Zoom

By: Frederick Brent Scollie

Thunder Bay, a midwestern city 700 km from Winnipeg and Sault Ste Marie, its nearest urban neighbours in Minnesota, Duluth 305 km and Minneapolis-St Paul 550 km, has been plagued by shifting geographical names, to the point that it has suffered from weak name recognition across the country. Fort William, Prince Arthur’s Landing, Port Arthur, Neebing, Shuniah, the Lakehead, and Thunder Bay have all been used since 1850 to describe the same urban area.
This volume includes biographical sketches of 849 individuals, Americans as well as Canadians, non-residents as well as residents, who played a role in the history of the north shore of Lake Superior, the world’s largest freshwater lake by surface, with a focus on how the north shore’s largest community, Thunder Bay, Ontario, developed in the late nineteenth century into an economic centre for exploiting natural resources, an administrative centre for delivering government services to the District of Thunder Bay and Northwestern Ontario, and a transshipment port for goods and people passing to and from eastern and western Canada.
The historical introduction consolidates what has been previously written about the region, covering such topics as the indigenous population, surveying, mining, lumbering, railways, shipping, harbour development, the grain trade, agricultural development, urban growth, the orgin and ethnicity of the settler population, education, sport and recreation, law and crime. It tackles the question of why two towns, Port Arthur and Fort William, emerged from the Municipalities of Shuniah and Neebing, and documents the rise and fall of communities like Savanne, Jackfish and Rossport.
This book will be of interest to those who wish to know more about the Lake Superior Region, the indigenous and settler population of its north shore, and the types of people attracted to the region between 1850-1901, people such as J.B. Penassie, chief of the Fort William First Nation, defender of its rights and territory, Walpole Roland, Imperial adventurer and Canada’s Flashman, Hannah Everington, miner’s widow and the first woman to vote in 1884, and Eva Powley, the second woman to qualify as a lawyer in Ontario.

(376 pages, paperback)

Zoom

by William P. Skrepichuk

Zoom

by Monica Belluz
Find out what goes on behind the walls of the Thunder Bay Museum from a long-time employee. From happenings in the dark to personal offers and museum creatures, Ms. Belluz shares stories never before told. Learn what people do when they don't know they are being watched on sercurity cameras. See what frightens children in the galleries.

Monica Belluz has been an employee of the Thunder Bay Museum since 1993. The favourite part of her job is interacting with the public on a daily basis. She is also an artist. Examples of her work are printed in the pages of this book.

9" x 6", 48p. with images
ISBN 978-0-920119-64-8
Softcover

Zoom

by Thorold J. Tronrud and David Nicholson
Everybody loves a quiz. For years now, on Canada Day, the Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society has been running a history quiz in the pages of the Chronicle-Journal newspaper. Many of the questions in this book got their start there. But this book has much more. Almost every question is illustrated with photographs or drawings and it also  contains crosswords and other puzzles. Learn history, and have fun doing it.

9" x 7", 60 p. and 86 images
Softcover
ISBN 0-920-119-50-6

Zoom

Order your membership online!

Zoom

Videos of five stories that changed Thunder Bay. (DVD only. Approx. 50 minutes)

Zoom

Wild on the Superior Frontier: A Romance of Settlers' Lives. Lake Superior 1845-1900

by James R. Stevens

With the opening of the Michigan State Canal in 1855, thousands of westernized people migrated into the grand Lake Superior watershed. They came from the eastern states, Upper and Lower Canada, and Europe, all of them seeking new lives and opportunities in mid-continent. They brought their love stories, their religious faiths, their personal skills and industriousness, their fables, and their hopes for rewarding lives. Their endeavours were many whether they were prospectors, lumbermen, coastal sailors, madams involved in the sex trade, women looking for equality, or newspaper editors promoting their towns. This is a book for those who desire a large picture of the past in Superior Country. It contains stories with humour, deceit, awry cases of justice, rough voyages on the Big Lake, amazing finds of mineral wealth, and loving and strained relationships between men and women on the nineteenth-century frontier.

(240 pages)

Zoom

by Jim Lyzun
For down-to-earth, consitent contributions to Canada's aviation heritage, few cities can match Thunder Bay. Yet very little of that history is known. This book will change all that by showing how much we owe to the city's aviation pioneers, pilots, mechanics, engineers, politicians and businessmen who contributed so significantly to the development of aviation in Canada.

Throughout his life Jim Lyzun had a passion for airplanes. He worked as an aeronautical engineer for DeHaviland Aircraft in Toronto before becoming a teacher in Thunder Bay.  Though aviation was only a hobby thereafter, Jim devoted years researching and writing  about Thunder Bay's place in aviation history. He completed this manuscript in the late 1990s but died before it could be published. Updated and organized by Dr. David Kemp of Lakehead University, the book is now available for the first time.

10.75" x 8.5", 88 p. and 201 b&w and colour images
Softcover
ISBN 0-920-119-52-2

Zoom

Greed and Corruption in Northwestern Ontario's Timber Industry, 1875-1960 (eBook version)
by J.P. Bertrand

NOW AVAILABLE AS AN EBOOK (When ordering please specify format - EPUB, MOBI or PDF - and include email address for upload.

The fascinating story of the pioneer loggers, pulpwood operators, timber speculators and mill promoters, many of whom the author knew first hand. Their devices to obtain exportable pulpwood, without having to pay Crown dues, their trespassing on Crown Reserves, and their intrigues behind the scenes to gain favour with political leaders come to life in the pages of this book. Timber Wolves is an indispensable and highly entertaining study of Northwestern Ontario's timber industry.

J.P. Bertrand came to Northwestern Ontario in 1900 and quickly built a successful career in the timber industry. This book was written in 1961, three years before his death, but has  never been published until now. Bertrand is also author of the best-selling history of the region, Highway of Destiny.

ISBN 978-0-920119-72-3

Zoom

Edited by Rob Neff:

A collection of 64 short articles taken from the Society’s extensive collection of newspaper contributions since 1976, written by 26 different authors and edited by a long-time contributor to the column. 

Zoom

by Dr. Michel S. Beaulieu
An exploration of early film-making at the Lakehead prior to 1932.  Filled with many images from the films themselves.  This book is a wonderful addition to any film enthusiast's library or coffee table.