Part of application to Ontario Heritage Trust for its Provincial Plaque Program, 14 September 2016
For 2018, a group of volunteers are organizing to commemorate an historic event that occurred in 1943. For the first time, a highway linked Eastern and Western Canada entirely on Canadian soil.
In 1939, there was no highway link across Ontario between Quebec and Manitoba. There was a dream of a trans-Ontario highway, but that provincial dream was subsumed under the national dream of a trans-Canada highway. The Trans-Canada Highway would soon link all nine provinces, from the Maritimes on the east coast to British Columbia on the west.
In 1939, there was no highway link across Northern Ontario. One could travel eastward from Manitoba to the Lakehead cities (Port Arthur and Fort William, now amalgamated as City of Thunder Bay). Then one proceeded north on a gravel road to Nipigon. From Nipigon a new highway proceeded north to the gold mining camps at Beardmore and Geraldton. Also, from Nipigon, a gravel road proceeded east on the North Shore of Lake Superior to the railroading town of Schreiber.
Travelling east to west, one came to North Bay or Sudbury, and then one carried on north and west to Cochrane and Hearst, or struck out immediately west to Sault Ste. Marie. Beyond the Soo and Schreiber, and Hearst and Geraldton, the roads petered out. In both regions, road-builders faced formidable stretches of wilderness.
Three railway systems did traverse these stretches: the northern line of Canadian National Railways (the former National Transcontinental Railway), the southern line of CNR (the former Canadian Northern Ontario Railway), and further south, Canadian Pacific Railway.
In 1939, Canada declared war against Nazi Germany, and some astute officials, looking at maps of Northern Ontario, came to a realization: enemy bombers, or enemy saboteurs, could easily sever the trans-Ontario railway links at countless vulnerable points. And frequently, calamities (related to frost, forest fires, or floods) interrupted rail traffic. Ontario now urgently needed a trans-Ontario highway link.
The route running between Schreiber and the Soo involved tremendous engineering challenges. The more northerly route, between Geraldton and Hearst, offered fewer obstacles. So, officials now accelerated the already existing plans to link Geraldton and Hearst by highway. Sixteen experienced contracting outfits worked separately on short stretches of the 153-mile route between 1940 and 1942. Some started from the western end at Geraldton and Longlac, others at the eastern end at Hearst.
By late 1942, the job was mostly completed, but both officials and the weather discouraged public traffic. There was no snowplowing program, and the spring breakup brought its own problems. Not until the first week of June, 1943, did officials feel comfortable enough to open the highway to civilian traffic.
There was no fanfare, no official opening ceremony, no banner headline. Canada was still in wartime mode. For a long time, a trip across the Geraldton-Hearst highway was often an adventure.
For the first time, a primary road link joined road systems in Eastern and Western Canada, and it was possible to travel entirely by road on Canadian soil between the east and west coasts of Canada. Taking full advantage of this new, truly trans-Canadian highway system would have to wait for the termination of Canada's involvement in the Second World War in 1945.
Still, the completion of "the last link" (as print media often dubbed it) of the Trans-Canada Highway was a significant historic event. It may be compared to another event decades earlier. On November 7, 1885, at Craigellachie, British Columbia, Donald Smith drove the last spike in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Canada's 'national dream'. No one disputes the significance of this event. This ribbon of steel united the country, permitting Canadians to readily travel from one coast to the other.
British Columbia has the distinction of hosting the site of the last section of the first Canadian transcontinental railway to be completed. Ontario has the distinction of hosting the site of the last section of the first Canadian transcontinental highway to be completed. All Canadians should celebrate that – especially since the 75th anniversary is coming in 2018.
Ontario also has the distinction of completing the last link in the Trans-Canada Highway without the financial assistance of the Government of Canada. We are all aware of the massive federal subsidies in land and cash that pushed the CPR to its completion.
Years after the war, in 1949, Canada's Parliament passed The Trans-Canada Highway Act, agreeing to share costs with the provinces for the shortest east-west route they could manage. Highway 17, from the Soo to Thunder Bay, qualified as the official Trans-Canada Highway link. Back in the 1940s, officials and the print media referred to the Highway 11 link as the Trans-Canada Highway, and Highway 11 remains today an alternative route in the Trans-Canada Highway system.
The Highway 17 link officially opened in 1960, seventeen years after the unofficial opening of Ontario's first Trans-Canada Highway. The complete east-west route, from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island, opened in 1962.
There is another reason to commemorate this event – to set the historical record straight. Should anyone type in 'first Trans-Canada highway' or 'opening of the Trans-Canada highway' on Google, one would find no mention of Highway 11. But there would be plenty of stories about Prime Minister John Diefenbaker opening the Trans-Canada Highway on July 30, 1962 (incorporating the Highway 17 route through Ontario, which was completed in 1960). Most Canadians still believe that it was not until 1962 that one could drive across Canada while remaining completely in Canada. Let us set the record straight with an historical plaque and appropriate commemoration.
The year 2018 will mark the 75th Anniversary of the completion of our nation's first Trans-Canada Highway. A group of volunteers are making plans to commemorate the anniversary. Plans include participation by organized communities along the route (e.g., Greenstone and Hearst) and further afield (e.g., Nipigon, Thunder Bay, North Bay) and by representatives from the provincial and federal governments.
This historic event, the completion of the last link, deserves to be recognized and celebrated and, most of all, remembered by all Canadians.
NOTE: Unveiling of Historical Plaque: Proposed date Saturday, 5 May 2018, at Klotz Lake Rest Area in unsurveyed territory on Highway 11.
