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101-566: Timmins ( / ˈ t ɪ m ɪ n s / TIM -ins ) is a city in northeastern Ontario , Canada, located on the Mattagami River . The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 at the 2021 Canadian census and an estimated population of 44,819 in 2023. The city's economy is based on natural resource extraction. It is supported by industries related to lumbering, and to

202-479: A Northwest Passage . Though this expedition was unsuccessful, it established the name " New France " for northeastern North America. After a few expeditions, France mostly abandoned North America for 50 years because of its financial crisis; France was involved in the Italian Wars and there were religious wars between Protestants and Catholics . Around 1580 however, the rise of the fur trade (particularly

303-475: A "very influential industrial citizen", rather than a single company that dominated all aspects of civilian life. As the worker population grew, these camps started to mesh together as a single town. (Torlone later served as the municipal Chief Administrative Officer.) On July 10, 1911, unusually hot and dry temperatures caused small fires to ignite at the Porcupine settlement. These were initially described as

404-610: A familiar sight in the region, but there was little commercial interest due to the area's inaccessibility. The extension of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway to Cochrane in 1907, allowed prospectors to more easily access the area. This sparked an interest in the region's natural resources, leading to the Porcupine Gold Rush . The first known prospectors were a team led by Reuben D'Aigle . They set out for Porcupine Lake in 1907 and dug several test pits in

505-725: A hotbed for the illegal smuggling of liquor and the biggest supplier into the United States, which was under complete prohibition . Prohibition in Ontario came to an end in 1927 with the establishment of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario under the government of Howard Ferguson . The sale and consumption of liquor, wine, and beer are still controlled by some of the most extreme laws in North America to ensure strict community standards and revenue generation from

606-447: A land area of 892,411.76 km (344,562.11 sq mi), it had a population density of 15.9/km (41.3/sq mi) in 2021. The largest population centres in Ontario are Toronto , Ottawa , Hamilton , Kitchener , London and Oshawa , which all have more than 300,000 inhabitants. The percentages given below add to more than 100 per cent because of dual responses (e.g., "French and Canadian" response generates an entry both in

707-485: A population density of 13.9/km (36.1/sq mi) in 2021. In Timmins, according to the 2021 census, 60.26%% of the population reported English as their mother tongue ( Anglophone ), 34.25%% reported French ( Francophone ) as their first language, and 5.49% reported a non-official language, neither English nor French, as their first language ( Allophone ). 50.8% of the population is bilingual in English and French. From

808-626: A result, for the first time, the English-speaking population of Canada West surpassed the French-speaking population of Canada East , tilting the representative balance of power. In 1849, the districts of southern Ontario were abolished by the Province of Canada , and county governments took over certain municipal responsibilities. The Province of Canada also began creating districts in sparsely populated Northern Ontario with

909-507: A series of "bushfires", but strong winds spread them into the dry forest and they expanded. Evacuation efforts began on the morning of July 11, with women and children being ferried to the opposite end of Porcupine Lake. The small fires eventually merged, and grew into a single wall of fire, estimated to be at least 32 km (20 mi) wide. The fire destroyed the Porcupine mining camp at around 3:30pm, and continued as far north as Cochrane . The total number of deaths remains uncertain, with

1010-538: Is English, although there exists a number of French-speaking communities across Ontario . French-language services are made available for communities with a sizeable French-speaking population; a service that is ensured under the French Language Services Act of 1989. In the 2021 census , Ontario had a population of 14,223,942 living in 5,491,201 of its 5,929,250 total dwellings, a 5.8 percent change from its 2016 population of 13,448,494. With

1111-557: Is a huge population growth force in Ontario, as it has been over the last two centuries. More recent sources of immigrants with large or growing communities in Ontario include East Asians , South Asians , Caribbeans, Latin Americans, Europeans, and Africans. Most populations have settled in the larger urban centres. Dome Mine The original Dome Mine was discovered by Jack Wilson of the Harry Preston crew in 1909, one of

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1212-429: Is classified as humid continental. Ontario has three main climatic regions: In the northeastern parts of Ontario, extending south as far as Kirkland Lake , the cold waters of Hudson Bay depress summer temperatures, making it cooler than other locations at similar latitudes. The same is true on the northern shore of Lake Superior , which cools hot, humid air from the south, leading to cooler summer temperatures. Along

1313-592: Is in Southern Ontario , and while agriculture remains a significant industry, the region's economy depends highly on manufacturing . In contrast, Northern Ontario is sparsely populated with cold winters and heavy forestation, with mining and forestry making up the region's major industries. Ontario is a term thought to be derived from Indigenous origins, either Ontarí:io , a Huron ( Wyandot ) word meaning "great lake", or possibly skanadario , which means "beautiful water" or "sparkling water" in

