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IOS
GrZ

The Real Cobalt

THE STORY OF
CANADA'S MARVELLOUS SILVER
MINING CAMP l%3

ANSON A. £ARD

Author of "The Pioneers of the tipper Ottawa," "The New Canada,"

"The Yankee in Quebec," "My Friend Bill,"

"The Last West," Etc., Etc.

TORONTO

THE EMERSON PRESS

1908

.C(o

A LIST OF BOOKS BY THE
SAME AUTHOR •'.:-

The Yankee in Quebec

Uncle Sam in Quebec

The Wandering Yankee

How to See Montreal

The New Canada

The Hub and the Spokes; or, Ottawa

of To-day
The Pioneers of the Upper Ottawa
Ottawa, the Beautiful Capital
The Last West
My Friend Bill; a Novel

Entered according to Act of the Parliament of
Canada, in the year one thou$a$d nine hundred and
eight, by Anson A. Ga«d* at 4he Department of
Agriculture,

Press o v
Thb Hunter- "■
Limit?

1b*d!lw &C£

PREFACE

DID you ever think that the first you read is the last the
author writes? We never know what a book is to be,
and cannot know until it is. As Patrick would say —
" we never know what we are going to write until we have
written it."

In May of 1907, Cobalt to me was a name — now it is a
reality, and, believe me, " reality M may well be placed in italics.
If I am an enthusiast on the subject, it is with reason, and I am
honest in saying, that the most glowing accounts of it but feebly
convey what Cobalt really is. Even during the months I spent
in the camp, prospect after prospect turned to mine, and mine

»to shipper. I passed the Gillies Limit with a "eaklte" jest, only
to find it a "shipper," after the jest was in printed page.
That is the one advantage of a Preface — you can take it back
before the book reaches the hands of the critic, and thus discount
his sting.

Two days ago, Feb. 28th, the most famous mining law suit of
the Camp was ended. For years "The Lawson Vein" was in
litigation. It passed from court to court (see page 30), through
many tedious trials. But this ends it, and I have got to record
the ending even it I have to put it in the "Beginning." Tom
Crawford lost and John McMartin won.

I trust that no one will get the impression that I think all of
the 949 Coleman claims and the hundreds outside will become
mines. That would be impossible, and I would wish no one to
be misled. I do say that there are many great mines in Cobalt,
and many more prospects that must yel become rich shippers.
I have named of each a very, very few. Some of the richest I

iv PREFACE

have but hardly noted in passing— ^ome of their owners being
so modest that they wished not to be mentioned. Like the
Quakeress, modest and humble — and enormously proud of it.

I am indebted to so many for courtesies and favors, that a
bare list would turn Preface into a long chapter, and they must
take the "will."

To the newspapers and journals I owe much, especially so to
The Silver City News, of Haileybury, and The Canadian Min-
ing Journal, of Toronto From the columns of both I gained
much valuable data. You too are indebted to this great Mining
Journal, for many of the beautiful illustrations are here through
the kindness of its people. It was their wish that the Camp —
which already owes it so great a debt — should be showji as it is,
and nothing so illustrates as pictures of the real.

In subsequent editions (which must follow, since the first is
all but gone before it leaves the press), many new features will
be added. New pictures, other mines, a fund of stories and
incidents of the Camp; and sketches of other characters who
have figured in its early history and subsequent growth. No
features of more interest will be than "Hmo it was Discovered,"
and " The Rapid Successes of Cobalt "in which wiy appear man)'
discoveries, incidents and biographical sketches, familiar to the
old( ?) timers. In short, the most interesting features of any
book — again letting Patrick tell it — "are the things not in it."
They will be in the next, if the readers of this will but add in-
dividual mine incidents to my already large collection of the
general camp life. With many a "thank you" to Cobalt, and
to that great Northland, and with sweet memories of a delightful
sojourn among their kindly people, I am,

Most sincerely,

THE AUTHOR.
Toronto, March, 1908.

The Real Cobalt

WHEN I read the story of "Aladdin and His Wonderful
Lamp," I believed it, from which you may judge how
young I was when I read it. It was a great disappoint-
ment when I found it wasn't true, and ever since it has been
harder and harder to convince me of the truth of anything
wonderful until — well, when I read about Cobalt and the
marvellous "finds," I simply set it all down to the credit of
the man who had a mine for sale — a mine he didn't want,
and who sat up nights to devise language sufficiently strong
to get it off his hands. But as time went on and I saw
impecunious friends changing from rented cottages to fine resi-
dences of their own, from simple Cobalt dividends, I was com-
pelled to accept as truth the stories of this twentieth century
Wonder. And now, after months of visiting in and around this
veritable Land of Silver, I want to tell you that only a few of the
scattering facts have been told of what is to be found in this land
of marvels. "Only a few" — a library on the subject would but
touch the "Calcite" of the vein! You may doubt my words —
I won't blame you if you do — I doubted this story myself when
I heard it, and not until it had been told and retold me by the
many could I grasp and accept it as a fact.

I shall start my own story of "The Real Cobalt" by relating
how a company of men, organized with a capital of $25,000 of
"air," have succeeded. They did all in their power to place
the stock, but to little purpose. Finally, by selling dollar shares,
on the instalment plan, they sold less than $8,000 worth, and
with this small capital have developed a business that has become
the marvel of the financial world.

I will not make it a long story. Each dollar share has pro-

2 THE REAL COBALT

duced in dividends, from sales, $95, and their real value can only
be known by long development of the many rich mining claims
of the fortunate holdings.

The company of which I speak is the most unique in all the his-
tory of the mining world. Before Cobalt was even dreamed
of, a number of business and professional men and farmers, in
and around New Liskeard, Ontario, formed

The Temiskaming and Hudson Bay Mining
Company,

and sent prospectors into the far north to seek for minerals of
any kind. They organized in the early spring of 1903, and after
prospecting for a whole year, found nothing worth mentioning,
and still they worked on, spending thousands of dollars to prove
the value of New Ontario's mineral possessions. To them the
Government owes a debt which may never be determined. In
the spring of 1904, when but little of the value of Cobalt camp
was known, the prospectors of the company went down from
New Liskeard and took up eleven claims in what has since proven
to be one of the very best parts of all the district. Had they
but followed the precedent of 1903, and the custom of to-day,
they might have had thousands of acres instead of the 380 which
they have since so honestly prospected, and which have been
proven of such fabulous richness. But while a few new men
staked large areas of accidental finds, the many members of
this company, who had long sought for mineral throughout the
great north, staked but the eleven claims.

In the fall of 1906, they sold the 58 acres just south of the
limits of Cobalt to the Silver Queen for $810,000— -nearly $100
for every dollar invested, and nine of the eleven lots left, one of
which has developed into a claim so fabulously rich that its real
value cannot be determined. It was in June of this year (1907)
that they struck on this lot, a wide vein of solid silver, and in
September another was discovered that is the wonder of all the
camp.

THE REAL COBALT 3

The early history of the "Hudson Bay" is so full of incident
that one might write of it a volume of intense interest. As
stated above, the stock was sold on the instalment plan, and to-
ward the last of 1903 the collector had his own troubles in getting
in the few cents per share. If is told that one day he was given
a pan of hot water from the hand of an irate woman who had
before told him to "Never let me see you again." Another
subscribed for 200 shares, went home and, regretting the act,
refused to. make even the first payment. It is said that she had
another regret later on. A man had a fire down east, and lost
a small fortune, so discouraging him that he came to Cobalt
to make a new start. Meeting another discouraged one after
he got here, he was induced to take 200 shares of "Hudson Bay"
"at your own price." He had a few dollars — less than $100 —
and took the shares. His first dividend was $18,400. He has
since been heard to say that he was glad he got burned out down
east. Being a wise man he still holds the whole of his shares.
These are but a few of the many incidents that are told about
the lucky and unlucky investors of this wonderful company's
stock. Possibly the most unlucky person was the woman whose
husband refused to give her ten dollars to buy 100 shares of the
stock. A man was leaving town and thinking so little of the
"Hudson Bay" that he offered to sell to her his certificate for
ten cents a share. Think of it! I will warrant that never in the
world's history could $20,000 have been made inside of a year
for a ten dollar investment.

Besides their valuable holdings in Coleman, the company
have a rich galena claim near Grassy Lake, in the Larder Lake
district, which they are developing, and which promises well.
It does seem that everything this company touches turns out to
be good. What is remarkable, not a single man in all the pro-
moters of the company was a mining man or knew anything
about mining. No wonder it has been called "The Lucky
Hudson." What its stock will yet be worth no one dare guess,
since the dividends alone have made many a poor man rich.

The officers are all New Liskeard men, no one of whom receives

THE REAL COBALT

a salary — the company being run, possibly, more economically
than any other in the whole camp. These officers are: President,
George Taylor (formerly of London, Ont., of which city he
was three times Mayor), a hardware merchant; Vice-President,
Angus MeKeivey, a lumber man. Directors: T. MeCamus,
lumber and mill man, who, with the v ice-president, holds large
timber limits- D. T. K, McEweu, a leading lawyer in the Cobalt
district; John Grills, Crown Land Agent of the Temiskaming
District; D. M. Ferguson, capitalist; Dr. B. Field, the leading
physician of the district; Adam Burwash, long the Indian Agent
for the various tribes of the Temiskaming and Abitibi Lakes;
S. S, Ritchie, farmer; W, E, Ritchie, farmer; and John Dunkin,
contractor. Sec'y-Treasurer, F. L. Hutchison, accountant.
The main offices are in New Liskeard.

We like to read of the success of the worthy poor— I do at
any rate. I'm going to tell you of the family of father, mother
and six sons who had worked long and hard in this northland,
and after years of struggle had saved enough to invest $1,300 in
the shares of the above company. While others grew tired
waiting for dividends, they held on to their stock, for they had
faith in it, and are lo-day worth $260,000. I have verified the
story and know it to be true.

This is but an instance, in this Aladdin Land, where poor
men of less than four years ago are now justly rated many times
millionaires, I visited the mines of some of them and have
walked along veins of silver for long distances, as in places this
valuable metal needed but to be merely uncovered, dug from
its bed and shipped to produce — in one instance — $126,000 for
a single carload of ore.