For 2018, a group of volunteers are organizing to commemorate an historic event that occurred in 1943. For the first time, a highway linked Eastern and Western Canada entirely on Canadian soil.
In 1939, there was no highway link across Ontario between Quebec and Manitoba. There was a dream of a trans-Ontario highway, but that provincial dream was subsumed under the national dream of a trans-Canada highway. The Trans-Canada Highway would soon link all nine provinces, from the Maritimes on the east coast to British Columbia on the west.
In 1939, there was no highway link across Northern Ontario. One could travel eastward from Manitoba to the Lakehead cities (Port Arthur and Fort William, now amalgamated as City of Thunder Bay). Then one proceeded north on a gravel road to Nipigon. From Nipigon a new highway proceeded north to the gold mining camps at Beardmore and Geraldton. Also, from Nipigon, a gravel road proceeded east on the North Shore of Lake Superior to the railroading town of Schreiber.
Travelling east to west, one came to North Bay or Sudbury, and then one carried on north and west to Cochrane and Hearst, or struck out immediately west to Sault Ste. Marie. Beyond the Soo and Schreiber, and Hearst and Geraldton, the roads petered out. In both regions, road-builders faced formidable stretches of wilderness.
Three railway systems did traverse these stretches: the northern line of Canadian National Railways (the former National Transcontinental Railway), the southern line of CNR (the former Canadian Northern Ontario Railway), and further south, Canadian Pacific Railway.
In 1939, Canada declared war against Nazi Germany, and some astute officials, looking at maps of Northern Ontario, came to a realization: enemy bombers, or enemy saboteurs, could easily sever the trans-Ontario railway links at countless vulnerable points. And frequently, calamities (related to frost, forest fires, or floods) interrupted rail traffic. Ontario now urgently needed a trans-Ontario highway link.
The route running between Schreiber and the Soo involved tremendous engineering challenges. The more northerly route, between Geraldton and Hearst, offered fewer obstacles. So, officials now accelerated the already existing plans to link Geraldton and Hearst by highway. Sixteen experienced contracting outfits worked separately on short stretches of the 153-mile route between 1940 and 1942. Some started from the western end at Geraldton and Longlac, others at the eastern end at Hearst.
By late 1942, the job was mostly completed, but both officials and the weather discouraged public traffic. There was no snowplowing program, and the spring breakup brought its own problems. Not until the first week of June, 1943, did officials feel comfortable enough to open the highway to civilian traffic.
There was no fanfare, no official opening ceremony, no banner headline. Canada was still in wartime mode. For a long time, a trip across the Geraldton-Hearst highway was often an adventure.
For the first time, a primary road link joined road systems in Eastern and Western Canada, and it was possible to travel entirely by road on Canadian soil between the east and west coasts of Canada. Taking full advantage of this new, truly trans-Canadian highway system would have to wait for the termination of Canada's involvement in the Second World War in 1945.
Still, the completion of "the last link" (as print media often dubbed it) of the Trans-Canada Highway was a significant historic event. It may be compared to another event decades earlier. On November 7, 1885, at Craigellachie, British Columbia, Donald Smith drove the last spike in the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Canada's 'national dream'. No one disputes the significance of this event. This ribbon of steel united the country, permitting Canadians to readily travel from one coast to the other.
British Columbia has the distinction of hosting the site of the last section of the first Canadian transcontinental railway to be completed. Ontario has the distinction of hosting the site of the last section of the first Canadian transcontinental highway to be completed. All Canadians should celebrate that – especially since the 75th anniversary is coming in 2018.
Ontario also has the distinction of completing the last link in the Trans-Canada Highway without the financial assistance of the Government of Canada. We are all aware of the massive federal subsidies in land and cash that pushed the CPR to its completion.
Years after the war, in 1949, Canada's Parliament passed The Trans-Canada Highway Act, agreeing to share costs with the provinces for the shortest east-west route they could manage. Highway 17, from the Soo to Thunder Bay, qualified as the official Trans-Canada Highway link. Back in the 1940s, officials and the print media referred to the Highway 11 link as the Trans-Canada Highway, and Highway 11 remains today an alternative route in the Trans-Canada Highway system.
The Highway 17 link officially opened in 1960, seventeen years after the unofficial opening of Ontario's first Trans-Canada Highway. The complete east-west route, from Newfoundland to Vancouver Island, opened in 1962.
There is another reason to commemorate this event – to set the historical record straight. Should anyone type in 'first Trans-Canada highway' or 'opening of the Trans-Canada highway' on Google, one would find no mention of Highway 11. But there would be plenty of stories about Prime Minister John Diefenbaker opening the Trans-Canada Highway on July 30, 1962 (incorporating the Highway 17 route through Ontario, which was completed in 1960). Most Canadians still believe that it was not until 1962 that one could drive across Canada while remaining completely in Canada. Let us set the record straight with an historical plaque and appropriate commemoration.
The year 2018 will mark the 75th Anniversary of the completion of our nation's first Trans-Canada Highway. A group of volunteers are making plans to commemorate the anniversary. Plans include participation by organized communities along the route (e.g., Greenstone and Hearst) and further afield (e.g., Nipigon, Thunder Bay, North Bay) and by representatives from the provincial and federal governments.
This historic event, the completion of the last link, deserves to be recognized and celebrated and, most of all, remembered by all Canadians.
NOTE: Unveiling of Historical Plaque: Proposed date Saturday, 5 May 2018, at Klotz Lake Rest Area in unsurveyed territory on Highway 11.
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