Algoma Central Railway

Algoma Commercial Company Limited

The International Transit Company

Ontario, Hudson Bay and Western Railway

The construction of a railroad was a critical first step in the development of Sault Ste. Marie and the District of Algoma. The construction of pulp mill at the Sault followed by the discovery of iron ore at Michipicoten northwest of Sault Ste. Marie provided impetus to Francis H. Clergue's belief that the north would be opened to development and settlement only when the interior of the province was made accessible on a year-round basis. In Clergue's case, the motivation was resource based. He required a railway in order to transport logs to the pulp mill and iron ore to the proposed steel mill at Sault Ste. Marie.