Pickle Lake is a township in the Canadian province of Ontario, and is the most northerly community in the province that has year-round access by road. Located north of Thunder Bay, highway access is via Highway 599, the only access road to the town from the south. More northerly communities rely on for access and are cut off to land travel in the summer. Highway 599 meets the Northern Ontario Resource Trail, formerly Tertiary Highway 808, at Pickle Lake.
The Township of Pickle Lake has a population of 425 and its main industries are transportation (by air and land) and tourism. Pickle Lake Airport serves as the supply point to northern First Nations. It is an access point for animal watching, with many opportunities to view moose, woodland caribou, timber wolf, black bear, game birds, bald eagles, song birds, and migratory birds such as ducks and geese. It is also a popular fishing and hunting destination. The town is sometimes referred to as the gateway to Ontario's "Last Frontier" because of its remote location. Pickle Lake has its own detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police.
The community is located on the north-east shore of Pickle Lake, from which it takes its name.
Jack Hammell's Pickle Crow Gold Mines (1935–1961) produced 1,446,214 ounces of gold. Alex and Murdoch Mosher's Central Patricia Mine (1927–1951) produced 621,806 ounces.
Pickle Lake was incorporated as a township in 1980. It got its name from the shape of the lake which resembles a cucumber or pickle.
The township also includes the former townsites of Central Patricia and Pickle Crow. Both formerly independent settlements, Central Patricia now consists only of a few buildings located at the terminus of Highway 599 within the township, while Pickle Crow is a ghost town. After the Pickle Crow gold mine was shut down in 1966, the Ministry of Natural Resources set fire to the site as part of its program to clean up abandoned mines. Brief History of Pickle Lake.
Summers are warm and wetter but short with a July high of and a low of . There are 4.8 days where the temperature will exceed . Precipitation tends to be higher during the summer months, with each month from June to August averaging 16 days with measurable precipitation.
The highest temperature ever recorded in Pickle Lake was on 19 June 1933. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 8 February 1934.
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