Jackfish, Ontario
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jackfish is a ghost town in northern Ontario, Canada, located on the north shore of Lake Superior east of Terrace Bay.
The town was established in 1881 to provide water and coal for steam trains travelling on the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). A dock outfitted with cranes allowed large ships to unload coal here. A large water tower was located near the railway tracks. Fish were caught here and packed in ice on trains bound for markets in Toronto and Montreal. A lumber company here sent logs by ship for use at pulp mills in the United States. With the replacement of the old steam engines in the early 19th century, the fortunes of the town began to decline. The fish stocks also collapsed with the introduction of the sea lamprey into the Great Lakes.
The last spike on the CPR track between Montreal and Winnipeg was driven in west of Jackfish on May 16, 1885. Laying one particular mile of railway in this area is said to have cost $700,000.
During World War II, young Canadian men of Japanese origin from British Columbia were sent to road construction camps, including one at Jackfish, to work on the construction of the Trans-Canada Highway.
The Lakeview Hotel at Jackfish, built at the end of the 19th century, remained a popular stopping place during the summer for a number of years. The hotel burned down in 1960 and the town site was abandoned by 1963.
"Jackfish" is a common name for the Northern Pike.
