[1][3][4][5][6] Located south of Algonquin Provincial Park, it is the sole populated portion of the district that lies south of the traditional dividing line between Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario and is closer connected to Renfrew County as opposed to the core portions of Nipissing District.

[1][4] The area was settled primarily as the site for the sawmill of the St. Anthony Lumber Company, of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

As the OA&PS Railway was being constructed to access this area, Whitney persuaded the management of the St. Anthony firm to purchase the timber berths.

About a year after the Whitney sawmill was built, Fowler and Hill sold the Minneapolis mill and associated timber limits to Frederick Weyerhaeuser of Saint Paul, Minnesota.

This cut off the through route to Depot Harbour and Parry Sound District in the west, turning the former central part of the Canada Atlantic mainline into a branch line.