Little Current, Ontario
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Little Current is a community in the Town of
Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands is a municipality with town status in Manitoulin District in Northeastern Ontario, Canada, approximately south of Espanola. Its main town is Little Current, located on the northeast side of Manitoulin I ...
, Ontario, Canada, in the northeast end of
Manitoulin Island Manitoulin Island ( ) is an island in Lake Huron, located within the borders of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, in the bioregion known as Laurentia (bioregion), Laurentia. With an area of , it is the Lake ...
. It is located at the namesake narrow channel that connects the North Channel to the west with the
Georgian Bay The Georgian Bay () is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To its northwest is t ...
to the east. Its name refers to the currents that flow through the narrow passage that separates Manitoulin from Goat Island.


History

In the early 19th century, the location was an
Anishinaabe The Anishinaabe (alternatively spelled Anishinabe, Anicinape, Nishnaabe, Neshnabé, Anishinaabeg, Anishinabek, Aanishnaabe) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples in the Great Lakes region of C ...
settlement called Wewebijiwang, or known as Petit Courant by the
Voyageurs Voyageurs (; ) were 18th- and 19th-century French and later French Canadians and others who transported furs by canoe at the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (New France, including the ...
. The site was regularly visited by traders from 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 ...
trading post at La Cloche. Its convenient location along the North Channel allowed the Indigenous to trade with passing steamboats and provide accommodation to travellers. In 1856, the Hudson's Bay Company tried to open a trading post there, even building a store, factor's house, and wharf, but its licence was withdrawn after residents complained about the threat the company would pose to their trade. In 1860, "Wyabegwong" had a population of 52, and was a "vibrant fishing and trading community". After the signing of the Manitoulin Treaty of 1862, the indigenous population was gradually relocated to reserves, such as Sucker Creek 23. In 1864, the population had risen to 79, consisting of a mix of natives and non-natives. That same year, its post office opened and the town site was surveyed, which were both given the name Shaftesbury at that time (but was never used except for some legal purposes). Throughout the 1860s, more non-native settlers arrived at Little Current, taking over the profitable steamboat trade from the indigenous. Reverend Jabez Sims noted at the time: "The settlement of the Island by the whites has operated very much against the interests of the Indians." By 1870, the community had several wharfs, general stores, hotels, and an Anglican mission. In 1874, a small sawmill was built, followed by two larger mills in the mid-1880s. In 1873, the Township of Howland, which included Little Current, was incorporated, with James Burnet as its first reeve. In 1890, Little Current separated from the township and was incorporated as a town, with Thomas Capman Sims as its first mayor. In 1892, a telegraph line was built to Little Current, and extended as a telephone system to most of Manitoulin. In 1902, the place was described as: In 1913, a
swing bridge A swing bridge (or swing span bridge) is a movable bridge that can be rotated horizontally around a vertical axis. It has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its center of gravit ...
for the Algoma Eastern Railway was built over the Little Current channel, and the town became the western terminus of the rail line that connected it with Sudbury. The bridge was converted to dual train and automobile traffic in 1946, passenger service on mixed-trains discontinued in 1963, and the tracks were removed in the mid 1980s. On January 1, 1998, the Town of Little Current was merged with the Township of Howland and unorganized small islands around Manitoulin to form the new Town of Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands.


Demographics

Private dwellings occupied by usual residents (2021): 565 (total dwellings: 728) Mother tongue (2021): * English as first language: 93.8% * French as first language: 2.5% * English and French as first language: 0.4% * Other as first language: 2.1%


Culture

Each year the town hosts " Haweater Weekend," a weeklong celebration which takes its name from the Haweaters, the name given to one who is born on Manitoulin Island. The main celebrations take place on the first weekend of August, and include a fireworks display, a video dance, street vendors, and a parade. The prominent American sportsman John W. Galbreath (1897-1988), owner of the Pittsburg Pirates
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
club as well as the Darby Dan Farm
Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...
horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...
operation, owned a summer retreat here and named one of his horses after the village. Little Current won the 1974 Preakness and
Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over the worldwide classic distance of . Colt (horseracing), Colt ...
and was voted that year's United States Champion 3-Yr-Old Colt.


Transportation

Except for the seasonal ferry service at South Baymouth, all traffic to and from the island goes through the community, since the only bridge to Manitoulin Island is at Little Current. The Little Current Swing Bridge was built in 1913 as a railroad bridge, and converted to a single lane for automobile traffic. It is designated as an Ontario Heritage Bridge.
Ontario Highway 6 King's Highway 6, commonly referred to as Highway 6, is a Ontario Provincial Highway Network, provincially maintained highway in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. It crosses a distance of between Port Dover ...
goes through Little Current.


Media

The '' Manitoulin Expositor'' is a Canadian weekly newspaper, published in Little Current since 1879.


Notable people

* Danny Cox, ice hockey player * John Gray, ice hockey player * Don McCulloch, ice hockey player * Ganton Scott, ice hockey player


References


External links


Official website of Town of Northeastern Manitoulin and the Islands
{{Manitoulin District Communities in Manitoulin Island Former towns in Ontario 1998 disestablishments in Ontario