Val Gagné is an unincorporated rural community in the township of

Black River-Matheson Black River-Matheson is a township in the Cochrane District of the Canadian province of Ontario. The municipality is astride the Black River, for which it is partly named. The Matheson railway station was serviced by the Northlander until 2012. ...

Cochrane District Cochrane District is a district and Census divisions of Canada, census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It was created in 1921 from parts of Timiskaming District, Timiskami ...

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 located east of Highway 11, between Matheson and

Iroquois Falls Iroquois Falls is a town in Northern Ontario, Canada, with a population of 4,537 at the 2016 census. The town centre lies 11 km east of Hwy 11 on the banks of the Abitibi River, west of Lake Abitibi. Timmins, one of the largest cities in ...

. For many years the community was accessible by train. The

Ontario Northland Railway The Ontario Northland Railway is a Canadian railway operated by the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, a provincial Crown agency of the government of Ontario. Originally built to develop the Lake Timiskaming and Lake Nipissing area ...

's ''

Northlander The ''Northlander'' was a passenger train operated by the Ontario Northland Railway in Ontario, Canada. The ''Northlander'' operated six days per week year-round in both directions and connected Cochrane with Toronto. The train typically con ...

'' from

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Cochrane Cochrane may refer to: Places Australia *Cochrane railway station, Sydney, a railway station on the closed Ropes Creek railway line Canada * Cochrane, Alberta * Cochrane Lake, Alberta * Cochrane District, Ontario ** Cochrane, Ontario, a town wit ...

, which passed through Val Gagné, made its final passenger run in 2012. An Ontario Northland bus now stops at Val Gagné. Previously called "Nushka", the settlement was completely destroyed in the Great Fire of 1916, which burned more than of forest. The town was rebuilt and renamed "Val Gagné", for Wilfrid "Little Father" Gagné, a Catholic priest who died trying to rescue his parishioners from the fire.

History

The

Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway The Ontario Northland Railway is a Canadian railway operated by the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission, a provincial Crown agency of the government of Ontario. Originally built to develop the Lake Timiskaming and Lake Nipissing are ...

constructed a line through the area between 1906 and 1909. Shortly after, a Catholic clergyman named Bourassa began settling families from the nearby province of

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 ...

, at two locations along line, Ramore and Nushka (now Val Gagné). Under the auspices of the church, the settlers established farms around Nushka. In 1911, the Church of the Immaculate Conception was founded in Nushka, along with a school. A post office, "Nushka Station", opened that same year. The early settlement had a creamery, a store, about 20 frame houses, and a temporary railway station made of a boxcar fitted with a platform. The influence of the church made Nushka "something of a spiritual centre...more of an extension of northern Quebec than of Ontario".

The Great Fire of 1916

On July 29, 1916—at around the same time a large forest fire was reaching Nushka—the settlement's priest, Wilfred Gagné, was arriving in Nushka by train following a clerical retreat. Gagné had been priest in Nushka for just a month, and lived above Nushka's store. As heavy smoke filled the air, the train's conductor advised Gagné not to leave the safety of the train. Gagné instead entered Nushka and led 35 people to the railway line. He then returned to the burning town to save 28 others. Within a few hours both groups had burned to death or been suffocated, the lone survivor a man who used moist clay to filter the smoke. Nushka was completely destroyed. Of the town's inhabitants, only eight were left after the fire. When Nushka rebuilt, it was renamed in Gagné's honour, and a monument dedicated to Gagné was erected in the Val Gagné Cemetery.

Later history

The Val Gagné post office closed in 1980. The Church of the Immaculate Conception continues to function in Val Gagné. Val Gagné has an outdoor skating rink, a ball park, a community hall, a senior's housing facility, a fire department, and a

Caisse Populaire A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including deposit accounts, provision ...

credit union. The township of Black River-Matheson operates a bi-monthly transportation service to take Val Gagné residents shopping in

Timmins Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 (2021). The city's economy is based on natural resource ext ...

Notable people

* Hélène Brodeur, educator, journalist and writer

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Val Gagné, Ontario Communities in Cochrane District