Economy

thumb|right|Harbour on the North Channel in Blind River

Its main businesses are tourism, fishing, logging, and uranium refining.

Transportation links are Highway 17 (part of the Trans-Canada Highway), the Huron Central Railway operating on the leased Canadian Pacific Railway line that runs through the town, and the Blind River Marine Park, a town-owned marina servicing pleasure craft. A 1991 study by the Ontario Ministry of Transportation proposed the extension of Highway 555 (Granary Lake Road) from Blind River to meet Spine Road in Elliot Lake, creating a new route which would reduce the length of a commute between the two communities by approximately 20 kilometres. Although the ministry has announced no firm plans to construct the proposed road, Elliot Lake City Council passed a motion in August 2015 calling for the project's revival on the grounds that it would provide significant economic benefit to both communities.

In pop culture

  • Canadian singer Neil Young makes reference to Blind River in his song "Long May You Run", a story about the demise of his 1948 Buick Roadmaster hearse.

<poem>::Well, it was back in Blind River in 1962

::When I last saw you alive

::But we missed that shift on the long decline

::Long may you run.</poem>

  • Wade Hemsworth's "The Black Fly Song", about a survey crew in northern Ontario in 1949, has a verse about a cook named "Blind River Joe".
  • In the 1959 film, Anatomy of a Murder, the character Mary Pilant, played by Kathryn Grant, was born in Blind River, Ontario.
  • Blind River is mentioned in the 1986 film Youngblood, starring Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze. as one of three possible Junior C team destinations for the players if they don't improve their performances.

Notable people

  • Home town to former ice hockey player Tom Cassidy who played for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He was drafted 22nd overall in the 1972 by the California Golden Seals.
  • Home town to Claude Julien, a former head coach of the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League.
  • Birthplace of Bob Dupuis who represented Canada at the 1980 Winter Olympics and played a game with the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League.

See also

  • List of francophone communities in Ontario

References