Sign In

Interesting hand drawn map of Canada, likely in the hand of a school girl.

The map depicts of all of Canada, divided by its Territories.  We date the map by its treatment of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway, which has extended only to about Cochrane at the time the map was drawn.

The map focuses on 4 Canadian Railroads, each of which is identified with a different pathway.

• Grand Trunk Pacific
• Canadian Pacific
• "Intercolonial Used To Coast"
• Temiskaming and Northern Ontario

In addition to the lines of each railroad, the major towns serviced by the railroad are also listed.

Intercolonial Railway of Canada

The Intercolonial Railway of Canada was a historic Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also completely owned and controlled by the federal government, the Intercolonial was also one of Canada's first Crown corporations.

 On the present map, the line runs from Halifax to Moncton and St. John.

Temiskaning and Northern Ontario Railway

The Ontario Northland Railway is a Canadian railway operated by the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, a provincial Crown agency of the government of Ontario.

Originally built to develop the Lake Timiskaming and Lake Nipissing areas, the railway soon became a major factor in the economic growth of the province. After decades of difficult construction through the Canadian Shield, workers reached James Bay in 1932. While blasting the route through the shield, geologists discovered deposits of valuable minerals such as gold, silver, copper and nickel. The railway also made it possible to exploit the timber resources of Northern Ontario.  

The line was originally chartered as the Lake Nipissing And James Bay Railway in 1884. The original route ran northward from Callander, roughly northward to Moose River on James Bay. However, in 1902, before construction started, the Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) took over the charter and used it as the basis for a new line running northwest from Parry Sound to Sudbury, with an additional line running from Parry Sound south to Toronto. The northern section was completed in 1908, although by this time it had been rechartered as part of the Canadian Northern Ontario Railway (CNOR). The section running south to Toronto had been opened on November 6, 1906.

With the original plans having been dropped, and a railway on this route still desired, the new Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway was incorporated on March 17, 1902. The railway was to be a provincial Crown corporation overseen by the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway Commission. Construction on the railway started in 1903, and the settlement of Redwater in the municipality of Temagami began as a small request stop when the railway reached the area of the Lower and Upper Redwater Lakes.

As it passed by Long Lake, near the 103 mile marker, the largest silver rush in Canada was sparked by workers looking for trees for railway ties. The town of Cobalt grew out of the fortunes of silver taken from the grounds. By 1905, it reached New Liskeard in the Lake Timiskaming area. The railway reached Englehart in 1906 and Cochrane in 1909. In the next few years, several branch lines were built.