Peterbell is an unincorporated place and dispersed rural community in

geographic Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

Coderre Township, in the Unorganized North part of

Algoma District Algoma District is a district and census division in Northeastern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario. The name was created by an American ethnologist, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft (1793–1864), who was appointed Indian agent to the Ojibwe ...

in northeastern

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It is on the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company () is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN is Canada's largest railway, in terms of both revenue a ...

transcontinental railway A transcontinental railroad or transcontinental railway is contiguous railroad trackage that crosses a continental land mass and has terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks may be via the tracks of a single railroad ...

main line between the railway points of

Argolis Argolis or Argolida ( , ; , in ancient Greek and Katharevousa) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the modern regions of Greece, region of Peloponnese (region), Peloponnese, situated in the eastern part of the Peloponnese penin ...

to the west and Dunrankin to the east, has a passing track, and is passed but not served by

Via Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via (stylized as VIA Rail), is a Canadian Crown corporation that operates intercity passenger rail service in Canada. As of December 2023, Via Rail operates 406 trains per week across eight ...

transcontinental ''

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

'' trains. The place is on the

Missinaibi River The Missinaibi River is a river in northern Ontario, Canada, which flows northeast from Missinaibi Lake, north of Chapleau, and empties into the Moose River, which drains into James Bay. This river (including Missinaibi Lake and Moose River ...

, a tributary of the Moose River. It is named for Peter Warren Bell, who was in charge of the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

Superior District from 1866 to 1895.

History

Peterbell is part of a section of what was originally the

Canadian Northern Railway The Canadian Northern Railway (CNoR) was a historic Canada, Canadian transcontinental railway. At its 1923 merger into the Canadian National Railway , the CNoR owned a main line between Quebec City and Vancouver via Ottawa, Winnipeg, and Edmonto ...

that was under construction from 1912 to 1913. In 1917, the

(HBC) established a fur trade post along the railway and served as an outpost for the Missanabie HBC post. At the same time, the New Brunswick House post on Missinaibi Lake was closed and the Peterbell post took over its operations. It became a full post before 1933, but closed on September 30, 1957.

References

Other map sources: * * Communities in Algoma District Hudson's Bay Company trading posts {{NorthernOntario-geo-stub