Winisk 90 is a First Nation

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 v ...

and

ghost town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

in the

Kenora District Kenora District is a district and census division in Northwestern Ontario, Canada. The district seat is the City of Kenora. It is geographically the largest division in Ontario: at , it covers 38 percent of the province's area, making it larger ...

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on p ...

, situated along the Winisk River. It was destroyed in the 1986 Winisk Flood. After the flood, the residents of the Weenusk First Nation were forced to re-locate to

Peawanuck Peawanuck is an isolated Cree community in the Kenora District, Ontario, Canada. It is located near the confluence of the Winisk and Shamattawa rivers, about 35 km from the Winisk River's end in Hudson Bay. Its population is 237. Its pop ...

, 30 km inland. Winisk was home to Royal Canadian Air Force Station Winisk, a

Mid-Canada Line The Mid-Canada Line (MCL), also known as the McGill Fence, was a line of radar stations running east–west across the middle of Canada, used to provide early warning of a Soviet bomber attack on North America. It was built to supplement the ...

radar control station from 1958 to 1965.

Winisk Airport

The town was served by Winisk Airport (YWN) via a 6,000 feet plus

gravel Gravel () is a loose aggregation of rock fragments. Gravel occurs naturally on Earth as a result of sedimentation, sedimentary and erosion, erosive geological processes; it is also produced in large quantities commercially as crushed stone. Gr ...

runway which can still be seen in aerial photos on the east bank of Winisk River across from the abandoned townsite. It was built by the RCAF to serve RCAF Station Winisk in 1957-1958. Transair was initially contracted to provide transportation during the construction of the

Distant Early Warning Line The Distant Early Warning Line, also known as the DEW Line or Early Warning Line, was a system of radar stations in the northern Arctic region of Canada, with additional stations along the north coast and Aleutian Islands of Alaska (see List o ...

and in 1964 it began was operating scheduled weekly roundtrip passenger flights with

Douglas DC-4 The Douglas DC-4 is an American four-engined (piston), propeller-driven airliner developed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. Military versions of the plane, the C-54 and R5D, served during World War II, in the Berlin Airlift and into the 1960 ...

propliners on a

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

- Winisk -

Churchill, Manitoba Churchill is a subarctic port town in northern Manitoba, Canada, on the west shore of Hudson Bay, roughly from the Manitoba–Nunavut border. It is most famous for the many polar bears that move toward the shore from inland in the autumn, leadi ...

routing.Services - Fares
/ref> The RCAF left in 1965 but the airport remained until the town relocated in 1986 and replaced by Peawanuck Airport. Austin Airways connected Winisk with other northern communities until the airport closed in 1986.

Airlines / Destinations

References

*
Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada profile
Ghost towns in Northern Ontario Communities in Kenora District Swampy Cree Defunct airports in Ontario {{Canada-ghost-town-stub