Most people would see Sudbury, Ontario as a place to stop for fuel while driving across Canada on the Trans Canadian Highway. I saw it as an opportunity. Sudbury offered a chance to see in person a giant roadside oddity. This was a roadside oddity which has been included on some top ten lists of giant Canadian roadside oddities. This one ranks right up there with the giant hockey stick and tin soldier. Sudbury, Ontario is home to the giant nickel.
Along our highways, cities with few attributes to attract tourism have built giant oddities. These purposeless megaliths sit out in the open in hopes that travelers will do more than just pause to refill their gas tanks. The hope is that once you have taken the time to see the biggest whatever you will also spend some time and money in the town. I’m a sucker for these attractions and will not pass them up.
Sudbury fits the criteria of the city featuring a giant oddity. The terrain surrounding the city is so bleak that NASA used it to train the moon astronauts. This is mining country. Geology formed by a meteorite smashing into it millions of years ago and leaving a substantial amount of precious minerals behind. The most prominent mineral is nickel.
The mines have not been kind to Sudbury. The city is a jumble of working class homes and businesses which would be a city planner’s nightmare. The dominant color is grey, gardens were few and greenery is at a premium. The meteorite left behind a lake which is about 30 miles west of Sudbury. There is a nature conservation area east of the city, however, if it is nature you crave, Sudbury is not your town.
Admittedly, I was driving a motor home towing a car through the streets of Sudbury so my observations may not be the truest. However, this is our ususal means of transportation and I cannot remember another town where it took us over an hour to find a restaurant which served breakfast. This search went on even after stopping for directions. We were given none. There were quite a few bars, second hand stores, and boarded up store fronts but no restaurants.
After breakfast our next chore was to find the big nickel. I had asked our waitress and she had never heard of it. She did ask a second waitress who thought she knew where it was. It was on Big Nickel Road, where else? Her directions were actually quite good and soon we were at the top tourist spot in Sudbury.
The giant nickel. There it was perched on a hill carved from a nickel strip mine, one giant nickel, on its end, at the end of a large empty parking lot which charged $5.00. The nickel was overlooking slag heaps and the only color other than grey was the Canadian flag. The nickel is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest coin in the world.
The giant nickel stands at 30 feet. It is five sided and replicates a 1951 Canadian nickel. The nickel itself is wooden and plated with sheets of stainless steel. The chose of the 1951 nickel was to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the isolation of nickel as a metal. Nickel is the mineral which gives Sudbury its existence.
The giant nickel now stands with The Dynamic Earth mining museum. The museum has exhibits pertaining to the mining industry as well as a tour of a nickel mine. There are many interactive exhibits designed for children, a rock hound gallery, and an IMAX theater. Admission is steep at $19.00 for adults and $16.00 for children. The IMAX is an additional $25.00.
When you stand at the giant nickel, you can see the other notable structure in Sudbury, the giant smokestack . This 1247 foot polluting giant stands as the second tallest smokestack in the world. It sits on top of the largest nickel smelting operation in the world. Sudbury is a product of its resource, nickel.
I can now cross off another giant roadside oddity which I had to see before I die. I have my picture taken standing under the giant nickel and can tell everyone I have been there. Sudbury suckered me in and got me to spend money on a breakfast and parking. When you are driving past Sudbury on the Trans Canadian Highway take an hour off and see the giant nickel. Plan to eat down the road.
