Pickerel Landing (ghost town)

Pickerel Landing Village is tied to the demise of the town of French River which was located on Georgian River. In 1910, a Mr. McDougal bought the French River Mill. The equipment was moved to Pine Lake and by 1912 the Pine Lake Lumber Company was ready to begin producing wood. The location of the mill was closer to the newly opened CPR railway.

Pickerel Landing didn't have their own post office, instead they had to travel to the Wanikewin Lodge by boat to pick up mail. The post office which was situated inside the store and hotel, opened in 1910. The post office was open only seasonally until 1911 when it served as a full time post office. On February 2, 1918 Pickerel Landing opened its very own post office and the town no longer had to travel by boat for mail. With this, the Wanikewin post office went back to seasonal operations. The post was operated by an E.G. William and brother H.E. William. They continued to run the post office until 1929 when it was relocated to Udy's store and again in 1954 to Trottier's store.

The mill burned in 1925, and the Trottier Lumber Company of Bigwood (another town along highway 69) purchased the Pine Lake lumber limits and operated a mill until 1950.

In 1923, the CPR built their own resort called the French River Bungalow Camp in the area, originally for executives. In 1928 it opened to the public as a fishing camp. The property enjoyed many famous visitors over the years. In 1938, on the last Royal visit before World War II, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth enjoyed dinner in the main dining room & stayed in his private rail car on the property. In honour of this visit, the stone work in the fireplace in the Riverview Dining Room was arranged in the shape of his crown. You can still see this clearly today. In 1945, the property was sold to Clarence Honey who operated it successfully until 1965. During the ‘50's, the camp became somewhat of a dry out centre for Hollywood. Some of the illustrious guests that stayed on the property were Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable.

By 1961 the town population stood at 116 permanant residents. For whatever reasons, the town

The area had numerous stores, homes and a church close to the landing. A half mile south, stood the school, another boarding house and several more dwellings. Most of the buildings were removed when the mill closed. The townsite is being used as a trailer park and a lodge has taken over the boarding house. The railway station foundations can be found to the right of the railway crossing.

Location: Turn right onto Pickerel Landing Road (highway 69) as you head North to Sudbury. Watch for the turn off just after Grundy Provincial Park. Continue through the Henvey Inlet First Nations village and cross the railway tracks.

• In the middle of the 1900's other ghost towns listed on this site also had a Department of Lands and Forests' fire tower lookout located on a nearby hill. These include: Pakesley, Key Junction, Key Harbour, Dufferin Bridge, Bummer's Roost, Pickerel Landing, Lost Channel, Byng Inlet, Moon River, Cheddar, Germania, Ormsby, Uphill, Biscostasing, Renabie Mine, Milnet, Armstrong, Metagama, Cheminis, Wavell and Pineal Lake .