1414-460: Is the southernmost extent of Canada's mainland. Pelee Island and Middle Island in Lake Erie extend slightly farther. All are south of 42°N  – slightly farther south than the northern border of California . Ontario's climate varies by season and location. Three air sources affect it: cold, dry, arctic air from the north (dominant factor during the winter months, and for a longer part of

1515-808: The American Revolution . The Kingdom of Great Britain granted them 200 acres (81 ha) land and other items with which to rebuild their lives. The British also set up reserves in Ontario for the Mohawks who had fought for the British and had lost their land in New York state. Other Iroquois, also displaced from New York were resettled in 1784 at the Six Nations reserve at the west end of Lake Ontario. The Mississaugas, displaced by European settlements, would later move to Six Nations also. After

1616-811: The Canadian Pacific Railway (1875–1885) through Northern Ontario and the Canadian Prairies to British Columbia , Ontario manufacturing and industry flourished. However, population increases slowed after a large recession hit the province in 1893, thus slowing growth drastically but for only a few years. Many newly arrived immigrants and others moved west along the railway to the Prairie Provinces and British Columbia, sparsely settling Northern Ontario. The northern and western boundaries of Ontario were in dispute after Canadian Confederation . Ontario's right to Northwestern Ontario

1717-571: The French Canadians . Accordingly, the two colonies were merged into the Province of Canada by the Act of Union 1840 , with the capital initially at Kingston , and Upper Canada becoming known as Canada West . Responsible government was achieved in 1848. There were heavy waves of immigration in the 1840s, and the population of Canada West more than doubled by 1851 over the previous decade. As

1818-501: The Great Lakes . Hunting and gathering remained predominant throughout the early Woodland period , and social structures and trade continued to develop. Around 500 AD , corn cultivation began, later expanding to include beans and squash around 1100 AD. Increased agriculture enabled more permanent, fortified, and significantly larger settlements. In southern Ontario during the 1400s, the population of some villages numbered in

1919-532: The Iroquoian languages . Ontario has about 250,000 freshwater lakes. The first mention of the name Ontario was in 1641, when "Ontario" was used to describe the land on the north shore of the easternmost part of the Great Lakes. It was adopted as the official name of the new province at Confederation in 1867. The thinly populated Canadian Shield , which dominates the northwestern and central portions of

2020-607: The Jésuites and Supliciens , began to establish posts along the Great Lakes. The French allied with most Indigenous groups of Ontario, all for the fur trade and for defence against Iroquois attacks (which would later be called the Iroquois Wars ). The French would declare their Indigenous allies to be subjects of the King of France and would often act as mediators between different groups. The Iroquois later allied themselves with

2121-621: The Madawaska River in Renfrew County . The Carolinian forest zone covers most of the southwestern region of the province. The temperate and fertile Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Valley in the south is part of the Eastern Great Lakes lowland forests ecoregion where the forest has now been largely replaced by agriculture, industrial and urban development. A well-known geographic feature is Niagara Falls , part of

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2222-685: The Mississippi River . Philip Turnor , a surveyor and cartographer for the Hudson's Bay Company , established a trading outpost at Fredrick House Lake , about 30 km (19 mi) north-east of present-day downtown Timmins. Although beaver fur was plentiful and still in demand in Europe, the trading post was not successful. Nearby competition, and the difficulty of navigating the Abitibi and Fredrick House rivers by canoe, often resulted in

2323-614: The Niagara Escarpment . The Saint Lawrence Seaway allows navigation to and from the Atlantic Ocean as far inland as Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario. Northern Ontario covers approximately 87% of the province's surface area; conversely, Southern Ontario contains 94% of the population. Point Pelee is a peninsula of Lake Erie in southwestern Ontario (near Windsor and Detroit, Michigan ) that

2424-644: The War of 1812 invaded Upper Canada across the Niagara River and the Detroit River , but were defeated and pushed back by the British, Canadian fencibles and militias, and First Nations warriors. However, the Americans eventually gained control of Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The 1813 Battle of York saw American troops defeat the garrison at the Upper Canada capital of York . The Americans looted

2525-594: The hemiboreal humid continental climate ( Dfb ). Timmins has cold and snowy winters, being located in Northern Ontario . Temperatures in late summer and autumn tend to be among the coolest for any non-coastal major city in Canada. During the late spring and summer, temperatures can rise considerably, sometimes accompanied by high humidity and unstable air masses. The highest temperature ever recorded in Timmins

2626-551: The "Prussians of Ontario". The regulation was eventually repealed in 1927. Influenced by events in the United States, the government of William Hearst introduced prohibition of alcoholic drinks in 1916 with the passing of the Ontario Temperance Act . However, residents could distil and retain their own personal supply, and liquor producers could continue distillation and export for sale, allowing this already sizeable industry to strengthen further. Ontario became

