White River, Ontario

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

White River (population 1000), is a township located in Ontario, Canada, on the intersection of Highway 17 and Highway 631. It was originally set up as a rail town on the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1885. In 1961, it was finally made accessible by car via Highway 17 of the Trans-Canada Highway.

The forest industry is the largest employer, exploiting native timber such as white spruce, black spruce, balsam fir, jack pine, white birch, aspen, and balsam poplar.

The township is perhaps best known for being the home of Winnie the Pooh. In August 1914, a trapped Black Bear cub named Winnie was sold to Captain Harry Colebourn in White River, who named it after his hometown, Winnipeg. Over the years, the animal became the basis for the popular literary character.

[edit] Trivia

White River advertises itself as "The Coldest Spot in Ontario." Its official weather station (closed in 1976) was located in a frost hollow and recorded temperatures as low as -70^oF (-57^oC). However, most residential areas have good air drainage and do not see temperatures much below -40^o. Gardeners can keep their flowers alive into October and grow non-boreal species such as silver maple.