Francis Hector Clergue

Francis Hector Clergue. . , Francis Hector Clergue was the visionary who recognized that Wawa's resource rich wilderness was the fuel to feed an industrial empire in Sault Ste. Marie. , Born in Brewer, Maine in 1856, Clergue was a dynamic man with boundless energy, imagination and vision. Representing a group of Philadelphia financiers, Clergue was initially attracted to the Sault area for its hydro-generating potential. After obtaining power generation rights on both sides of the St. Mary's River, Clergue began to establish his own industries to use it. , In 1898, a prospector named Ben Boyer brought a sample of iron ore he unearthed from a vein on the mountain north of Wawa Lake and placed it on Clergue's desk. Clergue immediately purchased the claims and began developing the Helen Mine (named after one of his sisters). As in true Clergue fashion, what others saw as a simple lump of ore inspired Clergue to envision a railway, a harbour, a steamship line and a steel plant. Within 5 years trains on the Algoma Central and Hudson's Bay Railway were carrying ore, freight and people on the 12 mile line from Wawa to Michipicoten Harbour. The inaugural fleet of the Algoma Central Steamship Lines was carrying ore, pulpwood and supplies to Sault Ste. Marie and the newly constructed steel plant and pulp mill on the north bank of the St. Mary's River. Construction crews were busy laying tracks for a main line of the AC&HB Railway optimistically setting its sights on the shores of the Hudson's Bay. Bush workers combed the Algoma forests cutting lumber, pulpwood and railway ties. Prospectors flocked to the region and staked every rock outcrop and mountain that had potential for gold, iron, silver, copper and lead. , F.H. Clergue and his siblings frequently visited the Michipicoten area. His brother Ernest Victor was a partner in the Lake Superior Power Corporation which built the High Falls power generating station on the Michipicoten River in 1904. The Helen, Grace, Gertrude and Josephine Mines were all named after Francis Hector's sisters. , While in Wawa, the Clergues would stay in the Factor's grand home at the Hudson's Bay Co. Post in Michipicoten River Village or at Francis' 2-storey home on a tiny island in Michipicoten Harbour named Wigwam Island. , F.H. Clergue died in 1939 in Montreal. His summer home in Michipicoten Harbour was washed off the Island during a violent November gale in 1940. Remnants of the lilacs, rose bushes and hawthorns planted at the H.B.Co. Post by the Clergue sisters can still be found at the abandoned Post site and scattered throughout gardens in Wawa , Story written by Johanna Rowe www.wawahistory.com