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Labrador West's creation began in 1958, when huge deposits of Iron Ore were discovered in the area. At that time, the area really was the middle of nowhere. The mining camps constructed were crude and rugged in the beginning, but workers did have the advantage of fishing and hunting in an area previously untouched by man. Bunk houses were built a few kilometers from the mine site, and the workers were flown out intermittently to spend a couple of weeks home with their families. Initially the only transportation out of the area was the twice weekly flights.
Labrador West consists of two towns, Wabush,(Incorp. 1964) and Labrador City (Incorp. 1961) . Since  their incorporation, these two communities have prospered, always managing to remain at the top of an industry that has seen it's hard times. Today, the communities are expanding as never before, as the mining industry continues to provide a solid base on which to build an economic community filled with diversity and promise.
Men from all over the world came to Lab. West in the areas infancy, seeking work in the mines, enjoying the high wages, many planning only to stay for a couple of years. However, more often than not, the magic of the area affected them, and they would spend the rest of their lives there. With low cost of living in comparison to much of the rest of Canada, easy access via air travel, the railway, and the Trans. Labrador highway, Labrador West is a very comfortable place to live. Everything a person or family requires is within a couple of miles of home, and the education and recreation facilities are second to none.
Although these towns were a mixture of people from all over the country and the world, it was as if they lived in a world all their own. There was no need to go beyond the city limits, the town had everything possibly needed right at their finger tips.
During it's early construction, Labrador West was extremely well organized with subdivisions and serviced lots, shopping centers and recreational facilities all laid out to accommodate a community of twenty-five thousand. With the population being approximately half of that, the area has an excellent inventory of serviced lots and housing to accommodate an additional five hundred or more families, requiring a relatively small investment.
The area has evolved into an extremely diverse economic area over the past thirty or so years, and the future will see greater and more drastic growth as mineral exploration in the area explodes, and the true wealth of life in Labrador West increases still more. As of late, Labrador has become known as the "The power house of the province [of Newfoundland]." With the ore reserves currently exceeding one billion tons, and more discovered recently, the area has enough ore to ensure the "Twin Cities" prosperity for another hundred years.
The potential for new markets and still higher yields grows as exploration of the area improves. Voisey's Bay is just one example of the mining possibilities in the province, where development is presently well under way to mine the massive nickel deposits found there.
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