" See that 1 w said a man to me to-day, H That " was a tele-
gram telling the result of a car shipment. "$92,000" was the
burthen of that telegram, and the man showing it manifested
as little interest as he would have once shown over the sale of a
small order of drugs — the Felling of which he gave up to go into
mining only a year or two ago. From no knowledge of muimg
he has become one of the best informed in the camp; and start-

THE REAL COBALT 5

ing with but a small capital, his interests extend over a wide
range. Sudden riches too often change the "good fellow" into
the unendurable cad — it has not changed "Bob," and we delight
in his success.

Later. — This company have since turned out nearly one-half
million dollars' worth of silver, and as this goes to press the rumor
is that they have struck an "ore chute" with millions in sight.

The Mother Lode Theory

Those conversant with silver values elsewhere cannot realize
the richness of this district. $100 to $150 ores, to them, are
high values; while here it runs as high as 22,000 ounces per ton.
For this reason it is justly claimed that this is the richest silver
camp in the world, and the only question is: "Will it last?"
Since coming to Cobalt I have made it a point to gather from
as many sources as possible the impression on the mother lode
theory.

While many think it an absurd one, others make it seem
most feasible that the silver has been forced up from below.
If this be true, then the permanency of the district is assured,
and the hidden wealth of Cobalt must run into the fabulous.
The advocates of the theory claim, that deep as have the shafts
been sunk, that the surface has scarcely been scratched to pro-
duce the hundreds of tons already shipped from here, and that
many holdings now looked upon as worthless, are underlaid
with fortunes only waiting the enterprise of the holders who are
not afraid to go down after the wealth.

This does not mean that all of the "holdings" are valuable.
Some of them whose owners have spent fortunes telling the
public how "good" they were, will never be other than worthless.
These owners went on the principle that the public is easier
"worked" than mines. I've visited water-filled holes in the
ground, and by comparing old issues of the daily papers with
the locations of those holes, I found that I was gazing upon
"Hie greatest, the richest, the most wonderful proposition in

6 THE REAL COBALT

the whole Cobalt camp; now 'steen cents, bound to go up to a
price we dare not name." The "price" never went up, and
the holes are no further down, for the owners were satisfied
with what the public gave them, believing true all that the owners
had claimed in their advertisements.

This is why really valuable stocks are now so low. The
public spent the money — getting nothing in return — which could
now be placed to an advantage which may never again be
offered. I know mines whose stocks would be good invest-
ments at three times the price at which they can be bought for
to-day — not one or two, but many of them, for they have the value
and inside of a very few months will prove it.

There are brokers who will make doubly sure that what
they offer is good; there are also other brokers — dealers in
"gilded bricks" — but "that's another story "

My desire is to tell you of "The Real Cobalt"; to hunt
out the facts which, however fabulous they may seem, will yet
be facts, for I shall verify every story, and tell you of properties
which I have found to be safe to recommend.

I might give you whole pages of big rock words telling you
of the Laurentian formation, the Keewatins, the Diabase, the
Conglomerite and — but then, as it would in the end, all be to
you a conglomeration of words, you would know no more about
the matter than you did before — would know no more about
it than the geologists themselves, whose knowledge of this dis-
trict seems to have begun and ended with the names of the rocks.
This may be hard on the geologists, but I'm telling you the
"Real." I asked a successful prospector: "What is the differ-
ence between a geologist and the man who finds silver?"

"Vast. The geologist looks for it where it ought to be; we
look for it till we find it."

It wasn't a geologist but a blacksmith who discovered the
silver in Cobalt. Many stories are told of how Larose, the
Hull blacksmith, found that which has made so many millionaires
and which is to make so many more millionaires.

One of these stories has it that Larose threw his hammer at

THE REAL COBALT 7

a passing fox — missed the fox and struck a nugget of silver.
Subsequent events proved that even had he got the fox he
wouldn't have been a match for him in ways that are credited to
Reynard.

I've met a number of people who might have had " that mine."
One man told me that one of the Herron boys once came to him
with some copper which he said he found where later silver was
discovered by Larose. "He offered it — the claim — to me for
$200, but my partner said, * to Hull with it I'" — wicked partner
— but he was prophetic, for to Hull it went, but didn't stay.

COBALT LAKE AND ITS
SURROUNDINGS

AS I shall from time to time speak of the various mines, let's
sit down in the office of the Cobalt Lake Company — or
better still, let's get out in that naphtha launch in front of
the office and I'll point out to you where are some of the prin-
cipal mines. We will take this as the viewpoint, for the " Cobalt
Lake" seems to hold the "centre of the stage.'

Now listen while I tell you things. The lake runs along the
railroad, or as it was here first, the railroad comes into town from
the south along its west bank. The lake is like a long, high-top
boot with the foot at the south end, across which the railroad
cuts, leaving the severed toes on the west side of the track. The
lake is long and narrow, and contains 53 acres. Cobalt — built-
up Cobalt — Mes along the west side of the railway. Wish I could
incidentally describe the town, but I can't — it's that mixed up.
It hasn't a whole street. It has a "square" just to the west of
the depot. "Square" in name only, for it runs as it pleases,
with streets running out — two to the north, one to the west, and
that one which runs down along the track to the south.

"Main" Street has so many names that it's all owing to the
man you ask, who can tell you where it is. I asked the Mayor
and he said he didn't know — but then he's only been here four
years. Like " Broadway," New York, so called because it is so
narrow, "Main" Street, Cobalt, is so called because it runs off
to the side, toward the east. I could once have jumped across it,
it's that narrow. Two waggons might pass abreast, if one went in
front, as Patrick would say, but would sure lock wheels if they
went together. None of the roads are worked. • Nothing seems
to be "worked" in Cobalt but the people, and that keeps every-

8

THE REAL COBALT 9

body busy. They told me, before I came, that there was no
water in Cobalt. It's all wrong. The day I landed there was
lots of it, but it was all worked into the soil and got into your
system over the tops of your shoes. This was uncomfortable
for those who do not like water — and I met more of that kind in
one week than I saw in New York City in seventeen years — not
in Cobalt, as one must take water or go dry in this temperance
town — unless — but that is also "another story," which you may

hear told the second day after you land. One of the O boys I

met must have heard it the first day. He seemed so happy.
Said he'd found a small menagerie up Main Street. He had
only a vague notion of the animals, and all that he could remem-
ber was a little pig, and it was " blind" — poor thing! He wanted
me to go see it, but I'm so tender-hearted that I cannot endure
to look upon affliction, even in an animal, and I refused. Next
time I saw him — an hour or two later — he couldn't have seen a
pen of "pigs," he was that "blind" himself. I don't know, but
some one said he was "paralyzed." And incidentally I've never
before seen so many cases of "paralysis" in a healthy camp as
in the Cobalt district, covering a distance of twenty miles. Some
days the sound man is the exception. Newton, Kansas, in the
Seventies, had more, and the difference was that in Newton
they used powder guns to do the "shooting"; here they use
superheated uncompressed "air" — lots and lots of it, and so
full of "sulphur" that "His Majesty" might start a new "camp"
with the output.

And yet Cobalt, notwithstanding, is unique in the mining
camps of the world. No intoxicants are allowed, by law, to be
sold; it has fine schools, many churches, and is fast coming out
of the chaos of its earlier years.

But about Cobalt's topography, of which it has so great a
variety — stumps predominating. You start up one street with a
waggon, and you'll have to go around through some other street
or you'll never get there, unless you go 'cross lots. The Gov-
ernment sells and takes out of one of its towns all it can
possibly get and then leaves the town in the mud. It, or they,

10 THE REAL COBALT

as you choose, has taken out nearly two million dollars from
sales of lots and mining rights in and around Cobalt, and has
returned towards street improvement the munificent sum of
two thousand dollars.

Governments are the same the world over. They take from
them who need help the most and give to the localities where
votes are most needed to the party — no matter which — in power.

The Wichita Congressman

I am reminded of an instance in my own country. A member
of Congress from Wichita, Kansas, asked for $20,000 to make
the Arkansas River navigable from Arkansas City to Wichita.
He had been very kind in voting for his brother members' pet
schemes and of course, got the twenty. He spent the money
(SOME of it) in sticking in, along the banks, Cottonwood brush.
His party papers praised him, while the opposition papers were
so glad to have so much money come into the community that
they said nothing about it, and the rest of the country never
heard of it. "Was his scheme successful?" you ask. Oh, yes,
Very, very successful. He went in next time with a largely in-
creased majority, but I could have waded across the river just
as easy as I could before. All parties and all Governments are
the same. But that does not change the fact that Cobalt should
be given a part of the wealth taken from it by the powers that
be. Same with Latchford and Englehart, but I'll let them
do their own talking.

Locations of Principal Mines

About two blocks back from the station (Cobalt's), the steep
hill begins, and to get up you must drive sideways or not reach
the top, on which so many of the great mines are located. Yes,
right in town. See those shaft houses? Let's count those
within a half mile of the station. Begin there at the south end
of town, and count them in their ordor. Townsite, with the
Silver Queen just below; power-house of the Cleveland-Cobalt,

THE REAL COBALT 11

with mines a mile and a half to the west, to which com-
pressed air is piped from here; City of Cobalt, Nancy-Helen,
Buffalo, Coniagas, Trethewey, the many mines of the great Temis-
kaming and Hudson Bay Company, and others to the north
and west, just beyond the hill, out of sight of where we are sitting.

So much for the town and mines along the west side of the
lake. Now look to the north of where we sit in front of the
Cobalt Lake Company's office, and we'll count those in near
view. There's the Larose, surrounded by the Chambers-Fer-
land; the O'Brien, to the east; the Right of Way, the strip
running down along the railway; the Nipissing, just here to
our back; the next, joining the "Nip" on the south, is one of
the best known of all, by reason of its great value and much
optioned early history, the McKinley-Darragh. This brings our
vision to the south end of the lake and up to the railway, beyond
which, to the west, I have already named the mines in sight.

