The Founding of Kapuskasing

In 1911 the National Transcontinental Railway, then under construction, reached the present site of Kapuskasing. Three years later during the first World War the Canadian government established in the area a prisoner of war camp and an experimental farm to investigate the agricultural potential of the Clay Belt. The prisoners cleared land and worked on the farm. In 1917 the Ontario government launched near here an ambitious land settlement scheme for veterans. The detention camp and settlement project were discontinued in 1920. A pulp mill, built 1920-23, was the forerunner of larger mills producing newsprint, pulp and cellulose. Their proprietors spearheaded the development of Kapuskasing as one of Northern Ontario’s earliest planned industrial communities.

En 1911, le chemin de fer transcontinental national, alors en construction, atteignait le site actuel de Kapuskasing. Trois ans apres, durant le premiere guerre mondiale, le Gouvernement canadien etablit dans la region un camp de prisonniers de guerre at une ferme experimentale pour etudier le potentiel agricole de la Region glaiseuse. Les prisonniers defricherent les terres et travaillerent a la ferme. En 1917, le Gouvernement ontarien decida d’etablir pres d’ancients combattants, projet qui fut abandonne en 1920. Une usine de pulpe, construite en 1920-1923, fut le precurseur des plus grandes usines de papier journal, de pulpe et de cellulose. Leurs proprietairs initierent le developpement de Kapuskasing qui devint une des premieres communautes industrielles organisees du Nord ontarien.