RAILWAYS
In 1850 Canada had 110 km. of track; in 1860 it had 3200 km., this was only a beginning. Railways were able to serve areas that could not be reached by water and so could open up new parts of the province. As new railroads were built, new settlements, new farming communities, and new logging camps were established. Towns near railways prospered; those far from the railway dwindled and died.
The earliest railway to enter our area was the Grand Trunk Railway.
Settlers, thinking the promised Grand Trunk Railway would be located on the eastern side of Lake Bernard, quickly established a number of villages (Hartwell and Vasasour).
Times were harsh for the settlers, they came with stars in their eyes and hope in their hearts. Settlers were unprepared for the harsh winters and the bug infested summers. Long walk or drives over rutted footpaths to get supplies and companionship were very hard for most settlers to endure. So when the government offered land in the prairies the temptation was too great. Many of our early settlers packed up lock, stock and barrel and headed west. In April 1892, two hundred and ninety eight people began the journey to the West. Many of these were from Dunchurch, Sundridge and Magnetawan.
In the first growing season, crops were good. The settlers showed the same determination as they did when they arrived in our area. The need for schools and churches was still there as before. The school names of the children attending was very similar to those that attended the first school built in Sundridge at Magee’s corner in 1883.
Despite hardships and deprivation, the colony was established. These Parry Sound colonists are considered to be the pioneer fathers of the Edmonton and Fort Saskatchewan areas.
If a transcontinental railway was to be built it had to cross the Precambrian Shield. If the railway was to follow an all Canadian route this mountain of rock had to concurred. Its builders would have to blast their way across seven hundred miles of granite, with numerous lakes and pockets of trees beyond comprehension. There were ridges that would consume three tons of dynamite a day for months on end. Where the ridges ended there was another three hundred miles of muskeg. This muskeg could consume a locomotive in a single gulp. Most of this land was infertile and incapable of cultivation. Many of the day thought that building a railway across such terrain was one of the most foolish things that could be imagined. After the shield was breached the railway continued on to the waving grasses of the prairies.
By the early twentieth century, the province was covered with a web of criss crossing tracks, dominated by a few major companies (the Grand Trunk, the Canadian Northern, the Canadian Pacific, and the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario. All these railway companies competed fiercely with one another for the greatest possible share of national and international traffic. During the First World War, the Canadian government took over and merged the Canadian Northern and Grand Trunk Railways to form the Canadian National Railway. The C.N.R., as it came to be called, played an important part in opening up northern Ontario to settlement.
Mechanised Track Laying
In 1880 the original line from Gravenhurst to Nippissing Junction was started. This line opened for business as far as Sundridge on June 30, 1885. Trains did not run through to Nippissing until November 1886. When the line was built past Gravenhurst it was known as the Northern & Pacific Junction Railway and was taken over by the Grand Trunk in 1888.
The Railway Station soon became the hub of the community. All freight from Sundridge and every community around used this station. It shipped lumber to foreign markets. It delivered farm products to the south and north. Our community flourished while others dwindled. Magnetawan was a bustling community but like other town around the area, it’s population decreased when the railway was built bypassing the town. The railway was the way to the west, the way to confederation and the way of the future.
The principal stations of the old Northern & Pacific Junction Railway are Gravenhurst, Bracebridge, Huntsville, Emsdale, Burk’s Falls, Sundridge, South River, Trout Creek, Powassan, Callander and Nipissing. Only four of the original stations have survived.
Gravenhurst station is still in the original site on Bethune Drive and is used for commercial and office space. Huntsville Station is still at its original site at 50 Main St. and is still in railway use. Burk’s Falls station has been moved to a nearby property and is used for an industrial business. And the South River Station is at its original site and in now vacant.
The railway in Sundridge has a wonderful history but it also has its sad side. There have been two derailments in Sundridge. The first was on September 21, 1906.
The second was a recent event as far as history goes. The train derailment happened in the town of Sundridge proper. This happened on June 24, 1981. The fire departments from Sundridge-Strong, Burk’s Falls and South River all were needed to tame this horrific fire caused by the derailment of the train.