Now, there, have you the "lay of the land" in mind? Before
coming up to see for myself, I could never get Cobalt and its
mines fixed rightly. I'd look at the map and still it was all
hazy. But sitting here and looking around with the lake as
the centre, it is so plain that I wonder that I should not have
seen it all before.

I wondered if it were hilly, and if so, how hilly. The west
and east are both a high ridge, in places running down to the
lake's edge, while to the north and south is a valley through
which the railway passes on an easy grade.

The mines of note, about which you hear so much, lie mostly
in the district named around the lake. But many others are
scattered in all directions save to the south. The Gillies Limit
shuts off mining in that direction.

Gillies Limit

A report says that the Government was offered $15,000,000
for the Gillies Limit. I do not believe it. I have too high an
opinion of the wisdom of the men who run it. They may make
errors in management, but their judgment would not allow them

12 THEiREAL COBALT

to refuse an offer far above the value of a thing, and that sum is
far above what this tract of country is worth. Just now they
are putting its value to a test, by sinking a shaft. Although far
down, they have, besides the shaft, sunk only money. They
have, 'tis true, found some

Calcite

which leads up to the story of the tenderfoot who, shortly after
his arrival, asked in all simplicity: " Which is the more valuable,
calcite or silver ?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Why? Well, I hear so much about calcite that I have
cometo look upon it as the most valuable of minerals. Every-
body^tells me: 'I've struck a splendid calcite vein,' and he's
prouder over it than any one I've seen after shipping a car of
silver ore that has brought him a hundred thousand dollars.
Yes, calcite must be most valuable!" He later learned some
things, and calcite's real worth was one of thethings.

You, too, no doubt, want to learn some things, so let's talk
about some of the mines. We won't talk of all of them. I've
seen a lot of them that would come under the definition of the
man who said: "A mine is a hole in the ground with a liar on
top." This is more true than elegant. I could appreciate the
fact one day when I went hunting for a wonderful mine (?)
which a newspaper, in a big edition, had lauded to such a height
that I expected to find a great plant with a hundred men bag-
ging rich ore. Among my pictures you may see what I found.

The Liar Wasn't There That Day

A friend had asked me to go and look over the property and
tell him if the newspaper story were all true. It took me over a
month to find where the thing was located. Even the men I
met on an adjoining claim could not tell me where it was. I put
in the afternoon, as I was determined to find it. Finally, I
found some men chopping wood in a clearing. I thought it was

THE REAL COBALT 13

a chopping bee, but instead, they told me that I had discovered
the "mine" about which so many great things had been said
in praise. I didn't want to lose the afternoon, so I took a photo-
graph of a water-filled hole. I was sorry that the rest of the
"mine" wasn't there. It may have been as well that "he"
wasn't, as I was not in the best of humor after my long tramp
through the briers, weeds and holes, hunting for "him" and
"the hole in the ground." The company said they'd like to
have me visit their mine and tell you about it. I have done so.
I have even given you a photograph of it.

"Zay Got Ze Good Education"

It is the real mines about which I mean to tell you. Mines
which are being honestly worked. They are not all "shippers"
yet, but as a French woman, at a little country soft drinks cabin,
said to me one day, as I asked, pointing to a nearby mine, that
had closed down: "Why did they close?"

" Zay finds ze silver, now zay want find ze buyer." Pointing
to another which had also closed, I asked: "Did they find the
silver too?"

"No, but zay got ze good education" Same with the mines
of which I shall tell you. They may not all have found silver,
but they have good indication. The French soft drinks lady had
innocently told a truth that many a mine-worker will too sadly
appreciate, as the claims up here are not all silver mines, as I had
thought they were before I came. Yes, I thought you could find
silver lying loose about the whole country. You can't, though,
and must be content to find it after much hard work, good man-
agement, and a good bit of outside money.

Do you think that it is found by simply digging into the
ground? I did. I thought that you only had to dig and blast
at random. Not so. You first hunt till you find a vein and
then go down. You may find it near the top, as a few have
done, or you may have to go down a hundred or more feet, and
even then fail to get other than "ze good education." Men have

14 THE REAL COBALT

spent their last dollar, given up, heart-broken, and later learned
the sad fact that one shot more would have made their fortune,
which reminds me of

The " Other Foster's " Story

"An Irishman," said Foster (who starting in Ohio has been
in possibly every mining camp on the continent, finally turn-
ing up in Cobalt), "out in Colorado had a gold claim. He
used to work this claim until his money gave out, then mine for
others until he had another 'stake,' when he'd go back to his
own. Well, he finally gave up in disgust, and abandoned the
claim. Another took it up, and in just two feet struck a fab-
ulously rich vein, and at once had a great mine. Later, the
Irishman, on seeing what he had lost, said: 'Oi've moined for
forty years, and if Oi moine for a hunerd more, Oi'U niver,
niver, stap in a shaft till Oi've gan two fate further.' "

THE COBALT LAKE MINING
CO., LIMITED

^W[f E will begin right where we sit to talk of the real mines.
W It will be like talking of the folks down home, since
it may be called a home mine — so many Ottawans
are there in it.

I have never before noted the absolute necessity of a company
being run with scrupulously honest care as since coming to Cobalt.
An honest, wise and careful directorate can take a mining prop-
erty, which had been passed over by hundreds of prospectors,
and bring it out one of the great successes of the camp, whilst
a first choice may be purposely managed to death.

Not until the latter part of 1906 was the lake that lies along
the east side of built-up Cobalt looked upon as of enough value
to stake, while prospectors had gone miles away to take up claims
which have long since been abandoned as of no value. When
Cobalt Lake was offered for sale by the Government, it dawned
upon so many that beneath its waters lay a vast deposit of silver,
that $1,085,000 were bid for it, and that too by some of the best
business men in the country, who figured that with the greatest
mines in the district surrounding it, this deep basin must con-
tain fabulous wealth. Others said: "It may contain silver, but
lying beneath a deep lake, it will not pay to go after it." These
latter had not taken into account the men at the head of the
purchasing company. Men are they to whom the difficulties
of the "others" are but ordinary business propositions. And
so it is being proved. They chose a manager who knew but to
accomplish, and a mining engineer to whom the sinking and
drifting under a lake was a simple thing.

15

16 THE REAL COBALT

Depth of Cobalt Lake

The first thing to do was to find the depth of the lake and the
formation of the bottom. This they learned and made a chart
of it. This chart shows the depth for every 66 feet to be about
forty feet of water, and a deposit of about the same down to the
bed rock.

Having a shore line extending back 33 feet from high water
mark, they began sinking shafts, first by hand and later by the
most approved machinery; with compressed air power for driv-
ing the drills, they have sunk one after another until they have
now started on the seventh shaft. These, in their order, have
reached 20, 48, 20, 162, 100, 106, 20 feet, and north shaft 70.

Having sunk, they purpose drifting and making a network
of tunnels all throughout — far below the bottom of the lake,
just as though it were but ordinary ground. From shaft No. 6
they will go under the south end of the lake, to catch the'valu-
able veins known to run out from the McKinley-Darragh mines,
and by tunnels connect the other shafts, catching veins on the
way.

They Have Found It

The "Others" said: "We could have had that lake, but we
did not want it." They would like to have it now! Yes, they
are honest enough to admit their error. And why not? Even
while getting ready to mine, so much silver has been dug that
the value has been proved, and yet the great ore bed has scarce
been touched.

The Indians Knew

Long years ago the Indians used to tell how that they found
their silver trinkets beneath the water. They would never say
where that water lay. They had a superstition that misfortune
would follow should they give its hiding place. From the casual
description given by wandering bands, many think that Cobalt's

THE REAL COBALT 17

location was known to them, and doubtless from this very lake's
borders came many of those trinkets, for scarce had the company
begun work along the east shore when silver was found.

A Diversion of the Camp

Last winter, I am told, it was one of the diversions of Cobalt
to cross on the ice, every few days, to see some new find made
by the company, as the work went merrily along. Among the
finds are fine samples of "wire" silver that are beautiful enough
to enthuse the breast of other than an Indian. But what is a
greater proof of a body of ore, lying far beneath the lake, is the
continual finding of great masses of melted silver, as though in
the aeons ago, this metal, having filled the surrounding crevices,
had poured in residue into this deep depression, from which a
wise engineering skill is to wrest it for the enrichment of those
whose faith is strong enough to await the proof.

Cobalt Lake Mining; Co* Officers

The officials of the Company are the following: President,
Sir Henry M. Pellatt, of Toronto; Vice-President, George F.
Henderson, of Ottawa; Secretary-Treasurer, G. F. Morrison,
Toronto. Directors: Hon. Frank Latchford; Thomas Birkett,
ex-M.P.; Gordon C. Edwards; D. B. Rochester, Managing
Director (all of Ottawa); ".Britton Osier, and Major J. A.
Murray, of Toronto; and J. H. Avery, of Detroit, Mich.
Engineer in charge of work, E. L. Fralick, Belleville.

The Plant

The Cobalt Lake have one of the most complete plants in
the district. The buildings are large and well built. These are
an office, dining-room and kitchen, bunk-house that would be a
good model for many a hotel. In the spacious power-house
are two ioo horse-power boilers, a 15-drill air compressor, from
2

18 THE REAL COBALT

which run out pipes to convey the air to all parts of the mines.
A private electric light plant furnishes light to the buildings
and mines.

History of the Mine

When Cobalt's history shall have been written, no chapter
will compare in uniqueness with that of the Cobalt Lake Com-
pany. See the rapidity of its formation. On November 22nd,
1906, the first official announcement was made by the Govern-
ment that the lake would be sold, and that the tenders would
close on December 20th, — less than one month away. There
was no time for any sort of an organization among capitalists, so
a popular syndicate was formed and when the subscription lists
were collected it was found that almost 700 had subscribed
an average of about $1,800 each — the larger number, of Ot-
tawans. At the first meeting of the subscribers, Messrs. Geo.
F. Henderson, Thomas Birkett and D. B. Rochester were
appointed to deal with the matter, the last-named of whom had
been active from the start, having long known of the property.
These gentlemen went to Toronto, where several hundred thou-
sand dollars had been subscribed. At a conference with Sir
Henry Pellatt and Britton Osier, the two syndicates were united,
and the amount thought to be necessary to bid in order to secure
the property was decided by each of the conferees writing an
amount upon a slip of paper. When these slips were collected
and an average struck, the sum was found to be $1,085,000,
which was bid and the lake secured.

