Port Nelson, Manitoba

Port Nelson was a short-lived community on the north shore at the mouth of the Nelson River on Hudson Bay, Manitoba, Canada. At its peak it had a population of about a 1000 people.

In the early 1900s, the Government of Canada felt that a major harbour on Hudson Bay was needed for shipping grain from central Canada. In 1912 Port Nelson was selected as the site over Churchill (at the mouth of the Churchill River), to become the terminus of the Hudson Bay Railway, the construction of which had already began from The Pas in 1910.

In the winter of 1912-13 the site was surveyed and construction of a wharf began in the spring, followed by buildings and other infrastructure built during the summer. But the whole project was fraught with problems from the start. Material shortages, labour disputes, storms, fires, and boating accidents led to major delays. Another huge setback was the necessity to completely redesign the harbour because the fast flowing Nelson River was building up silt on both sides of the wharf. Therefore the harbour was changed to a small man-made island farther out in the river, connected with a seventeen-span truss bridge (built by Dominion Bridge Company from Montreal).

When Canada entered World War I, it resulted in further material and labour shortages, and more significantly, the loss of political and financial support. The project was able to continue a few more years until 1918 when all work stopped and the site was abandoned. The whole project was greatly criticized by some politicians, the media (calling it a "gigantic blunder"), and even the project's chief engineer.

The Hudson Bay Railway never reached Port Nelson and its tracks lay abandoned until 1927 when Churchill was chosen to become the northern shipping hub. Construction was restarted and completed by 1929.

References

* [http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/mb_history/08/hudsonbayrailway.shtml Manitoba Historical Society - Port Nelson page]