Sarnia

Sarnia is a city in Southwestern Ontario with a population of around 98,000 (2021). It is at the south end of Lake Huron. It includes Point Edward, a village in the northwest corner of the city. It is adjacent the Canada-United States border follows the St. Clair River. On the opposite side of the river is Port Huron.

Understand
In a natural harbour, the Sarnia port remains an important centre for lake freighters and oceangoing ships carrying cargoes of grain and petroleum products. The natural port and the salt caverns that exist in the surrounding areas, together with the oil discovered in nearby Oil Springs in 1858 led to the massive growth of the petroleum industry in this area. Because Oil Springs was the first place in Canada and North America to drill commercially for oil, the knowledge that was acquired there led to oil drillers from Sarnia travelling the world teaching other nations how to drill for oil.

The complex of refining and chemical companies south of downtown Sarnia is called Chemical Valley and located. While in 2011 the city had the highest level of particulates air pollution of any Canadian city, it has since dropped down to 30th. About 60 percent of the particulate matter, however, comes from the neighbouring United States.

Culturally, Sarnia is a large part of the artistic presence in Southern Ontario. The city's International Symphony Orchestra is renowned in the area and won the Outstanding Community Orchestra Award given by the Detroit Music Awards in 2011.

The name "Sarnia" is Latin for Guernsey, which is a British Channel Island. In 1829 Sir John Colborne, a former governor of Guernsey, was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. In 1835, to resolve a dispute between the English settlers and the Scottish settlers, Colborne suggested "Port Sarnia".

History
First Nations (Indigenous) peoples have lived, hunted, and travelled across the area for at least 10,000 years, as shown by archaeological evidence on Walpole Island. About AD 796, these peoples emerged from an amalgamation of Ojibwa, Odawa, and Potowatami clans, and formed the Three Fires Confederacy, also called the Council of Three Fires. They were all speakers of Algonquian languages and also had connections through common elements of cultures. They developed a self-sufficient society where tasks and responsibilities were equally shared among all members.

The city's natural harbour first attracted the French explorer La Salle, who named the site "The Rapids" when he had horses and men pull his 45-ton barque Le Griffon up the almost four-knot current of the St. Clair River in 1679. This was the first time anything other than a canoe or other oar-powered vessel had sailed into Lake Huron, and La Salle's voyage was thus germinal in the development of commercial shipping on the Great Lakes.

In the 18th century, Britain tried to strengthen relations with the tribes in the area as a set of allies against the French and the Iroquois, based mostly east and south of lakes Ontario and Erie. The people of the Three Fires Confederacy, however, sided with the French during the Seven Years' War and made peace with Great Britain only after the Treaty of Fort Niagara in 1764. The Confederacy fought on the side of the British during the War of 1812, hoping to expel the Americans from the Great Lakes hub.

Before the War of 1812, the first Europeans in the area were French-Canadian settlers loyal to the British Crown. Some had been in the area east and west of the Detroit and St. Clair rivers since before the British took over this territory. In this period, Detroit was still within the British colony of the Province of Quebec.

In the early 1830s, there were numerous Scottish immigrants to this area. The wealth of adjoining stands of timber supported the lumber industry at a time of development throughout this Great Lakes area, with lumber also in demand in the growing cities of Chicago and Detroit.

The discovery of oil in nearby Oil Springs in 1858 by James Miller Williams, and the arrival of the Great Western Railway in 1858 and the Grand Trunk Railway in 1859 stimulated Sarnia's growth. The rail lines were later linked directly to the United States by the opening of the St. Clair Tunnel under the St. Clair River at Sarnia in 1890, by the Grand Trunk Railway. This was the first railway tunnel ever constructed under a river.

Climate
Lake Huron is cooler than the air in summer and warmer than the air in winter; therefore, it moderates Sarnia's humid continental climate, which makes temperature extremes of hot and cold less evident. Winters are cold with a few short-lasting Arctic air masses that dip far enough south and bring with them daily high temperatures lower than −10 °C (14 °F). Sarnia, while not quite in the southwestern Ontario snowbelt, sometimes receives large quantities of lake-effect snow.

The lake creates a seasonal lag, and Sarnia has a noticeably longer warm period following summer than neighbouring areas. However, cooler temperatures tend to prevail for longer after winter. Summers are warm to hot and usually humid. Humidex readings can be very high at times from late May to late September.

By car
Interstates I-69 and I-94 end together as they cross the Blue Water Bridge from Port Huron, Michigan. The Blue Water Bridge is also the western terminus of Ontario Highway 402 (Sarnia-London).

By train

 * Operates daily trains between Sarnia and Toronto including stops in London, St. Marys, Stratford, Kitchener, Guelph, Georgetown, Brampton, and Mississauga. Travel time to Sarnia from London is 1.25 hours, from Kitchener is 3 hours, and from Toronto is 4.75 hours.
 * Neighbouring Port Huron in the United States has a daily trip from Chicago.
 * Neighbouring Port Huron in the United States has a daily trip from Chicago.

By car
It would be best to have a car. Traffic is usually very light, and the roads are in good condition.

By foot or bike
Sarnia has a walkable downtown (Front St. area).

Buy
These large malls combine with several smaller shopping centres, discount stores, dollar stores, convenience stores, and a collection of antique and specialty stores to form the crux of Sarnia's retail business.

Phone
Sarnia is covered by the major Canadian celluar companies (Bell, Telus and Rogers).

Newspapers and periodicals
The Sarnia Observer is the local daily newspaper serving Sarnia and Lambton county. Other national newspapers are available (Globe and Mail, National Post)

Go next

 * Port Huron, Michigan lies across the St. Clair River.
 * London (Ontario) is 100 km to the east, and is the closest major city to Sarnia.