Elliot Lake is a city of about 11,400 people (2021) in northern Ontario. The former mining boomtown has attempted to market itself (and its stock of inexpensive vacant housing) to retirees and visitors with mixed results.

Understand

Elliot Lake viewed from the Fire Tower Lookout

Elliot Lake was established in 1955 as a uranium mining community; it reached its economic peak in the 1980s before entering a long period of population decline due to resource depletion and weak export demand.

The city sits on the Canadian Shield, and is surrounded by dense forest, muskeg swamps, numerous lakes, winding rivers, and hills of Precambrian bedrock. The local forests are mixed deciduous and coniferous, with colourful displays in the autumn.

Local wildlife include moose, white-tailed deer, American black bear, beaver, loon, muskrat, otter, Canada goose, and lynx, to name but a few. Fish species include lake trout, speckled trout, rainbow trout, smallmouth bass, pickerel (walleye), and sturgeon.

History

Prior to the settlement of the city, an Ojibwa village existed near the present hospital site on the lake's shoreline.

The city was established as a planned community for the mining industry in 1955 after the discovery of uranium in the area, and named after the small lake on its northern edge. By the late 1950s, its population had grown to about 25,000. The population has varied with several boom-and-bust cycles from the 1950s to the 1990s, from a high of over 26,000 to a low of about 6,600.

In 1959, the United States declared that it would buy no more uranium from Canada after 1962. During the 1970s, federal government plans for CANDU reactors and Ontario Hydro's interest in atomic energy led the town, anticipating a population of 30,000, to expand again. However, by the early 1990s, depleted reserves and low prices caused the last mines in the area to close.

In the years since, the city has found some success promoting itself as a retirement community and tourist destination. In the late 2000s, mineral exploration began taking place in the area, with at least one new mine under preliminary development by start-up miner Pele Mountain Resources

The Algo Centre Mall, built during the 1980s mining boom years, partially collapsed in 2012 due to severe design error. Water and road salt, allowed to leak from a rooftop parking lot for years, corroded structural metal in the building until it failed. Two people were killed. A new outdoor mall (Pearson Plaza) was built in 2016.

Visitor information

• Elliot Lake Tourism. (updated Jul 2023)

Get in

Elliot Lake is 27 km north of Trans-Canada Highway 17 on Ontario Highway 108. Exit the Trans-Canada at the tiny hamlet of Serpent River.

Elliot Lake Municipal Airport has no regularly scheduled flights.

Five Seasons Transit (☏ +1-800-461-3582) offers a charter shuttle to Sudbury and to Toronto airport.

By bus

• Ontario Northland, toll-free: +1-800-461-8558. Operates primarily in Northern Ontario. (updated Apr 2022) Operates a route between Sault Sainte Marie and Sudbury including stops in Blind River, Elliot Lake, and Espanola.

Get around

There are four local city bus routes. The main transfer points are the Rexall drugstore in the centre of town and the Foodland at Pearson Plaza. There is no local bus on Sunday.

There are two taxi operators:

• Taxi Plus (+1 705 461-6161) and
• Union Taxi (+1 705 848-7111).

Hire cars are available from Practicar (23 Perini Rd, +1 705 848-4111).

There is a U-Haul agency at 9 Perini Rd. (+1 705 848-0730).

See

• Elliot Lake Nuclear and Mining Museum, 255 Highway 108, ☏ +1 705 848-2287. Early Sep to late May: M-F 9AM-5PM; late May to early Sep: daily 9AM-6ː30PM. Local history and memorial to former miners. 
• Fire Tower Lookout and Heritage Centre. Restored Ranger's cabin erected in the mid 1950s; a replica of a fire ranger's lookout provides a 360° panoramic view of the area. 

• Uranium Atom Monument (on Highway 108 at the outhern entrance to downtown). Let other cities have their giant geese or big moose, Elliot Lake has the biggest roadside atom in all of Northern Ontario. (updated May 2022)

Do

• Mississagi Provincial Park, ☏ +1 705 862-1203. Hiking trails, lakes, canoeing and kayaking, backcountry camping and trout fishing. 
• Deer Trail Curling Club, 55 Hillside Drive South, ☏ +1 705 848-7301, fax: +1 705-848-4315. 
• Mt. Dufour Ski Area, 10 Ski Hill Road, ☏ +1 705 848-6655. 
• Stone Ridge, 71 Nordic Mine Road, ☏ +1 705 848-8695. 18-hole golf course. 

Other activities in the local area include walking trails, beaches, 300 km of ATV trails, snowmobiling and cross-country skiing.

Events

• North Shore Challenge (Elliot Lake Airport Dragway). Annual motorsport drag race, antique car show and activities, mid-July. $35/day, $45/weekend. 

Buy

• 1 Pearson Plaza, Hillside Drive South and Ontario Avenue. Sobey's Foodland, Hart Home Store, Dollarama, municipal library and two-restaurant food court.  

Eat

• Mum's Place, 8 George Walk, ☏ +1 705 461-3816. M-Sa 8AM-3PM. Home cooking, diner food. (updated Dec 2018)
• Fireside Classic Grill, 14A Oakland Blvd, ☏ +1 705 461-3711. M-Sa 9AM-10PM, Su 9AM-9PM. Steaks, prime rib, pastas, tacos, sandwiches, wraps, fish and chips, curry, stir fry. Mains $13-36, sandwiches $12-18. (updated Dec 2018)
• Topper's Pizza, 259 Hillside Dr S, ☏ +1 705 461-1717. Su-Th 11AM-11PM, F Sa 11AM-1AM. (updated Dec 2018)
• Gem Family Restaurant, 80 Hergott Ave, ☏ +1 705 848-0394. Home cooking. (updated Dec 2018)

Drink

• Fireside Classic Bar and Grill, 14A Oakland Blvd, ☏ +1 705-461-3711. 7AM-11PM. 

Sleep

• Hampton Inn, 279 Highway 108, ☏ +1 705 848-4004, fax: +1 705-848-8096. 52 rooms, fitness centre, indoor salt water pool, conference room and business centre, laundry, broadband Internet, hot breakfast (included). 
• Dunlop Lake Lodge, Highway 108 (10 minutes north of Elliot Lake), ☏ +1 705 848-8090. Twelve main lodge rooms, a 3-bedroom cabin with private yard, campsite and trailer rental. Snowmobile & ATV trails, swimming, fishing and dock slips. Open year-round. 

B&B

• Red Rose Bed & Breakfast, 25 Albert St, ☏ +1 705 848-4716, fax: +1 705 848-9565. Check-in: 3PM, check-out: 11AM. Two bedrooms, shared bath, walk-out lakeside deck overlooking Porridge Lake and ski hill. Wi-fi, in-ground outdoor pool. $75-80. 

Go next

Routes through Elliot Lake

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