2727-711: The 1795 Jay Treaty . In 1788, while part of the province of Quebec, southern Ontario was divided into four districts : Hesse , Lunenburg , Mecklenburg , and Nassau . In 1792, the four districts were renamed: Hesse became the Western District, Lunenburg became the Eastern District, Mecklenburg became the Midland District, and Nassau became the Home District. Counties were created within the districts. The population of Canada west of

2828-469: The 1850s, between finely balanced political groups: conservative and reform groups from Canada West and Canada East aligned against reform and liberal groups from Canada East each group having some support from French-Canadian and English-Canadian legislators. There was also a fear of aggression from the United States during and immediately after the American Civil War . These factors led to

2929-497: The American War of Independence, the first reserves for First Nations were established. These are situated at Six Nations (1784), Tyendinaga (1793) and Akwesasne (1795). Six Nations and Tyendinaga were established by the British for those Indigenous groups who had fought on the side of the British, and were expelled from the new United States. Akwesasne was a pre-existing Mohawk community and its borders were formalized under

3030-681: The British. From 1634 to 1640, the Huron were devastated by European infectious diseases, such as measles and smallpox , to which they had no immunity. By 1700, the Iroquois had been driven out or left the area that would become Ontario and the Mississaugas of the Ojibwa had settled the north shore of Lake Ontario. The remaining Huron settled north of Quebec. During the French and Indian War ,

3131-680: The Canadian Shield which traverses the province from northwest to southeast and also above the Niagara Escarpment which crosses the south. The highest point is Ishpatina Ridge at 693 metres (2,274 ft) above sea level in Temagami , Northeastern Ontario. In the south, elevations of over 500 m (1,640 ft) are surpassed near Collingwood, above the Blue Mountains in the Dundalk Highlands and in hilltops near

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3232-573: The Canadian provinces and territories. It is home to the nation's capital, Ottawa , and its most populous city, Toronto , which is Ontario's provincial capital. Ontario is bordered by the province of Manitoba to the west, Hudson Bay and James Bay to the north, and Quebec to the east and northeast. To the south, it is bordered by the U.S. states of (from west to east) Minnesota , Michigan , Ohio , Pennsylvania , and New York . Almost all of Ontario's 2,700 km (1,700 mi) border with

3333-615: The First World War was successful in enlisting around 600 men out of the less than 2,000 total residents at the time. The miners were coveted by the Canadian Expeditionary Force for their ability to dig trenches, and experience with handling explosives. News of the war and letters from soldiers abroad were frequently published in the town's local newspaper, The Porcupine Advance (TPA). After receiving news of armistice , major celebrations were held all around

3434-658: The Hudson's Bay Company. More than a century later, in 1906, Treaty 9 was signed between Anishinaabe ( Algonquin and Ojibwe ), Omushkegowuk Cree communities, and the Canadian Crown . It required the Mattagami First Nation to move to the north of Mattagami Lake and to cede territory. The presence of gold in the area was long known to the local indigenous people, and the few Europeans who had settled nearby. Outcroppings of gold-bearing quartz were

3535-589: The Lake Superior-Hudson Bay watershed, known as the District of Keewatin ) would become part of Ontario, a victory embodied in the Canada (Ontario Boundary) Act, 1889 . He also presided over the emergence of the province into the economic powerhouse of Canada. Mowat was the creator of what is often called Empire Ontario . Beginning with Macdonald's National Policy (1879) and the construction of

3636-532: The McIntyre mines ceased operations having produced around 11 million troy ounces of gold. In 1973, 35 townships covering 3,300 km (1,260 sq mi), including Porcupine , South Porcupine , Schumacher , and Timmins were organized into the City of Timmins. The city's population peaked in the mid 1990s, when the city became a regional service and distribution centre for Northeastern Ontario. However, with

3737-648: The North American theatre of the Seven Years' War of 1754 to 1763, the British defeated the armies of New France and its Indigenous allies. In the Treaty of Paris 1763 France ceded most of its possessions in North America to Britain. Using the Quebec Act , Britain re-organised the territory into the Province of Quebec . In 1782–1784, 5,000 United Empire Loyalists entered what is now Ontario following

3838-733: The Pays-d'en-Haut was quite large and would today include the province of Ontario, as well as, in whole or in part, the American states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. Indigenous peoples were the vast majority of the Pays d'en Haut population. As for Northern Ontario, the English explorer Henry Hudson sailed into Hudson Bay in 1611 and claimed its drainage basin for England. The area would become known as Rupert's Land . Samuel de Champlain reached Lake Huron in 1615, and French missionaries, such as

3939-521: The Porcupine area states that a man named Harry Preston slipped on moss and uncovered gold. In some versions of the story, he is responsible for triggering the Porcupine Gold Rush. However, historical records contradict both claims. Harry Preston arrived in the Porcupine area as a part of a team led by Jack Wilson in June 1909, where they discovered a large "dome shaped quartz outcrop". Wilson

