The Road to Sudbury-Meteor Capital

The Road to Sudbury
Meteor Capital of the World -- 2 Billion Years of History

Sudbury Tourism

Sudbury - Ontario - Weather

Images of Sudbury a Miriah Media Design

A Miriah Media Production

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Sudbury Basin (Sudbury Meteor)
Location:                                   Sudbury - Ontario - Canada
  Meteor's name:                          Miriah
  Meteor size:                               15 x 10 miles ( super class meteor )
Date of hit:                                2.25 billion years ago
Crater size:                                350 miles in diameter
  Crater depth:                             25 miles ( imploded within minutes )
  Crater size today:                      40 x 20 miles
  Crater depth today:                   broad valley (only visible by aerial radar imagery)

Most distinguishing feature:

       The Sudbury Basin is the richest and largest integrated mining complex in the
   world. There are numerous mines nestled along the ancient hills, that make up the
crater rim. The deepest operating mine in the western hemisphere is located here,
at 1.5 miles deep. The Basin has been pegged as a two trillion dollar asset. Yet,
for all this talk about mines and craters, Sudbury and its surrounding landscape
are a crown jewel nestled in the beautiful forests, rivers and lakes of the
pre-Cambrian Shield.
     Inco Ltd. and Falconbridge Nickel Mines were the two companies involved in
mining the Sudbury Basin, since day one. In the autumn of 2006, Xstrata a
diversified mining group with headquarters in Switzerland took over 100 percent
ownership of Falconbridge. In that same time period CVRD of Brazil took over
control of Inco.
As Sudbury enters 2007, we wish both new owners the very best in the years ahead.

Headframe of Falconbridge 's
Nickel Rim Mine.

>>> >>>> Page Index
Website Homepage
Page 2 More claim to fame, must see tourist attractions.
Page 3 Records held by Sudbury, An epic poem about the Sudbury Basin
and intriguing Sudbury mysteries.

  >>>    >>>>
Lake Wanapitei (Wanapitei Meteor)
Location:                                  20 miles northeast of downtown Sudbury
Meteor name:                           Ali ( Miriah's sister )
Meteor size:                              1/2 mile in diameter
Date of hit:                               38 million years ago
Crater size:                               4 miles in diameter
Crate depth:                             1 mile
  Crater size today:                     5 to 6 miles in diameter ( sides eroded over time )
Crate depth today:                   1 mile ( estimated )

Most distinguishing feature:

       The lake is considered bottomless because, moderntechnology has not been able
to confirm its depth. Lake Wanapitei has a gravitational anomaly below it surface,
which attracted the attention of oceanographer Jacques Cousteau. He made plans
to explore the depths of this lake, but died before the expedition could be started.

>>> >>>>
Inco Ltd.
Location: Sudbury, Ontario

Inco started mining operations in the Sudbury Basin in 1902. The company was
a leading producer of nickel, copper, cobalt and precious metals. The company was
purchased by CVRD in 2006. Today it is called Vale Inco.

>>> >>>>
Falconbridge Nickel Mines
Location: Sudbury, Ontario

Falconbridge started mining operations in the Sudbury Basin in 1928. The
company is a leading producer of nickel, copper, cobalt and precious metals.
The company was purchased by Xstrata in 2006. Today it is called Xstrata
Nickel.

>>> >>>>
Inco's Super Stack
Location: Sudbury, Ontario

        The giant mining company called Inco, built the Super Stack in 1972 at a cost
   of 25 million dollars. The stack rises 1250 feet into the Sudbury skyline. It is the
   tallest structure of its kind in the western hemisphere and the second tallest stack
   in the world. It is also the second tallest freestanding structure in Canada, surpassed
only by the CN Tower in Toronto.
       From the top of Silver Peak in Killarney Provincial Park located to the south of
  Sudbury, one can clearly see the Super Stack, which is 30 miles away.

