He is often referred to as the "Father of Cobalt,"[3] an unofficial title shared by the province of Ontario's first geologist, Dr. W. G. Miller (1866 - 1925).
[6] A month later, La Rose, a blacksmith, unaware of the recent silver find, made his discovery while working for brothers Duncan and John McMartin, also in the construction of the T&NO, at Mile 103 from North Bay, where he'd built a small cabin.
La Rose had an arrangement with the McMartins to share in any mineral claims that he found in the course of his work, and chanced upon Erythrite, often an indication of associated cobalt and native silver.
(A fanciful story later developed that La Rose discovered the vein when he threw a hammer at a pesky fox.
La Rose was subsequently fully bought-out by the Timmins and McMartin brothers, who, following a protracted legal battle over the land with M.J. O'Brien,[8][9] added a third partner, lawyer R. A. Dunlop, who then organized the La Rose Mines, Limited, incorporating February 21, 1907.
A third discovery, made October 21, 1903, by Thomas "Tom" Hébert– a Hull, Quebec lumberjack who was then working for the J. R. Booth Lumber Company, and had set out to seek employment with the T&NO Railway[10] –became the successful Big Nip mine, and was "the first vein on the property now owned by the Nipissing Mining Company".
[11] Metals discovered by La Rose and, previously, by the team of McKinley and Darragh, and then by Hébert, would spark international interest, culminating in the Cobalt silver rush.