4040-755: The Sandy Falls Golf Club, the McIntyre Community Building and the Timmins Snowmobile Club. Snowmobiling impacts the Timmins economy, as tourists travel from all over North America to explore area trails. Hollinger Park is one of the city's main recreational spaces. The park is divided in two sections, the north side being the public park area, with the south side having a regulation sized baseball diamond and two soccer fields for more organized outdoor recreational endeavours. The baseball park has been home to

4141-608: The Second World War, around a third of the city's population were enlisted into the armed forces. Timmins had its own bomber squadron known as "Porcupine Squadron No. 433", a heavy bomber unit of No. 6 group RCAF in Skipton-on-Swale , England . Timmins' economy suffered slightly during this period as women were prohibited from working in mines under the Ontario Mining Act, leaving no one to replace

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4242-646: The St. Lawrence-Ottawa River confluence substantially increased during this period, a fact recognized by the Constitutional Act of 1791 , which split Quebec into the Canadas : Upper Canada southwest of the St. Lawrence-Ottawa River confluence, and Lower Canada east of it. John Graves Simcoe was appointed Upper Canada's first Lieutenant governor in 1793. A second wave of Americans, not all of them necessarily loyalists moved to Upper Canada after 1790 until

4343-572: The Timmins Men's Baseball League since 1985. Former Timmins resident Shania Twain played a concert at Hollinger Park on July 1, 1999. An estimated 22,000 people attended the outdoor concert. The Pioneer Museum is located 39.5 km (24.5 mi) northeast of the city centre in Connaught , a community of 400 people. Nearby communities include Barbers Bay, Dugwal, Finn Road, Hoyle, Ice Chest Lake, McIntosh Springs and Nighthawk. Local history in

4444-530: The Timmins area, as described by a journalist for TPA: Before six o’clock on Monday morning, the news had reached Timmins that the Armistice had been duly signed and the fighting was thus over for the present. Timmins at once commenced to celebrate and kept it up all day and most of the night. First, the fire bell rang; then all the other bells and all the steam whistles joined in the chorus, the outgoing T&NO train adding its due quota of joyful noise. Flags and decorations were brought out, and from an early hour in

4545-407: The United States follows rivers and lakes: from the westerly Lake of the Woods , eastward along the major rivers and lakes of the Great Lakes / Saint Lawrence River drainage system. There is only about 1 km ( 5 ⁄ 8  mi) of actual land border, made up of portages including Height of Land Portage on the Minnesota border. The great majority of Ontario's population and arable land

4646-502: The alcohol retail monopoly are upheld. The post- World War II period was one of exceptional prosperity and growth. Ontario has been the recipients of most immigration to Canada, largely immigrants from war-torn Europe in the 1950s and 1960s and following changes in federal immigration law , a massive influx of non-Europeans since the 1970s. From a largely ethnically British province, Ontario has rapidly become culturally very diverse. The nationalist movement in Quebec, particularly after

4747-425: The area dates back over 300 years. Ontario Ontario is the southernmost province of Canada . Located in Central Canada , Ontario is the country's most populous province . As of the 2021 Canadian census , it is home to 38.5 per cent of the country's population, and is the second-largest province by total area (after Quebec ). Ontario is Canada's fourth-largest jurisdiction in total area of all

4848-471: The area in 1910. They began purchasing shares of local mines, and bought Benny Hollinger's share from him. Around the same time, Scottish businessman Sandy McIntyre discovered the McIntyre Mine near Pearl Lake, four miles away. Hollinger Mines was incorporated later that year with five equal partners consisting of Noah and Henry Timmins; Duncan and John McMartin (also brothers); and Mattawa attorney David Dunlap . A popular founding myth of Timmins and

4949-478: The area two months after Wilson's team. According to Gilles's report, while he inspected D’Aigle’s abandoned work, Hollinger was looking at some nearby quartz when he peeled back a bit of moss, revealing a large vein of gold. I was cutting a discovery post and Benny was pulling some moss of rocks a few feet away when he suddenly let a roar out of him and threw his hat at me. At first, I thought he has gone crazy but when I came over to where he was, it wasn’t hard to see

5050-474: The category " French Canadian " and in the category "Canadian"). The majority of Ontarians are of English or other European descent including large Scottish, Irish and Italian communities. Slightly less than 5 per cent of the population of Ontario is Franco-Ontarian , that is those whose native tongue is French, although those with French ancestry account for 11 per cent of the population. Compared to natural increase or interprovincial migration , immigration

5151-434: The crews whose successful finds launched the Porcupine Gold Rush . The vein Preston discovered dripped with gold and was referred to as the "Golden Staircase". A new company, Dome Mines Limited , was capitalized in 1910 to develop the namesake Dome Mine, producing 247 tons of high-grade ore its first year. The company built a community, also called Dome, of approximately 60 houses leased to miners with families. The mine