>>> >>>>
Molten Rock (slag) Being Poured
Location: Sudbury, Ontario

Molten rock (slag) is poured after the metals have been extracted from the
mining and smelting process.
This unique tourist attraction can only be seen in Sudbury. The spectacle ranks up
there with a good fireworks display and is best viewed at night. There are some
viewing locations in Sudbury, where one can definitely feel the heat when the
molten rock is poured. This strange, dazzling, volcanic experience leaves a
lasting impression on visitors, who say there is nothing else quite like it in the
world.

>>>   >>>>
NASA Astronauts Visit Sudbury

        In the early 1970s, NASA sent several of their astronauts to Sudbury to study
the Astrobleme Theory, which was theorized in 1962 and means "Star Wound".
The theory stated the Sudbury Basin was formed by a massive meteor impact.
One important reason the astronauts were here was to visually recognize and study
shatter cones.
        However, the news media decided, there was a more colorful angle to the
story. They theorized, the astronauts had really come to Sudbury for training
exercises, because the barren rocks resembled the moonscape. Well,
that's what they reported and Sudbury was haunted by a false image problem,
which still lingers to this day some 40 years later.
        Nasa actually sent some of their astronauts to the Meteor Crater and the
Sunset Crater in Arizona for training, because that area closely resembles what
the astronauts were going to encounter on the moon.

>>> >>>>
U.S. Military Will Defend Sudbury

       How important was the Sudbury Basin to the United States during
WW II? The U.S. declassified a lot of documents from WW II in recent
years. The following information received no media attention.
        The U.S. military had plans in place, to invade Canada and defend a
large area of northeastern Ontario during WW II, if the enemy landed
on Canadian soil. More precisely, the U.S. military was ready and willing to
secure and defend the Sudbury Basin, because of its nickel mines and the
importance that this metal played during the war.

>>>    >>>>
CHNO 900 and later 550
Location: Sudbury, Ontario

       Radio Stations have the power to be a branding iron and a force to
be reckoned with. In the 1960s, 70s and 80s CHNO was a Power House
that forged the Top 40 in Sudbury and throught out Northern Ontario. The
radio station began broadcasting on June 24, 1947 at 1440 on the AM
dial. The station moved to AM 900 in November 1954. However, it
wasn't until 1957 that CHNO started to build its legacy. If you follow the
history of Ontario radio stations CHNO was a smaller copy of the grand
daddy of them all, 1050 CHUM in Toronto. The call letters of CHUM
stand for "Friend". One of radio's best kept secrets could be that CHNO
stands for "Little Friend in Northern Ontario". It seems, CHNO was the
little ghost sister of its big sister station in Toronto.

     As I write this, it comes with a heavy heart to learn that on March
26/ 2009, CTVglobemedia, the owner of 1050 CHUM have killed
its oldies format and changed the station into a 24 hour simulcast of
CablePlus24 hour news. If there is any comfort in this, its knowing that
in 2001-2 the owner turned the station into an all day night sports
station, which only lasted a few months. It would seem the golden age
of Rock and Roll refuses to die.

Aerial view of Lake Wanapitei
looking south.

300 million years before Inco and
Falconbridge started mining operations
in Sudbury, the Sudbury Basin was
located next to the great inland sea, which
cover much of North America.

Early transportation used by Inco
on their rail lines.

The Super Stack located in the town of
Copper Cliff just outside of Sudbury.

Molten rock (slag)
being poured in Sudbury

Nasa astronauts visit Sudbury.

If an attack was imminent by enemy
forces during WW 2, long convoys of
U.S military vehicles, like the one pictured
above, would be converging on Sudbury

>>>    >>>>
Hardy Boys Series of Books

Location:     Sudbury's Lake Ramsey
Author:  Leslie McFarlane    Wrote Under the Pen Name:    Franklin W. Dixon

  Most Distinguishing Feature:

        In 1927 Leslie McFarlane was hired as a freelance writer, by the Stratemeyer
   Syndicate, to write three books based on plots they supplied. The three books
   were called breeder volumes and they would be published as a group. If these
books received buyer support, then more volumes would follow. The plots they
gave McFarlane were simple. The books would chronicle the adventures of
two teenage detectives, Frank and Joe Hardy. The boys would solve mysteries
at home and abroad with humor and smarts.

