Official opening ceremony for Nipigon River Bridge on September 24, 1937. There was no road to Geraldton, and Highway 17 ended abruptly at Schreiber. Credit Cameron Bevers in thekingshighway.ca.

Truck Takes Load From St. Boniface to Mining Center

(Special to the Times-Journal)(1)

GERALDTON, Mar. 1.  ̶  A new record for the highway to Geraldton was set with the arrival of John Reuter here last night. (2) Mr. Reuter, who is president of a manufacturing company of that name, brought in over 2800 pounds of his company’s goods by truck, all the way from St. Boniface, Manitoba.

              Leaving Winnipeg at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, Mr. Reuter travelled by way of Kenora, thence to Fort William, thence to Beardmore, where he arrived at ten o’clock last night. Through the entire journey of nearly 700 miles, no tire trouble was experienced, and no chains needed on the vehicle.(3) The only unusual event of the whole trip was the passing of a herd of more than fifteen moose just west of Beardmore. The highway was in such good condition (4) that he was also able to maintain a speed of fifty miles per hour on the average, Mr. Reuter stated.

END NOTES

1  This item was published in the Fort William Daily Times Journal on Friday, March 1st.

2  Time elapsed between Winnipeg and Geraldton was 64 hours. Most of the highway was graveled.

3  The reference to tire chains is additional evidence the trip was performed in winter conditions. Obviously, the highway was plowed and most of the bumps and hollows were smoothed out.

4  Other travelers that season were not so sanguine about road conditions. The Department of Highways predicted that the road would be passable by July. On January 4th, one party reported the trip from Nipigon to Beardmore took 3 hours: “No trouble was experienced but they crossed Lake Helen to avoid a bad section”. That winter, other adventurers made the trip. Highway 11 from Geraldton officially opened on September 7, 1940.