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5252-416: The demand for beaver pelts), reignited French interest. In 1608, Samuel de Champlain established France's first colonial settlement in New France, the Habitation de Québec (now Quebec City ), in the colony of Canada (now southern Quebec). Afterwards, French explorers continued to travel west, establishing new villages along the coasts of the Saint Lawrence River. French explorers, the first of which

5353-414: The early 1970s the Timmins synagogue was closed due to a decrease in the town's Jewish population. Some of the main tourist attractions within the city include: The Timmins Museum and National Exhibition Centre, Cedar Meadows Wilderness Tours, Mount Jamieson Resort (formerly known as Kamiskotia Snow Resort), Porcupine Ski Runners Cross-Country Trails and Chalet, Hollinger Golf Club, Spruce Needles Golf Club,

5454-430: The eastern shores of Lake Superior and Lake Huron winter temperatures are slightly moderated but come with frequent heavy lake-effect snow squalls that increase seasonal snowfall totals to upwards of 3 m (10 ft) in some places. These regions have higher annual precipitation, in some places over 100 cm (39 in). Severe thunderstorms peak in summer. Windsor , in Southern (Southwestern) Ontario, has

5555-440: The election of the Parti Québécois in 1976, contributed to driving many businesses and English-speaking people out of Quebec to Ontario, and as a result, Toronto surpassed Montreal as the largest city and economic centre of Canada. Depressed economic conditions in the Maritime Provinces have also resulted in de-population of those provinces in the 20th century, with heavy migration into Ontario. Ontario's official language

5656-418: The enlisted miners. In the 1950s, Mattagami 71, the reserve of the Mattagami First Nation was once again relocated, this time to its present day location, south of Mattagami Lake. By the mid 1960s, the majority of the original mines had depleted their gold content and mines began to close. Hollinger Mine was closed in 1968, having produced nearly 20 million troy ounces of gold. Twenty years later in 1988,

5757-449: The establishment of Algoma District and Nipissing District in 1858. An economic boom in the 1850s coincided with railway expansion across the province, further increasing the economic strength of Central Canada. With the repeal of the Corn Laws and a reciprocity agreement in place with the United States, various industries such as timber, mining, farming and alcohol distilling benefited tremendously. A political stalemate developed in

5858-408: The exception of a slight bump in 2011, the population has been consistently declining. Rail service to Timmins was discontinued in 1990, but is expected to return within the next decade. The last of the original three mines to close was the Dome Mine, which was closed in 2017, after 107 years of operation, and about 17 million troy ounces of gold produced. Timmins is near the northern periphery of

5959-465: The extreme north and northeast are mainly swampy and sparsely forested. Southern Ontario , which is further sub-divided into four sub-regions: Central Ontario (although not actually the province's geographic centre), Eastern Ontario , Golden Horseshoe and Southwestern Ontario (parts of which were formerly referred to as Western Ontario). Despite the rarity of mountainous terrain in the province, there are large areas of uplands, particularly within

6060-432: The first people to settle on the lands of Ontario, about 11,000 years ago, after crossing the Bering land bridge from Asia to North America between 25,000 to 50,000 years ago. During the Archaic period , which lasted from 8000-1000 BC , the population slowly increased, with a generally egalitarian hunter-gatherer society and a warmer climate. Trading routes also began emerging along the St. Lawrence River and around

6161-413: The formation of the Great Coalition in the elected Legislative Assembly, which initiated a series of conferences in the 1860s to effect a broader federal union of all British North American colonies. The British North America Act took effect on July 1, 1867, establishing the Dominion of Canada, initially with the four provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Ontario. The Province of Canada

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6262-510: The foundation of the city, Jewish emigrants , mostly from Russia and Eastern Europe came to the town in order to work in the mines industry. In 1917 Rabbi Yaakov Schulman arrived in the city and was in charge of religious needs, such as kosher meat . In 1925 there were 200 Jews living in the city. In that year the Jewish community was officially established. The community was not isolated and maintained good relationships with non-Jews, especially emigrants from Russia and Eastern Europe, who spoke

6363-450: The growing mining camp "Timmins", after his uncle, Noah Timmins , who was then the President of Hollinger Mines. Two more settlements were founded by competing mines: The "Porcupine/Dome" camp was situated on Porcupine Lake, and owned by Dome Mines . "Schumacher" camp was situated on Pearl Lake, and owned by McIntyre Mines. Joe Torlone noted in his dissertation that Timmins was never truly a company town. The combined mines behaved more like

6464-475: The harsh climate difficult, and some of those with the means eventually returned home or went south. However, population growth far exceeded emigration in the following decades. It was a mostly agrarian-based society, but canal projects and a new network of plank roads spurred greater trade within the colony and with the United States, thereby improving previously damaged relations over time. Meanwhile, Ontario's numerous waterways aided travel and transportation into