The company was quickly formed, capitalized at $5,000,000,
of which $4,000,000 was to be fesued at once, and each sub-
scriber given three shares for each dollar of his subscription.
It was decided to issue $400,000 of treasury stock for devel-
opment work and other necessary purposes. Most of this was
taken up at 85 cents a share by the members of the syndicate.
To do this, not a line of advertisement was necessary.

When the 85 cents were bid, it was all a vague prospect —
now, months after, when the property is showing greater values

THE REAL COBALT 19

than were looked for, the stock has dropped to a point so far
below, that to buy at present prices is like gathering money in
with a shovel. Remember, as you read this a few months hence,
that "I told you so." I speak with all confidence, fori have
gone down to see.

Later. — No. 4 shaft, that started in nicolite, has run into
native silver, showing up to 925 oz. The first shipment has just
been made (Jan. 1908). It was 50,828 lbs. of high grade ore.

THE CITY OF COBALT MIN-
ING CO., LIMITED

SILVER has a way of intruding itself into all sorts of un-
looked for places. One of the future great mines of the
camp lies beneath the City of Cobalt itself, and for that
reason the name of the company was well and appropriately
chosen — and called The City of Cobalt Mining Company, Ltd.
The company may be "Limited," but from indications, all over
the 40 acres the mineral is in almost unlimited quantities. A
shaft is being sunk at the southern part of the property, and
already three well-defined veins have been struck while sinking
the shaft, and fifteen veins have been found upon the small part
partially prospected. Its value may be known by the producing
properties adjoining. It is touched and bounded on the north by
the great Coniagas; the west by the famous mines of Buffalo,
Nancy-Helen and Cobalt Townsite; south-east by the first find,
the McKinley-Darragh; south-west, by the Silver Queen; east,
by one of the greatest silver propositions in the world, the
Nipissing, and still another whose value was placed at more than
a million dollars by some of the best business men in the Do-
minion, The Cobalt Lake, whose showings continue to prove the
wisdom of the men who paid the million. Then to the north-
east is the widest known of all, being the second discovered,
the Larose, with ten millions of value blocked out, and being
shipped in fortune lots — one car reaching the sum of $126,000.
Amid these surroundings, "The City of Cobalt" need but
to go contentedly along, paving the way for the stored-up fortunes
that lie waiting to be dug out and carried away for years to come.
The company are in no hurry. They are getting ready in the
most thorough manner possible, the mine foreman, W. J. Donald-

20

THE REAL COBALT 21

son, being a miner of long experience in Alaska and British
Columbia, and being most practical, he is sinking one of the
safest and best shafts in the camp. Everything shows permanency.
"No gophering for The City of Cobalt," says W. J.; "when we
start to ship, we will keep at it, with no danger of running short
of material, which we will be able to mine at the least possible
expense."

A mere glance at the list of officers will prove to those who
know them, that every dollar will be fully accounted for to the
stockholders. These officers are: H. H. Lang, President and
Managing Director; First Vice-President, R. F. Shillington ;
Second Vice-President, W. F. Powell. Directors with the above:
A. J. Young, ex-Mayor P. J. Finlan, Milton Carr, B. W. Ley-
son, Newton J. Ker, J. Glendening, J. Stevenson. W. H.
Lewis, Secy.-Treas.; W. J. Donaldson, Mine Foreman.

The history of a mine is ever of interest to me. The City
of Cobalt has its history. It was discovered and organized by
Mr. H. H. Lang, an Ottawa man, who does not look like he had
been interested in mining for twenty-one years — in Nova Scotia,
British Columbia, and for a time in Los Angeles, California.
He came to Cobalt in March of 1905, and seeing the vast pos-
sibilities, set men to work prospecting. Cobalt being vested in
the Railway Commission, it was sold in town lots by them. As
these lots carried mining rights, Mr. Lang bought 41, and later
acquired the mining rights of much of the rest of the town site.
He at once interested many other Ottawans, who could not
but see the great value of Mr. Lang's holdings and the com-
pany was at once organized, with the capital placed at $500,000,
which, considering the property, is very low.

Later. — The City of Cobalt has become a shipping mine,
with some of the richest ore in the camp. Mr. Lang, its Presi-
dent an -Managing Director, is now Cobalt's Mayor. Cobalt
makes history so fast that one must rush to keep up.

THE NANCY-HELEN MINES,
LIMITED

14 We could ship ore now," said Mr. J. F. Black, Gencnl
Manager and Director of the Nancy-Helen Mines, Ltd. "We
have sacked three carloads of good ore taken from our shaft,
but we do not purpose beginning to ship until we can keep right
on, and to get ready as we are getting ready takes time," and
when I saw what was meant by " getting ready," I did not wonder
that it should take time.

So many of the mines, in their rush to get to shipping, in
order to make a "Good Impression" on their stockholders and
the public, start before they are ready, and then the manage-
ment wonder that their mines should lose their good name when
shipping is stopped to do what should have been done before
they started to send out the few cars sacked.

Like The City of Cobalt, the Nancy-Helen is "right in town,"
their shaft and numerous well-equipped buildings adjoin the
first-named mines on the west, and lie between "The City of
Cobalt" and the Buffalo.

Here is what Manager Black calls "getting ready." They
have an 89-foot shaft, a large shaft-house, rock, power, and
hoist houses; large cook and dining, and bunk houses, stable
and other buildings. They have just installed and started
running a 100 h.p. Weber Producer Suction Gas plant, together
with a Rand 6-drill compressor, steam hoist, air drills, etc.

There are few mines in the camp that have made the thorough
preparation that has been made by the Nancy-Helen. This is
because the Black Brothers, in their long experience in the Sud-
bury mining district, learned that the only way to mine profitably
was to first have installed the most approved equipment. No,

22

THE REAL COBALT 23

I am wrong in that "first." I should have said that the first
thing necessary to mine profitably is a good mineralized property.
That the Nancy-Helen surely has, in its 43 acres, in the very
heart of this fabulously rich mining district. Looking from
the office there may be seen these great mining properties —
most of them immediately adjoining. The Buffalo, Trethewey,
Coniagas, City of Cobalt, Larose, Nipissing, McKinley-Darragh,
Cobalt Lake, Right-of-Way, etc. More than a dozen well-
defined veins have already been located, and while sinking the
shaft three rich veins were struck, from which the three cars
of ore now ready sacked were taken. This ore runs from $600
to $900 per ton, and is getting richer as the shaft is being sunk.

He Lacked the Twenty

Mr. J. F. Black has had some interesting experience in
Cobalt. He came shortly after McKinley and Darragh located
their now famous mine, which at the time they valued at a trifle
of $20,000. " Why didn't you take it?" I asked of J. F. " Why ?
Well, I was like the barefoot Irishman who said he could buy
a pair of boots for a quarter, but he didn't have the quarter.
Same here, I didn't have the twenty. Later I got a ninety-day
option on it at $150,000, and beginning work, soon had out five
carloads of ore. I got a Chicago firm enough interested to send
a! mining expert (spare the term) to look at the property. He
came, looked wise, examined the five cars of ore — which I really
don't believe he knew from common rock — saw the hole from
which we had taken the ore, and then after looking wise again,
he went back to Chicago and reported that he had seen a " fair
showing," but that he could not advise the purchase, as he was
afraid the "thing" would not hold out. The "thing" went
into a company inside of three months at $2,500,000, and the
stock* has since sold at a price to indicate a value of $10,000,000,
and only recently they have struck another immense vein of
rich ore. Yes, I have regretted several times since, that I hadn't
the $20,000, but then as the Nancy-Helen continues to grow

24 THE REAL COBALT

richer and richer, I guess I will, in the end, have little reas
to worry over the fortune I might have made over there," i
he pointed at the derricks of the McKinley-Darragh that w
lifting out the rock at the new vein.

Later. — The Nancy-Helen has been added to the list
shippers, and has put in many improvements. The shaft
down over zoo feet and much drifting done.

SOME OTHER LAKES

w

E*^ looked over the great mines that surround Cobalt
Lake, now let's take a run out through and around
the lakes that lie to the east and southerly from Cobalt.

PETERSON LAKE

Just over the hill to the east, and within the limits of the
Nipissing's 846 acres, is a three-leafed lake named Peterson,
after August Peterson, a Swede pioneer. When the Earle syn-
dicate bought the Nipissing property, they thought they owned
this lake, but they were mistaken, and it became a separate com-
pany, selling for $240,000, and afterwards capitalized at $3,-
000,000. This lake reaches a bit beyond the Nipissing's east-
ern limit, and touches the Nova Scotia, another of the well-
known mines discovered by Murty McLeod and a Mr. Wood-
worth. To the east of the Nova Scotia is the Airgoid, one of
the many W. S. Mitchell properties.

GIROUX LAKE

To the south of Peterson is a beautiful lake called after
Fred Giroux, an 1895 pioneer, whose story is worthy a passing
word, as showing what it was to be a pioneer of the wilderness
of thirteen years ago.

Fred and his father, Peter Giroux, came to Haileybury from
the valley of the Gatineau. They came to find and locate land.
They were told that all the land but two lots was taken up, but
going to see John Armstrong, the Crown Land Agent, at New
Liskeard, they learned a different story. Little of the land was

25

26 THE REAL COBALT

taken, although a very few were trying, by all sorts of means, to
claim "everything, and the lots adjacent thereto." The Girouxs
took each a claim, but it cost Peter his life. He was set upon
and beaten so terribly that in a few weeks he died "of heart dis-
ease" as the verdict stated. After his death some one made
application for his lot. In the affidavit for cancellation the
"some one" swore that "Fred" Giroux was dead. Fred at once
denied the statement. Said he never was more alive since he
was born, and the "some one" had to be content with one lot
less. It is said that Fred had things made very interesting for
him because he wasn't dead. But he could not be driven out
He took up lot 12 in the second concession of Bucke, on part of
which is now North Cobalt. Peter Giroux took up the lot on
which afterwards were located some of the famous mines of
the camp, the Green-Meehan, Red Rock, Cobalt-Contact,
the Hunter, the Stellar, and several others. Fred discovered the
Strathcona on lot 10 of the second concession of Bucke, which
he sold for $25,000. Thus his pluck in not being scared off has
made him one of the successes of the district, and is living re-
tired and in comfort.

