Tag Archives: amenities

Marathon

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Marathon is a town about 5 minutes south of Highway 17.  Originally named Peninsula (having to rename half the country, I guess the CPR was running out of names), Marathon was founded as a railroad town and once had a population of up to 40 000, almost all of which (according to Wikipedia) were men. The highway around Marathon isn’t particularly pretty.  Glimpses of Lake Superior ended around Terrace Bay. From here-on in, it is rocks and trees my friends.

Driving into Marathon you’ll see signs that warn you about forest fires, advise you of the town’s shopping amenities, and most importantly you’ll find out that Marathon is the home of Kris Wirtz, the male skater in the pair of Kristy Sargeant and Kris Wirtz which won a number of medals at the national level in pairs skating and competed at the Olympics and that I always get mixed up with Paul Martini.

Marathon billboard Kris Wirtz Ontario highway11.ca

When you’re famous in northern Ontario, you get a full fledged billboard outside of your hometown

Marathon is no disappointment in the awesome northern slogan race. “Built on Paper, Laced with Gold” is the latest phrase designed to capture the imagination, while “Marathon – Superior in the Long Run” is no slouch either.

Today Marathon is a town of about 3500 supported by a pulp and paper mill and two gold mines at Hemlo, thirty kilometers east on Highway 11.  Marathon is just north of Pukaskwa Park.  Marathon is one of the larger towns on the north shore of Lake Superior.  Marathon has a bit of a francophone community too.

Marathon is known for its pretty and geologically-unique pebble beach which is a nice spot for a picnic.  There is golf, fishing, swimming, camping and hunting nearby.  Lakeview Manor is a really nice bed and breakfast, while the local Travelodge looks pretty nice too.  It also serves at the gateway Pukaskwa National Park for most travelers.   As for other tourist things, you swim, picnic, fish, and hike.
With 3500 people Marathon has a fair amount of amenities, including a few motels, some restaurants, and a little mall with a Zellers.  There is gas both in town and just outside of town on Highway 17.  I saw the largest number of hitchhikers in Marathon – I counted a total of four in and around the rest-stops on the Highway.

Marathon - highway 17 highway 11 ontario

Highway 17 somewhere within 50 km of Marathon

There are diners and gas stations on Highway 17 just outside of town. If you really are short on time you can get food, drink, and gas on the main highway. (Marathon is not far off the highway.  For whatever reason, I remember driving maybe 15 minutes from the highway into town which has been disproven by submitted comments.  I must have been driving for too long, because Marathon is apparently only 4 km from the highway! So it’s not a huge hike or anything…so just, stop in.)

I didn’t take any photos so if you have any, or want to add to this page, please let me know by emailing me.  I’ve only been here once, when I turned into Marathon for some breakfast.  At the time, all I found open was a brand-new A&W which was apparently hosting a number of bikers who were grumbling about how far they had to come off the highway just to get some breakfast. (They must have been driving for too long too since it’s only a few kms from the highway.) My address is info (at) highway11 (dot) ca.

Terrace Bay

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Terrace Bay sunset, highway 17Terrace Bay is a town of 2000 on Highway 17 and the last major town until Marathon.  It is about two hours east of Thunder Bay.  Terrace Bay is named for a number of underwater terraces carved by glacial movement in Lake Superior.

Companies noticed that Terrace Bay was a good place for hydro and paper development, and in the 1940s Kenogami and Aguasabon Rivers were diverted to power a new town built in 1947.

Terrace Bay Highway 17 caribou slate islands

This guy will stare you down if you get too close to his home on the Slate Islands

Terrace Bay is a ‘model town’ like Kapuskasing that was supposed to be a model for future urban development.  Unfortunately for Terrace Bay, its status as a model for the rest of the country was short-lived as it never really grew out of its original plans as a company pulp and paper town.

Terrace Bay seems pretty neat although I did not stop in for a visit.

Slate Island is one of the most interesting features is nearby.  Just outside of Terrace Bay in Lake Superior, Slate Island is uninhabited by humans but habited by its own herd of caribou.  This isolated population comes under much study by naturalists and researchers.  You can visit Slate Island Provincial Park, replete with caribou, and a little lighthouse via an arranged boat tour.

Aguasabon Falls near Terrace Bay, Ontario highway 17 highway 11

Aguasabon Falls near Terrace Bay, Ontario

Aguasabon Falls is also just outside of town, you can visit the roaring waters and the gorge at the local provincial park.  There is a local beach, canoeing, swimming, and fishing in the area.  The town hosts an annual dragfest in August and a Fall Fair in September.  For golfers, there is the Aguasabon Golf Course and for hikers Terrace Bay is the end of the 47 kilometre Voyageur hiking trail that links it to Rossport and Schreiber.

Terrace Bay is sort of a low-to-medium size for a northern Ontario town.  There is the Red Dog inn, the Coach House and Imperial motels, a home hardware, a family food market, a mini Pizza Hut, a few shops, and some gas stations.  Roy’s serve pizza and subs while Wah’s serves Chinese, although I don’t know if it’s true Northern Ontario Chinese Food or not.

