The Port Arthur, Duluth and Western Railway Company
Text from the plaque
The railway which once ran nearby was originally incorporated in 1883 as the Thunder Bay Colonization Railway Company. Promoted during the Thunder Bay silver mining boom of the 1880's to serve the mining region southwest of Port Arthur and to tap the Mesabi iron ore deposits of northern Minnesota, the line was renamed the Port Arthur, Duluth and Western Railway Company in 1887. Financed mainly by subsidies and bond issues, when completed in 1893 it ran some 130 km from Port Arthur to its Canadian terminus at Gunflint Lake, then continued 10 km into Minnesota. The collapse of the silver boom dashed the company's hopes and in 1899 the line was purchased by the Canadian Northern Railway Company.
Transcribed from the marker, not summarised.
Find the place
The District of Thunder Bay
The Township of Gillies
From Thunder Bay, follow 11/17 west to Road 588
then south and west for 15.1 km to Road 595
then 1.6 km north to a sharp bend in the road
N 48 18.361 W 89 42.383
Recorded September 2005. Check current access before visiting.
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Where it stands
