James, Ontario
township municipality in Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada
James is an incorporated township in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Timiskaming District. The primary community within the township is Elk Lake, which is located at the junction of Highway 65 and Highway 560.
The township had a population of 348 in the 2021 Canadian census, compared to 420 in 2016.
Elk Lake Airport and Elk Lake Water Aerodrome are located here.
History
Elk Lake began as a mining boom town when native silver was discovered in James Township in 1906. Mining activity peaked between 1907 and 1913, when there were about thirty active mining properties in the area. The population at one point reached almost 10,000 people. By 1908 the town included six large hotels, many stores, warehouses, banks, lawyer's offices, a post office, a hospital and a Mining Recorder's Office. The town of Elk Lake was incorporated in 1909 as the Corporation of the Township of James. The Township's first Reeve was the famous athlete and prospector Jack Munroe.
“James, Ontario” enters the record as township municipality in Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what James, Ontario and township can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“James, Ontario” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, James, Ontario and township provides the most credible route into that argument.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 19, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q6127957. Authority coordinates are 47.711, -80.339. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2021, 2016, 1906 and 1907.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “James, Ontario”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow James, Ontario primary sources, James, Ontario archive and James research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “James, Ontario”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “James, Ontario” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.