Hudson is an unincorporated place and community in the municipality of

Sioux Lookout Sioux Lookout is a town in Northwestern Ontario, Canada, with a population of 5,838 people (up 10.8% since 2016). Known locally as the "Hub of the North", it is serviced by the Sioux Lookout Airport, Highway 72, and the Sioux Lookout railway ...

, Kenora District in Northwestern

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It is located on Lost Lake on the English River in the

Nelson River The Nelson River is a river of north-central North America, in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. The river drains Lake Winnipeg and runs before it ends in Hudson Bay near Port Nelson, Manitoba, Port Nels ...

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

History

The National Transcontinental Railway was built through the area in the 1900s and the railway station at Hudson opened in 1910. It was originally called Rolling Portage (referring to freight that was

portage Portage or portaging ( CA: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a '' ...

d across Hudson from Lost Lake to Vermilion Lake) and the first post office was established there in 1919. In 1911 or 1912, the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

(HBC) opened a fur-trade outpost and store in Hudson, which became a full post in 1915. The store became part of the HBC Northern Stores Department in 1959, and was replaced by a new building in 1964. In 1987, HBC divested the Northern Stores Department to The North West Company. Before roads were built to Red Lake, Hudson was a transportation hub for transshipment, first between trains and boat traffic going north, and later for air cargo as well. By 1929/1930, Hudson had the second busiest cargo airport in North America (after

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

). Once the roads reached Red Lake by 1948, Hudson began to decline and forestry became the main economic activity.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), 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 culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Hudson had a population of 266 living in 114 of its 124 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 270. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Transportation

Hudson is on the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

transcontinental main line, between Webster to the west and

Pelican Pelicans (genus ''Pelecanus'') are a genus of large water birds that make up the family Pelecanidae. They are characterized by a long beak and a large throat pouch used for catching prey and draining water from the scooped-up contents before ...

to the east, and is passed but not served by

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada. As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...

transcontinental ''

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

'' trains. It is also the western terminus of Ontario Highway 664, which connects to

Ontario Highway 72 King's Highway 72, commonly referred to as Highway 72, is a Ontario Provincial Highway Network, provincially maintained highway in the northern half of the Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. The highway connects Ontario Highway 17, Highway&nbs ...

southwest of the town centre of Sioux Lookout.

Media

Radio

Hudson is the location of two

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

repeaters: CBLS-FM (

), a repeater of CBQT-FM,

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent o ...

Thunder Bay Thunder Bay is a city in and the seat of Thunder Bay District, Ontario, Canada. It is the most populous municipality in Northwestern Ontario and the second most populous (after Greater Sudbury) municipality in Northern Ontario. Its population i ...

, and CKDR-3, a repeater of CKDR-FM in Dryden.

References

External links

The History of Sioux Lookout & HudsonHudson - Explore Northwest Ontario
{{authority control Communities in Kenora District Designated places in Ontario Hudson's Bay Company trading posts