake Ramsey. This was the same tote road made famous by Florence R. Howey, who became Sudbury’s “first lady.”4 The site was given the name of Sudbury by James Worthington, in honour of his wife’s birthplace in England. Worthington had not intended to use this unimportant spot on the map for such a designation, but the station up the line expected to be the real centre of the area had already been named for Magistrate Andrew McNaughton.5 The Sudbury site was selected by accident. The original course of the line as planned in 1881 was to be as follows: From Callander the line follows the course of the Vase river to the Forks of the same, thence by the north shore of Lake Nipissing and across the Sturgeon River immediately below the falls, thence in a north-westerly direction along the course of the Veuve river, and by the North Branch of the same to near the Wahnapitae River in Township 47 [Dryden] and crossing the latter river at the township line between Townships 47 and 55 [Neelon] thence in a southwesterly direction by the northerly side of Long Lake, to near the west line of Township 62 [Broder] thence westerly through Township 70, [Waters], thence south-westerly crossing Vermillion [sic] River in Township 77 [Graham] and continuing in the same course to the left bank of the Spanish River near the big bend, thence by the left bank of the last mentioned river, and crossing the same near the south line of township 99, [Nairn] thence still following a southwesterly course near to the right bank of the Spanish River until it reaches the shore of Lake Huron.6 While the intention had been to locate the railway “south of a lake of irregular shape lying in an east–west position, about four miles...

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