Matthew Shoemaker is the mayor of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
In the 1890s, a Maine entrepreneur backed by financiers from Philadelphia and New York arrived on the north shore of Lake Superior, seeking opportunity where others saw decline. That man, Francis Clergue, found it in a fur-trading post named Sault Ste. Marie. Though industry had yet to take root, Mr. Clergue saw potential in the rapids, and the promise they presented of cheap, renewable power.
Over the next decade, his vision transformed the region. The half-finished hydroelectric dam was completed, and another was built across the river on the American side. A steel plant, a paper mill and a railway up to Wawa, Ont., and beyond to mine iron ore followed. What had been the Canadian hinterland became a hub of cross-border industry, powered by shared natural resources and ambition.
Today, more than a century later, that legacy endures. The hydroelectric dams in both …