White River, Ontario
Encyclopedia
White River is a township
Township (Canada)
The term township generally means the district or area associated with a town. However in some systems no town needs to be involved. The specific use of the term to describe political subdivisions has varied by country, usually to describe a local rural or semi-rural government within the county...

 located in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, on the intersection of Highway 17
Highway 17 (Ontario)
King's Highway 17, more commonly known as Highway 17, is a provincially maintained highway and the primary route of the Trans-Canada Highway through the Canadian province of Ontario. It begins at the Manitoba border west of Kenora and ends south of Arnprior at the western terminus of Highway 417, ...

 and Highway 631. It was originally set up as a rail town on the Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway
The Canadian Pacific Railway , formerly also known as CP Rail between 1968 and 1996, is a historic Canadian Class I railway founded in 1881 and now operated by Canadian Pacific Railway Limited, which began operations as legal owner in a corporate restructuring in 2001...

 in 1885. In 1961, it was finally made accessible by car via Highway 17 of the Trans-Canada Highway
Trans-Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway is a federal-provincial highway system that joins the ten provinces of Canada. It is, along with the Trans-Siberian Highway and Australia's Highway 1, one of the world's longest national highways, with the main route spanning 8,030 km...

.

The forest industry was the largest employer until 2007, when the Domtar
Domtar
Domtar Corporation is the largest integrated producer of uncoated freesheet paper in North America and the second largest in the world based on production capacity, and is also a manufacturer of papergrade pulp....

 mill shut down.

The township is perhaps best known for being the home of Winnie the Pooh. In August 1914, a trapped Black Bear
American black bear
The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most common bear species. Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely forested areas, but do leave forests in...

 cub
Cub
A cub is the young of certain large predatory animals such as bears, lions, wolves, and big cats; analogous to a domestic puppy or kittenCub may refer to:* Cub, a member of Cub Scouts* Cub player, a member of certain sports teams, e.g...

 named Winnie
Winnipeg bear
Winnipeg was the name given to a female black bear that lived at London Zoo from 1915 until her death in 1934....

 was sold to Captain Harry Colebourn
Harry Colebourn
Harry Colebourn was a Canadian veterinarian and soldier with the Royal Canadian Army Veterinary Corps best known for donating a bear cub named "Winnie" to the London Zoo. Winnie later inspired the creation of A.A...

 in White River, who named it after his hometown, Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

. Over the years, the animal became the basis for the popular literary character.

White River is the western terminus of the Sudbury – White River train.

Climate

White River advertises itself as "The Coldest Spot in Canada" with recorded temperatures as low as - 72oF (- 58 °C). However, this is a myth as the coldest temperature in Canada has been recorded in Snag, Yukon
Snag, Yukon
Snag is a village located on a small, dry-weather sideroad off the Alaska Highway south of Beaver Creek, Yukon, Canada. The village of Snag is located in a bowl-shaped valley of the White River and its tributaries, including Snag Creek. It was first settled during the Klondike Gold Rush. An...

, at - 62.8 °C on 3 February 1947. Even in Ontario, the coldest place is Iroquois Falls
Iroquois Falls, Ontario
Iroquois Falls is a small town in Northern Ontario, Canada, with a population of 4,729 in the Canada 2006 Census.The town centre lies just off of Hwy 11 on the banks the Abitibi River, west of Lake Abitibi. Timmins, one of the largest cities in northern Ontario is approximately to the west...

 at - 58.3 °C (23 January 1935), which is the lowest temperature reported in Eastern Canada too. White River's reputation for coldest area is probably based on the fact that for many years its reported temperature was deemed "the coldest in the nation today" from the handful of stations reporting daily temperature extremes in newspapers and on radio, climatological stations data being only available monthly to Environment Canada
Environment Canada
Environment Canada , legally incorporated as the Department of the Environment under the Department of the Environment Act Environment Canada (EC) (French: Environnement Canada), legally incorporated as the Department of the Environment under the Department of the Environment Act Environment...

.

Its official weather station (closed in 1976) was located in a frost hollow but most residential areas have good air drainage and do not see temperatures much below -40o. Gardeners can keep their flowers alive into October and grow non-boreal species such as silver maple
Silver Maple
The silver maple —also called creek maple, river maple, silverleaf maple, soft maple, water maple, or white maple—is a species of maple native to eastern North America in the eastern United States and Canada...

.

Popular culture

White River, ON is referenced by the Canadian singer/songwriter Christine Fellows
Christine Fellows
Christine Fellows is a Canadian folk-pop singer-songwriter from Winnipeg, Manitoba.-History:Born in Windsor, Ontario and raised in France and Kelowna, British Columbia, Fellows lived in Toronto, Vancouver, Guelph and Montreal before settling in Winnipeg in 1992.In 1993, she formed her first group,...

 in her song "Migrations"

Demographics

Population:
  • Population in 2006: 841 (2001 to 2006 population change: -15.3 %)
  • Population in 2001: 993
  • Population in 1996: 1022
  • Population in 1991: 948


Private dwellings, excluding seasonal cottages: 355 (total: 443)

Mother tongue:
  • English as first language: 78 %
  • French as first language: 16 %
  • English and French as first language: 1 %
  • Other as first language: 5 %

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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