6565-451: The interior and supplied water power for development. As the population increased, so did the industries and transportation networks, which in turn led to further development. By the end of the century, Ontario vied with Quebec as the nation's leader in terms of growth in population, industry, arts and communications. Unrest in the colony began to chafe against the aristocratic Family Compact who governed while benefiting economically from

6666-401: The lands of Ontario: the Algonquins , Mississaugas , Ojibway , Cree , Odawa , Pottowatomi , and Iroquois . In the 15th century, the Byzantine Empire fell , prompting Western Europeans to search for new sea routes to the Far East . Around 1522–1523, Giovanni da Verrazzano persuaded King Francis I of France to commission an expedition to find a western route to Cathay (China) via

6767-427: The late 19th century, leading to the rise of important mining centres in the northeast, such as Sudbury , Cobalt and Timmins . The province harnessed its water power to generate hydro-electric power and created the state-controlled Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, later Ontario Hydro . The availability of cheap electric power further facilitated the development of industry. The Ford Motor Company of Canada

6868-480: The lowest estimates being 73 and the highest suggesting there were more than 200 dead. A number of people drowned after fleeing into the lake in an attempt to escape the heat and smoke; others were killed by smoke while still trapped underground in the mine. The executives of the Dome Mine held meetings about reopening within two days of the fire. The camp was quickly rebuilt with help from various communities around Ontario, and operations soon resumed. The fire burned

6969-407: The mining of gold, zinc, copper, nickel, and silver. Timmins serves as a regional service and distribution centre. The city has a large Francophone community, with more than 50% of the residents bilingual in French and English. Archaeological evidence indicates that the area has been inhabited for at least 6,500 years. The first inhabitants were nomadic peoples of the Shield Archaic culture . At

7070-399: The morning, groups of boys and girls were out with their horns, whistles and tin pan bands. After the noon hour, the crowds began to gather in the main part of the town, one of the chief centres of interest being Marshall-Ecclestone’s window where an effigy of the Kaiser was displayed. The effigy was made by the Hollinger carpenter staff and was an unusually clever piece of workmanship. The form

7171-470: The most lightning strikes per year in Canada, averaging 33 days of thunderstorm activity per year. In a typical year, Ontario averages 11 confirmed tornado touchdowns. Ontario had a record 29 tornadoes in both 2006 and 2009. Tropical depression remnants occasionally bring heavy rains and winds in the south, but are rarely deadly. A notable exception was Hurricane Hazel which struck Southern Ontario centred on Toronto, in October 1954. Paleo-Indians were

7272-512: The new areas in which it was interested were rapidly growing. After the federal government asked Ontario to pay for construction in the new disputed area, the province asked for an elaboration on its limits, and its boundary was moved north to the 51st parallel north . Once constituted as a province, Ontario proceeded to assert its economic and legislative power. In 1872, the lawyer Oliver Mowat became Premier of Ontario and remained as premier until 1896. He fought for provincial rights, weakening

7373-491: The new lands for sale, and the Timmins camp quickly surpassed the Porcupine and Schumacher camps in population. Timmins was incorporated as a municipality on January 1, 1912. In November 1912, 1,200 members of the Western Federation of Miners Local 145 held a strike at all three mines in response to a proposal to lower their wages. Mine operators hired gun thugs, who fired on the picket line and were ordered out by

7474-406: The post being unsupplied. Frederick House Post was functionally abandoned in 1812, when a man named Capascoos killed all 12 of the trading post's staff, as well as looted and damaged the building. Capascoos was never caught, and the building was never rebuilt. However, temporary log shelters were put in place nearby to facilitate fur trading until 1821, when the post was officially declared closed by

7575-743: The power of the federal government in provincial matters, usually through well-argued appeals to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. His battles with the federal government greatly decentralized Canada, giving the provinces far more power than John A. Macdonald had intended. He consolidated and expanded Ontario's educational and provincial institutions, created districts in Northern Ontario, and fought to ensure that those parts of Northwestern Ontario not historically part of Upper Canada (the vast areas north and west of

7676-609: The pre-war of 1812, many seeking available cheap land, and at the time, lower taxation. By 1798, there were eight districts: Eastern, Home, Johnstown , London , Midland, Newcastle , Niagara , and Western. By 1826, there were eleven districts: Bathurst , Eastern, Gore , Home, Johnstown, London, Midland, Newcastle, Niagara, Ottawa , and Western. By 1838, there were twenty districts: Bathurst, Brock, Colbourne, Dalhousie , Eastern, Gore, Home, Huron, Johnstown, London, Midland, Newcastle, Niagara, Ottawa, Prince Edward, Simcoe , Talbot, Victoria, Wellington , and Western. American troops in

