Benny

The original name of Benny is Pulp Siding. The original name of Benny Station was chosen because W.W. Benny was a railway divisional engineer.

A small business built a mill in 1903 at a location 8 miles west from Cartier along the CPR. Strong Lumber Company purchased the mill and improved the mill.

As the population of the small mill town grew, more conveniences were added. A bunkhouse, cookery store, train station, two section homes and a dozen homes were built.

There was no road to Benny before 1935, and residents had to use the train to enter or leave town. The cost to travel to Benny from Sudbury by train was 15 cents.

By the 1920's, Benny's population was close to 150 residents. A school, boarding house were added. The general store was enlarged and now included a dining room.

In 1923 a church was built which also had a graveyard.

There was a makeshift jail made out of a railway cattle car, used to hold residents caught making moonshine until the police in Sudbury could come and pick them up.

The lumber operations ended around 1940, putting many residents out of work. Many of whom went to work for the Noranda Mining Company in the Geneva Mine.

One telephone line, in a home, was Benny's only source of communication with the outside world. When the line was removed in 1980, the town was left without telephone service.

Benny is an old CPR mill town, now used by seasonal guests and rail crews. While there are not many buildings left to see, it used to contain three boarding houses, two dozen cabins, a church and pool room. The population once stood at approximately 700 residents. The wages were 25 cents an hour for mill workers.

Domtar presently owns the Benny townsite.

Location: Take Highway 144 past Onaping and Levack to Cartier. Shortly after Cartier (8 kms) is a small sign (and also spray painted on a mountain) indicating Benny. It will be a left hand turn heading there from Sudbury.

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