Badger, Newfoundland and Labrador
| Badger | |
|---|---|
| Town | |
 Badger
|
|
| Coordinates: 48°58′00″N 56°02′00″W / 48.96667°N 56.03333°W | |
| Country |
 Canada
|
| Province |
 Newfoundland and Labrador
|
| Census division | 6 |
| Incorporated | 1963 |
| Area | |
| • Total | 1.96 km2 (0.76 sq mi) |
| Population (2016) | |
| • Total | 704 |
| Time zone | Newfoundland Time (UTC– 3:30) |
| • Summer (DST) | Newfoundland Daylight (UTC– 2:30) |
| Area code(s) | 709 |
Badger is a town in north-central Newfoundland, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada on the Exploits River. It supplied pulp and paper for the mills in Grand Falls for many years and was famous for its large spring log drives. The town is located in the interior of the island, twenty miles west of Grand Falls in Division No. 6. Badger was incorporated as a Town on September 30, 1963.
According to the 2016 Statistics Canada Census:
The name of the town was taken from Badger Brook, which flows through the town and is a tributary of the Exploits River. The Brook was initially thought to flow into Badger Bay and was named Badger Bay Brook. It was later shortened to Badger Brook (it does not flow into Badger Bay).
The history of human settlement in what is now Badger can be traced back to the Beothuck who are known to have lived where Badger Brook flows into the Exploits River. There are remains of Beothuck sites known in the area. A strategically important point with regards to transportation by water, the Mi'kmaq are also known to have used this area as a camp site when traveling to the Exploits River and on to Halls Bay.
The Mi'kmaq family names most closely associated with Badger are Paul and Barrington and it is a John Paul that is thought to be the first permanent resident of the town. John Paul and John Barrington are known to have trapped in current Badger area. John Barrington also served as a guide in the 1875 survey for the Newfoundland railway. The area was all wilderness until about 1894 when the Newfoundland Railway went through. Soon after, the first railway workers settled there. Around that same time, lumbering operations commenced and was initially a source of logs for the Exploit Lumber Company who had a Sawmill at Botwood and owned the timber limits. This same Company established a mill at Badger sometime around the turn of the century. According to the Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, there were two mills in the area in 1901. A Company known as the Newfoundland Pinelands Company owned a mill at Badger in 1905. Pinelands was a Harvey and Company subsidiary. The lumbering operations in Badger were taken over in the period 1905–1909 by Harry Judson Crowe, who would later sell the timber limits to the A.E. Reed (Newfoundland) company as a source of wood for their Bishop's Falls pulp mill.
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