Walden is part of the federal Sudbury electoral district, represented in the House of Commons of Canada by Viviane Lapointe of the Liberal Party of Canada, and the provincial constituency of Nickel Belt, represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by France Gélinas of the Ontario New Democratic Party.

The administrative and commercial centre of Walden, Lively was established in the 1950s as a company townsite for employees of INCO's Creighton Mine facilities.

Lively's postal delivery and telephone exchange also include the Mikkola subdivision, located at the eastern terminus of Highway 17's freeway segment, and the Waters area.

[5] In 1887, the Hudson's Bay Company relocated its existing trading post from Whitefish Lake to the south, which had been established in 1824, to Naughton, so that it could be closer to the CPR line.

Naughton is also home to a number of historical plaques commemorating Salter's Meridian, a survey line which resulted in the first known evidence of the Sudbury area's massive mineral deposits, as well the Hudson's Bay Company's Whitefish Lake Trading Post.

[7] Whitefish is located approximately 14 km (8.7 mi) west of Lively, near the western terminus of the Highway 17 freeway route.

Whitefish's postal delivery and telephone exchange also include the community of Den-Lou, which is named for its location straddling the boundaries of the geographic townships of Dennison and Louise, and the Lake Panache area.

[7] The name "Beaver Lake" refers, generally, to the westernmost end of the former Town of Walden, along Highway 17 in the geographic township of Lorne, west of Whitefish.

Like many communities in Northern Ontario, the modern history of Beaver Lake started with the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway through the area in the late 1880s.

Nevertheless, many of their descendants continue to live in the area, which is heavily influenced by Finnish culture, though the single-room schoolhouse and general store were both casualties of this community crisis.

The community was also known for its Jehu AC youth athletics club, which was an affiliate of the Finnish-Canadian Amateur Sports Federation (FCASF).

Founded in 1921, club members won victories while competing against athletes from Sudbury, Creighton, Timmins, and South Porcupine, as well as many other communities.

This was evident as late as 1961, when Beaver Lake athletes won five out of nine cross-country ski events at the Port Arthur (now Thunder Bay) FCASF championship.

As the population aged and youth left the community to seek economic opportunities, the club membership began to shrink.

Mond quickly sank a third shaft to a depth of 200 feet (61 m), completed modernization of the mine's equipment, and built several workers' cottages at the site to help house its 110-man workforce.

The mine became operational and by 1917 had shipped 172,000 tons of ore, the majority of which was sold to the CPR to be used as track ballast rather than being sent to Mond's Coniston smelter.

As ore was extracted, workers underground observed cracks in this pillar, which Mond addressed with timbers to brace it.

[14] With no injuries suffered, the disaster became an overnight sensation which attracted sightseers, and the crater left by the mine quickly filled with water and became an artificial lake.

Worthington was established as a community in 1892 and functioned as a basic settlement with 35 dwellings, a company store, a railway station and a post office.

Its population gradually increased to a peak of 400-500 residents after the Mond company purchased the nearby mine and expanded its workforce.

The historic paymaster's cabin from Creighton was moved to the Anderson Farm Museum where an annual reunion continues to bring former residents and family together to share their memories of their former community.

High Falls is a ghost town located near the junction of the Spanish River with Agnew Lake, at the westernmost boundary of the city.

[19]: 27 In these early years, the town, which was laid out to the north of the CPR line, grew rapidly, receiving a post office in 1900, a CPR passenger station in 1904 (enlarged in 1908), and an assortment of businesses and services, which included a butcher shop, barbershop, dry goods and grocery retailers, a bowling alley, a Roman Catholic church, a Presbyterian church, and public and separate schools.

During its lifetime, the mine produced almost 620,000 tons of ore. A few buildings survived on the site well into the 1950s, but by the 1980s there were only three structures remaining, which were two company-built houses and the separate school.

Quadra FNX was in turn acquired by Polish conglomerate KGHM Polska Miedź in 2011, which inherited the claims.

[24] Victoria Mines is the birthplace of Hockey Hall of Famer Hector "Toe" Blake, though he grew up largely in Coniston.

The closest intercity transit to the area is in downtown Sudbury, or alternatively an Ontario Northland flag stop in Nairn Centre.

Walden is otherwise served by citywide media, although its proximity to the North Shore region means that residents of Whitefish, Beaver Lake and Worthington also have access to several radio stations, including CJJM-FM in Espanola, CFRM-FM in Little Current and CKNR-FM in Elliot Lake, whose signals do not reach the main urban core of Sudbury, as well as Espanola-area rebroadcasters of Sudbury's CBCS-FM and CBON-FM.