10/08/2025
THIS WEEK IN ATIKOKAN HISTORY
Compiled from the Progress archives by Christine Jefferson-Durand
October 13, 1955 • The mine rescue team from Steep Rock Iron Mines came in second place in the provincial championships. Thirty-two teams were involved in the finals.
• Valley Mastrangelo and Kenneth Treadway travelled from Atikokan to the Red Lake area to go moose hunting and shot a 900-pound moose within hours of reaching the hunting area.
October 14, 1965 • Construction of a hydro line to the Ontario department of highways garage on Highway 11 west of Atikokan should be completed in November. The line extension is 3.67 miles and cost about $5,000 per mile.
• Shop-Easy Food Fair has three pounds of cooking onions for 25¢, 25 pounds of Robin Hood flour for $1.99, and stew beef for 65¢/lb. The Bay has muskrat jackets for $238 and men’s topcoats for $29.95.
October 9, 1975 • Atikokan’s new drop-in centre for senior citizens is expected to be open for use early in November. The building will have a kitchen, tv room, meeting room as well as washrooms and a small storage area.
October 9, 1985 • Officers for 600 Squadron, Atikokan’s new air cadet squadron, include Gary Human, Bob Nault, Sam O’Flaherty, Cecile Lackie, and Carol Stanley. Sponsoring groups include the Royal Canadian Legion, Knights of Columbus, Atikokan Kiwanis and Atikokan Lions. So far, fifty-one young people have signed up.
• The public school system has 773 students registered.
• Steve Toole is the new MNR district manager. He is replacing Andy Harjula.
October 10, 1995 • Changes in its funding and core mandate means Reading Plus can no longer directly help school children. Last year almost forty young people were helped.
• David Norrish, the production superintendent at the Thunder Bay Generating Station, has been appointed manager of Ontario Hydro’s Atikokan Generating Station.
• Sarah Linsay is about to become a missionary with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She will spend three weeks in Utah for training before heading to New York, Vermont, and Pennsylvania.
October 11, 2005 • Around 250 people came out to the Atikokan Generating Station to celebrate twenty years of power production. There were guided tours that took you through the fifteen floors of the station.
• Graig Boileau will celebrate his 80th birthday in November with a dinner and dance.
October 13, 2015 • The province will invest $1,000,000 to Atikokan’s redevelopment of the pool and arena into a multi-purpose recreation and wellness complex.
• CN plans to build a gated, private access point south of Clark Street to handle Resolute Forest Products shipments. Currently shipments are getting to the loading zone via a temporary extension to Highland Park Road.
• The Atikokan Employment Centre has been chosen to help roll out Ontario’s new Youth Job Connection program. It will provide training, support, and on-the-job subsidies.
