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European settlement on Thunder Bay began with two French fur trading posts (1679, 1717) which were subsequently abandoned (see Fort William, Ontario). Permanent settlement began in 1803 with the establishment of Fort William by the Montreal-based North West Company as its mid-continent entrepôt. The fort thrived until 1821 when the North West Company merged with the Hudson's Bay Company and Fort William lost its raison d'être. By the 1850's the Province of Canada began to take an interest in its western extremity, largely because of a demand for mining locations on the Canadian shores of Lake Superior following the discovery of copper in the Keewenaw Peninsula of Michigan. In 1849 French-speaking Jesuits established the Mission de l'Immaculée-Conception (Mission of the Immaculate Conception) on the Kaministiquia to evangelize the Ojibwe. The Province of Canada negotiated a treaty with the Ojibwe of Lake Superior known as the Robinson Treaty in 1850. As a result, an Indian reservation was set aside south of the Kaministiquia River. And in 1859-60 the Department of Crown Lands surveyed two townships (Neebing and Paipoonge) and the Town Plot of Fort William.
Another settlement developed a few miles to the north of Fort William with the construction by the federal Department of Public Works of a road connecting Lake Superior with the Red River ColonyThe Red River Colony was a colonization project set up by Thomas Douglas, 5th Earl of Selkirk in 1811 on 300 000 km² of land granted to him by the Hudson's Bay Company. The colony was never very successful, but changes during the development of Canada in under the direction of Simon James DawsonSimon James Dawson, 1818-1902 surveyor, engineer, politician. Born 23 June 1818 in Redhaven, Scotland, Simon James Dawson emigrated to Canada as a young man and began his career as a civil engineer. In 1857 as a member of a Canadian government expedition. This public works depot or construction headquarters acquired its first name in May 1870 when Colonel Garnet Wolsley named it Prince Arthur's Landing. It was renamed Port Arthur by the CPR in May 1883 (see Port Arthur, Ontario).
The arrival of the Canadian Pacific RailwayThe Canadian Pacific Railway CPR AAR reporting marks CP CPAA CPI is a freight railway corporation in Canada, operating a rail network stretching from Vancouver to Montreal. It also serves major cities in the northern United States, such as Minneapolis, Ch in 1875 sparked a long battle for supremacy which did not end until the amalgamation of 1970. Until the 1880s, Port Arthur was a much larger and dynamic community, but the CPR in collaboration with the Hudson's Bay Company preferred east Fort William (the lower Kaministiquia river where the fur trade posts were). Further provoked by a prolonged tax dispute with Port Arthur and the seizure of a locomotive in 1889, the CPR relocated all its employees and facilities to Fort William. The collapse of silver mining after 1890 further undermined the economy of Port Arthur which entered a period of deep depression while Fort William thrived.
Thunder Bay began a period of extraordinary growth in the era of Sir Wilfrid LaurierWilfrid Laurier Rank 7th ( 1896- 1911) Date of Birth November 20, 1841 Place of Birth St-Lin, Quebec Spouse Zoe Lafontaine Profession lawyer Political Party Liberal Party of Canada Laurier re-directs here. For the Canadian federal electoral district see L as a result of transcontinental railway building and the western wheat boom. The CPR double-tracked its Winnipeg-Thunder Bay line. The Canadian Northern Railway established facilities at Port Arthur. The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway began construction of its facilties at the Fort William Mission in 1905, and the federal government began construction of the National Transcontinental Railway. Grain elevator construction boomed as the volume of grain shipped to Europe increased. Both cities indebted themselves by granting bonuses to manufacturing industries. By 1914 the twin cities had modern infrastructures (sewers, safe water supply, street lighting, electric light, etc.). Both Fort William and Port Arthur were proponents of municipal ownership. As early as 1892 Port Arthur built Canada's first municipally-owned electric street railway, and both cities spurned Bell Telephone Company to establish their own municipally-owned telephone systems in 1902.
The boom came to an end in 1913-14 aggravated by the First World War, but a war time economy emerged with the making of munitions and ship-building. The cities raised men for the 52nd, 94th and 141st Battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. Railway employment was hurt when the federal government took over the National Transcontinental Railway and Lake Superior Division from the Grand Trunk in 1915, and the Canadian Northern Railway in 1918 which were amalgamated with other government-owned railways in 1923 to form the Canadian National Railways. The CNR closed many of the Canadian Northern Railway facilties in Port Arthur and opened the Neebing yards in Neebing Township in 1922. By 1929 the the population of the two cities had recovered to pre-war levels.
The forest products industry has always played an important role in the Thunder Bay economy from the 1870s. Logs and lumber were shipped primarily to the United States. In 1917 the first pulp and paper mill was established in Port Arthur. It was followed by a mill at Fort William in 1920. Eventually there were four mills operating.
Manufacturing resumed in 1937 when the Canada Car and Foundry Company plant re-opened to build aircraft for the British. Now run by Bombardier Transportation , the plant has remained a mainstay of the post-war economy producing forestry, then transportation equipment for urban transit systems such as the Toronto Transit Commission.
The expansion of highways beginning with the Trans-Canada Highway culminating with the opening of a highway linking Sault Ste Marie to Thunder Bay has significantly diminished railway and shipping activity. The St Lawrence Seaway has not therefore lived up to expectations. Grain shipping has declined substantially in favor of Pacific Coast ports. As a result many grain elevators have been closed and demolished, and the Kaministiquia River has been abandoned by industry and shipping.
Thunder Bay has become the regional services centre for Northwestern Ontario with most provincial departments represented. Lakehead University, established through the lobbying of local businessmen and professionals, has proved to be a major asset, reinforced by Confederation College. The same businessmen and professionals were the driving force behind the amalgamation of Fort William and Port Arthur in 1970.
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