Business View Magazine | March 2018

105 S arnia is a City in South- western Ontario,located where Lake Huron flows into the St.Clair River at the Canadian/U.S.border.It is part of the traditional territoryof the Ojibwa,Odawa,and Potowatami nations.The French explorer,Rob- ert de La Salle,first sailed the area in 1679,and gave it the name then in use by the First Nations, “The Rapids.”Before dredging began in the 1850s,Sarniawas known for its shallowand turbu- lent water at themouth of Lake Huron.It was surveyed as Port Sar- nia in the 1830s and incorporated as theTown of Sarnia in 1857. Sarnia grewto become an import- ant center for lake freighters and oceangoing ships. Sarnia’s role in the petrochem- ical industry stems from its prox- imity to the oil fields of Petrolia andOil Springs,which have been drilled commercially since the 1860s.Aburgeoning oil refining industrydeveloped in East London and eventuallyconsolidated into Imperial Oil.As rail connections and drainage improved,Imperial Oil relocated to Petrolia,and then to Sarnia in 1898 after Standard CITY ONTHEMOVE , Ontario AT A GLANCE SARNIA, ONTARIO WHAT: A city of 72,000 WHERE: Southwestern Ontario, where Lake Huron flows into the St. Clair River WEBSITE: www.sarnia.ca