The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Most encyclopedias aren't nearly specific enough to include Flin Flon, but Wikipedia isn't your everyday research text. The popular online encyclopedia, in which users provide all of the data, features an entry on the oddly-named community. "Flin Flon was founded in the late 1920s by mining firms eager to exploit the large copper and zinc supplies in the region," reads the entry. "The town grew considerably during the 1930s as farmers, left impoverished by the Great Depression, abandoned their farms and came to work at the mines. "The city has continued to be a mining center, with the development of several mines adding to its industrial base. With a scenic setting and a number of nearby lakes, Flin Flon has also become a moderately popular tourist destination." The entry relates the story of how Flin Flon got its name courtesy of a character in the dime store novel The Sunless City. Under the heading "Marijuana Production," the medicinal marijuana program Ð which put the community in the international media spotlight Ð is detailed. Scroll down to the bottom and you'll find a link to the entry on Flin Flon's sister community, Creighton. "Creighton, Saskatchewan was named after Thomas Creighton," reads that entry. "The town lies approximately two kilometres west of Flin Flon, Manitoba. Because of the proximity between these two communities, there is a relatively high level of cross-border service sharing." Some Flin Flon-related entries include those on MLA Gerard Jennissen and MP Bev Desjarlais, both detailing the political history of the New Democrats. Wikipedia is a free content encyclopedia written collaboratively by contributors from around the world. The site is a "wiki," which means that anyone can edit articles. Wikipedia was launched on Jan. 15, 2001 by founders Jimmy Wales, Larry Sanger, and a few enthusiastic English-language collaborators. As of Sept. 2004, there were 10,000 active contributors working on over 1,000,000 articles in 50 languages. To access Wikipedia, log onto http://en.wikipedia.org
