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“The City with a heart of gold” — Timmins, “The Gold Capital,” located in the heartland of the greatest mineral-producing area in the Western Hemisphere.

Timmins has seen economic activity since the early French fur trade in 1678.The discovery of silver in Cobalt, in 1903, enabled Noah and Henry Timmins, general store operators, to make a small fortune. From there Noah and Henry went on to finance the development of claims that had been staked by prospectors Benny Hollinger and Alec Gillies, at Porcupine Camp, now Timmins. It was renamed in 1909 in honour of these two industrious men.

The first mining claim in the district was staked in May 1905 on the southwest shore of Nighthawk Lake by Edward Orr Taylor. The following year Reuben D’Aigle headed up a prospecting party in Tisdale Township.

The D’Aigle party made a very significant oversight. To their misfortune, they missed some fairly obvious rich gold showings that were merely covered by moss. It was Jack Wilson Massey who uncovered the Golden Staircase, as it was called, and it eventually became known as the Dome Mine.

Two Finnish prospectors, Victor Mansen and Harry Benella, made a gold discovery on Gold Island, in Nighthawk Lake, in 1907. The immediate finds, however, were not encouraging and the project was suspended. It was Charlie Auer who later staked a nearby claim that became the Nighthawk Peninsula Mine and, between 1924 and 1944, produced about $500,000 in gold.

Barber Benny Hollinger and his partner, Alec Gillies, made the first substantial strike, south of present-day Gillies Lake, in Timmins. Noah and Henry Timmins invested their money in the Hollinger interests, and the Hollinger Mine was incorporated in 1910. A property that was staked by Sandy McIntyre and Hans Buttner became the McIntyre Mine. It was later discovered that copper was also present in the mine and, by 1963, the copper ore recovered exceeded that of gold.

It was still the shanty town of Porcupine Camp in 1911, but it was beginning to grow with the help of prospectors and other investors. In July of that year disaster struck. Gale-force winds fanned a number of scattered bush fires into a massive firestorm that flattened the entire settlement and killed 200 people. Many were buried on the shore of Porcupine Lake, a location appropriately called Dead Man’s Point.

The Municipality of Timmins came into being on January 1, 1912, and grew quickly. So many people came here from different parts of the world that it can be said that Timmins was “multicultural” before the rest of Canada.

The Timmins area has been a steady producer in gold production alone, more than $1.5 billion has been mined here. Immense copper, silver, and zinc reserves have been unearthed in the Kidd Creek area. This most notable discovery was announced in 1964, by the Texas Gulf Sulphur Company. Their Kidd Mine operation is now operated by Falconbridge Limited, and remains a viable metallurgical industry.

Stone is an impressive material, and the Timmins-Porcupine Chamber of Commerce understood this when they raised a 15-ton ore specimen from the Kidd Creek Mine, containing zinc, copper, silver, lead, and cadmium.

The Timmins Underground Gold Mine Tour is a great tourist attraction and is located at the Hollinger gold mine on James Reid Road. The underground portion of the tour lasts approximately 1.5 hours and is guided by retired miners who operate all of the various equipment. On the surface, visitors can pan for gold (keep all you find), view the pouring of a “Gold” brick at the Refinery, or tour the Hollinger House.

Timmins is the largest mining municipality in the world today and it is also very picturesque, with more than 500 lakes and hundreds of miles of streams. There is camping at Kettle Lake Provincial Park, 20 minutes from downtown, and it is one of Ontario’s finest parks.

It is an unfortunate state of affairs, in a land of such natural beauty, to learn about the mineral rights in the area. You may think you own your property in Timmins, but you do not own the rights to what exists beneath the soil. You have “surface rights.” The rest of the rights are already owned by previously staked mines. Therefore, if a copper, gold, or silver vein is discovered on your land, you could find heavy equipment digging up your backyard tomorrow.

Residents of Timmins are well aware of this unfortunate situation. Just a few years ago, a mining company decided to claim the gold tailings discovered in a city park. The trees were ripped out of the ground and the earth was removed. In a very short time there was nothing left of the park. What will it take for mankind to end the rape and pillage of the earth? To put something back where something has been taken? Perhaps the city fathers should remember their title: “City with a Heart of Gold!”