Founding of the Town of Latchford

Photo by contributor Blair Olsen - July, 2009

Plaque Location

The District of Timiskaming
The Town of Latchford
In the picnic area just north of the Montreal River bridge on Highway 11.
Look for the green arrow on the interactive map below.

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Latitude and Longitude Coordinates

47.322577 -79.809752

Plaque Text

Latchford began in 1903 as Montreal River Station, a town site and river crossing for the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway, the colonization line designed to open the Little Clay belt to settlement and provide access to the area's vast timber resources. In 1904, a three span iron bridge was built to carry the railway across the Montreal River and construction of a station house and water tank soon followed. The town was surveyed in 1905 and renamed in honour of Francis Robert Latchford (1856-1938), then Ontario Commissioner of Public Works. A brief boom period ensued when silver was discovered to the northwest in 1906 and Latchford became the provisioning and starting point for prospectors travelling up Bay Lake. Latchford was incorporated as a town in 1907 and by 1911 its population was 429. As area silver deposits were depleted Latchford's prosperous timber and pulp mills assured its longevity, giving the town its nickname of "Sawdust City".

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