Labrador City • Wabush • Newfoundland & Labrador
Stories from one of Canada’s last frontiers, where two towns were built on the Canadian Shield and held together by iron ore, long winters, and each other.
52°56′ N • 66°55′ W
Deep in the Labrador wilderness—582 km from the nearest city, connected to the world by a single railway.
Our Mission
I was born in Labrador West in 1976 and graduated from JRSC in 1994. I grew up in Wabush, the twin town of Labrador City. The whole area came out of the ground in the 1960s, settled by the people who came to work the iron ore mines. I left Wabush at 18 to attend college in Ontario, moved to the United States in my early twenties, and have lived in Florida since 2004.
In almost thirty years away, the thing that still surprises me is how fascinated people get when I tell them I grew up in a mining town in the Labrador wilderness.
The people who settled Labrador West in the 1960s, and the kids who grew up there, were a particular kind of people: risk-takers and frontier folk, drawn to a new life in a hard place. A lot of us went on to live and travel all over the world, and I think a good part of that traces back to where we came from. For most of us, leaving was always on the horizon, because there was no mine shift waiting at the end of school. Our parents still held those jobs, and in most cases were ten or fifteen years from retiring.
A few stayed behind, put down roots in the communities that raised them, and carry the traditions forward. But it isn’t the way it was. We lived in a place and a time that really only existed for about thirty years, and then it changed.
I built this site to hold on to the stories and records of that community before they’re lost along with the people who lived them: the things people remember, and the things that only survive on paper. Most of it happened at a time when you lived in the moment, and a camera only came out for a special occasion.
It’s more than a website to me. It’s a way to make sure this place, and the people who built it, aren’t forgotten. If you have a memory, a photo, or a record from Labrador West, I’d love for you to add it.
Share Your StoryOrigins & Architecture of Labrador West
A story that begins with a map drawn by a hockey player and ends with suburbs shipped in by train. The unlikely origins of two towns in the wilderness.
History of the Iron Ore Company of Canada
The history of IOC is, in effect, the biography of Labrador West: a company that set out to build an empire, not only a mine.
History of Wabush Mines
The story of the “Little Brother” that fought to survive: plagued by a geological flaw for fifty years, then saved by the technology that finally fixed it.
Strikes, Shutdowns & the Labour Wars
A community fighting to stay a hometown, not just a work site, from the great strikes of 1969 and 2004 to the modern battles over pensions.
Aviation Tragedies & Triumphs
Aviation is the lifeline of Labrador West. Before the roads were paved it was the only way in or out, and it came with a heavy price.
The QNS&L Railway
Without this ribbon of steel, the towns of Labrador City, Wabush, and Schefferville simply would not exist. How a nightmare of engineering became the heartbeat of the North.
Sports, Recreation & the Human Investment
How iron ore revenue built Olympic athletes in the subarctic. The sports infrastructure that produced champions against the odds.
Education in Wabush & Labrador City
Schools built the first sense of home. From the Crackerbox gymnasium to the denominational cold war at J.R. Smallwood, the story of education in Labrador West.
The Rise and Fall of Gagnon
Gagnon was not abandoned to the elements. When it ceased to be profitable, it was intentionally dismantled, bulldozed, and wiped off the map.
Maclean’s Magazine, November 1963
“This is Wabush, Labrador. Three years ago, it was barren bush. Today it’s a bustling construction camp as civilized as most suburbs.” — Peter Gzowski, 1963