       McFarland decided to return to a small cabin, located on Lake Ramsey, just
outside of Sudbury, Ontario. Years earlier, he had used the peace and tranquility
of this cabin, for inspiration in writing other books. Within weeks, McFarlane had
the three books completed. The Stratemeyer Syndicate approved them, they went
to press and the rest is history. The titles of these three volumes were "The
Tower Treasure", "The House on the Cliff" and "The Secret of the Old Mill."
McFarlane wrote these books under the pen name F. W. Dixon. The three books
blazed the trail for the other volumes that followed.
In that small cabin just outside of Sudbury, McFarlane shaped the characters of the
Hardy Boys. His writing style was electrifying and these books would become one
of the best selling series in the world, racking up sales in the millions. After 80
years, these books still capture the imagination of our young people.

       McFarlane used the plots and equated them to his surroundings in writing the
first three books. He used the following real places for his inspiration of the
fictional places:
Sudbury represented Bayport.
Sudbury's train station represented the station in Bayport.
Bayport was three miles from Sudbury's Lake Ramsey, which represented the
ocean.
Sudbury's Flour Mill Silos were the inspiration for The Tower Treasure and The
Secret of the Old Mill, while The House on the Cliff was represented by the cliffs
overlooking Lake Ramsey at Lily Creek.
       In retrospect, Sudbury was the birth place for the Hardy Boys series of books.

   Epilog:
     Leslie McFarlane in future years would go on to become a script writer for
    the television series Bonanza under the name F.W. Dixon.

   >>>    >>>>
Flour Mill Silos
Location:    Sudbury, Ontario

        The silos were built in 1910 with four foot thick concrete walls. They were
   used for agricultural purposes by the Ontario & Manitoba Flour Milling Co. In
   the 1950s, area residents wanted to have them demolished, but in the mid 70s
   they were classified as an historical landmark, thus assuring their survival.

Lake Ramsey Sudbury

Bonanza TV Series

Sudbury's Flour Mill Silos

   >>>    >>>>
   Sudbury Blueberry Capital of Ontario
   Location:     Sudbury Basin

   Most Distinguishing Feature:

        The Sudbury Basin by natural evolution was not a hot spot for blueberries.
    So the question is what happened? The answer is Inco and Falconbridge, the
    giant mining companies located in Sudbury. In the early years, sulphur was
    released into the air in vast amounts, through the ore smelting process. Rain
    mixed with the sulphur and fell as acid rain. This combination was deadly to
    lakes, forests and plant life. However, blueberry plants thrive in high acidic soil
    and the acid rain process led to these plants, taking over the Sudbury Basin. The
    plants started spreading in the early 20th century and by the 1930s, the basin
    was a hot spot for these berries.

   However, Sudbury's status of being the Blueberry Capital of Ontario, could be in
   jeopardy. The acid rain led to the Sudbury landscape becoming bare, because the
   trees and vegetation died. In the mid 1970s, Inco built a super stack that removed
   about 90 percent of the sulphur going up the stack and within a few years, the soil
   and the lakes were coming back to life. Inco and the City of Sudbury, then went
   on a reforestation project and today the Sudbury landscape is returning to being a
   forest again. When the forest returns, the blueberry plants are pushed out. There
   are still vast areas of these plants around, but each year there numbers dwindle.
   The Sudbury Basin is rich in organic soil, because of the meteor and this led to
   the blueberries growing there, to be among the tastiest found in the world. Each
   summer, the demand for Sudbury blueberries is strong especially in southern
   Ontario.
   The Sudbury land reclamation timeline can be viewed here.

