Secondary Highway 651, commonly referred to as Highway 651, is a
provincially maintained highway in the
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
province of
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 C ...
. The highway is in length, connecting
Highway 101 east of
Wawa with the remote community of
Missanabie
Missanabie is a community in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in the Algoma District at the northern terminus of Highway 651, inside the boundaries of the Chapleau Crown Game Preserve.
A designated place served by a local services board ...
.
Highway 651 was established on the
Centennial anniversary of
Confederation
A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a union of sovereign groups or states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...
, but did not connect to any other roads originally; access to the route was provided from Missanabie. It was extended south to connect with Highway 101 in 1969.
Route description
Highway 651 is a route which connects the community of Missanabie with Highway 101, also providing access to the western side of the
Chapleau Crown Game Preserve
The Chapleau Crown Game Preserve is a fur bearing animal preserve area in Ontario, Canada, north-east of Lake Superior. It covers some in the Algoma and Sudbury Districts, and is officially classified as a Crown Game Preserve by the Government ...
. The southern terminus of the route is a junction with Highway 101, midway between
Wawa and
Chapleau. From there it proceeds north through an isolated region of
northern Ontario
Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Pro ...
, passing through the thick forests of the
Canadian Shield. At the midpoint of the route, a short road branches off to the east, connecting with
Dalton
Dalton may refer to:
Science
* Dalton (crater), a lunar crater
* Dalton (program), chemistry software
* Dalton (unit) (Da), the atomic mass unit
* John Dalton, chemist, physicist and meteorologist
Entertainment
* Dalton (Buffyverse), minor ch ...
, a
siding on the
Canadian Pacific Railway's transcontinental line. North of Dalton, the railway — which acts as the southwestern boundary of the preserve — and highway travel parallel to one another. The route ends immediately east of Missinabie.
History
Highway 651 was assumed by the
Department of Highways (DHO) on the day of Canada's Centennial, July 1, 1967. At that point in time, Highway 101 had not yet been completed between
Wawa and
Chapleau, and so the route was connected to the rest of the province solely by rail. The isolated highway provided access between the community of Missanabie and the flag stop at Dalton, to the south. It was approximately half of the current length of the route.
Highway 651 was assumed by the DHO on the same day as the section of Highway 101 between Wawa and Chapleau opened, though it did not connect to it at first. A southward extension of Highway 651 to intersect it opened to traffic on April 30, 1969.
The route has remained unchanged since that time.
Major intersections
References
{{Ontario Secondary Highways
651
Year 651 (DCLI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 651 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the ...
Roads in Algoma District