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North Bay The Near North The "Near North" or southern fringe of Northern Ontario is a strip of lowland stretching for 300 miles from the Ottawa River to Lake Superior. This is probably the most clearly definable region of all, since it can be distinguished from all the rest of the north on the basis of land forms, climate, vegetation, soils and settlement pattern and furthermore it is spatially separated from its nearest neighbour region by a wide stretch of rock and forest. It is well knit together by a system of communications which includes both a railway and a highway from end to end, with adequate branches to its component parts, as well as corridors binding a large part of the hinterland to it. Its economic importance may be judged from the fact that it contains one third of the total population of Northern Ontario in about 3% of the total area. Even with the politically attached hinterlands it has only 54,000 square miles or 1/6 of the total area. It has a pattern of urban and rural settlement which although not developed uniformly is recognizably similar throughout the region. The climate is relatively favourable to agriculture and numerous pockets of arable soils exist and have been developed. In spite of all this it tends to fall apart because it is trinucleate. the settlements being grouped around three large cities. Each of these is the administrative headquarters of a political district and each has a different major economic function and a different regional influence. North Bay North Bay is known as the "Gateway to the North". Located on the shore of Lake Nipissing, 221 miles north of Toronto and 240 miles west of Ottawa it is an important rail centre, served by the Canadian National and Canadian Pacific as well as the Ontario Northland Railway for which it is the southern terminus. Provincial highways 11 and 17 cross at North Bay. The Nipissing lowland has always been a travelled route. Champlain passed that way in 1615 on his journey from Montreal to Lake Huron and it was important in the days of the fur trade. The actual site of North Bay, however, seems not to have been used, the fur traders' forts having been located about four miles south at the mouth of LaVase Creek. In 1882 the site of North Bay contained a single log shack. The C.P.R., then building from Mattawa to Sudbury, selected the flat shore of Lake Nipissing for railway yards and the city began to grow. In 1886 the area was reached by a railway from Toronto. The city area of 2,100 acres contains 53,966 people. The shore of Lake Nipissing is lined by a closely built development of summer cottages and tourist accommodations. The business section of North Bay is compact, confined chiefly to one street of brick structures. The residential areas which lie around this in a semicircle consist mainly of small frame dwellings, often resting on solid rock foundations. The industrial plants and warehouses tend to cluster along the railways. Some of the industries are fur processing, planing mills, mining equipment, a bronze foundry, a frozen food plant and two publishing houses. A large new lumber yard is on the northwestern margin of the city. There are two large and several smaller hotels. The North Bay Airport is about four miles outside the city, to the north and above the escarpment which bounds the Nipissing lowland. The dominant functions of the city are wholesale and retail trade and providing service for travellers. Manufacturing is secondary. The city is also an educational centre with a provincial normal school, technical and high school. Here also is the administrative centre of Nipissing District. North Bay lies in the transition or shatter-belt between the English and French culture areas of Canada, the population of Nipissing Ditstrict being almost evenly divided. The Umland of North Bay Sturgeon Falls, twenty-five miles west of North Bay, is the second town in size in the Nipissing lowland. It is located about five miles upstream from Lake Nipissing at the head of navigation where the Sturgeon River drops about 40 feet and at the same time narrows so that it is easily bridged by both railway and highway. Sturgeon River House, a fur trading post, was located about two miles from the lake and there were a few settlers before the railway was built. In 1898 a pulp mill was built, making use of power from the falls. Later another large generating station was built at Crystal Falls, a few miles upstream. The river drains a large forested area and is very useful for log driving. There are a number of commercial fishermen and caviar is obtained from the local sturgeon. Cache Bay about three miles west of Sturgeon Falls has a large saw mill. While depending chiefly upon forestry and forest products, Sturgeon Falls lies in the centre of a closely settled agricultural area of about 25 square miles and is a headquarters, also, for recreation, hunting and angling. Most of the inhabitants of this area, both rural and urban, are of French origin. Mattawa, at the junction of the Mattawa and Ottawa Rivers is an old settlement. Mattawa House was a trading post in 1784 and Mattawa had become an important lumbering centre by 1855. It is the only town for many miles along the river. Stretching for 50 miles to the east is the lake impounded by the Ontario H.E.P.C. dam at Des Joachims, while a few miles upstream another large dam provided additional water storage. Callander, on the southeast bay of Lake Nipissing was once an important sawmill town. Between Callander and Mattawa there is rather an extensive agricultural area with about 4,500 rural inhabitants and 120,000 acres occupied as farms. Farming is of a general and part time nature. Home