CROSS LAKE

Cross Lake is the longest of all the lakes of which Coleman
township has so many. It starts near North Cobalt and runs
angling to the south-east some three miles. It is long and nar-
row. A little steamboat plies its full length, by which many
of the mining properties are reached. From the steamer may
be seen the Colonial, the Violet, the Watts or King Edward, the
Victoria, and numerous others. About a mile south from its
southern point is a rich "nest" of mines and promising prop-
erties, of which the Temiskaming is the "nest egg," the greatest
surprise of the camp. Starting on a little calcite vein, it has
run into fabulous wealth, even since I first reached the camp
in May.

Here are the Lumsden mines, the Coleman Development,
the Beaver, the Rochester, etc.

THE REAL COBALT 27

KERR LAKE

Next to Cobalt Lake for rich surroundings are Kerr and Glen
Lakes. They lie to the south-east of Cobalt — one mile east and
one mile south to take the exact angle.

Around Kerr are the Drummond, Jacobs or Kerr Lake,
Silver Leaf and the famous "Lawson vein."

Around this little sheet of water clusters so much of wealth —
silver and human — that I might write of it a volume of intense
interest, if I but told the simple facts. Here it was, upon its
eastern border, where went out the life of one who "had made a
whole world happy. It was here where dear Dr. Drummond
spent the last days of his life, and there in that cottage, on the
very crest of the hill, he breathed out a last good-bye to the sor-
rowing thousands who had so learned to love him.

Drommond's Prophecy

Following is the last verse penned by the Doctor. It was
written the day he was stricken with the illness from which he
died a few days later. It was written to Judge W. Foster, of
Knowlton, P.Q.

Note the prophecy in the letter. Were he living to-day, he
would see the beginning of his prediction, as the riches of Co-
balt Camp is proving greater with each succeeding month of
its development.

Drummond Mines, Limited, Giroux Lake Post Office, via Co-
balt, Ont, March 31st, 1907: .

My Dear Judge, —

From far-off wild Temagami,

Land of the silver gnome;
My warmest greetings go to thee,

Among the hills of Brome.

28 THE REAL COBALT

We were among the first of the pioneers to come to this dis-
trict of silver, cobalt, nickel, copper, and arsenic, and have done ;
fairly well, and still "playing the game." We are not a stock
company, save among ourselves, and are not selling shares, only .
ore, of which we have shipped a good many carloads since be-
ginning operations. The camp as a whole has provided in sQ- 1
ver over $6,000,000 worth, which is not bad for a piece of country
practically shunned by even the Indians only a year or two ago. ;
To-day, however, the Cobalt region has no reason to complain ■
of its obscurity, for its reputation is world-wide.

"Wild cats" flourish, of course, and I wish the Government
would proclaim an "open season" for these destructive animals,
without any limit to the number killed. North of us lies a ter-
ritory which, in the opinion of geologists, is soon to yield us '.
gold, and perhaps particularly copper galore.

This century certainly belongs to Canada, and the whole :
railway trail to James Bay will see, in a few years, the smoke
of concentrators and so forth rising up over the land, hitherto
supposed to be barren of anything save a few trees of miserable .
dimensions.

Yours faithfully,

(Sgd.) W. H. Dkummond.

The stories of the discoveries of the mines around Kerr Lake
are too much a part of the camp to leave out. One of these stories
connects the old with the new — the very first of long ago with
the present.

A Mining Family— the Wrights

It was E. V. Wright who in 1879 discovered the first mine
in this upper country. Mr. Wright had long been connected
with the lumber business, and while looking after his interests
in the vicinity of Lake Temiskaming, xan upon mineral six
miles north of Ville Marie, on the Quebec side of the lake. For
years his sons, E. C. and Marty, used to come up with their

1

THE REAL COBALT 29

father, first to see the mine and later to work it, thus gaining
a knowledge of mining that later stood them in such good stead.
A good story is told of the day the Ottawa boys were starting for

The North- West, or Riel Rebellion

The day they were leaving the Union Depot Mr. Wright,
E. C. and Marty were at the station, to come up to the mines.
An old apple woman, seeing the two little boys among the sol-
diers, and thinking that they were going to fight, said: "Wurra,
wurra, phat koind o' mithers musht ye buys hev, ter lit ye be
gom' to th' war!"

This was in 1885. Mr. Wright and the boys went with the
soldiers as far as Sturgeon Falls, where they started across through
the Temagami country to the Temiskaming Lake. The coun-
try was a vast wilderness. No trail which they could take, and
yet without guide they came through with their canoe, reaching
Temiskaming without mishap. Mr. Wright's knowledge of
the woods is that of the born guide.

Like Father, Like Sons

In the spring of 1903 the son, E. C. Wright, came to Hailey-
bury to. take charge of a sawmill. It was in August of that
year that McKinley and Darragh made the first Cobalt discov-
ery, followed a month and two months later by the discoveries
by Larose and Herbert (the Nipissing mines). E. C. being on
the ground, took a deep interest in the finds, and writing his
brother Marty, so interested him that he too came up, in 1904.
Starting out to prospect, they came over to this lake, where the
indications showed that mineral must be found. They were not
long in making two of the great discoveries of the Cobalt camp.

The Drummond and Jacobs

Marty discovered the great Drummond mine, and a few days
later, in September, E.C. found the Jacobs. These discoveries
made both men comparatively rich, and repaid them for the

30 THE REAL COBALT

years spent in the old days gaining a knowledge of mining in
the rocks of this far north country.

Marty, seeing the vast unused water-powers of the Montreal
River, and knowing the uses to which they might be put, applied
for the greatest one of all — the Notch, almost at the very mouth.
The Government being convinced that he was well conversant
with hydraulics, and that he would properly develop the power,
granted him a charter for this wonderful fall, where the whole
river passes through a gorge so narrow that it can be harnessed
and utilized at a minimum of cost.

The brothers have many other interests in the country where
they came as poor men to take their place among the " Successes
of the Camp."

The Silver Leaf

The name "Silver Leaf" is known wherever the fame of
Cobalt has reached. It lies on the westerly side of Kerr Lake.
Its history is one of the best stories of the camp. It was staked,
thrown out, staked again, thrown out, and not until the most
lucky man of the whole camp made on it a discovery, was it
looked upon as anything but barren rock. By persistent pros-
pecting it finally promises to become one of the good things of
Cobalt. I sincerely trust so — I got in at 31.

We now come to the last of the four claims that surround
Kerr Lake. By reason of the vast wealth spent in the many
law courts, through which it has passed, and the phenomenal
rise of the man who discovered it,

"The Lawson Vein"

has few equals in the silver stories of the world. On the very
surface, there by the road-side, leading to the Jacobs or Ken-
Lake, may be seen a wide vein of solid silver. So rich is it that
even in this camp of wonders the oldest world-miners stand in
amazement, as they exclaim: "We never saw the like before!"
I'm going to let an old miner tell the story of this rich find.

THE REAL COBALT 31

One day while sitting around a prospector's tent, just across
from the Haileybury railway station, listening to the mining
stories of a lot of prospectors, who had here collected from al-
most every mining country of the world, and after each one had
told of the wonderful finds of some far away land, this prospector,
who had always sat silent while the stories of other camps were
being reeled off, broke in with: "Talkin' 'bout accidentals, let
me tell you, y' don't have to go into yer Death Vallies to get
blowed up, en starved crazy, t' find good stories 'bout strange
deescoveries. Y've herd of th' Lawson Mine? Ever hear th'
fax 'bout its discovery? Never? Well, 'twas this way, in 's
few words as I can tell it, as I haint much on story tellin'. Four
men with two names formed a prospectin' company. They'd
never knowed each other 'fore they got to this country. They
jist sort o' drifted natchurly tergether and started to hunt fer
leads. There was Murty McLeod, of the Ottawa Valley, an'
John McLeod, of out in West Ontario somewhere, an' Donald
Crawford, of Acton, Ontario, an' Tom Crawford, of Renfrew.
They hed only two names between 'em an' yit they were no
more relation than we are.

"They'd hunted an' hunted, till one day Murty, while snoopin'
'round, struck the goods — struck the pure stuff, an' then they
set up a holler which haint done soundin' yit. Y' may guess
they hed reason fer hilarity if y' ever stood on the big vein o'
solid silver thet Murty found thet* day out there by Kerr Lake.

"They staked it in Tom Crawford's name, an' Tom he ups
an' sells out the hull thing to a feller by th' name of Lawson —
H. S. Lawson — for $250. Yes, millions fer a measly $250.
The other three wouldn't stan' fer it, an' went an' put a injunck-
shun ter stop the sale. Then the fun started. It's gone thru
three courts — each one decidin' thet all four hed an ekel interest.
The other three sold their chances t' the Larose Mine Company.
Clark and Miller got mixed up somehow, and are in for a pos-
sible one thirty-second of Tom's one-fourth. My eyes, but it
was a conglomeration! It ran in the courts fer two an' a half
year, an' I guess haint thru yit. It wus worth millions an' yit

32 THE REAL COBALT

when things wus th* highest they coodn't do a thing but jist law,
an' law, an' law. Yes, I guess yer don't hev to git out o' Cobalt
t' find as good accidentals as y' can find in all th' hull wurld,"
and the quiet prospector went away back and sat down on a
log by the tent flap.

Of course you will all want to know about Murty, you who've
never been here — the rest know him already.

Murty McLeod

The name of Murty McLeod is so identified with Cobalt
that to think of the one is to recall the other. Coming from
Bracebridge, Ont., to New Liskeard, a thriving town ten miles
north of Cobalt, in 1902, he was among the first to appreciate
the importance of the discovery of silver, and from the poor man
of 1902 he is to-day one of the rich men of the Cobalt camp.