   During the summer months of July and August, roadside vendors selling
   blueberries can be found on all major highways, leading out of Sudbury. The
   berries can also be purchased from fruit stands within the city. However, a word
   of caution, as some vendors try to sell the berries at very inflated prices. Your best
   deal usually comes,if you can locate berry pickers coming out of the bush, who pick
   and sell to area wholesalers. These people are the backbone of Sudbury's blueberry
   industry and most would welcome selling direct to the end user. As a price guide, a
   four litre or four quart level basket of blueberries should retail for about $30 to $35
   Canadian.

The Sudbury Blueberry Bear

>>>    >>>>
The song "Sudbury Saturday Night"
   Location:     Sudbury, Ontario

   Most Distinguishing Feature:
        Inco, the giant Sudbury mining company, certainly has a special relationship
   with the the residents of Sudbury. Canadian folk singer Stompin Tom Connors,
   wrote the international hit Sudbury Saturday Night. This was a first in music
   history, where a song has propelled its artist to stardom and immortalized a
   company (Inco) and city (Sudbury). Watch the Video.

   >>>    >>>>
   Sudbury, Ontario: The Birthplace of Earth History
   Location:   Sudbury, Ontario

   Most Distinguishing Feature:
       From a time in the distant past, long before the dinosaurs and back before time
    itself, Earth had a visitor. This visitor came from a distant land, looking for a new
    home and a new beginning. Today, over two billion years later, the remnants of her
    encounter with our planet, can still be seen in Sudbury.
         Her encounter with our planet was not by chance. She was sent by a civilization
    that had technology, so far beyond our understanding that even today they remain
    silent. However, their silence is only as we perceive it, for they have been interacting
    with Earth for two billion years. In 1884, a major discovery concealed in the ancient
   rocks of the Sudbury Basin has led to the writing of a book titled, "2 Billion Years
   Ago, A Heavily Armed Warship Went Into Earth Orbit."
         This book is about the historical legacy of the Sudbury Basin. It is an exciting
    and riveting story based on historical events. The book will challenge or complement
    the bible depending on how you view religion. The book's release date has not been
    finalized yet.
    You Tube video ad for this book on page 2

>>> >>>>
Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO)
Location: Sudbury, Ontario

        The neutrino observatory is located 6,800 feet underground at Inco's Creighton
   Mine, located in Sudbury, Ontario. The neutrino detector, detects solar neutrinos
   from our sun through their interaction with a tank of heavy water. The detector
   started operations in 1999 and was shut off at the end of 2006.
        In the book "2 Billion Years Ago, A Heavily Armed Warship Went Into
   Earth Orbit, Miriah, who is the guardian of our solar system indicated, the
   the Sudbury Observatory has detected a phenomenon near the outer fringes
   of Earth's solar system. The scientists have not figured out what it is but Miriah
   tells us, every time she turns Paradise's cloaking veil on and off, it causes
   a massive disturbance in the neutrinos striking the Earth. This is what they are
   detecting. Paradise is her residence, which is a huge space docking station.

>>> >>>>
Sudbury Trees, Used to Rebuild Chicago

The Sudbury area prior to 1872 was the home to a thriving forest, of the
largest population of Red Pine and White Pine trees in the world. Then in the
autumn of 1871, about five square miles of Chicago went up in flames. The
call went out, Chicago need lumber and plenty of it. Sawmills were built
virtually overnight in key locations through out the Sudbury district. Trees
were cut at an alarming rate and when the dust settled, huge tracks of land
were almost treeless. It was the first strike of several that would send the
Sudbury landscape, to the edge of death. But the Earth is resilient and with
a little help from Sudburians, the trees are making a come back.

>>> >>>>
The Big Nickel
Location: Sudbury, Ontario

The Big Nickel is a 30 foot high replica of a 1951, Canadian coin and
it is located on the grounds of Dynamic Earth. It is listed in the Guinness
Book of Records as the world's largest coin.

