Day 14 Sudbury

Sunday, August 26, 2012
Sudbury, Ontario, Canada
Somehow I thought Sudbury would be this chic little village by the lakes in Northern Ontario. Its not. Its a large gritty industrial town, a world renown center for nickel mining, and copper mining and smelting carried out by two of the world's largest mining companies, Vale and Xstrata. It boasts the world's tallest chimney (unmistakeable as you enter from the South) -- built to disperse the sulphur fumes from the copper smelting operation. Now you can smell the stuff in Sault St Marie (just kidding). By the 1970s the environmental impact from mining, smelting and logging was so bad that most of the trees in the area had either been cut down or had died from acid rain. The granite in the fields had changed color. Efforts to clean up and replant are making the place more livable. 

 While the regional economy has diversified recently, mining is so important they have a "Dynamic Earth" exhibit set up for children (and consenting adults) . This exhibit takes you seven storeys down, into the Earth, where you experience a simulated dynamite blast, as well as see a light show and get to see mining equipment up close. I did not go. I read about it in a book [the tourist brochure]. I am not sure the exhibit will have the intended effect on the younger generation. 

 I think Sudbury has the largest number of Harley Davidson's per capita in the country. They all gather Sunday night at the local Tim Horton's coffee shop -- quite a sight.

By the shores of Gitche Gumee,
By the shining Big-Sea-Water
Stood the wigwam of Nokomis,
Daughter of the Moon, Nokomis.
Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine trees,
Rose the firs with cones upon them;
Bright before it beat the water,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.

Bits of these verses were going round and round in my head as I drove south from Wawa in the rain, along the side of the lake . I stopped to visit a small beach, and then later to see a pictograph site in Lake Superior Provincial Park. The clearness of the water, the darkness of the forest, are all there. The rain made the colors more vivid. The pictograph site is particularly challenging after a rain, as one has to walk out on sloping rock between the cliff and the deep blue sea, in order to get a look at the paintings. Some viewers had fallen I was told -- even perished on stormy days. An offering to the Gods. A ranger is on hand to explain the hazards, and the nature of the Ojibwe art we came to witness. It seems to be three to four hundred years old. The site was special for them, and one of the figures is thought to be the Spirit of the Lake.  
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Comments

Harry
2012-08-27

Since you are/were in Sudbury, a nickel for your thoughts. Actually we got them. With all this, what are you going to do when you shut that machine off at home. You will probably hear the engine running for a week.

Beth
2012-08-27

Makes me think of Paddle to the Sea -- kids book about a toy canoe put into the river somewhere in the midwest and its journey to the sea. None of our children could stay awake past the first few parts of the journey. Paddle to the Sea never made it to his destination.

Gwynn
2012-08-27

Such clear water, and the pictograph site does look a bit dangerous, especially on wet rocks. We're all glad you didn't end up being a gift to the Gods.

David
2012-08-28

A beautiful group of photos Jim - so different from Alaska, but beautiful in its own way. Judging by your location, book group on Monday may be a stretch for you, I guess. It would have been strange reading Gaudy Night in western Ontario in any event - a lot of cultural distance between the miners and the Oxford dons!

2025-02-07

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