The Hidden Tracks of Kilmar:
An Industrial Adventure in the Laurentians
You stand at the edge of a dense forest, the scent of pine mingling with the faint echo of iron rails. Before you lies the path of a once-vital artery—the Dominion Timber & Minerals Railway—that carried rare white ore through rugged terrain, connecting the mine at Kilmar to the wider world.
Origins Amid War and Isolation
At the dawn of World War I, the hills around the tiny settlement of Kilmar were quiet, save for the secrets hidden in the earth. Magnesite—once of little consequence—became vital when imports vanished mid-war. Production surged from a modest 358 tons in 1914 to over 58,000 tons by 1917 trainweb.org+11thereview.ca+11trainorders.com+11. To ship this ore, horse-drawn carts were no longer sufficient—it was time to build a railway through rugged wilderness churcher.crcml.orgthereview.ca.
By 1916, a narrow-gauge line snaked through dense forest and over rivers, stretching 20 km from Kilmar to Magnesite Junction at Marelan, poised for transfer to the burgeoning CPR network Wikipédia+10churcher.crcml.org+10Wikipédia+10.
Tracks and Steel: Lifeline of the Mine
This humble railway was a lifeline. Early days saw four 15-ton steam engines haul ore cars, with crews of thirty working tirelessly—some days all engines were in use to meet demand thereview.ca+1. In the 1920s, scientists at the National Research Council created "Magnafrit," a heat-resistant refractory product, breathing new life into the mine’s low-grade ore trainweb.org+7churcher.crcml.org+7thereview.ca+7. By 1933, consolidation turned operations into Canadian Refractories Ltd., and the railway took on a new name: the Canadian Refractories Railway jimmyandcheng.com+8churcher.crcml.org+8thereview.ca+8.
A Route Carved in Memory and Rock
Picture your footfall along the route illustrated in the map above—the railway meanders past Wilson Lake, skirts Black Lake, and threads between rivers in a precise dance with the Promethean wild churcher.crcml.org. In 1951, the railway upgraded to a 65-ton, 550 HP GE diesel-electric locomotive—its roar echoing across the Laurentian expanse—and faithfully pulling ore into the 1970s thereview.ca+1.
Finally, in July 1981, the line hauled its last load. Tracks were dismantled, ties tossed into nearby lakes. What remained was a route reclaimed by paddlers, ATV riders, and the hush of wilderness tending its past Wikipédia+2Exporail+2.
Legacy in Stone and Silence
Now, where industry once roared, there is peace. The kilns are silent and the rails buried under moss, but their trace remains—a hidden narrative in this landscape. As you walk the former railway corridor, you become an explorer of time, tracing the raw pulse of early industrial ambition. The tracks may be gone, but their story endures.