I don’t know if there is a mall or not – if not, you can hit Marathon about an hour and a bit to the east.  There is an A&W in town, I’ve read about the Northern Lites diner serving a good breakfast.  It is supposedly located next to the municipal bureau and the local Amethyst Monument.

Terrace Bay is essentially the last pretty coastal town on Highway 17.  After this the highway moves inland and the views subside.  Enjoy towns like Rossport, Schreiber, and Terrace Bay while you can.

Terrace Bay, Ontario lighthouse Highway 17 highway11.ca

Another lighthouse! A bit bigger than Barwick‘s. (Credit: User P199 at Wiki Commons.)

Slate Islands off Terrace Bay

Slate Islands off Terrace Bay

Schreiber

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Schreiber, Highway 17, Ontario, highway11.ca

Highway 17 as it runs between Schreiber, Ontario and the cliffs associated with this portion of Lake Superior. (Credit: User P199 at Wiki Commons)

Schreiber is a town of approximately 900 people on the most northerly point on Lake Superior, about 2 and a half hours east of Thunder Bay.

Schreiber is known for being a railroad stop, its having an above-average perecntage of its population from Italian origin, being the home of scrappy Olympic boxer Dominic Filane, and for being the home of northern Ontario’s answer to Dean Martin, the apparently larger-than-life Cosimo Filane and his family.

The town was originally founded as Isbister’s Landing in the 1880s. It served as a railway camp and supply depot where Great Lakes ships could unload cargo for the Canadian Pacific Railways.

In the 1940s, Schreiber was the site of one of four work camps where Japanese-Canadians were interred during WWII. The federal government, which forcibly relocated Japanese families during the war, forced young men out to the Schreiber area to build portions of the TransCanada Highway between Schreiber and Jackfish.

Schreiber, Ontario, highway11.ca

Schreiber, Ontario, in town off Highway 17. (Credit: User P199 at Wiki Commons.)

Interestingly, Schreiber is unique for its exceedingly high Italian population – I read online that at one point, more than half of the town’s residents traced their roots back to a single town in Calabria. One resident immigrated to Canada from southern Italy in 1905, and his letters of successful employment and good fortune with the railway attracted family members, friends, and fellow townsfolk from Siderno, Italy. Today, nearly all remaining citizens of Italian descent can trace their heritage back to that first guy. There’s a short documentary on the town and its Italian origins available on the web.

Schreiber is nestled between majestic Lake Superior and the rocky rises of the Canadian Shield. Even driving past on Highway 17, Schreiber’s surroundings are particularly scenic (in my opinion.)

Tourism opportunities include hiking, snowmobiling, trainspotting, and swimming at the local beach on Lake Superior. There’s a Junior A hockey team called the Schreiber Diesels. Schreiber also hosts some community festivals: Heritage Days in July, Superior Classiscs Drag Racing in August, and the Peel Off Carnival in February.

Schreiber ontairo beach lake superior

Lake Superior beach at Schreiber

In terms of services, Schreiber has a gas stations, a foodmart, four churches, a boxing gym, and a library, among the many other general services you would find in a small town. I’m not sure what kind of fast food is available, but there is a KFC Express in town. Diners include the Voyageur Restaurant, Villa Bianca, Rosie and Josie’s Restaurant, and Jimmy Shell’s Chip Stand. There are six motels in town, two of which are operated by the family of decorated Canadian boxer Domenic Filane.  Click here for an old pre-Olympic TV profile of Domenic Filane.  (Pronounced fill-ane?  Wow Italian last names sure lose their zip when they get anglicized.)

Up for some entertainment? Well, you’re in luck. You can do no worse than stopping in at Filane’s Entertainment Centre and Fallen Rock Motel to hear to sweet voice of local crooner Cosimo Filane. Cosimo is not only a musician but also an author (a book on minor hockey titled You Can’t Win Them All – Don Cherry says he found it “highly entertaining…I really enjoyed the book. Tells behind the scenes of coaching minor hockey. Blue enjoyed it too.” I had always pegged Blue as an avid reader…), and runs a family-based business that supplies baby needs and sportswear and gasoline and spring water and embroidery and hockey camps and food and dining and accommodations and entertainment and music and boxing lessons and a youtube channel.

It seems he has five albums of song from the great American song book. It’s almost as if his album titles aptly mirror stages in his career – from Small Town Boy they progress through This is It!; then Love Me the Way That I Am; then I’m Gonna Try it Again!; to Forget About It.

Five albums and a star in northern Ontario, Cosimo Filane rocks Schreiber and the north

I got this from Filane’s multi-faceted website and I had to post this here.  Why?  Well, I’m part Italian. And I love northern Ontario. So this makes my head want to explode in joy and pride and awesomeness. It just doesn’t get more northern Ontario Italian than this.  Honestly, I’m impressed.  Good for him.  (And because Cosimo in his younger days looks like my old boss, who still scared the **** out of me.)

Can’t make it to Schreiber? Then you need not worry, Cosimo is a 21st century songsmith with albums available online, care of the Filane’s link at the top of this page. Heck, take a listen to one of his tracks right now — click here for streaming audio.

In all seriousness, it’s pretty impressive that Schreiber’s Filanes have been so successful.  Just another cool story from a northern Ontario town.