There was no cross Canada highway across Northern Ontario, except highway 11, which stopped at Cochrane as blacktop I believe. It was dirt road through to NIpigon from there. They put that road into Long Lac when the discovered gold there in the 1930's. Highway 17 did not exist then, which now hugs the Superior shore. To travel on tarmac you have to go south to the states. and cross north at Sault Ste. Marie. Or take the train. The railroad was the main way of getting across Canada a priori. It went through all the tiny whistle stops north of Sudbury and Lake Nipigon. The Ontario Northland RR went from Cockroach to Moosonee, on the shore of James Bay. Highway 11, which is the preferred cross Ontario route by car or truck, not 17, went through all the mining areas, Cobalt, Kirkland, and finally Beardmore Geraldton, before joining up with 17 which is the official trans Canada. Strangely it bypasses Timmins, which was the third big mining town in Ontario after Sudbury and Cobalt/Haileybury.
If you give me the names of your relatives I will search the jail records and perhaps put together a history of their travels. Northern Ontario has relatively few communities. North Bay, Sturgeon Falls Temagami, Cobalt, New Liskeard, Haileybury, Latchford, Kirkland Lake, Swastika, Kearns, Temiskaming, Virginiatown, Engleheart, Timmins, Cocroach, South Porcupine, Schumacher, Iroquois Falls, Smooth Rock Falls, Chapleau, Kaupskasing, Hearst, Longlac, Geraldton, Beardmore, Nipigon, Larder :Lake, White River, Marathon, Sault Ste. Marie., Elliot Lake, Massey, Marten River, Noelville, Field, Powassan, Trout Creek, Mattawa, Verner, South River, Biscotasing, Rutherglen Espanola, Thessalon, Wawa, Terrace Bay, Marathon, Hemlo, Hornepayne, Duparquet, Moosonee, Nakina, Sioux Lookout, Dryden, Fort Frances, Kenora, Thunder Bay, Schreiber, Ignace, Blind River, Spanish, Gowganda, Shining Tree, French River, Warren, Thorneloe, Charlton, Monteith, Fauquier, Moonbeam, Mattice, Ramore, Holtyre, Matheson, Dyment, Red Lake, Upsala, Ear Falls, Balmertown, Bruce Mines, River Valley, Missinabie, Dubeuville, Folyet, Gogama, Hawk Junction, Matachewan, Webwood, Sultan, Killarney, Little Current, Gore Bay, and the Sudbury villages just about takes it all in.
Anybody who feels left out, give us a shout.
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