July 2002
Perhaps only those who have lived in Schefferville will appreciate this story, and that makes a very exclusive short list. For the rest of you, this town was begun with with arrival of the railway in 1954, when it became a leading iron ore mining town, operated by the Iron Ore Company of Canada. Schefferville is located 360 miles north of the St. Lawrence river town of Sept Isles, and was served by a railway, and when weather permitted Quebecair. No road then, now, or likely ever in the future. Production peaked during the 1970's, and terminated in 1985. The Schefferville ores were defined as "direct shipping" since the blast furnaces of the era could use the product directly in their feedstocks. In subsequent years, the ores from the Labrador City area became more attractive since they could be more readily beneficiated into a product of higher iron content and improved physical characteristic. Since "ore" is defined as a rock which can be mined at a time, at a place and at a profit - the Schefferville rock was no longer "ore"!
So to be simplistic you might say the mines closed, and the town disappeared or became a ghost town as happens to most mining towns. Not so in this case. During the heydays, the native population living scattered over the Ungava Peninsula to the north had migrated to Schefferville which offered a connection to the outside, services and perhaps for a few - jobs. Now the 4 - 5 thousand whites have departed, and the thousand or so natives remain - along with a small number of odd individuals (30 in the winter - 100 or so in the summer) who provide administrative functions and work in the outfitting trade which now provides the town with a lucrative industry. In our days there was lot's of fishing, but caribou were unheard of. Now there are people willing pay up to $6,500 for a week of living in a tent and hunting for a caribou (which are now abundent).
The train trip from Labrador City starts at 2:00 pm Thursday, and after a change in Ross Bay Junction, you arrive in Schefferville at about 9:00 pm. Unless you stay for a week, the return is at 9:00 am the next morning. Although brief, the long hours of sunlight at this latitude allows for enough viewing to see it all. There is one "hotel" where you can stay for $140, and there is one taxi to get you there, after he has delivered the train crew to the same destination, and anyone else whom he considers of a higher priority than you. That makes for a rather brief visit - but in our case, a very worthwhile one. You'll be back in the big city of Lab City by 5:00 pm the next day.
Any of you oldtimes who want more information, or to see more photos, you can contact me for a more complete report. What an experience - which we never thought we would have!
But what did we find in the way of a town? Actually there are now more houses than when Mary and I lived there. We were present during the relatively early days, and although many houses have been destroyed, many others have been added to the inventory. Our house at 248 Gagnon still stands, as do the homes of many of our friends from that era. The Hudson Bay store is now a Northern, but most other stores, churches, hospital and recreational facilities are gone. Some of the mine buildings close to town - such as the pit garage and the general office remain, although in a state of complete destruction.
Ore Testing where Jim worked is gone. The QLPA (Quebec Labrador Pioneers Association) stands, but offers no relief as it did on lonely Saturday nights so many years ago. In those days booze came in by air at a freight cost of $1 per bottle. Now the Northern displays a full array just inside the door. The effect on the residual population is readily apparent. Not a cheerful sight or prospect, as we discussed with Mike, a Naskaupi leader whom we met on the train heading south the next day. He says the biggest problem faced by the natives manifests itself in the form of booze, drugs, gasoline sniffing and suicide within the teenage group.
