In the late 19th century, both gold and iron ore were found and mined, leading to the region's rise as the steel industry developed in Sault Ste.

[5][7] Four years later, it was re-opened on the same site by fur traders Alexander Henry the elder and Jean Baptiste Cadotte.

With the union of the two companies in 1821, the Lake Superior trade was diverted from Montreal to Hudson Bay via Michipicoten.

In the latter half of the 1950s, the town's name was temporarily changed to Jamestown in honour of Sir James Hamet Dunn, but it was later returned to Wawa at the request of the community's residents.

Gold production had slowed by 1906, but as mining technology improved, additional amounts began to be extracted from the area.

Gold mining in the Wawa area prospered and receded several times in the 20th century, and it continues today.

The mine produced high-grade iron ore until 1903, when operations shut down due to financial difficulties encountered by Clergue and his company.

In 1909, a second hematite ore deposit was uncovered near the Magpie River, twelve miles north of the Helen Mine.

The Census of Canada records that the population of the Michipicoten region in 1921 experienced a drop from 1,001 in 1911 to 101 just ten years later.

It was not until 1937, with the threat of war in Europe and the emergence of a profitable market for Canadian iron ore, that the Helen Mine was reopened.

It was used to treat the siderite ore before it was shipped to the blast furnaces at Algoma Steel in Sault Ste.

The ore was transported on an aerial tramline that consisted of over 280 steel three-ton buckets traveling underground and then emerging three-quarters of a mile west of the 2,066-foot vertical MacLeod Shaft.

[12] Throughout the 1990s, Wawa and the Algoma Ore Division continued to be challenged by international market problems that plagued both the gold and iron mining industries.

Since the shutdown, Wawa's economy has suffered a near complete collapse, as the closure resulted in over 135 lost jobs, and more residents left the area.

The collapse of the forestry industry in the first decade of the 2000s also adversely affected the neighbouring communities of Dubreuilville and White River.

Wawa, the area's largest settlement, has faced difficulties in attracting new industry to the community and region.

Winters are cold and snowy with a January high of −7.7 °C (18.1 °F) and a low of −20.2 °C (−4.4 °F) and temperatures below −20 °C (−4.0 °F) occur 45 days per year.

On July 5, 2010, Canada Post made a commemorative stamp of the Wawa Goose as part of its Roadside Attractions collection.

One notable shopping location is Young's General Store, home of the locally famous Pickle Barrel.

Councillors Cathy Cannon, Micheline Hatfield, Joseph Opato and Jim Hoffmann were elected on October 24, 2022, for a four-year term.

[22] Wawa is located 24 kilometres (15 mi) west of Canadian National Railway's Hawk Junction station on the rail line from Sault Ste.

The line, formerly known as the Algoma Central Railway, provides tourist operations, as well as passenger and freight service to communities in northern Ontario.

The Conseil scolaire du Grand Nord offers public school instruction at École publique l'Escalade for students in kindergarten to Grade 8.

Wawa is home to former NHL hockey players Chris Simon and Denny Lambert as well as comedian Pete Zedlacher.