Porcupine Gold Rush

The earliest recorded mention is by a Department of Mines surveyor, E.M. Burwash, who reported seeing gold-bearing quartz as he travelled through Shaw Township, just southwest of the future goldfields.

On his return to Toronto, he made a now-famous comment that "I regard the region south of the Porcupine trail as giving promise of reward to the prospector.

"[1] A major event that led to the eventual rush was the start of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway (T&NO) running from North Bay through to Cochrane.

As it expanded northward it allowed prospectors to support longer surveys deeper into the bush, looking for the minerals that were expected to stretch across all of Northern Ontario.

D'Aigle had earlier been a latecomer to the Klondike, arriving after the initial rush but nevertheless sticking it out and eventually striking it rich along the Koyukuk River.

Although he found gold in numerous quartz outcroppings, the tiny flakes he saw were in stark contrast to the nuggets that could be panned in the Klondike, and he remained unimpressed.

[1] Although D'Aigle's parties were the largest, several other prospectors also made attempts to find gold in the area, potentially after hearing of his efforts.

George Bannerman set out with a partner, Tom Geddes, and started prospecting in the area north of Porcupine Lake.

[1]: 89–90 In early June, Jack Wilson, backed by two Chicago businessmen, led a party of four prospectors and three native guides into Tisdale Township.

As Wilson later noted,[1]: 90 As I was examining the seams in the quartz, about twelve feet ahead of me I saw a piece of yellow glisten as the sun struck it.

Gillies' report of the find shows just how unlucky D'Aigle had been:[1]: 92 ... Benny was pulling moss off the rocks a few feet away, when suddenly he let a roar out of him and threw his hat to me.

Noah's nephew, Alphonse Paré, described it: "It was as if a giant cauldron had splattered the gold nuggets over a bed of pure white quartz crystals as a setting for some magnificent crown jewels of inestimable value."

[3] The third great discovery was made by Sandy McIntyre (né Oliphant), an adventurous Scotsman who, years before, gave up his factory job as to become a prospector.

Although his name made millions, Sandy McIntyre himself had serious drinking problems, and sold his claims to the Timmins brothers before he could grow wealthy from their rich yields.

In 1935, Timmins wrote that he had set out with a mining party in December 1909, and had followed an old logging road that had fallen into disuse, cutting a new trail where needed.

The party arrived at the mine site on New Year's Day 1936, and soon acquired 560 acres of claims, including those of Hollinger, Miller, Gillies and Millerton.

Thousands of fortune seekers poured into the area, either in an attempt to stake their own claims, or more and more commonly, looking for work in high paying mining jobs.

Towns, often nothing more than tent camps, sprung up along the banks of Porcupine Lake, at that point the terminus of the canoe route into the area.

Seeing the obvious potential of the area the T&NO started construction of a spur line, but was delayed by the constant defection of workers to the goldfields.

The province responded by shipping prisoners to work the line, handing secondary duties such as clearing trees and rock.

As crews returned to South Porcupine they found and collected the dead, including people who had died of smoke inhalation or asphyxiation and were seemingly uninjured.

[1]: 126, 139 The Hollinger site was also wiped out in the fire, but rains that followed washed off the now unprotected topsoil to reveal many more veins of gold-bearing rock.

The mine was processing 800 tons of ore a day by 1914, and that year they were able to announce that they had proven reserves worth at least $13 million, and started paying dividends.

By this time the company was having trouble paying bills and was often being delivered goods "cash on delivery", but without a strong financial backer this was difficult to arrange.

There was a major first-mover advantage and many of the surviving properties were consolidated by the larger holdings to produce a single mine that was much more profitable.

The Coniaurum Mine was founded in 1924; backed by Cobalt money, they amalgamated several older plots north of the McIntyre area.

This allowed shafts to be sunk directly over the veins, without requiring the massive amounts of lumber needed to shore up horizontal drifts.