7777-463: The province, comprises over half the land area of Ontario. Although this area mostly does not support agriculture, it is rich in minerals , partly covered by the Central and Midwestern Canadian Shield forests , and studded with lakes and rivers. Northern Ontario is subdivided into two sub-regions: Northwestern Ontario and Northeastern Ontario . The virtually unpopulated Hudson Bay Lowlands in

7878-474: The provincial government. After months without work, many men chose to leave the settlement; only 500 miners returned to work in July 1913. The strike won the men a nine-hour workday and a pay increase. In 1917, a dam was built at Kenogamissi Falls, downriver from Mattagami Lake, to provide power to Timmins and the surrounding area, Mattagami Lake was consequently flooded. A recruitment campaign for soldiers during

7979-407: The reason. The quartz where he had pulled the moss off looked as though someone had dripped a candle along it, but instead of wax, it was gold we saw. Don’t let anyone ever tell you that the original Hollinger discovery left any doubts of its importance. When we pulled the moss three feet out of the ground and away the quartz stood out, about six-feet wide with splattered over it for about 60 feet along

8080-541: The rebellion was quickly a failure. William Lyon Mackenzie escaped to the United States , where he declared the Republic of Canada on Navy Island on the Niagara River . Although both rebellions were put down in short order, the British government sent Lord Durham to investigate the causes. He recommended responsible government be granted, and Lower and Upper Canada be re-joined in an attempt to assimilate

8181-560: The region's resources, and who did not allow elected bodies power. This resentment spurred republican ideals and sowed the seeds for early Canadian nationalism . Accordingly, rebellion in favour of responsible government rose in both regions; Louis-Joseph Papineau led the Lower Canada Rebellion and William Lyon Mackenzie , first Toronto mayor , led the Upper Canada Rebellion . In Upper Canada ,

8282-454: The same languages they did. Only in the 1930s were actual community institutions built, such as a synagogue and a school. Since 1928 the Jewish community has held an annual Purim ball. The ball was mixed: Jews and non-Jews, men and women. Part of the ball was a beauty pageant named malkat Ester . The Jewish population peaked around the 1950s, when it included around 160 families. In

8383-519: The season he had found a "dome" of quartz that contained large veins of gold stretching several hundred feet in length and 46 m (150 ft) in width. This section was later exploited and developed as the Dome Mine . Wilson advised Hollinger & Gillies that all the good sites in a 10 km (6.2 mi) radius had been claimed, so the duo went slightly further west. There they stumbled upon D'Aigle's abandoned test pits and tools. While Gilles

8484-414: The surrounding area, but none of them had near the amount of gold which D'Aigle's team was seeking. They eventually abandoned their tools in the last pit they dug, approximately 8 km west of Porcupine Lake, and returned home. Two years later in 1909, a prospector duo consisting of Benny Hollinger and Alex Gillies arrived in the Porcupine region. They met up with another group, led by Jack Wilson. Earlier in

8585-601: The thin layers of moss and soil characteristic of a Canadian Shield landscape. This revealed previously unknown veins of gold and other minerals, which helped facilitate economic recovery efforts. Given the fire, and the need to replace housing as well as serve newly arrived refugees from the Porcupine camp, Noah Timmins to began planning a townsite at the Timmins camp. The first lots went up for sale on September 4, 1911, ranging in price from $ 5 to $ 10 ($ 135-$ 265 in 2024) for residential lots, and from $ 75 to $ 1,000 ($ 2,000-$ 25,000 in 2024) for commercial lots. Migrants were attracted to

8686-546: The thousands, with longhouses that could house over a hundred people. Around this time, large-scale warfare began in southern Ontario, leading to the emergence of Iroquoian groups, including the Neutral Confederacy , Erie and Wendat (Huron). Groups in northern Ontario were primarily Algonquian and included the Ojibwe , who traded with the Iroquois. Many ethnocultural groups emerged and came to exist on

8787-490: The time of European contact , the area was inhabited primarily by the Cree and Ojibwe peoples. The first Europeans to make contact with the local Indigenous peoples were French explorers in the late 1600s. The first attempt at a permanent European presence in the area did not come until 1785, nearly two decades after Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War and took over its territory in North America east of

8888-675: The town and burned the Upper Canada Parliament Buildings during their brief occupation. The British would burn the American capital of Washington, D.C. in 1814. After the War of 1812, relative stability allowed for increasing numbers of immigrants to arrive from Europe rather than from the United States. As was the case in the previous decades, this immigration shift was encouraged by the colonial leaders. Despite affordable and often free land, many arriving newcomers, mostly from Britain and Ireland, found frontier life with

8989-483: The vein. D'Aigle had worked the property and cut many trails through the bush but by a queer quirk of luck, one of his trails from the test pit passes the richest part of the vein at a point where he could have easily reached out and touched it with his hand. Additionally, historians generally agree that expansion of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway, which connected Central Ontario to Northern Ontario ,

