User:Ted kabuka/Mine Centre

Mine Centre is an unincorporated area in Unorganized Rainy River District, Ontario, Canada. This area has been the location of three different settlements since gold was first discovered in 1870. The original location of Mine Centre was the focal point of several mines within a five mile radius of the settlement. When the gold rush days ended, the community relocated to surround the Mine Centre Train Station as the Canadian Northern Railway was completed in 1902, supported by the flourishing forestry industry. In 1963 the King's Highway 11 was constructed, followed by the end passenger train service, the community's base moved to its current location along the highway as resort tourism began to develop. Today, Mine Centre is a compact rural area made up of the descendents of families who made their start in natural resource development as well as a thriving Mennonite colony.

=History= The retreat of the Wisconsin Glacial Episode marked the end of the Last Glacial Period with the Mine Centre Area submerged beneath Lake Agassiz. The depletion of the freshwater melt revealed this area of the Canadian Shield for colonization for the first time in recorded human history. The Aboriginal people were the first to colonize and the Mine Centre Area was the intersection of the Salteaux and Ojibwa Nations of the Anishinaabe people. They were the original settlers along the waterways that underline the area from Pigeon River through the Rainy River Drainage Basin. The first recorded European to reach the area was the French Canadian explorer and courier du bois Jacques de Noyon in 1688. At age 20, he and his trading party traveled through route now known as the Boundary Waters and wintered with local Assiniboine on the shores of Lac à la Pluie (Rainy Lake).

In 1728, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye received a map from a Cree man called Ochagach from Kaministikwia that provided the known canoe routes from Lake Superior to Lake Winnipeg. This map included routes north of Mine Centre through Turtle River and south through Seine River. Three years later, La Vérendrye eldest son Jean-Baptiste Gaultier de la Vérendrye traveled through the southern most area and established Fort St. Charles (Fort Frances) putting Mine Centre firmly within the claim of New France.

The unsurveyed boarder regions around Mine Centre was riddled with various claims by England, France, the United States of America, the Dominion of Canada, Ontario, and Manitoba.

US Boarder confirmed. Becomes part of Rupert's Land. Becomes part of Keewaitn. Ontario-Manitoba dispute.

Mine Centre
=Geography=

Weather Stations
=Governance=

School Board
=Government Services=

Postal Service
Since the Mine Centre Area does not have a seat of local government, it's geographic center has been considered the location of the Post Office. At Old Mine Centre, the Post Office was located on the shores of Shoal Lake. At Mine Center Station the Post Office was located at the General Store near the newly established train station. After train passenger service ended, the Post Office moved to Mine Centre along Highway 17 at Bliss' General Store, later Lightner's General Store, then K & K General Store.

The original Post Office opened February 1, 1895 in Weigand, now referred to as Old Mine Centre, named after its postmaster Thomas Weigand. He resigned the position as in September the same year and the post office was closed. It reopened at the same location called the Mine Centre Post Office under D.C. Taylor on July 1, 1897. In 1899, the Mine Centre office took on service for Seine River Village when its Post Office closed.

From 1902 - 1904 the Mine Centre Area had two post offices: one located at Old Mine Centre with Louis Hamel as the postmaster and one at Mine Centre Station with Walter M. Jones as the postmaster. In 1904, the (Old) Mine Centre Post Office closed and Hamel replaced Jones as postmaster at Mine Centre Station. In 1915, the Post Office name reverted from Mine Centre Station to Mine Centre once again.

From the earliest post office, customers received their mail through General Delivery directly from the postmaster. On July 30, 1988, Canada Post officially closed the Mine Centre Post Office and converted it to a retail outlet with postal boxes installed. After a financial scandal at the Vic & Ellie General Store location, the postal boxes and retail outlet were transferred to the Mine Centre Marine Resort and remained until the store's closure. Today, Canada Post delivers mail to 124 addresses using suburban service lock boxes at the now closed Mine Centre Marine Resort location.

Waste Disposal
=Infrastructure=

Media and Communications
=Education=

Private Religious Education
=Economy=

Retail and Hospitality
=Demographics=

Mennonite Colony
=External Links= Mine Centre Public School

=References=