The McLeod Discoveries

are among the most important of the whole district. He it was
who discovered the now famous Lawson Vein; in July of 1904,
with George Glendenning, he discovered the first silver outside
the immediate mines around Cobalt Lake, on what became the
Colonial mine; with Marty Wright he prospected around Kerr
and Giroux Lakes, where Marty discovered the Drummond
and he the near-by Silver Nugget; and in October, with Mr.
Woodworth, he discovered the Nova Scotia mines. His knowl-
edge of Coleman stood him in good stead — knowledge gained
while helping make the survey of the township.

Mr. McLeod is connected with many of the mining companies.
He is President of the Hudson Bay Extended, which, with the
Clear Lake Mining Company, forms the Cleveland-Cobalt Min-
ing Company. He is President of the Prince Rupert Mining
Company; director of the Brooks-Hudson Silver Mining Com-
pany, and with interests in many other companies. He^holds
one-tenth of the City of Cobalt, one of the great mines. '"-'•'- ^ '.'$

Not only is he interested in mining, but in many other things.

v \

MPVB

Kerr Lake Mines* and K t C. Wright, their Discoverer

The Letwef pkturc is of the Drummond Mine, and its discoverer, Marty Wright.
Mr. B. V. Wdgbtt Father of these c&terprisffig vnung nu-n, wtiO made the first di
covery of mint-mi in this mirth cmintry. "The Wright Mines, 1 ' in I In- Province of Quebec,
across Lake Teiiikikatttiiijj from Hai ley bury -now the home of E. C. and M:irty — were
discovered nearly a third of a century ago. They axe to be reopened and worked by the
I,ii rose Co., who have recently acquired them. It was in the cottage, that may he faintly
seen in the clump of trees, where the loved Dr, Drunininnd difd r rarly in April, l9Q7 r

ec.

pagi!

JW

Phntrm by Bojurt A fltcltei

THE REAL COBALT 33

He is President of the Galoska Mercantile Company, President
of the Macgladery Hardware Co., with stores in New Liskeard
and .Englehart; and a large owner of coal lands in British Col-
umbia.

Unlike so many men of wealth, Mr. McLeod takes an active
interest in the welfare of his town. He has long been a member
of the New LLkeard School Board, and to him much is due the
high standard of education in his town. Already New Liskeard
has a $20,000 public school building, and is shortly to have a
fine High School.

His success is but one of the many instances of what has been
done in this country of successes, where men have come with a
determination to do their part. Many have grown rich by ac-
cident; Murty McLeod has grown rich by wise judgment and
indomitable push. Coming with no money, he did whatsoever
his hands found to do. He worked on the North Road as a day
laborer, and, as above, he helped on surveys — at anything that
presented itself to turn a dollar. To such as he wealth is a bless-
ing — not only to himself, but to the community of which he is
a part.

Every mining camp has its figures who stand out when its
discoveries and doings become history. Cobalt has its figures,
and its history would be most incomplete without the name of
Murty McLeod of New Liskeard.

GLEN LAKE

Now let's go down the road a short distance southerly, as
Kerr and Glen Lakes are quite close together, and visit among
the mines that surround the latter. Here are the Cobalt Central,
out of which "Big Pete" made a fortune, the Bailey, the Uni-
versity and one of the most famous and the best equipped of the
whole district, the Foster.

The day we visited this mine — the Foster — we had so timed
the hour that we reached there for dinner. Not so much for the
3

34 THE REAL COBALT

meal, but to see how it was served, as we had heard so often
about "that little railroad that runs from the kitchen right through
the whole length of the long dining-room, carrying dinner for
eighty to a hundred men." I've never seen a better equipped
road from track to rolling stock. And the freight! "Gee whiz,"
as Leo would say, "that dinner!" No wonder the Foster can
have its pick of the miners! Everybody likes "good eatin',"
and the miner is no exception. "It pays," said Mr. McDonald,
the manager. "Feed men well and they will work well." When
I reach the age of reason, and quit writing, I shall apply for a
position at the Foster. "What can I do?" "Why, help handle
the 'freight' on 'that little railroad'."

Here is just where will fit the very best story of my collection.
I had thought to reserve it for my second edition, but I will not
keep it from you — "too good to keep."

ROMANCE OF THE CAMP

THINGS romantic always seem to occur away off at the other
place. We cannot look upon them near by with the
natural eye as when we read of them, and see them
through the eye of the romancer. For this reason there is
occurring in our midst, every day, that which if told of some
far-away place would have all the qualities of fiction. Then,
again, real-life things never seen* to fit. It's only in fiction
that we look for everything coming out right in the end. But
there are exceptions, and I'm going to tell you of one of these
exceptions, right here in the Cobalt Silver Camp — right here
on the border of Glen Lake.

The story is of a young man who has figured largely in the
early beginnings of Cobalt. He was a mining engineer — a grad-
uate of a Michigan college, putting himself through with his
pen and by teaching district schools. After graduating, he
went into many of the western mining camps. Somehow a fate
drove him along from one to the other, for scarcely had he been
well located when a " strike" would come and drive him on to
the next. Being a Canadian, and hearing of the wonderful
things of Cobalt, he came to find for himself the truth or error
of the marvellous stories of the riches that lay hidden in this upper
country. He reached here in March of 1904. He worked upon
a claim he had staked during the remainder of that year and
all throughout 1905. His money giving out, his father, a dentist,
sent him $50 a month. Growing tired of hearing of no results,
the father said: "Give it up and come home." He had reared
the boy and yet did not know him. "Give up? Never!" And
that winter he went to a near-by village and clerked for a hard-
ware merchant. Spring had scarce chased away the snows of
winter when the youth was again at work upon his claim. He

36

36 THE REAL COBALT

had never lost faith in the good pay that was leading him on
to fortune. His pluck and perseverance made his father think
that "The boy must have reason for his perseverance," and the
$50 per month was renewed. This, as above, was the spring
of 1905. Later the father came to see what was being done
with the money. He found his son, and an English workman,
hard at work trenching, and incidentally he (the son) was the
first one to try this means of finding veins. Now it is general.

'"Tis an III Wind That Blows Nobody Good"

The black flies, which have made so many good Sunday
School boys forget what their teachers told them, must have
been as active in 1905 as they are this year. At any rate, they
drove the father out of camp very early one morning. He wan-
dered down to the edge of a little lake upon the claim, and while
picking along its border, came upon a strange formation, which
he carried back to camp. The minute the English workman
saw it he cried out, "Hits the Muddy bloom! 91 — while the son
exclaimed: "At last! Father, you have found our fortune!"
And so it proved, for by autumn the boy who had clerked in a
store, rather than give up and go home a failure, could have
bought out a hundred such stores.

That was not all. An adjoining claimholder had failed to
find mineral and had abandoned his holding. Immediately it
was restaked by the widest-known man in the camp — a man
whose death has since caused more than one nation to mourn.
He, too, failed to find paying mineral and gave it up. By this
time the whole camp believed that there was silver on that oft-
staked claim, and on Monday morning, following the Saturday
of its abandonment, there were a half-hundred prospectors
looking for enough to stake on. Forty-nine of them did not
know that silver lay beneath a pile of brush hard by. The
fiftieth one did know, but said not a word until his men came
running in with "She's staked!" That brush-pile flew in several
directions, and the discovery stake was firmly planted. The

THE REAL COBALT 37

fortunate one was the youth of whom I am writing. For this
he and his men (for he has ever remembered the boys who helped
him win his fortune) received $135,000. Incidentally the claim
was capitalized for five million dollars, and has become one of
the most famous in all the camp. The vein was but a " stringer,"
and running out, no other of much value has since been found,
save a far-extending and generous "public," many of whom
might paper their dining-rooms with the stock, and thus get
some use of it.

Later. — It's gom' to be a good un after all.

$84 to Take Out the First Car

One incident more: After the discovery was made by the
father,- that early morning, there was yet much work to do before
shipping ore was reached, and during the time the first car was
being dug and loaded, the young man had but $84 for incidentals
to run the camp. But when once that car reached market, his
financial worries ended and since that time — well — his only
worries are how to wisely employ the results of his good fortune.

Many of you already know of whom I have been telling,
while still more have heard parts of the story of the success of

Clement A. Foster

of the famous Foster Mine, about which so much is heard
wherever stocks are sold. Mr. Foster is not in any way now con-
nected with the mine. He sold at a time when the public's faith
was strongest.

He sought another mine of wealth. Looking about, his eye
naturally fell upon the marvel of this northland — Haileybury
three yeaTS ago a little country village, with summer communi-
cation by the lake steamers, and in winter shut away from the
world till the melting of the ice in spring brought round the
boats again.

It was little part of wisdom to see that the village must become
a thriving city, and yet no one could have reasonably predicted
the rapidity with which has come the realization. From a few

38 THE REAL COBALT

houses scattered here and there among the stumps, Haileybuiy
has spread far up and down along a magnificent hillside, and has
grown and is growing so fast that one cannot get out of hearing
of the music of saw and hammer. Where at first stood one-story
"shacks" now stand blocks running up to three and four-story
modern business buildings, while fine residences, whose archi-
tecture would beautify any city, are seen building all throughout
the town. The very air is permeated with a progress that is
truly wonderful, and I speak with reason when I call it the " Mar-
vel of this Northland."

It was to Haileybury that Mr. Foster came to seek his next
mine of wealth. He was quick to note that its "calcite" days
had passed and the pure metal lay ready to be garnered. Know-
ing that vast quantities of lumber must be needed for the building
of the future city, he set going a great sawmill, and knowing
that the boundaries must be widely extended, he looked about
to see in which direction the town must naturally grow. Again,
it was little part of wisdom to determine in which direction it
must extend, with a stretch of land lying to the north already
practically laid out with natural terraces, rising from the lake
on the east to the railway on the west. It was here he purchased
340 acres, and has laid out the finest addition in the town. It
is so situated that every building erected may face the lake — a
rare and almost perfect condition. The lake shore will be
beautified with a wide tree-embowered boulevard running the
full length of his grounds. One can already see in mind the
magnificent summer homes of the rich of many cities, who will
come to enjoy these ideal sites, overlooking the broad Temis-
kaming.