9090-516: The year in far northern Ontario); Pacific polar air crossing in from the western Canadian Prairies/US Northern Plains ; and warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. The effects of these major air masses on temperature and precipitation depend mainly on latitude, proximity to major bodies of water and to a small extent, terrain relief. In general, most of Ontario's climate

9191-603: Was Étienne Brûlé who explored the Georgian Bay area in 1610–1612, mapped Southern Ontario and called the region the Pays d'en Haut ("Upper Country"), in reference to the region being upstream of the Saint Lawrence River. The colony of the Pays d'en Haut was formally established in 1610 as an administrative dependency of Canada, and was for defence and business rather than a settlement colony. The territory of

9292-423: Was 39.4 °C (103 °F) on July 12, 1936. The coldest temperature ever recorded was −45.6 °C (−50 °F) on February 1, 1962. In the 2021 Canadian census conducted by Statistics Canada , Timmins had a population of 41,145 living in 17,886 of its 19,390 total private dwellings, a change of -1.5% from its 2016 population of 41,788. With a land area of 2,955.33 km (1,141.06 sq mi), it had

9393-641: Was determined by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in 1884 and confirmed by the Canada (Ontario Boundary) Act, 1889 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . By 1899, there were seven northern districts: Algoma, Manitoulin, Muskoka, Nipissing, Parry Sound, Rainy River, and Thunder Bay. Four more northern districts were created between 1907 and 1912: Cochrane, Kenora, Sudbury and Timiskaming. Mineral exploitation accelerated in

9494-597: Was developed using open-pit mining for the first 200 feet, then resorted to underground mining methods . After the Great Porcupine Fire of 1911 ravaged communities and mining infrastructure throughout the region, the mine was rebuilt such that by March 1912, a 40- stamp mill was processing 400 tons a day. The mine was incorporated in 1912 and acquired Dome Extension in 1916. Through its early years, Ambrose Monell , Joseph Delamar, and Jules Bache served as presidents of Dome Mines Limited. A rich ore body

9595-616: Was divided into Ontario and Quebec so that each linguistic group would have its own province. Both Quebec and Ontario were required by section 93 of the British North America Act to safeguard existing educational rights and privileges of the Protestant and Catholic minorities. Thus, separate Catholic schools and school boards were permitted in Ontario. However, neither province had a constitutional requirement to protect its French- or English-speaking minority. Toronto

9696-647: Was established in 1904 and the McLaughlin Motor Car Company (later General Motors Canada ) was founded in 1907. The motor vehicle industry became the most lucrative industry for the Ontario economy during the 20th century. In July 1912, the Conservative government of James Whitney issued Regulation 17 which severely limited the availability of French-language schooling to the province's French-speaking minority. French Canadians reacted with outrage, journalist Henri Bourassa denouncing

9797-512: Was formally established as Ontario's provincial capital. The borders of Ontario, its new name in 1867, were provisionally expanded north and west. When the Province of Canada was formed, its borders were not entirely clear, and Ontario claimed eventually to reach all the way to the Rocky Mountains and Arctic Ocean . With Canada's acquisition of Rupert's Land, Ontario was interested in clearly defining its borders, especially since some of

9898-455: Was inspecting the abandoned pits, Hollinger pulled a bit of moss from a nearby quartz outcropping and revealed a large vein of gold. Gillies later noted that he had found a boot print pressed into some moss covering the gold vein. This print was believed left by one of D'Aigle's team two years before. They had departed unaware of the large vein under their feet. Two Mattawa shopkeeper brothers, named Noah Timmins and Henry Timmins , arrived in

9999-420: Was instrumental in triggering the Porcupine Gold Rush because it made the area accessible. The Canadian Pacific Railway expansion to was also critical, as it enabled travellers from Toronto to go directly north instead of taking a time-consuming detour around Eastern Ontario . A company town was founded near modern-day Gillies Lake , to house Hollinger Mines employees. Mine manager Alphonse "Al" Paré named

10100-403: Was made of wood, the limbs and body being perfectly formed and the face and head well-shaped. It was more than life-size and very life-like. Dressed in long boots, brass helmet, iron crosses and shining sword, the wooden Kaiser was stuffed with oakum, ready for the flames. The Great Depression did not adversely affect the economy of the area, and jobs were available in mining and lumber. During

10201-542: Was said to have been the first to notice gold as the Sun struck the quartz. As I was examining the seams in the quartz, about twelve feet ahead of me I saw a piece of yellow glisten as the sun struck it. It proved to be a very spectacular piece of gold in a thin sean of schist... when the boys came back we got out the drills and hammers, and that night had about 132 pounds of very spectacular specimens The only comparable mention of moss comes from Hollinger and Gilles, who arrived in

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