Silver Centre: The Story of an Ontario Mining Camp
by Peter Fancy
Silver Centre was one of Canada's celebrated mining camps. It discovered millions of dollars in silver ore (when silver's price averaged 500 an ounce) and probably has as much mineral Wealth waiting today in it unexamined Keewatin ground for some future economic development. But most importantly, in terms of Ontario's social history, this Silver Centre story represents the way of life for many of the people living in northern Ontario during the early years of this century.
The story follows in detail the mining prospectors of 1907 their silver discoveries; the early mines-their success and failures; the depressing World War I years; then rebirth with the mother lode discovery of 1920 and its climactic decade of phenomenal silver treasure; finally, the inevitable exhaustion of known deposits. Fafling metal prices discourage continued searches. Mines close-sudden abandonment. This particular drama of prospectors and developers struggling with the Precambrian rocks is a constant, unifying theme.
Silver Centre is the story of a mining community and its people, of fellowship and stubborn pleasure.
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ISBN: 0-88954-306-2 | Hard Cover | 8.5 x 11" inches approximately | 160 pages | $24.95
Table of Contents
1 South Lorrain whispers - 1907
2 Quietly to be quick - 1907 - 1908
3 Fresh fills the air - 1908
4 Green with rain the grasses grow - 1909
5 A dry thunder - 1910 - 1913
6 Stretching out your hand to feel the wind - 1914 - 1915
7 A low sky - 1916 - 1918
8 Unravel this curdled cloud 1919 - 1921
9 Into the radiant sun - 1922 1923
10 The roaring machines drown your shout - 1924
11 Along the level of the roofs - 1924
12 Heavy days of slow delight - 1925
13 To warn. the way that winter comes - 1926
14 Rustles when the leaves are thin - 1927 - 1928
15 The branches bare - 1929 - 1931
16 The edge of the hill
Photographs
1. Cobalt railway station, 1907 - T.N.O. Report 5
2. New Liskeard, 1907 - T.N.O. Report 8
3. Haileybury wharf, 1907 - T.N.O. Report 9
4. Vendome Hotel, Haileybury 12
5. A prospector's camp, Gowganda, 1908 14
6. Hand steeling the surface trench, Gowganda, 1908 14
7. Keeley number I discovery shaft, HR 19, 1908 - Ontario Bureau Mines 16
8. Keeley number I shaft, HR 19, 1908 16
9. Sullivan's Lainding ("66"), 1908 - Ontario Bureau Mines 18
10. Landing 66 townsite Silver Centre, 1908 - Ontario Bureau Mines 20
11. Haileybury Silver Mining Co., HR 16, 1908 20
12. Transportation - winter mining supplies 23
13. Share issue of new mining Company, HR 97, 1909 29
14. Hand steeling underground 37
15. Steam diamond drill 38
16. Wettlaufer shaft house and mill, HR 85, 1910 39
17. Wettlaufer high-grade, 1910 39
18. Riding the shaft bucket 40
19. Bob Jowsey World War I recruit, Ontario Archives 43
20. Keeley number I shaft house, HR 19, 1915 - Ontario Archives 45
21. Dr. James Mackintosh Bell at Silver Centre 46
22. Provencher's store, the original Montrose Mine 50
23. Steamer Meteor unloading at Silver Centre wharf, May 2, 1921 - Public Archives, Canada PA 130094 52
24. Keeley mill and number 3 shaft house, 1921 - Ontario Archives 54
25. Horace Strong with his wife and kid 56
26. Keeley number 2 head frame, HR 19 57
27. Mel Robb holds Keeley silver sample, 1922 60
28. Leonard Smith points to Wood's vein silver, 1922 61
29. Frontier Lorrain number I shaft house and camp buildings, HR 16, 1922 - Ontario Archives 62
30. New number 3 Frontier shaft house , 1923 64
31. Newly enlarged number 3 Keeley head frame, 1922 65
32. Enlarged Keeley mill, 1922 65
33. Keeley mine - mill, 1923 65
34. Discovery of Wood's vein at Lorrain Trout Lake Mine, HR 103, April, 1923 67v
35. Frontier Lorrain Mine cookery, HR 16, 1924 68
36. Keeley shift boss Jack MacLeod with underground superintendent Bob Cameron 69
37. Frontier mine captain Godfrey Harnmerstrom, Doctor Gordon Smith and Lyman Fancy 70
38. Frontier mine manager Harold Fancy 71
39. Keeley mine superintendent Bob Cameron 72
40. Keeley mine manager Mark Little 72
41. Mining Corporation geologist Warren Eamons 73
42. Frontier mine bookkeeper Sterling Grant 74
43. Visiting dignitaries at the Keeley 76
44. The Keeley camp "in the hollow", HR 19, winter 1923-24 77v
45. Frontier Lorrain Mines Ltd., HR 16, 1924 78
46. Silver Centre Railway Station 80
47. Bob Cameron and Mark Little's residences, HR 21 81
48. Tennis at the Keeley 82
49. Skiing at the Keeley 82
50. Frontier hockey team 84
51. Harold Findlay's house 84
52. Brennan's Store 85
53. Joe Stater's house at Beaver Lake 85
54. Godfrey Harnmerstrom's house 86
55. Harold Fancy's house 88
56. Winter sleigh ride at the Keeley 88
57. Silver Centre Public School 89
58. Keeley hockey team . 89
59. Dunc McDonald and wife Kate 90
60. Russell Marshall, Silver Centre station agent 91
61. Recreational skating on the Keeley tennis court 91
62. Silver Centre post office stamp from Brennan's store 92
63. Keeley - Frontier baseball team 96
64. Godfrey Hammerstrom's family 97
65. Keeley camp, spring 1924 97
66. Clarence Scanlon 98
67. Silver Centre baseball champions, 1926 99
68. Eugene Provencher 100
69. First Public School class, October 1923 102
70. Hill 60, RL 458, townsite 103
71. Ice hockey at the Keeley rink 104
72. Frontier Mine buildings, 1925 106
73. Wood's vein - Frontier Crompton property - Ontario Archives 108
74. Frontier mine captain Godfrey Harnmerstrom with silver nugget 109
75. Drilling a drift round at Frontier Mine 110
76. Hand steeling the Forneri shaft, HS 42, 1925 111
77. Frontier Mine buildings, 1926 113
78. Watson vein, Frontier Mine 114
79. Watson vein, Frontier Mine 115
80. The surface crew at the Frontier 116
81. Off shift miners at the Frontier bunkhouse 117
82. Matabitchuan Power Plant and Tenement 119
83. Charlie Phelps new house at Mainden's Bay 120
84. Waiting for the Haileybury steamer to leave for the Matabitchuan, 1920 120
85. Canadian Lorrain Mill under construction, Public Archives Canada,PA 13986 123
86. Pete Larocque's fish nets drying at Mainden's Bay 123
87. Matabitchuan community picnic, December 9, 1923 124
88. Mining Corporation's HR 64 shaft, South Lorrain, 1928 129
89. HR 64 shaft, 1928 129
90. Keeley silver from below the diabase sill 132
91. The old valley road 135