Читать книгу Terry Boyle's Discover Ontario 5-Book Bundle - Terry Boyle - Страница 15

On a fall day in 1903, blacksmith Fred LaRose of Cobalt worked more than a horseshoe with his hammer. According to local lore, Fred threw his hammer at what he thought were the glimmering eyes of a curious fox peeking at him from behind a rock and instead struck a vein of silver.

Earlier that year two lumbermen, J.H. McKinley and Earnest Darragh, were exploring the timber limits when they spotted metallic flakes in the rock at the south end of Long Lake. The men extracted some samples and sent them away to be analyzed. The results specified silver values of 4,000 ounces to the ton.

The site was staked on August 4, 1903.

This discovery was to spark one of the richest silver booms Canada had ever seen. It gave rise to many additional discoveries that ultimately became a billion-dollar Canadian mining industry.

News of the discovery of silver brought Dr. Willet G. Miller, Ontario’s first provincial geologist, to the site. He soon set up a sign beside the railway tracks that read COBALT STATION.

A mining rush was on and people from around the world came to reap their share of the riches. By 1910 the silver production of Cobalt ranked fourth in the world. The mining industry, comprised of more than 100 mines, eventually produced 333,419,562 ounces of silver at an average price of 58.95 cents an ounce.

In 1911 the population of Cobalt and surrounding area had reached 13,000. A year later the town was incorporated, but no one envisioned the mining rush lasting more than a few years, and as a result the town was built up in a haphazard manner on the west side of Cobalt Lake. The business district of the community provided goods and services to the prospectors and mining companies who purchased land around and under the townsite. The settlers were treated as squatters, because civic and social needs were not to interfere with mineral exploration. A resident of Cobalt could be evicted from their home, at any time, if a silver vein was discovered beneath their house.

By then the town featured 18 hotels that catered to visitors and employees of the mines; four banks serviced the financial needs of the mining industry; and six churches, two schools, a courthouse and jail rounded out the public services. The development of the town attracted a broad cross-section of people. British and French immigrants made up the basic business core and the miners were primarily of central and eastern European descent.

Cobalt, like any other town, was not without misfortune. Its first disaster occurred in May 1906 when tons of dynamite exploded, causing a fire which destroyed a large section of the town. This was the first of what was to be many fires to besiege this small community. In July 1909, another fire left 3,000 people without homes.

The spring of 1907 was remembered for an epidemic of smallpox that claimed the lives of many, including Dr. William Henry Drummond, the famous habitant poet. After helping to fight the disease for many long days and nights, the doctor died in his sleep at his home at the Drummond Mine site east of Cobalt. A cairn, dedicated to the memory of the poet, still stands today on the site of his home. In 1918 an outbreak of influenza claimed more lives.

By the 1920s the price of silver had dropped sharply, many mines were closed, and still others ran dry. The community itself declined drastically during the Depression of the 1930s, but a strong band of those pioneer miners and their descendants have remained to keep the heart of Cobalt beating.

In 1953 a group of dedicated citizens decided to preserve the rich heritage of the area. Cobalt’s Northern Ontario Mining Museum opened in 1961 to feature one of the country’s finest silver collections, not to mention photographs, artifacts, and memorabilia from the earliest days of Cobalt. In 1985 the Cobalt Historical Society created the Heritage Silver Trail, a self-guided tour through the back roads of the Cobalt camp. Visitors travel to various sites, which focus on different aspects of mining. Each site features history and information signs, as well as photographs, encouraging one to relive the great silver rush of 1903 and experience the exciting history of this mining camp. A travel guidebook is also available at the museum.

The town of Cobalt as it appeared circa 1908.

Archives of Ontario

For those who are up for some exercise, the walking tours of Cobalt feature all-day activities that help you to discover a century of living. The tours begin at the museum on Silver Street, where the story of the mining is told in 7 galleries — the story that made the once-booming community of Cobalt famous.

After touring the museum, you walk left along Silver Street to the Classic Theatre. Built in the 1920s, the theatre was the last of a string of live vaudeville theatres that operated in the early years of Cobalt; restored in 1993, the building is now a state-of-the-art live theatre once again.

The next stop is the Royal Exchange Building. Built in 1909, this is now the site of the Fraser Hotel, one of Cobalt’s most impressive buildings. It was fitted with special fireproof doors on the upstairs suites and boasted a purple-mauve glass sidewalk that was lit from underneath. During the 1930s it served as a beer parlour.

On Prospect Street you come to the oldest structure on the street: The Bank of Commerce. Cobalt’s first bank actually opened in a tent on August 9, 1905. It is said that paydays were so busy at the Bank of Commerce that the manager would remove the windows so the miners could climb through to be served.

The town square is the next site, located at the corner of Prospect and Argentite Street. This was the central meeting place in Cobalt. Arriving settlers would leave the train station, climb the hill to the square, and fan out in search of vacant land.

Argentite Street was actually called Swamp Street at one time because the sludge from the Coniagas Mill located at the bottom of the hill often flowed onto the street.

The section of land down the hill towards the arena was once called Pigtown. (The Nipissing Central Railway operated regular streetcar service down into Pigtown, carrying shoppers, residents, and miners.) Cobalt boasted other neighbourhoods too — Fintown, Frenchtown, and squatter communities around the mining sites.

The Cobalt arena is on the tour as well. This was where the Coniagas Mine was located, on the hill behind the arena. You can still see the ruins of this operation.

Back up toward Silver Street is the site of the Fire Station. Fire was a nightmare for townspeople. Numerous fires have destroyed the buildings, ruined livelihoods, and killed residents. Many of the early structures were built quickly with any available material, including old dynamite boxes; they were tinderboxes waiting to go up in smoke.

Farther down Silver Street you will come to the Coniagas #4 mining shaft. This is one of the most unique buildings in Cobalt. The mining company sank a shaft here in 1914, even though it was right in the centre of the downtown. The shaft was sunk to a depth of 350 feet (100 metres). A cage, which was used to transport four men down the shaft, is still in the building. After the mining company left Cobalt, the building served as a grocery store. The owner relied on the cold underground air to keep his meat cool.

Today, Cobalt no longer represents the mining boom of 1903. Gone are the surplus of hotels and the prospectors who filled them. What remains is a small historic community struggling to survive the changing times.