>>> >>>>
HMCS Sudbury
World War II Corvette warship

       HMCS Sudbury was a small, maneuverable, lightly armed corvette
class warship that served the Royal Canadian Navy during World War II.
Her chief duty was to protect convoys in the North Atlantic. Sudbury was
laid down at Kingston Shipbuilding Ltd on January 25, 1941 and launched
on May 31, 1941. She was commissioned into the RCN on October 15,
1941 and declared surplus and decommissioned by the RCN on
August 28, 1945.
      Sudbury entered civilian service as the S.S. Sudbury and underwent
several ownership changes. In 1954, the Island Tug and Barge of Victoria,
B.C. purchased her. She was converted to an ocean-going tugboat and
retained her original name. Her most daring rescue took place in
Nov./Dec. 1955. She saved the Greek freighter Makeconoia in the
North Pacific. Sudbury towed the disabled vessel for 40 days through
some of the roughest weather imaginable before arriving safely at
Vancouver. That incident made headlines around the world and for the
next decade Sudbury was one of the most famous deep sea tugs on the
Pacific coast.
     Unlike most of her sister ships, Sudbury proudly retained her original
name until the very end. In 1967 she was saluted one last time before
going to the ship graveyard in Victoria. She was named after the city
Sudbury, Ontario.

S.S. Sudbury 11

     In researching the HMCS Sudbury, new information surfaced that
she had a twin sister ship named S.S. Sudbury 11. The only information
found states this ship remained in service until 1979, when she was
converted into a fishing ship by her new owners. This ship sank in
Hecate Strait in 1982. This website would appreciate any information
about her early life. Contact information is at the bottom of this page.

>>> >>>>
Eddie Shack, NHL Hockey Player
Born in Sudbury in 1937

Eddie Shack (Jersey # 23) rose to fame in the golden era of the NHL.
He was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1961 and remained there
until the autumn of 1967. It was during these years, the fans and his team
mates labeled him with the title, "The Entertainer". One writer described
Shack as a big puppy let loose on the ice. He was a fierce fighter and a
force to be reckoned with. He became a legend in his own time, when
Doug Rankine and the Secrets recorded the song, "Clear the Track,
Here Comes Shack" in his honor. The song rose to #1 on the Canadian
pop charts and remained there for 3 months.

>>>    >>>>
Hwy 400, Ontario's North South Corridor

       The Ontario government is currently in the process, of extending
Hwy 400 from Barrie, Ontario to Sudbury, along the existing Highway
69 corridor. It is scheduled for completion by 2017.
       Once completed, Sudbury will be linked toToronto by a 4 lane
expressway. As of this date 2008, it is 100 miles from Sudbury.

>>> >>>>
Science North
Location: Sudbury, Ontario

       This world class science centre, has several levels full of science
   education and family fun. Also featuring an IMAX Theatre, Virtual
   Voyages Motion Simulator Ride, the Butterfly Gallery and the 4D
   bush plane adventure, Wings Over the North.

>>> >>>>
IMAX Theatre Sudbury
Location: Sudbury, Ontario

The only Imax Theatre in Northern Ontario is located in Sudbury.

>>> >>>>
Dynamic Earth Sudbury
Location: Sudbury, Ontario

       Dynamic Earth tells the stories that have been unearthed from the
1.8 billion year old rock that surrounds the City of Greater Sudbury,
the mining capital of Canada.

     >>>    >>>>
GBC Video
GBC Productions
   Location:     Sudbury, Ontario

         GBC Productions was founded in 1980 by a local Sudburian. The
companies direction at that time was video taping weddings,
graduations, dances, concerts, real estate, etc. By the summer of 1982,
the company was poised to phase itself, out of video taping and into a
new media called video movie and vcr rentals.

