Gold’s unique characteristics set it apart

Gold! The word has fired our imagination like no other metal, Ontario’s Ministry of Northern Development and Mines reminds us in a recent information circular.

The world demand for gold is still mainly for jewelry and coinage. The largest use of Canadian gold is in bullion coins, such as the Canadian Maple Leaf which is the largest selling bullion coin in the world. In Ontario in August, 1866, Marcus Powell discovered a Madoc-area cave whose walls contained “gold in the form of leaves and nuggets.” This was the first lode of gold discovered in the Canadian Shield. Soon the area was inundated with fortune seekers, and the town of Eldorado was founded. Provincial geologists defined a gold belt in eastern Ontario which supported several mines around the turn of the century.

In 1878, gold was discovered in the Lake of the Woods area of northwestern Ontario; a total of about $5 million of gold was produced between 1898 and 1951 from several mines.

The next major discovery took place in northeastern Ontario in 1906 near Larder Lake, as prospectors attracted by the Cobalt silver boom pushed northward, founding the mine and town of Swastika. Interest in the area was short-lived.

In 1896, provincial geologist E.M. Burwash found gold showings near Night Hawk Lake, east of present-day Timmins. However, there was little activity in this area until 1909, when several discoveries were made, including that by Harry Preston, who slipped on a rock knoll and accidentally exposed a quartz vein that led to a rich gold vein, which became the Dome mine. Benny Hollinger discovered a quartz vein that looked as though “someone had dripped candle along it, but instead of wax it was gold.” Hollinger staked six claims which were sold to Noah Timmins, the proprietor of a general store who had made his fortune in the Cobalt silver boom. On these claims Noah build the Hollinger mine, and developed the town site that was named after him.

About the same time, Sandy McIntyre staked a few claims adjacent to the Hollinger to the north, on which was built the McIntyre mine. Truly, 1909 was a bonanza year for Ontario mining. Discoveries made that year in the Timmins district have so far produced 60 million oz. gold. In 1912, gold was discovered near Swastika by W.H. Wright, becoming the Wright-Hargreaves mine and by Harry Oakes, who single-handedly developed the Lake Shore mine. Mines sprang up and the town of Kirkland Lake grew. The Kirkland Lake district has produced 38 million oz. gold to date. Gold was first discovered at Red Lake in 1897, but it remained undeveloped until rediscovered in 1924 by Gus McManus. This discovery prompted the Ontario government to send in geologist E.L. Bruce to examine the area. He noted that the area had many of the same geological characteristics as the Porcupine gold camp.

The first prospectors to follow up on this lead were the Howey brothers, Lorne and Ray, who staked what became the Howey mine. In the ensuing staking rush, the first use of airplanes to supply the growing but remote gold camp occurred, and a new service industry was born.

As was the case with many Ontario discoveries, the area around Hemlo on the north shore of Lake Superior had been picked over by generations of prospectors. Gold had originally been found nearby in 1662 by French explorers, and several short-lived mining ventures had tested local occurrences.

Hemlo owes its recent spectacular development to provincial geological reports, improved gold prices and persevering explorationists. In 1980, encouraging drilling results were obtained from a group of claims adjacent to the Trans-Canada Highway and the Hemlo boom was on, resulting in three major mines.