| dc.description.abstract | Electricity has played an important role in the economic and social development
of Ontario cities, and Port Arthur and Fort William located at the head of the Great
Lakes are no exception to this rule. Industrial development depended on an adequate
electric power supply, especially for the pulp and paper industry, the industrial mainstay
at the Lakehead. Safety in the city streets and a high quality of life for the citizens were
also provided by electric lighting and numerous electric appliances. There are few
households or businesses today that do not have access to electrical power; in this way,
it has touched each of our lives. This paper examines the history of the prime provider
of electric power at the Lakehead, Thunder Bay Hydro and its predecessors. For one
hundred and ten years this area has been served by the hydro electric Commissions of the
two cities. For the first four decades of their existence, roughly 1910 until the end of the
Great Depression, the Port Arthur Public Utilities Commission and the Fort William
Hydro-Electric Commission were influenced greatly by the inter-city rivalry. The two
cites are geographically isolated from other cities but in close proximity to each other
and this set the stage for their rivalry. They competed for such things as industries and
electric power. After the Great Depression began, however this rivalry subsided, where
electric power matters were concerned. | |
