Jackfish (ghost town) 2

My dad actually spent a number of years living here when he was growing up. My grandfather was a station master and telegraph operator in various towns that CP Rail ran through. Creighton Mines (Database location #9), Port Coldwell (Location #3291) to name a couple. Today, when I got in from my hike, I went over and asked him about life in Jackfish. He was telling me some of the things my Grandpa did in the town, one of them was delivering mail via dog sled. Mail used to come in on the trains, when unloaded he would bag the mail up, load it onto a dogsled then take it across Jackfish lake and to the mines that were nearby. Because he was the telegraph operator he sometimes was the only access to the world outside of the community, so, often times he was a news reporter, weather reporter, most importantly though, he was the source for scores in the hockey games. Many families couldn't afford televisions or radios and wouldn't be able to hear Foster Hewitt's voice saying "Hello Canada and hockey fans in the United States and Newfoundland". So it was up to him to pass along the scores in the NHL and the local leagues.

I believe it was in the summer of 2010 that a forest fire ripped through most of what remained in Jackfish. There are a few active camps (cottages for those of you south of the Soo/Sudbury area) that are still tended to. I'd be mindful of those places if you're out poking around.

I'll pry into him for some more stories and try to get them added to here. I recall him telling me stories about growing up in these towns when I was a kid and would complain about being bored.... I don't want to try and piece them all together, some of them are from growing up in Port Coldwell.