Marathon, Ontario - History

History

As long ago as 500 BC the area was inhabited by Ojibway Natives who lived along the Pic River and there are still their descendants living in the area today.

Marathon of today was born as a railroad community named Peninsula, due to its location on a peninsula on Lake Superior. Constructing the railroad, between 1881 and 1883, over the region's terrain was a great engineering feat. At the time of the construction, some 12,000 men and 5,000 horses worked out of the town.

It has been said, but not verified, that certain sections of track would be laid one day, only to be devoured by the earth the next. Like most railroad communities, once the railroad had been completed Peninsula's population dwindled considerably, and by 1935, the census of the town was just 23.

It wasn't until a pulp mill was constructed in town, between 1944 and 1946, that the population rose back to 2,500, and the town's name was changed, first to Everest - after D.C. Everest, president of Marathon Corporation of Wisconsin, owners of the pulp mill in the town - then, later the same year, to Marathon, in honor of the paper company itself. The Everest name was discarded due to sounding too close to Everett, Ontario.

Marathon Corporation operated the mill for eleven years before the company was acquired by American Can Company in 1957. The Marathon mill operated under the name American Can of Canada Limited for over 25 years. Then James River Corporation, which had purchased American Can's US-based towel and tissue division in late 1981, entered into a joint venture with Buchanan Forest Products to create James River-Marathon Ltd. that purchased the mill in April 1983. In May 1997, James River Corporation merged with Fort Howard Corporation and the Marathon mill became Fort James-Marathon Ltd. Finally, in January 2000, Fort James sold Marathon to a 50/50 joint venture of Tembec and Kruger, creating Marathon Pulp Inc.

In the early 1980s, gold was discovered at Hemlo, an uninhabited area adjacent to the Trans Canada highway some 40 kilometres (25 mi) east of Marathon. By the late 1980s, three mines were running at Hemlo, with two of the three mines locating their employees in Marathon, which effectively doubled its population making it the largest town along the North Shore between Sault Ste. Marie and Thunder Bay.