Unlike so many men whom fortune favors, Mr. Foster thinks
of those who are in need of generous care. He has already given
22 acres in the south of the town for the hospital which will
shortly be built for Haileybury and surrounding country, and
doubtless he will do more than his part toward its erection.

In concluding this "Romance of the Camp," to round it out
as only in fiction do we look for like rounding out — where two

THE REAL COBALT 39

years ago this young man had to eke out existence as a plain
clerk, he is now the Mayor of the town, doing herculean work
for its advancement. He has already secured for it a High School
and during his regime, Haileybury will doubtless be made the
judicial centre of a wide district, while he is planning many
things for giving it a permanency that will stop short of
nothing but the making of it the city supreme of this whole
northern country.

Nor did his good fortune stop when wealth had poured
into his coffers. Another had been watching his career, and said
"Yes" to life's most romantic question, and now seconds him
in every effort toward making Haileybury a social centre. No
good work is ever proposed that Mrs. Foster does not do her
part. Her beautiful home is thrown open for literary and musical
circles, and the young people of the town have naught but good
to say of her.

Could fiction excel this story? Could the romancer plan one
more perfect? "This is the exception — right here in the Cobalt
Silver Camp — right here on the border of Glen Lake."

A CLUSTER OF GOOD ONES

1HAD been in and around Cobalt more than two months
before I knew personally of some of the most promising
mines in the whole camp. Meeting an Ottawa friend
one day, he asked me to come out to the district in the south-
east corner of Bucke township, to the south of North Cobalt.
It is now a pleasure to say that I accepted the invitation and
went, for I shall ever remember that visit as the most enjoy-
able of any I made, by reason of the much kindness shown me.
It reminded me of that day in old Virginia, when caught in
a snowstorm, I was snow-bound among a lot of most delightful
people at a little cross-roads. The kindness there was the
same, but with the difference that I here found men of wide
travel. There was R. W. Edey, the mining expert, long with
the Clergues of the Soo, who with Ed. Mohr, also of the Clergues,
are now connected with the Hiawatha Mining Company. Near
by was George Dawson, of Montreal, long in the Klondyke,
who with his brother are finding good things at the Ruby Silver
Mine. The famous Red Rock Mine, and the equally famous
Green-Meehan, are just to the east and adjoining the Ruby.
At the latter I found Manager Charlie O'Connell, of California,
who seemed at once my friend when he spoke of Dr. Drummond.
It was to Charlie that the Dr. sent his last poem. It was signed
the very day he was stricken. Just to the north and adjoining,
is the Hunter Mine, known locally as the Latchford, from Hon.
Frank Latchford, its president. Here I found M. P. Powers,
the manager, going with his men to dinner, which meant that
my dinner was ready too, for in all this district hospitality is so
general that one might think himself in "The Valley of Vir-
ginia."

40

THE REAL COBALT 41

The next mine to the east is the Stellar, with H. G. Watkins,
of Kingston, an old Frontenac miner in charge — my good friend
J. F. Black, also of the Nancy-Helen, manager. Not far away
I found George Fillion, manager of the Cobalt-Contact, justly
elated over one of the most important finds made in the whole
district. It was free silver, and quite near the surface. From
here I turned to the north to find the Argyle. Passing up the
lake shore, I was surprised to hear my name called by some
little berry-pickers. I went up along the side hill, where I found
a number of the little children whom I had seen that day at the
Sunday School picnic at the Old Mission, down the lake. To be
remembered by the little ones is ever a real pleasure, and to
strengthen the friendship I stopped and helped them fill their
remaining empty bucket. It is these occasional stops through
life that make for lasting memory — stops to help the little ones
fill the " remaining empty bucket." Not far away I came to
the most beautifully located mine in all the country — the Ar-
gyle. It lies high above the lake border. The camp is as pretty
as a well-planned summer home.

From the Argyle I returned by way of the Hunter, and other
mines, to my starting point.

His Compass Was Wrong

On my way across to some of the other mines I heard a man
calling, as though in great distress. I went to the voice, and
found a lost man — one of the most lost fellows I had ever found.
He was almost frantic. Never before had I seen a Philadelphian
so excited. "Really, Mr., I do think I had gone out of my mind
had you not come in time. I've been going since noon, and I
just thought I never would get out of these awful woods."

"If you are addicted to the habit of getting lost," said I,
"you should never go into the woods without a compass."

"Compass? Why, bless you, I have a compass, but every
time I turned around it went wrong, and I got lost all over again.
I never in my life saw such a fool compass as this one," and he

42 THE REAL COBALT

showed it to me. It sure was a good one. I couldn't but think
of the fellow who fell out of a canoe, and trying to swim was
near drowning and called lustily for help, when a man on the
bank yelled at him to "stand up," which he did in less than
three feet of water. Same with my lost man, he wasn't a hun-
dred yards from the road that would have led him back to the
camp from which he had started, and to which he was praying
to be returned. He seemed to think that he was still in Phila-
delphia, for he offered to pay me $5 for finding him. But I
told him this was Canada where they find people as a pas-
time, and refused his "five." He seemed disappointed, which
showed how scared he was.

THE NORTH COBALT MINING COM-
PANY, LIMITED

Over in that "Nest of Good Ones" is one especially promis-
ing. It is rich in native silver and, what is peculiar in the district,
it is free from cobalt. This is owned by the North Cobalt
Silver Mines Company. It was discovered by! John ^Mc-
Mahon, of Haileybury, who had so much^ faith fin his find
that in selling, he took a good part of the, price in the stock
of the company. His wisdom is being shown in the rich
ore now being bagged and stored for the rise in silver. This
is one of the companies with a well-filled treasury, and can
hold the product until price warrants shipment. It must shortly
be added to the list of shipping mines, as under the wise man-
agement of H. E. Jackman, a practical mine man, of Rochester,
New York, it grows richer with depth. It has a well-equipped
plant, good substantial buildings, and is being increased by the
instalment of new and up-to-date machinery.

The officers of the company are: President', Mr. Joseph D.
Qualey, of New York City; Secretary-Treasurer, Mr. Ernest K.

THE REAL COBALT 43

Henderson, New York City. Directors: J. D. Qualey, E. K.
Henderson, John J. Welch, of New York City; Louis D.
Webster, of Chicago, and Fred. A. Day, of Haileybury, Ont.

Mr. Qualey, who gained his knowledge of mining in Mexico,
is one of those genial characters so popular in the mining camp —
a sort of a Charlie Gifford, McMartin Brothers type — the kind
that makes you glad you're alive. The kind that makes you
like to stop and talk about them, and then go on thinking better
of this cold old world. That's the kind of man is Joseph D.
Qualey.

Mr. Day, one of the leading young lawyers of the Cobalt
district, is the attorney as well as resident director of the com-
pany. The mine is on part of the north-east one-fourth of the
north half of lot 13, in concession 1 of Bucke township, just a
mile north of the Coleman and Lorain line, and a little south of
east of the North Cobalt station on the T. and N. O. It is
the furthest north, of the producing mines, in the Cobalt district
— possibly because of its much development.

HUNTER COBALT SILVER MINING
COMPANY, LIMITED

In this immediate vicinity, in fact joining the North Cobalt
Company, just mentioned, is another that is bound to become
one of the good ones of the camp. It was staked before the
township of Bucke was laid out, so that the lines of the 40 acres
cut into the Green-Meehan, North Cobalt, the Cobalt Company,
the Big Ben, ten chains from the rich Cobalt-Contact, and but a
short distance from the Stellar. We find it thus adjoining a
shipper, and others which must shortly be added to that much-
desired list. It is held under a direct patent from the Crown. It
is locally known as the Latchford Mine, from its president, the
Hon. Frank Latchford.

It lies a short mile due east of the T. and N.O. Railway, at

44 THE REAL COBALT

North Cobalt, and is in lots 13 and 14 in the first and second
concessions of Bucke township, two miles north-east of Cobalt,
and a little over a mile south of Haileybury. From this it maybe
seen that its situation is most excellent. It has one of the best
sets of buildings in the district, consisting of a large two-story
sleeping camp; fine two-story dining camp, with cook camp in
the rear; a 16 by 24 office; blacksmith shop, powder house, boiler
house, ice house, stables, storehouses, etc. Both sleeping and
dining camps are covered with metal siding and shingles.

The assays show from $8.50 up to 1,258 oz. in silver and
carries high values in gold. One assay by the famous R. H.
Hersey, of Montreal, yielded $29 in gold, and another by Mr.
Connor, of the Geological Survey, gave $28 per ton in gold.

The officers and directors of the company are : President,
Hon. F. R. Latchford, K.C., ex-Attorney-General of Ontario;
Vice-President, W. Lake Marler, late Manager Merchants
Bank of Canada; Sec.-Treas., J. J. Heney, of John Heney &
Son, coal merchants; all of Ottawa. Superintendent: M. P.
Powers, of Haileybury.

Its head office is at 19 Elgin Street, Ottawa.

The capital stock of the Hunter is $1,000,000, with $250,000
in the treasury.

When I visited the mine in the early autumn, I found Mr.
Powers busy trenching, sinking shafts, and drifting. No. 1, or
the Powell shaft, was down 60 feet. From this level, drifts were
in, north and south, 62 feet; No. 2 shaft was down 53 feet on a
large vein of calcite, cobalt and native silver. From the 50-foot
level of this shaft drifts were in 30 feet; No. 3 shaft was down
64 feet. Only a little drifting was done from this shaft, and that
simply to tap the vein which had left the shaft at the 57-foot level.
From the vein in this shaft calcite was found 14 inches in width,
and when the calcite is replaced by the native silver, as they have
all reason to expect, the values must be great. Several tons of
ore have since, been sacked, and the Hunter must ere long join
the shippers.

THE REAL COBALT 45

. THE STELLAR SILVER COBALT COR-
PORATION, LIMITED

I had seen some of the beautiful samples from the Stellar
before I visited the mines cornering the Green-Meehan, to the
north-east, so that I wasn't surprised to have Captain H. G.
Watkins say: "See that, and that, and that," as he pointed out,
on the sorting table, fine specimens of native and wire silver and
argentite, which are now the product of this valuable mine.

