Unorganized South East Cochrane District

Unorganized South East Cochrane District is an unorganized area in the Canadian province of Ontario, encompassing the small portion of the Cochrane District, immediately surrounding Highway 11 at the division's southern boundary with the Timiskaming District, which is not part of the municipality of Black River-Matheson which surrounds it.^[2] It consists of the southern half of the geographic township of Benoit and is the southernmost limit of the Great Clay Belt of northern Ontario.

Country Canada

Time zoneUTC-5 (EST)

Area codes705, 249

Quick facts Country, Province ...

Unorganized South East Cochrane District
Unorganized area
Cochrane, Unorganized, South East Part
Ontario Northland Railway crossing in Bourkes
Unorg. SE Cochrane Location within Ontario
Coordinates: 48°18.5′N 80°14′W
Country	Canada
Province	Ontario
District	Cochrane
Government
• Fed. riding	Kapuskasing—Timmins—Mushkegowuk
• Prov. riding	Timiskaming—Cochrane
Area [1]
• Land	53.46 km2 (20.64 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[1]
• Total	25
• Density	0.5/km2 (1.3/sq mi)
Time zone	UTC-5 (EST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
Area codes	705, 249

Close

The division had a population of 25 in the 2021 Canadian census, and a land area of 53.46 square kilometres.^[1] The main settlement in the division is the ghost town of Bourkes, located at the Ontario Northland Railway crossing on Bourkes road. The area was initially settled by Scandinavian immigrants around 1911 as a dairy farming region and by 1914 had a store, railway station and siding, school, post office and bunkhouse as well as two gold mines.^[3] The population peaked in the 1930s at 300, but slowly declined after the two local gold mines were shuttered and the timber trade dried up. The post office was closed in 1969 and the last store closed in the 1970s, today, only the disused bunkhouse and a few scattered houses remain of the settlement.