Nobel is a village on the shores of
Parry Sound
Parry Sound is a sound or bay of Georgian Bay on Lake Huron, in Ontario, Canada. It is highly irregularly shaped with many deep bays and islands. Killbear Provincial Park is located on the large peninsula that separates the sound from Georgian B ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, Canada. It is in the
Municipality of McDougall in the
District of Parry Sound
Parry Sound District is a census division of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its boundaries are District of Muskoka to the south, the Sudbury District to the north-northwest, the French River and Lake Nipissing in the north, Nipissing Distric ...
. The community is named after
Alfred Nobel
Alfred Bernhard Nobel ( , ; 21 October 1833 – 10 December 1896) was a Swedes, Swedish chemist, engineer, inventor, businessman, and Philanthropy, philanthropist. He is best known for having bequeathed his fortune to establish the Nobel ...
, the inventor of
dynamite
Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...
.
This village is the administrative office of the
Shawanaga First Nation
Shawanaga First Nation is an Anishinaabe First Nations in Canada, First Nation band government in central Ontario near Nobel, Ontario, Nobel. Its reserves include:
* Naiscoutaing 17A
* Shawanaga 17
* Shawanaga 17B
Shawanaga First Nation is locate ...
reserve
Reserve or reserves may refer to:
Places
* Reserve, Kansas, a US city
* Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish
* Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County
* Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...
.
History
During the First World War, Nobel was the home of two explosives factories: The British Cordite Limited and
Canadian Explosives Ltd. Both sites closed in 1922. Explosives and munitions were also produced at Nobel in
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Nobel is of historical interest to Canadians because it was home of the
Orenda Engines
Orenda Engines was a Canadian aircraft engine manufacturer and parts supplier. As part of the earlier Avro Canada conglomerate, which became Hawker Siddeley Canada, they produced a number of military jet engines from the 1950s through the 1970s ...
testing facility, where the
Orenda Iroquois
The Orenda PS.13 Iroquois was an advanced turbojet engine designed for military use. It was developed by the Canadian aircraft engine manufacturer Orenda Engines, a part of the Avro Canada group. Intended for the CF-105 Arrow interceptor, dev ...
turbojet
The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...
engine was being developed. This engine was slated to power the ill-fated
Avro Arrow
The Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow was a delta-winged interceptor aircraft designed and built by Avro Canada. The CF-105 held the promise of Mach 2 speeds at altitudes exceeding and was intended to serve as the Royal Canadian Air Force's (RCAF) p ...
until the project was cancelled by the
Diefenbaker
John George Diefenbaker ( ; September 18, 1895 – August 16, 1979) was the 13th prime minister of Canada, serving from 1957 to 1963. He was the only Progressive Conservative party leader between 1930 and 1979 to lead the party to an electio ...
government.
The British Cordite Ltd, Nobel, Ontario
The British Cordite Limited was built by the Explosives Department of the
Imperial Munitions Board
The Imperial Munitions Board (IMB) was the Canadian branch of the British Ministry of Munitions, set up in Canada under the chairmanship of Joseph Wesley Flavelle. It was formed by the British War Cabinet to alleviate the Shell Crisis of 1915 du ...
to produce
Cordite
Cordite is a family of smokeless propellants developed and produced in the United Kingdom since 1889 to replace black powder as a military propellant. Like modern gunpowder, cordite is classified as a low explosive because of its slow burni ...
. Construction started in late 1916 and production started in mid 1917. The site covered and had 155 buildings. By 30 November 1918 it had produced 21,450,000
lbs (9,738,300
kg) of Cordite.
[Carnegie, David (1925).]
Canadian Explosives Ltd
Canadian Explosives, jointly owned by
du Pont, in the USA, and
Nobel's Explosives, in
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
, were already producing Cordite, at
Beloeil, for the
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
, before World War I. The capacity of this plant was increased one-hundredfold to 350,000
lbs (159,000
kg) of Cordite per month. In addition, in February 1918, they started to build a Cordite plant at Nobel to produce 1,500,000
lbs (681,000
kg) per month. It was finished on 24 August 1918.
[
]
Highway 400 realignment
In 2010, a stretch of the new Highway 400 alignment opened up which now bypasses Nobel. Some businesses in the town were affected by the new highway due to a sharp decline in traffic and customers, and had to close down. The former route of Highway 69 through the town was renamed as Nobel Road and reduced in width from four to two lanes, with the decommissioned lanes converted into a recreational trail
A trail, also known as a path or track, is an unpaved lane or small road usually passing through a natural area. In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a path or footpath is the preferred term for a pedestrian or hiking trail. Th ...
.Highway 69 construction could prove fatal to roadside businesses
''Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...
'', December 3, 2010
A new access road for nearby access to Exit 236 of Highway 400 was built, and named Avro Arrow Road.
References
Notes
Sources
* Carnegie, David (1925). ''The History of Munitions Supply in Canada 1914 - 1918''. London, New York, Ontario: Longmans, Green and Co.
* lank, H. H. and Williams, E. L. (1982). ''The Du Pont Canada History''. Du Pont Canada.
* Reader, W.J. (1970). ''Imperial Chemical Industries: A History''. Volume 1: ''The Forerunners 1870-1926''. London, New York, Toronto:
Oxford University Press
Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...
. .
External links
Ontario Abandoned Places - Nobel
{{authority control
Cordite
Communities in Parry Sound District
Military history of Canada