Highlighting in vintage postcards the history of towns and townships in the greater Lake Nipissing and Lake Temagami areas of Northern Ontario, Canada and including the Nipissing District and portions of the Parry Sound District which are in the “Blue Sky Region.” These Canadian postcards are shown in digital museum format for educational purposes. If you have images or historical information which you’d like to share with our virtual museum, feel free to do so.

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Here’s a c. 1927-1930 view of the entrance to the Ferguson Highway (Highway 11) in North Bay, as the road heads north towards Temagami. Construction began in 1925 to link “New Ontario” and its lumber, mining and agricultural resources with southern Ontario. It was originally a gravel highway, as shown here. Note the sign above the gateway which says: “Stop - Get Your Travel Permit Here,” and the small guard station to the right of the entry. Named for the Honorable G. Howard Ferguson, Premier of Ontario from 1923-1930 and a proponent of northern development, the highway officially opened on 2 July 1927. Later, it became a northern branch of the Trans-Canada. Things still had a wilderness air to them when the sender of the postcard at bottom left mailed it, as he wrote: “This is some place - the last town in the North Country.” The road here is dirt, and the pictured travelers have set up a waterside camp.

A delicately rendered postcard, done in similar pastel colors and from the same Toronto-based Valentine-Black Co. as the Ferris beach scene on the North Bay page, shows the “the lookout” on the Ferguson Highway. The lookout’s rock construction appears to be c. 1890-1910. In the distance, one can see what appears to be some of the larger North Bay buildings, hugging the shoreline of Lake Nipissing. John De La Vergne indicates that it was “on the east side of Highway 11 North, at the crest of the escarpment.” Barbara Treleaven owned the property when, “ about 10 years ago, the MTO (Ministry of Transportation) decided to four-lane the highway up the escarpment and improve the grade. They expropriated the Treleaven property and demolished the house. Then they blasted a huge rock cut to widen the highway…Today, even the old driveway up to the house is gone.”

A scarce 9 August 1928 Ferguson Highway travel permit, issued by the Ontario Forestry Branch, authorized passage of C. B. Hamilton of Toronto to travel between North Bay and Latchford. Hamilton’s ultimate destination was Cochrane. The permit, signed by “J. Leonard,” notes Hamilton’s license plate number as 71-090. Viewed diagonally below, the permit warns that “Dangerous Fire Hazards and Valuable Timber exist adjacent to this Road. Do Not Throw Lighted Matches, Cigars or other Burning Substances from Cars. Build your lunch fires only in prepared fire places. Be Sure Your Fire is Out Before You Leave. Penalties for Infractions of the Fire Act, up to $300.00 together with imprisonment.” A map on the reverse, with a scale of 1 inch to 12 miles, shows public camp sites and indicates that “lunching places” were spaced approximately every three miles along the road. We have numerous writings and photos from Mr. Hamilton’s Northern Ontario trip and will be adding them to this page.

This scarce 1930 real-photo postcard, which was published for the Temagami Outfitting Co., shows a seated camper at one of the “lunching places”mentioned above. Both a picnic table and a campsite have been provided, with an Ontario Forestry Branch sign posted regarding forest fires. It reads: “Prevent Forest Fires. Build Your Camp Fire Here. See That Your Fire Is Out Before You Leave.”

Tomiko:  

Here’s a scarce 1911 postcard of the T. & N. O. (Temiskaming and Northern Ontario) train station in Tomiko. A team of horses is to the right of the modest one-story frame building, in front of which are about four men apparently waiting for the train. The mail hook can be seen on the building, and a water tower is to the right. The sender wrote: “This is a photo of our station up here. Isn’t it a dandy?” It was sent to Mrs. Arthur Canning of Severn Bridge and bears DPO (dead post office) cancels from both Tomiko and Severn Bridge. The postcard was published by H. L. Holstein of Tomiko.