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Algoma District

District in Ontario, Canada

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The name was created by an American ethnologist, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793–1864), who was appointed Indian agent to the Ojibwe in Sault Ste. Marie region in 1822. "Al" is derived from Algonquin, while "goma" is a variant of gomee, meaning lake or water.

Algoma District has shoreline along Lake Superior and Lake Huron. It has an international border crossing to the American state of Michigan, at Sault Ste. Marie. Historically, it was known for its lumber and mining industries.

The rugged scenery of the region has inspired works by Canadian artists, particularly the Group of Seven. They rented a boxcar from the Algoma Central Railway to travel on excursions through this region.

History

Surviving prehistoric remains in Algoma District are concentrated around waterways. These remains date as far back as the Archaic period. There are also sites from the later Woodland period, with evidence of extensive Late Woodland habitation. Ceramics at Late Woodland sites show predominantly southeastern links, having originated from the Huron–Petun complex (broadly Ontario Iroquoian) as well as from modern-day Michigan.

French explorers arrived in the area by the mid-17th century. As the French penetrated into North America, they established lines of forts and trading posts, often at river mouths to control trade, especially the lucrative fur trade. In Algoma, they established Fort Michipicoten, located at the mouth of the Michipicoten River where it empties into Lake Superior. The Michipicoten was one of the geographic features depicted by Samuel de Champlain on a 1632 map. This helped the French bridge the distance to Fort Kaministiquia at the head of Lake Superior, and protected the route up the Michipicoten to James Bay, providing a significant crossroads of water routes.

Administrative history

Algoma was created by proclamation as a provisional judicial district of the Province of Canada, effective October 1859, This was authorized under an act passed by the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada in 1857. The limits of the district were more specifically described thus:

Commencing on the north shore of the Georgian Bay, of Lake Huron, at the most westerly mouth of French River;

thence due north to the northerly limit of the Province;

thence along the said northerly limit of the Province, westerly to the westerly limit thereof;

thence along the said westerly limit of the Province, southerly to the southerly limit thereof;

thence along the said southerly limit of the Province to a point in Lake Huron, opposite to the southerly extremity of the Great Manitoulin Island;

thence easterly and north-easterly so as to include all the islands in Lake Huron not within the settled limits of any County or District to the place of beginning.

The district seat is Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. However, it is noted that Thessalon is where the Algoma District Services Administration Board is located.

As the population grew and the northern and northwestern boundaries of Ontario were determined by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Algoma shrank. Other districts were created from it by the provincial government of Ontario:

  • Thunder Bay District in 1871
  • Manitoulin District in 1888
  • Sudbury District in 1894
  • Timiskaming District in 1912

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