Ludgate (ghost town)

The Schroeder Mills and Timber Company of Milwaukee sought out contracts for lumber production in the Parry Sound area. They purchased rights to land from the townships of Wilson, Ferrie and Brown and contracted James Ludgate to clear out the lumber.

Ludgate set up a mill at Salines (later known as Drocourt). He would clear out the trees in the winter and pile them until spring when they could be floated down to the Georgian Bay.

When the Canadian Northern Railway arrived in 1908, a station was set up to allow lumber to be shipped out to local lumber camps. In 1916, Shroeder purchased 138 square miles of additional land in Mowat and Blair from the Victoria Harbour Lumber Company. To accomodate the additional lumber, the Lost Channel mill was built.

It was also at this time that Ludgate moved his operations to the railway station stop.

His new mill was situated where the CNR railway crossed the Key and Little Key
Rivers as well as the intersection of the CNR with the CPR line. The convergence of these two methods of transportation were ideal for Ludgate.

As the mill's workforce expanded so did the town. A blacksmith shop, cookery, store clerk's cabin, eight homes, foreman's cabin and Ludgate's home were built.

A post office was established within the store and operated from 1927 until 1954.

When the railway from Pakesley to Lost Channel ran into unforseen financial difficulties, Schroeder took over the railway and Lost Channel mill. James Ludgate was promoted to manager.

When the depression struck the lumber operations ceased, the excess lumber sold off and the railway ties lifted. Today all that remains are the office, one home and the bunkhouse. Permission is required to enter the site which is located on a dirt road just before the railway tracks. Follow highway 69 until you reach Highway 522 (before Byng Inlet if leaving Sudbury). It will be on the west side of the tracks. Pakesley can be found on the other side of the tracks. The road is rough and ends up at a bridge which is marked "use at own risk".