Minto, New Brunswick

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Location of Minto in New Brunswick

Minto (2006 pop. 2,681) is a Canadian village straddling the border of Sunbury County and Queens County, New Brunswick.

Minto is located on the north shore of Grand Lake, approximately 50 kilometres northeast of Fredericton. Its population meets the requirements for "town" status under the Municipalities Act of the Province of New Brunswick, however the community has not made any change in municipal status.

Minto was originally named Northfield but took its present name in 1904 upon the retirement of Canada's eighth Governor General, The Earl of Minto.

Geography

The village is located along the Newcastle Creek in a shallow valley which also hosts an extensive coal seam. The first coal mine in North America opened at Minto in 1639 on the shore of Grand Lake. The first commercial mining only began in 1825 and the last underground mining took place in 1972; there is currently an open-pit strip mining operation near the town.

History

Mining in the Newcastle Creek seam only began on a large scale during the late nineteenth century with the completion of a railway from Fredericton to Chipman and south to Norton, passing through the village. Later construction of the National Transcontinental Railway passing north of the village in 1912 saw a spur line built south into Minto to access the coal.

During the early years of the Great Depression, the New Brunswick Power Corporation built the province's first thermal generating station south of the village on the shores of Grand Lake. Opened in 1931, the Grand Lake Generating Station accessed coal from nearby deposits and is presently still in operation. A NB Power subsidiary, NB Coal, is the only mining company left in the Minto area and performs strip mining. Developments in the area of international, national and provincial environmental regulatory frameworks have led to an increased focus on the reduction of greenhouse gases and air pollutants. As the Station is at the end of its operating life, the necessary environmental upgrades would not be economically feasible. NB Power will close the Station when its operating license expires in June 2010. As the Station has been NB Coal’s only customer since 2000, NB Coal will close in December 2009.

During the Second World War, the largest internment camp in eastern Canada was located in the hamlet of Ripples, 10 km west of the village; in addition to German POWs, its most notable prisoner was the anti-conscriptionist mayor of Montreal, Camillien Houde. This internment camp is now a protected site and is visited by tourists.

External links

• Village of Minto