In September 1982, GBC Productions opened a small video store
at the west end of Lasalle Blvd. It advertised itself as the store, which
had the lowest movie rental prices in Sudbury. Within six months, the
video store had used up all available space for displaying the movie
boxes. In September 1983, GBC Productions moved to a larger facility
at the Sudbury Supermall in the same building as the liquor store. The
name was changed to GBC Video and a year later the growth of the
store had been so great that all the available space was again used up.

In 1984, GBC Video won an award for being the number one
independent video store in Ontario. The criteria was customer
satisfaction, store design, sales, extent of movie selection, location and
customer service. In 1984, GBC Video opened a second store called
GBC Productions. It was located in Hanmer, Ontario about twelve miles
north of Sudbury.

By the summer of 1985, GBC Video was making plans to open
Sudbury�s first mega video store. It would be an 8,000 square foot
facility that would be stocked with not only movie and vcr rentals, but
would retail the latest in vcrs, televisions and video cameras. This super
store was going to open in the summer of 1986. However, GBC Video�s
computer tracking clearly indicated a slowdown in movie rentals from
1985 to 1986. The store opening was delayed and finally cancelled,
when the slow down continued into 1987. GBC Video closed both its
stores in the spring of 1987. The feeding frenzy of renting movies had
clearly run its course.

       After closing the stores in 1987, GBC Video put most of its movie
inventory into corner stores outside of Sudbury. The territory ranged from
North Bay in the east to Blind River in the west. It took another three years
before the inventory was low enough that a purchaser emerged. By 1990,
GBC Video was no longer an entity. During the years GBC Video was
   open there was much speculation as to what GBC stood for. The three
   letters stood for Georgian Bay Country.

On that fateful day over two billion
years ago, a fast closing super class
meteor was seconds away from
sealing our planet's history.

Creighton Mine, located in
Sudbury. Almost a mile and a
half underneath this head
frame is the Sudbury
Neutrino Observatory.

An artist's rendering of the 1871
Chicago fire.

The Big Nickel located on the grounds
of Dynamic Earth in Sudbury.

HMCS Sudbury as she proudly escorts a
convoy of ships in the North Atlantic 1943

S.S. Sudbury after she was converted
to a deep sea tugboat on Canada's west coast.

FYI If HMCS Sudbury was being built today
(2009), her design would be very similar to the
corvette ship pictured above.

The Entertainer, Eddie Shack

Hwy 400 Expressway as it
moves ever closer to Sudbury.

Science North located on Lake Ramsey

Dynamic Earth located in Sudbury

Time Machine -- Do You Remember
A nostalgic look back to the years 1957 to 1967

      In 1968, several high school students from Sudbury formed a
   committee, for the purpose of preparing a questionnaire.
   This survey had ten multiple choice questions on it, covering
   a time period from 1957 to 1967. The questionnaire was
   randomly distributed to 500 Sudbury high school students.
   Below are the results of that survey.

    1     Sudbury�s number one radio station --- CHNO
   2     Sudbury top three car choices --- 1957 Chevrolet Belair,
          1964 Ford Galaxy 500 and the 1962 Chevrolet Impala.
   3     Sudbury�s two best high schools --- Lasalle Secondary
         and Sudbury High
   4     Five best songs from that time period --- Venus in Blue
         Jeans � Jimmy Clanton, So Much in Love � The Tymes,
          Make it Easy on Yourself � Jerry Bulter, See You in
         September � The Happenings, I�ll be There � Jerry & the
         Pacemakers
   5 Top two TV shows --- Twilight Zone and Beverly Hillbillies
   6     Best two Sudbury activities -- Friday and Saturday night
         car cruising and the CHNO Curbside Show
   7     Favorite high school activity � High School Sock Hop
   8     Top dance � The Jive
   9     Top summer treat � Dairy Queen Sunday
10    Top Sudbury retail store --- Woolworth's

Woolworth's in downtown Sudbury 1960s

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