Manitoulin, Unorganized West Part is an unorganized area in Manitoulin District in northeastern

Northeastern Ontario

Northeastern Ontario is the region within the Canadian province of Ontario which lies north and east of Lakes Superior and Huron.Northeastern Ontario consists of the districts of Algoma, Sudbury, Cochrane, Timiskaming, Nipissing and Manitoulin; and the single-tier municipality of Greater...

 Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, encompassing the portion of Manitoulin Island

Manitoulin Island

Manitoulin Island is a Canadian island in Lake Huron, in the province of Ontario. It is the largest island in a freshwater lake in the world. In addition to the historic Anishinaabe and European settlement of the island, archeological discoveries at Sheguiandah have demonstrated Paleo-Indian and...

 which is not part of an organized municipality. It comprises the geographic townships of Robinson and Dawson.

The division had a population of 222 in the Canada 2006 Census

Canada 2006 Census

The Canada 2006 Census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population. Census day was May 16, 2006. The next census following will be the 2011 Census. Canada's total population enumerated by the 2006 census was 31,612,897...

, and a land area of 407.54 square kilometres.

Separate local services boards provide services in Robinson and Dawson townships.

Communities

The division includes the communities of Burnt Island, Cook's Dock, Fernlee, Meldrum Bay and Silver Water.

Meldrum Bay (45°55′N 83°07′W) is located at the western terminus of Highway 540, 72 kilometers west of Gore Bay

Gore Bay, Ontario

Gore Bay is a town on Manitoulin Island in Ontario, Canada. Located on Gore Bay, a bay of Lake Huron's North Channel, it is one of the two incorporated towns of Manitoulin District....

. Settled in the 1870s, and named after a town in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, Meldrum Bay developed as a commercial fishing and lumbering centre. Once the village was home to a busy fishing fleet, and Great Lakes steamers tied up at the docks.

From the 1920s the Owen Sound Transportation Company

Owen Sound Transportation Company Limited

This is an historical account of the Owen Sound Transportation Company, Limited , the forerunner of the enterprise that currently operates the vehicle and passenger ferry - M.S. Chi-Cheemaun - between Tobermory on the Bruce Peninsula, and South Baymouth on Manitoulin Island. For updated...

steamers provided weekly ferry service between Meldrum Bay and Thessalon

Thessalon, Ontario

Thessalon is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located at the junction of Highway 17 and Highway 129. It is surrounded by but not part of the municipality of Huron Shores, and is part of the District of Algoma....

, on its route between Owen Sound

Owen Sound, Ontario

Owen Sound , the county seat of Grey County, is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada...

 and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario

Sault Ste. Marie is a city on the St. Marys River in Algoma District, Ontario, Canada. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay, with a population of 74,948. The community was founded as a French religious mission: Sault either means "jump" or "rapids" in...

, however, the 1962 opening of the Trans-Canada Highway

Trans-Canada Highway

The Trans-Canada Highway is a federal-provincial highway system that joins the ten provinces of Canada. It is, along with the Trans-Siberian Highway and Australia's Highway 1, one of the world's longest national highways, with the main route spanning 8,030 km...

, and other road improvements has made this service unprofitable. Now during the summer, the docks are busy again, lined with pleasure craft from around the Great Lakes

Great Lakes

The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...

. This area holds some of the best chinook salmon

Chinook salmon

The Chinook salmon, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, is the largest species in the pacific salmon family. Other commonly used names for the species include King salmon, Quinnat salmon, Spring salmon and Tyee salmon...

 fishing in all of Canada.

Many residents of the area are employed by Lafarge

Lafarge

Lafarge is a French industrial company specialising in four major products: cement, construction aggregates, concrete and gypsum wallboard. In 2010 the company was the world's second-largest cement manufacturer by mass shipped behind Holcim.-History:...

, whose quarry near Meldum Bay produces dolomite

Dolomite

Dolomite is a carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate CaMg2. The term is also used to describe the sedimentary carbonate rock dolostone....

 used in concrete, road construction and metallurgical processing. This Lafarge Canada site is the home of the "largest Canadian marine quarry," with loading docks on the Mississagi Strait

Mississagi Strait

The Mississagi Strait is a narrow strait or channel in Lake Huron, connecting the North Channel to the main water body. The strait also separates Manitoulin Island from Cockburn Island.-References:...

.