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History of Sudbury


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The Sudbury region was sparsely inhabited by the Ojibwe people of the Algonquin group as early as 9000 years ago following the retreat of the continental ice sheet. In 1856 the provincial land surveyor Albert Salter had located magnetic anomalies in the area that were strongly suggestive of mineral deposits, but his discovery aroused little attention because the area was remote. During construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1883, blasting and excavation revealed high concentrations of nickel-copper ore at Murray Mine on the edge of the Sudbury Basin, bearing out Salter's earlier readings. This brought the first waves of European settlers, who arrived not only to reap the benefits of the mineral rich mines, but also to build a service station for railway workers. The parish was originally named Sainte-Anne-des-Pins ("St. Anne of the Pines") after a Jesuits mission concurrently established in the area. The Sainte-Anne-des-Pins church played a prominent role in the development of Franco-Ontarian culture in the region.

The community was named for Sudbury, Suffolk, in England, which was the hometown of Canadian Pacific Railway commissioner James Worthington's wife. Sudbury was incorporated as a town in 1893, and its first mayor was Stephen Fournier.

Thomas Edison visited the Sudbury area as a prospector in 1901, and is credited with the original discovery of the ore body at Falconbridge and rich deposits of nickel sulphide ore were discovered in the Sudbury Basin geological formation. The construction of the railway allowed exploitation of these mineral resources as well as large-scale lumber extraction.

Mining began to replace lumber as the primary industry as improvements to the area's transportation network, including trams, made it possible for workers to live in one community and work in another. Sudbury’s economy was dominated by the mining industry for much of the 20th century. Two major mining companies were created, Inco in 1902
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