South Algonquin is a township municipality in Nipissing District, Ontario, Canada. Located south of Algonquin Provincial Park, it is the sole populated portion of the district that lies ''south'' of the traditional dividing line between Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario and is closer connected to Renfrew County as opposed to the core portions of Nipissing District. The township had a population of 1,096 in the Canada 2016 Census.

Communities and geographic townships

The communities of Aylen Lake, Cross Lake, Gunters, Madawaska, McKenzie Lake, Murchison, Opeongo, Wallace and Whitney are in South Algonquin. It also includes the geographic townships of Airy, Dickens, Lyell, Murchison, and Sabine, with the exception of a triangle, the northwest corner, of Airy Township that is part of Algonquin Provincial Park.

History

The area was settled primarily as the site for the sawmill of the St. Anthony Lumber Company, of Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is named for the firm's general manager, Edwin Canfield Whitney. By 1892 work had commenced on the Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway (later the

Canada Atlantic Railway The Canada Atlantic Railway (CAR) was a North American railway located in Ontario, southwestern Quebec and northern Vermont. It connected Georgian Bay on Lake Huron with the northern end of Lake Champlain via Ottawa. It was formed in 1897 through ...

), by Ottawa lumberman

John Rudolphus Booth John Rudolphus Booth (April 5, 1827 – December 8, 1925) was a Canadian lumber tycoon and railroad baron. He controlled logging rights for large tracts of forest land in central Ontario, and built the Canada Atlantic Railway (from Georgian ...

, whose sawmill at the Chaudière Falls,

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, was considered to be one of the largest in North America, second only to a mill in Minneapolis. At the end of 1892, Booth arranged a takeover of the adjacent Perley and Pattee mill from the estate of his former colleague William Goodhue Perley. Timber berths on the upper Madawaska River, in the townships of Airy and Nightingale, belonging to the Perley & Pattee Lumber Company, were sold in 1894, to the St. Anthony Lumber Company, of Minneapolis. As the OA&PS Railway was being constructed to access this area, Whitney persuaded the management of the St. Anthony firm to purchase the timber berths. About a year after the Whitney sawmill was built, Fowler and Hill sold the Minneapolis mill and associated timber limits to

Frederick Weyerhaeuser Frederick may refer to: People * Frederick (given name), the name Nobility Anhalt-Harzgerode *Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670) Austria * Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198 * Frederick ...

of Saint Paul, Minnesota. Whitney who had large timber holdings near Brainerd, Minnesota, sold them to Weyerhaeuser as well and made enough profit that he was able to purchase his partners' interests in the Whitney concern and continue its operation on his own. The Canadian National Railway Renfrew Subdivision was abandoned between Whitney and Renfrew in 1983.

Natural history

Opeongo River Provincial Park Opeongo River Provincial Park is a waterway park in Nipissing District in northeastern Ontario, Canada. It incorporates those portions of the Opeongo River from its exit from Algonquin Provincial Park to the river's mouth at the Madawaska River ...

and Upper Madawaska River Provincial Park are in South Algonquin.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, South Algonquin had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

References

External links