Mindoka & South Mindoka

History

From 1905 – 1913, a small settlement formed in the newly opened clay belts of Temiskaming District. Situated on the Ontario Northland Railway, the settlement was simply known as mileage point 151.1. The first name they chose was Minaki. Unfortunately a community in northwest Ontario already laid claim to that one so they created Mindoka.

The railway established a station, siding, water tower and section gang. The section village contained half a dozen buildings and a bunkhouse. They built a number of farm homes near the right-of-way.

In 1918, the closest school was in Boston Creek, about 2 1/2 kilometres north. In 1926, they finally built a closer schoolhouse in South Mindoka about 1 1/2 kilometres south. Fred Green opened a general store and post office that same year.

The hamlet’s demise came quickly once the great depression struck. Fred closed up his store in 1947, and the post office followed suit “for want of a postmaster.” Most of the residents had moved on by the 1950’s.

Mileage point 149.5, approximately 2 kilometres south of Mindoka was home to the hamlet’s twin sister, South Mindoka.

The first residents arrived around 1905, about the same time as the railway. The railway added a lumbering spur as well as a station. Once they cleared more farmland, another rural settlement jumped to life and by 1914 took the name South Mindoka. The settlement included a small a sawmill, run by the Olsen family. It produced enough lumber to meet local needs with the surplus shipped out by rail.

South Mindoka was a busy place by the 1920s, adding other services most notably Hendrick’s general store. Furthermore, they added a bunkhouse to house the numerous lumbermen transients who worked in the surrounding bush. A schoolhouse, Pacaud S.S. #4, serving both Mindoka and South Mindoka, opened in 1926.

South Mindoka’s shared a similar faith to Mindoka. By the 1940’s the decline was apparent and the last store closed followed by the school in 1949. By the 1960’s all the residents had left the area, except for a few farms, and South Mindoka also faded into obscurity.