The history of Labrador West is a distinct chapter in the Canadian narrative. Unlike the coastal communities of Labrador, which possess centuries of maritime history, Labrador West is an industrial powerhouse carved out of the interior wilderness in the mid-20th century. It is a story that begins with a map drawn by a hockey player and ends with modern suburbs shipped in by train.
I. The Iron Man: A.P. Low and the Discovery
Albert Peter Low (A.P. Low) is widely considered the scientific “father” of Labrador West. While he never mined a single ounce of iron himself, he was the man who first told the world the wealth was there.
In the 1890s, the interior of the Labrador Peninsula was one of the last great “blank spots” on the map of North America. Between 1893 and 1895, working for the Geological Survey of Canada, Low conducted one of the most grueling exploration surveys in Canadian history. Traveling thousands of kilometers by canoe and snowshoe with his Indigenous guides, he mapped the Labrador Trough—the geological belt that runs through modern-day Labrador City and Schefferville.
Low documented massive formations of iron-bearing rock, famously writing in his 1896 report that the deposits were “inexhaustible.” However, he also noted the tragic reality of the era: the location was so remote and the climate so harsh that mining would be impossible without a railway—a prediction that held true until the 1950s.
The Man Behind the Map
Low was more than just a geologist; he was a figure of national significance.
- The Hockey Legend: Before his scientific career, Low was a goaltender for McGill University. In the 1883/1884 Montreal Winter Carnival tournaments—precursors to the Stanley Cup—he is credited with recording one of the first shutouts in organized hockey history.
- Arctic Sovereignty: In 1903, the Canadian government sent Low to command the ship Neptune on a voyage to the high Arctic to plant flags and formally claim the Arctic islands before the Americans or Norwegians could.
- The Legacy: Today, his name remains visible in the town he predicted but never saw. A.P. Low Primary School in Labrador City is named in his honor, as is “aplowite,” a pink cobalt mineral discovered in the region in 1965.
II. A Tale of Two Towns: The “Expo 67” vs. The “Wild West”
While often spoken of as a single entity today (“Lab West”), Labrador City and Wabush began as two very different communities.
Labrador City: The Frontier Boomtown
Built by the massive American conglomerate, the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC), Labrador City grew organically starting in 1958. It was functional, gritty, and industrial—a town built to solve a logistics problem.
- The Red Dust: The dust from the IOC mines was red hematite, staining the town pinkish-red and creating a constant cleaning battle for housewives.
- The Feudal System: For decades, IOC owned the housing. Workers lived in “Company Housing” as tenants, creating a dynamic where the company that paid your salary also fixed your toilet and could legally evict you during a strike.
Wabush: The Garden Suburb
Built later (1965) by a consortium of Canadian steelmakers, Wabush was designed by Fiset & Deschamps, the same architects who planned Expo 67 in Montreal.
- The Design: Wabush featured curved streets, cul-de-sacs to reduce traffic, and underground wiring to eliminate unsightly telephone poles. It looked like a modern suburb of Toronto dropped into the tundra.
- The “Snobush” Rivalry: Wabush Mines aggressively pushed for homeownership, offering subsidies to help workers buy their homes. This created a more stable population and a rivalry where Lab City workers viewed Wabush as the “white collar” or “management” town—nicknaming it “Snobush”—even though the residents were also unionized miners.
- The Black Dust: While the town design was cleaner, the dust was not. Wabush mines produced black manganese/magnetite dust, which coated the town in black soot rather than red.
III. Evolution of Housing: From Canvas to Kit Homes
Before the curved streets and bungalows appeared, the early pioneers lived a rough existence defined by the “Bunkhouse.”
The Era of the “Ten Day Men”
In the late 1950s, housing evolved from “Tent City” (canvas tents heated by woodstoves) to ATCO trailers, and finally to the massive “H-Block” dormitories known as Single Men’s Quarters.
- Life in the Camp: Turnover was nearly 200%. Many men, known as “Ten Day Men,” would work just long enough to pay for their plane ticket home and then quit.
- The Mess Hall: To keep men from rioting in the isolation, the companies fed them steak, roast, and pastries around the clock. It was widely accepted that miners ate better than executives in Montreal.
- The Escape: Social life revolved around the Ashuanipi Social Club (“The Ash”), a cavernous beer hall where men blew off steam in a rowdy, strictly male environment.
The Train-Carried Suburbs
When the companies decided to build permanent family towns, they faced a logistical nightmare: there were no roads to bring in supplies. The solution was the railway.
- Kit Homes: Most of the original houses in Wabush were “kit homes” from suppliers like Nelson Homes in Alberta. The train would drop off a flatbed containing a “house in a box”—pre-cut lumber, windows, shingles, and nails.
- The Weight Problem: Because shipping heavy brick and concrete by train was cost-prohibitive, almost all original Wabush houses were wood-frame construction with vinyl or aluminum siding. If you live in an original Wabush bungalow today, your living room likely rode the train up from Sept-Îles in 1965.
IV. Modern Struggles: The Housing Squeeze
The region’s “boom and bust” economy continues to distort the housing market today, turning public assets into battlegrounds.
- The Collegiate Suites (LCC): The former Labrador City Collegiate high school was sold and converted into housing for transient miners, symbolizing the shift toward a fly-in, fly-out workforce.
- The Tamarack Apartments: Conversely, the Tamarack Apartment Building, owned by the School District, had to be urgently renovated in 2023. In a town where corporate rents can hit $4,000/month, the public sector was forced to intervene to provide subsidized housing for teachers, who otherwise could not afford to live in the community they served.
From the initial maps of A.P. Low to the prefabricated streets of Wabush, the architecture of Labrador West remains a testament to the sheer logistical will required to build a home in the subarctic.