Nipissing Pioneers

Nipissing district developed with the coming of the CPR. The railway opened up the country and attracted settlers willing to clear the land and begin their future. The railway workers and settlers were the pioneers who followed the steel highway and formed small settlements along the way. Nipissing Pioneers is a place to share information about these people - their background, their social life, early development and the way they grew into their new surroundings. The start date of interest is shortly after Confederation. The government of the Province of Canada created the District of Nipissing in 1857. The“Temporary Judicial District of Nipissing” was originally established by An Act to provide for the better administration of Justice in the unorganized tracts of County within the limits of this Province (Statutes of Canada 1857; 20 Victoria, chapter 60;assented to 10 June1857) and officially proclaimed on 12 April 1858. The District of Algoma came into being at the same time. Nipissing was formerly Indian lands. It started along the Ottawa River from the Renfrew North boundary and headed west to Algoma Mills which is west of Sudbury and on the way to Sault Ste Marie. With that line as a base, it included territory north up to the height of land on the boundary of Rupert's Land. On the map, that is roughly 1/3 of the way to James Bay from Lake Nipissing. It was unpopulated, remote and too extensive to be governed on the county model. That wasn't the intention. Nipissing was created and placed in a holding pattern. It had no political representation and no judicial administration within its boundaries. A barren wilderness known only to Indian nations and the occasional white man. It was a land associated with fur trading, survey parties, limited lumbering camps, Hudson Bay posts and a transportation network exclusively reliant on water routes. The government was giving this territory a name and providing a bare outline to provide a framework for future administration. At this stage, there was no expectation of any development that might disturb the status quo. That's where we begin.