| Official Name: | Algoma District |
| Other Name: | District d'Algoma |
| Settlement Type: | District |
| Coordinates: | 48°N -114°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: |  Canada |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Type2: | Region |
| Subdivision Name2: | Northeastern Ontario |
| Established Title: | Created |
| Established Date: | 1858 |
| Area Footnotes: | [1] |
| Area Land Km2: | 48814.88 |
| Population As Of: | 2021 |
| Population Total: | 113777 |
| Population Density Km2: | 2.4 |
| Timezone: | EST |
| Utc Offset: | -5 |
| Timezone Dst: | EDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | -4 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code span |
| Area Code: | 705 |
| Blank Name: | Seat |
| Blank Info: | Sault Ste. Marie |
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 Sault Ste. Marie region in 1822. "Al" is derived from Algonquin, while "goma" is a variant of gomee, meaning lake or water.[2]
Algoma District has shoreline along Lake Superior and Lake Huron. It has an international border crossing to the American state of Michigan, at Sault Ste. Marie. Historically, it was known for its lumber and mining industries.
The rugged scenery of the region has inspired works by Canadian artists, particularly the Group of Seven. They rented a boxcar from the Algoma Central Railway to travel on excursions through this region.
Surviving prehistoric remains in Algoma District are concentrated around waterways. These remains date as far back as the Archaic period. There are also sites from the later Woodland period, with evidence of extensive Late Woodland habitation. Ceramics at Late Woodland sites show predominantly southeastern links, having originated from the Huron–Petun complex (broadly Ontario Iroquoian) as well as from modern-day Michigan.[3]
French explorers arrived in the area by the mid-17th century. As the French penetrated into North America, they established lines of forts and trading posts, often at river mouths to control trade, especially the lucrative fur trade. In Algoma, they established Fort Michipicoten, located at the mouth of the Michipicoten River where it empties into Lake Superior. The Michipicoten was one of the geographic features depicted by Samuel de Champlain on a 1632 map.[4] This helped the French bridge the distance to Fort Kaministiquia at the head of Lake Superior, and protected the route up the Michipicoten to James Bay, providing a significant crossroads of water routes.
Algoma was created by proclamation in 1858[5] as a provisional judicial district of the Province of Canada comprising territory north of the French River as far west as Pigeon River, including all Canadian islands in Lakes Huron and Superior. The authorizing act of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada was An Act to provide for the Administration of Justice in the unorganized Tracts of Country within the limits of this Province (known by its short title as The Temporary Judicial Districts Act, 1857).
The district seat is Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. However, it is noted that Thessalon is where the Algoma District Services Administration Board is located.
As the population grew and the northern and northwestern boundaries of Ontario were determined by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, Algoma shrank. Other districts were created from it by the provincial government of Ontario:
Algoma District is crossed by a number of rivers, which historically were used as transportation and trade corridors. The Hudson's Bay Company chose key riverside or river mouth locations for a number of its trading posts in the district. One example was Fort Michipicoten, located at the Michipicoten River's mouth. The rivers flow in a number of directions, some crossing through other districts to ultimately empty into faraway water bodies such as James Bay. Others drain into the Great Lakes Basin via Lake Huron or Lake Superior.
Major rivers in Algoma District include:
In the Algoma section, the characteristic forest mixture consists of yellow birch, white spruce, balsam fir, sugar maple, hop-hornbeam, and eastern white cedar. Eastern white pine and occasional red pine (Pinus resinosa) dominate on the upper, steep south-facing slopes; white spruce, eastern white cedar, and balsam fir occupy the middle and lower slopes. A white spruce–balsam fir association, which usually includes white birch and black spruce, is prominent on the river terraces and adjoining flats in the northern part of the Section (Rowe 1972).[6]
Communities within these subdivisions are added in parentheses.
| Name of City | Population | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elliot Lake | 10,743 | ||
| Sault Ste. Marie | 73,368 |
| Name of Town | Population | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blind River | 3,472 | ||
| Bruce Mines | 566 | ||
| Spanish | 696 | ||
| Thessalon | 1,279 |
| Name of Township | Population | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dubreuilville | 635 | ||
| Hilton | 261 | ||
| Hornepayne | 1,050 | ||
| Huron Shores (Iron Bridge, Sowerby, Little Rapids, Dean Lake) | 1,723 | ||
| Jocelyn (Kentvale) | 237 | ||
| Johnson (Desbarats) | 750 | ||
| Laird | 1,057 | ||
| Macdonald, Meredith and Aberdeen Additional (Echo Bay, Bar River, Sylvan Valley) | 1,609 | ||
| The North Shore (Spragge, Serpent River, Algoma Mills) | 509 | ||
| Plummer Additional | 650 | ||
| Prince | 1,031 | ||
| St. Joseph (Richard's Landing) | 1,240 | ||
| Tarbutt | 396 | ||
| Wawa (Michipicoten, Michipicoten River) | 2,975 | ||
| White River | 607 |
| Name of Reserve | Population | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garden River 14 | 1,170 | ||
| Goulais Bay 15A | 82 | ||
| Gros Cap 49 | 68 | ||
| Gros Cap Indian Village 49A | N/A | ||
| Missanabie 62 | N/A | ||
| Mississauga First Nation#8 | 390 | ||
| Obadjiwan 15E | N/A | ||
| Rankin Location 15D | 566 | ||
| Sagamok | 1,036 | ||
| Serpent River 7 | 373 | ||
| Thessalon 12 | 108 | ||
| Whitefish Island | N/A |
As a census division in the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, the Algoma District had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of −0.3% from its 2016 population of . With a land area of 48281.36km2, it had a population density of in 2021.[7]