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The discovery of gold near Madoc in 1866 touched off a gold rush equal to that in California or Alaska. Unlike other mining centres, Madoc was well-established before gold fever struck.

The village, situated 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Belleville, was named after Madoc ad Owaiin Gwynedd, a legendary Welsh prince who was said to have discovered America in 1170. Prior to that lofty accomplishment, Madoc was the site of a Mohawk village. According to Native oral tradition, a party of Mississaugas left what is today Trenton for Lake Chuncall in Madoc as part of a plan to drive the Mohawks out of Ontario. A large battle ensued, and the Mississaugas defeated the Mohawks. Historians also tell us that because the lake was so small, the fish fed on human remains after the battle.

Donald Mackenzie, the founder of Madoc, arrived in the early 1830s and set about to build a saw mill and a gristmill. For the next 20 years the community was called Mackenzie’s Mills, then Hastings, and finally Madoc.

In 1835 Uriah Seymour and John G. Pendergast opened an ironworks in Madoc that eventually employed 100 people. The company enjoyed success at first, but the difficulties of transportation and the lack of proper fuel forced it to close down in 1845. Ten years later, an energetic entrepreneur came along, hired 200 workers, and reopened the ironworks. Five years after that, the industry employed 500 villagers.

Madoc became a lucrative trading centre on the Hastings Road. The village, in the early 1860s, boasted four carriage shops, five blacksmith shops, two cabinet shops, a tannery, a watchmaker, and an organ company. The population of the community reached 900 by the year 1865. A year later Madoc’s population and development would burst at the seams.

The idea of instant wealth has long haunted the dreams of man and driven many in search of gold. Marcus Powell, a division court clerk and part-time prospector, was no different. He had a hunch that he would strike the big one! On August 15, 1866, Powell, along with an old miner named Snider, went in search of the rainbow and its pot of gold. Searching high and low on John Richardson’s farm, the men made a discovery; they thought they had found copper. Their disappointment quickly turned to elation when they were told that what they had actually found, on lot 18 of the 5th Concession, was gold! Word of the discovery remained a secret for a short time but, with available gold running 22 karats pure, the story was bound to get out.

Mr. Lyman Moon, a hotel proprietor who also drove the stagecoach, went to Belleville with the gold samples to discuss the formation of a mining company. The news was out, and hundreds of people began to arrive in the area. New hotels could not be built fast enough to accommodate these prospective millionaires. According to newspaper accounts, 2,000 people were expected from Prince Edward County alone. Eight thousand Chinese from the California goldfields were thought to be on their way. Madoc was in newspapers and magazines across Europe. The village population of 900 expanded rapidly to 5,000. The government became concerned for the safety of those 5,000 and declared the area under federal jurisdiction. On April 15, 1866, a mounted police squad of 25 men arrived in Madoc. Their job was to enforce the peace and attempt to monitor the 300 mines that would soon be operating in the area. Everybody was digging for gold.

The discovery of gold on the Richardson’s farm gave birth to another village, Eldorado. Prior to the discovery of gold, only the Orange Hall, dating back to the 1840s, and the township hall, erected in the 1850s, stood at the site of the present hamlet.

Madoc and Eldorado soon attracted the likes of Caribou Cameron, a colourful character who had come from the goldfields of California and the Caribou. John Angus Cameron was born in Summerstown, Ontario, in 1820. A descendant of one of Glengarry’s pioneer families, he had spent many years in the Caribou fields of British Columbia, prospecting for gold. He was reputed to have earned $250,000 in the Caribou when he sold his claim. At that time he employed 80 men, to whom he paid $10 to $16 a day. When Caribou Cameron left the Madoc area, he had accumulated another $15,000.

Cameron’s wife, whose family lived in Cornwall, Ontario, had accompanied him to the Yukon, and she had died a short time later. To satisfy her dying wish, to be buried in Cornwall, Caribou Cameron accompanied her coffin by dog sled and pack train, and, finally, by ship around Cape Horn. When the ship arrived in New York, the customs officials did not believe his story — that the coffin was lead-lined and filled with whiskey to preserve the body. They opened the coffin to discover the body beautifully preserved and dressed as she had been when she died, several months before. This man had quite a history all of his own.

Although most of the gold mines in the area failed due to the difficulty and expense of extracting gold, other mineral deposits were discovered, including copper, lead, marble, talc, and lithographic stone. In 1869 a quartz mill was opened, which provided employment to area residents. The mine with the most continuous operation today is a talc mine, operated by Canada Talc Industries, which produces the only pure white talc in Canada. There is also a marble factory north of Highway 7 that makes chips for terrazzo flooring.

One might have expected Madoc to become a ghost town after the rush, but some prospectors remained and the village began to grow, thanks to the construction of the Belleville and North Hastings Railway and a gravel road south to Belleville.

Fire struck Madoc in 1873 and destroyed much of the village. Residents rallied and quickly rebuilt. Three years later the population was at 1,000. A short time later, the iron mines closed and the new railway system from Toronto to Ottawa went through Ivanhoe instead of Madoc, causing a change in population. The decline of the lumber trade was also responsible for lowering the population. In the 1930s the construction of Highway 7 gave the village an east–west link, and this encouraged some new growth.

Madoc Talc Mine circa 1909. This mine is still operating but gone are the mules, and the pits are now deep in the earth.

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During the last 20 years, Madoc has attracted hundreds of amateur geologists and prospectors, searching the countryside for gems (even diamonds), and, of course, gold. A renewed interest in precious and semi-precious stones has put the whole area back on the map. Anyone wishing to be a millionaire could take a trip from Madoc to Bancroft and stop many times along the way to test their luck.