White River (Ontario)

White River is a tiny village on the Trans-Canada Highway in northern Ontario.

Understand
White River, population 607, was established as a railway village on the Canadian Pacific mainline in 1885. Its primary industry is forestry; the township's population has been in steep decline since Domtar closed its mill in 2007. While the village is a good jumping-off point for fishing and canoeing on the White River, and its location on the main east-west route cross country makes it difficult to miss, it's tiny enough that it might not even be on the map were it not for the notability of its most famous resident: an orphan black bear cub who left with a group of soldiers in 1914.

The soldiers? Fort Garry Horse regiment from Winnipeg, Manitoba – a cavalry unit and their horses off to fight the Great War in Europe. Their unofficial mascot? Winnie the bear, who literary travellers will immediately recognise as a character in a few A. A. Milne books.

"Oh, bother!" said Pooh, and the rest is history.

Talk
While the village has an anglophone majority, one in six speak French as a first language.

Climate
White River is northern by Ontario standards and temperatures as cold as -40° are not unheard of in winter.

By bus

 * Operates a route between Thunder Ba y and Sault Sainte Marie including stops in Red Rock, Nipigon, Schreiber, Terrace Bay, Marathon, White River, and Wawa. Travel time to White River from Thunder Bay is hours, from Nipigon is 4 hours, From Marathon is 1.5 hours, from Wawa is 5.75 hours, and from Sault Sainte Marie is 4.25 hours. Timed connections are available from Winnipeg with a transfer at Thunder Bay and from Sudbury with a transfer at Sault Sainte Marie.

By car
White River has Highway 17 (Trans-Canada Highway) passing through it. White River is 325 km north of Sault Ste Marie, and 385 km east of Thunder Bay.

Get around
There is no local taxi service in the village.

Do

 * Swimming, boating, fishing and hunting in summer
 * Snowmobiling, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in winter
 * A playground and picnic area is available at the White River Tourist Information Centre (555 Elgin, phone +1 807 822-2794 or +1-888-517-1673, washrooms, snowmobiling and trail information, washrooms and RV dump station).

Buy
There is a grocer, a Home Hardware and a Husky fuel station in the village. Winnie the Pooh memorabilia is available at the travel info centre and the heritage museum.

Connect
Local telephone calls are seven digits. The local postal code is P0M 3G0 for the entire village; all mail is addressed to PO boxes as there is no local household delivery.