The settlement was founded in 1883 as a construction camp for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR). Steamships loaded with supplies for building the railway would dock at what was then known as "Isbester's Landing", named for railway contractor James Isbester, who in partnership with Robert Gillespie Reid was responsible for building many of the railway bridges along the north shore of Lake Superior. Isbester's Landing grew from construction camp to railway division point. A station, roundhouse, car shops, icehouse and stock yard soon followed.