Pagwa, ON

2002 - The History of Pagwa - Richard Cameron

The road to Pagwa is built on history.

Pagwa takes its name from the Pagwachuan River, which translates from the Cree as Shallow Running River. It was a popular river of transport for Canada's fur trade in Northeastern Ontario because it, and the Kenogami River into which it flows (and thence the Albany River), provides rapids-free access to James Bay and Hudson Bay.

In 1912, a bridge was built across the Pagwa (as it came to be called) River by the National Transcontinental Railway, then under construction between Moncton, New Brunswick, and Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Pagwachuan River was 1,233.6 miles from Moncton. The railway selected a site 2.3 miles west of the river for Pagwa station. The station site consisted of a large, two-storey station, a section house and a tool shed.

Stations on the National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) were located seven to 10 miles apart. All track maintenance in the early days of the 1900s was done by hand by section crews and short sections were the norm. Every fourth or fifth section also had a water tank for steam locomotive service. The nearest water tank to Pagwa was at Savoff, to the east. The NTR was Canada's third transcontinental railway. It developed out of political controversy and ultimately helped bring about the defeat of the Laurier Liberal government in 1911. The Borden Conservative government replaced the Liberals. The Conservatives opposed building of this railway, but allowed work to proceed to completion. The government did scrap the four-man commission that guided construction of the NTR and replaced it with a one-man commission, RW Leonard. It is significant that the year in which he became the commission, 1912, is also the date that is inscribed in concrete abutments of the Pagwa River bridge.

Canadian Pacific, and later Canadian Northern, were the two transcontinental railways preceding the NTR. But only the NTR ran through Northern Quebec and Northern Ontario, and it was considered a development road. Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was general contractor for the NTR, with funding provided by the federal government. The NTR was to run from Moncton to Winnipeg. The Grand Trunk was to build the remainder of the railway from Winnipeg to the Pacific Ocean. It is significant that it cost $166 million to build the NTR from Moncton to Winnipeg, and only $144 million to build the railway from Winnipeg to Prince Rupert, the Pacific terminus, which included crossing the Rockies. Muskeg in Quebec and Ontario was a bigger challenge than granite.

Construction of the NTR started in 1906 and ended in 1913. But the Grand Trunk Pacific refused to take over the NTR section, scared off no doubt by the high cost of construction. It had to repay the federal government at the rate of three per cent per year of the total construction cost. The NTR languished as a contractor's railway until 1915 when Canadian Government Railways assumed operational control. Scheduled trains began to operate in that year. By 1923, Canadian National Railway Company was formed and it inherited the NTR, the Grand Trunk Pacific and Canadian Northern as well as other small roads.

Pagwa River came into its own in 1915. In that year, Revillon Freres, an upstart fur trading company that was challenging the dominance of the Hudson's Bay Company, decided to use the Pagwa River crossing as a starting point for its barge traffic to James Bay. The first 15-car train carrying trade goods arrived at Pagwa River in that year. The birth of the village of Pagwa River began. Each year until 1932 Revillon trade goods transshipped to barges at Pagwa River. After that tear, goods were sent to Moosonee over the newly completed expansion of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway from Cochrane. But a trading post was maintained at Pagwa River, and in 1936, the Hudson's Bay Company acquired Revillon and its facilities. The post remained until the 1960s. Revillon, the fur trader and department store chain, went on to become Revlon, the cosmetics firm.

Except for the fur trade, and developing forestry activity in the area, Pagwa River has had only one other significant event in its history, and that was the erection of a Pinetree Line radar station in the early 1950s. The radar station was located west of the river, near Pagwa Station. At one point, Pagwa referred to three stations...the original, the river crossing, and the radar station.

Pagwa seems like a strange location for a radar station when elevations are considered. Armstrong, the station west of Pagwa, was at 1,121 feet elevation. Lowther, to the east, was at 823 feet. Pagwa was at 617 feet, meaning it was actually in a basin, compared to the other two sites. But in the 1950s, with the radar technology then at hand, sites had to be within 200 or so miles of each other so coverage would overlap. Armstrong was 177 miles west of Pagwa, Lowther was 109 miles east. There are other higher sites east and west of Pagwa, but Pagwa provided the best choice of ground. Both Wilgar to the west, at 681 feet, and Teltaka to the east, at 625 feet, were higher locations, but in muskeg country.

The Pinetree Line eventually gave way to improved surveillance methods, and it is not hard to understand why Pagwa was one of the first stations to be retired (in 1966). Armstrong (to the west) continued until 1974, and Lowther (to the east) remained operational until 1987.

Pagwa River remains easy to access. A forestry road that was built in the late 1940s from Highway 11 where it crosses the Pagwachuan River to Pagwa River village was closed when rotting bridges were removed in the 1980s. The CNR railway line was lifted between Nakina and Calstock in 1987 and the roadbed became the access route to Pagwa River. Much of the roadbed has been widened into a forest access road, and driving is easy. Only the last five miles or so is over the old roadbed. But it is a summer route only, and Pagwa River is a cottage community.

The old roadbed is reached via the Pitopiko forest road, which leaves Highway 11 west of Hearst. Just about four miles north of Highway 11, it takes a left turn to get onto the roadbed. In about 31 miles, Pagwa River village is reached. Development of the roadbed into a forestry road means much of the railway history has been obliterated. The sections of Nagagami, Fraser, Savoff and Teltaka are gone, although bits and pieces remain. The rear foundation wall of Fraser station is visible in a clay bank just east of the Otasawian River bridge. Footings for a water tank are still visible at Savoff. A few pieces of concrete mark Teltaka Station.

At Pagwa River, the old railway bridge is undecked, but it is safe to cross in a vehicle. It is used regularly by outdoorsmen. Two miles west of the bridge is the radar station, which still retains remains of structures, including concrete foundations for the radar towers, but time is ticking away and vestiges of the radar station are disappearing.