Carrying the dead, Porcupine fire, 1911. Image: Arthur Tomkinson / Library and Archives Canada / PA-029806.
South Porcupine burning, July 11, 1911. Image: Henry Peters / Library and Archives Canada / PA-029808
Storm and fire in Porcupine, 1911. Image: Canada. Patent and Copyright Office / Library and Archives Canada / PA-029820
Refugees embarking in a boat on Porcupine Lake to escape from the flames of the Great Forest Fire of 1911. Image: Toronto Star / Library and Archives Canada / PA-179598.
The Porcupine Fire, 1911. Image: Canada. Patent and Copyright Office / Library and Archives Canada / PA-203588.
When you grow up in South Porcupine, one of the early historic lessons learned is about the Great Fire of 1911. In addition to burning more than 200,000 hectares of Northeastern Ontario and killing 70, it also levelled the two young mining settlements in the area, Pottsville and South Porcupine.