The Stellar lies in Lot 14, in the first concession of Bucke, and
comprises some over forty acres.

It was little risk and no surprise when pay ore was struck,
for the Stellar lies adjacent to the Cobalt-Contact, due south, and
adjoining; the Latchford, or Hunter, adjoining on the west; the
Green-Meehan, as before said, is cornering on the south-west, while
in all directions, and near-by, are many other good ones. But
this contiguity is outweighed by the valuable material the Captain
is bringing up from another point, or direction, not on the compass
— £.€., from below.

"They may have it on the surface, but it won't go down," is
almost a stereotyped phrase of the camp croaker. The Stellar has
gone to some trouble to make this said pessimist say that of some
other mine. With a diamond drill, a depth of more than 200 feet
has been reached. Here a vein was found 3 ft. and 9 inches in
width, and rich in native silver. This same vein, on the surface,
was but one foot in width. This shows conclusively that the
values not only go down but get better as they go. Several other
veins were struck by the drill, at depth, and all of them good.

The company have a steam plant at work. It consists of a
twenty horse boiler, a 5 x 5 steam hoist, and a steam drill. Camps
have been built, consisting of dining-room, bunk house, black-
smith shop, stables for the teams, etc.

The management is under the direction of Mr. J. F. Black,
who is the President and General Manager, and as in my mention
of the Nancy-Helen, he is also Managing Director and part owner

£r

46 THE REAL COBALT

of that mine as well. He is one of the most practical and best
equipped mine men in the district, having long been connected
with the great Sudbury mines.

Only a few of the 1,000,000 $1 shares were placed upon the
market, and these are practically held by friends of the officers.
The Stellar is an instance where "it pays to keep a good thing
in the family."

The officers, besides Mr. Black, are Joseph Morin, Esq.,
Vice-President, and Charles McCrea, barrister, Solicitor for the
company.

The bankers are the Traders Bank of Canada.

THE HIAWATHA COBALT SILVER MIN-
ING COMPANY, LIMITED

The Hiawatha, in Bucke, is a connecting link between Cole-
man and the mines to the north-east. It corners on to the north-
east of Coleman, and again corners on the Ruby, which connects
it with the Red Rock, Green-Meehan, Stellar, Hunter, North
Cobalt, etc. It is known on the older maps as the Ranger prop-
erty. It was discovered by R. W. Edey, a well-known mining
man of Ottawa.

Much development work has been done on the Hiawatha,
in the way of stripping, trenching, and a number of shafts sunk.
Assays show it to be one of the promising mines of the district.
Of it, G. Fillion, the late efficient Superintendent of the Cobalt-
Contact Company, said: "I saw exposed several ledges of calcite
and quartz, running from four to five inches in width, and the
leads seem to be free from the walls, and the cobalt and silver
present in smalltite form. The veins are all true fissure, and
any one of them may make a valuable mine."

The rock is beautifully stratified and it is thought that the
ledges go down to an indefinite depth. The good ledges of the
Ruby and Red Rock lead directly into the Hiawatha.

The capitalization of the company is $1,000,000. As little as

THE REAL COBALT 47

possible of the stock was placed upon the market, since the
directorate are conducting it upon a business rather than upon a
stock manipulating basis.

They have good, substantial camp buildings.

The officers and directors of the company are: President,
Lt.-Col. Norreys Worthington, M.P., Sherbrooke, Que.; Vice-
President, J. A. Seybold, Ottawa; Managing Director and Sec.-
Treas., W. M. Ogilvie, B.Sc, Ottawa; G. M. Brabazon, M.P.,
Portage du Fort; Stillman F. Kneeland, State Advocate
General of New York, New York City; Superintendent of Field
Operation, R. W. Edey and E. R. Mohr, Mine Foreman, both
of Ottawa.

THE CENTURY SILVER MINING COM-
PANY, LIMITED

When one has been in the Cobalt district for months, visiting
from mine to mine, one can somehow tell the good claims at
sight. As soon as I looked over the Century's corner lot I was
convinced that the superintendent had chosen wisely when he
selected it, and as I have watched the manner of his development
of the work, I am more convinced that its worth will shortly be
demonstrated, and that it will soon be among the great pro-
ducers of the camp.

This excellent property lies in the very north-east corner of
Coleman Township, with the second claim one lot removed to
the west. On both of these^properties are many well-defined
veins — some twenty — discovered by John Bock, the former
superintendent, and S. Sager. On lot No. i, a shaft being sunk
is now down over fifty feet, following a heavy calcite vein and
two smaller veins, each carrying silver values. On lot No. 2
they have gone down 37 feet on an 18-inch vein, which shows
silver values up to $100 per ton. The vein matter consists of
calcite and conglomerate stringers occurring in a contact of
diabase and grey granite. Besides the silver there are traces
of cobalt and bismuth, with some smaltite showing.

48 THE REAL COBALT

The indications at the depths now reached point unerringly to
the near presence of the precious metal itself, and experienced min-
ing men are enthusiastic as to the values evidently close at hand.

The Century lies in the great mineralized belt, in which are
found the Larose, O'Brien, Nipissing, McKinley-Darragh,
Buffalo, Trethewey, City of Cobalt, and many others to the
south-west, while a short distance to the north-east are the Red
Rock, Green-Meehan, Stellar, Cobalt-Contact, North Cobalt, etc.

Too many of the mining companies have stripped their prop-
erties bare of timber. The Century is carefully saving all the
timber, of which it has abundance of the choicest in the whole
camp, which must become of value as the work goes on, for
buildings and fuel. It has already erected commodious houses
— bunk-house, dining-room, blacksmith shop, etc.

The management of a mine has far more to do with its suc-
cess or failure than is generally thought. What might have
proven a good one may be managed — in starting — in such a
way as to discourage a company into abandoning it, while a
wise manager could have readily brought out its true worth. I
have in mind an instance, not far to the south of the Century,
which might be well to give, as showing what may be done. It
is, moreover, most interesting, since it pertains to one of the
successes of the Cobalt camp. The surface showed almost no
indications of mineral. The company sunk a 50-ft. shaft on a
calcite vein, drifted for a distance, but found no pay ore. A
very unusual thing was then done — the shaft was sunk 25 feet
deeper, and another drift run under the first along the hanging
wall of the vein. At a point about 100 feet from the shaft silver
was found sticking from the side of the vein. Here a shot was
put in and ore of astounding richness was revealed. The vein,
now two feet wide, was taken out for the distance of ten feet
along the strike, to a height of ten or twelve feet above the level,
and from this small space $90,000 of silver was taken — one of the
richest carloads of ore shipped from the camp. That was but
a short time ago. Since then $300,000 worth of silver has been
taken out and the mine proven to be one of vast richness. This

THE REAL COBALT 49

is not a fairy story told of some far-off country; I know, per-
sonally, that it is true.

It is the management of the Century that makes me feel
that the best will be brought out, and to instance it as one of
the best prospects in the district. And right here I would
mention a fact worth the attention of all superintendents,
not only of mines, but all works where labor is employed.
I have found the mines where the men were treated with
the most kindness to be the ones where the work was done
for the least money. That may account for the results
shown at the Century, for superintendent and miners work
with an interest that is really pleasing to note. The com-
pany is favored with a competent superintendent, an experienced
mining man, under whose wise and economical management
the progress of the work is assured. He allows no indication
of hidden riches, however slight, to slip by, but by painstaking
care, combined with a personal kindly interest in the well-being
of the workmen, follows up all advantages gained. It is due to
no accident, therefore, that one of the surprises of the work is
that such good results have been accomplished at so compara-
tively small an outlay, and that the prospects should even at
this early date be of such promise as to warrant the highest
hopes of the Century Company and all concerned.

The officers of the company are all successful business men
of Buffalo, N.Y. Dr. H. N. Miller, the President, is a well-
known physician, and a level-headed man of large affairs. Vice-
President, Mr. Charles Lantaff, a prominent merchant; Secretary,
Mr. George Laws, of the Bryant & Stratton College; Treasurer,
Dr. Whytock; Directors, the above named gentlemen, together
with Mr. A. C. Hynd, Mr. J. W. Keeley, and Mr. Charles W.
Bradley. Mine Superintendent and discoverer of the claims,
Mr. S. Sager, of Buffalo.

50 THE REAL COBALT

PORTAGE BAY

To the west of Cobalt is a district called Portage Bay, from
a bay that comes into Coleman from the Montreal River. While
much prospecting has been done and a number of promising
claims are there, no shippers have yet been discovered. Still
it is almost a certain thing that with depth, good will yet result,
as all indications prove the presence of mineral.

Wide Area of Silver, Gold and Copper

A friend cut out of a newspaper the map of Coleman Town-
ship and, sending it to me, commented upon the extent of the
mineral district, saying, " Why, I am surprised! I had no thought
that the area was so great!" That friend must have had a sur-
prise indeed when I replied: "Coleman Township would be but
a little black spot on the map of the known mineralized district
of New Ontario, while the undiscovered, and yet almost certainly
mineralized parts, must run into the tens of thousands square
miles of area."

In this immediate district around Coleman, Lorain to the
east, Bucke and Firstbrooke joining on the north, and the Tema-
gami Reserve across the Montreal, are all full of good prospects,
with a number of shipping mines in Bucke, while in Hudson, the
second township to the north, the Brooks-Hudson Company
have sunk a number of shafts, which prove that copper is there
in vast quantities, and with further work will have large shipping
mines. South of Lorain, along Lake Temiskaming, what is
known as "The Unsurveyed," is just now attracting much
attention, by reason of recent discoveries of silver that run far
up into the hundreds of ounces. In the spring there will doubt-
less be a great rush in that direction. Other districts to the
north and north-west are rich enough to warrant special notice,
which I shall give in extended detail.

THE REAL COBALT 51

CASEY MOUNTAIN MINES

One of the promising districts outside of Cobalt proper is
in Casey Township, not far from the upper end of Lake Temis-
kaming, where the White River enters the lake. Some months
ago David Williamson, a California miner, was going up the
White River in the little steamboat, when up about five miles,
on looking to the west, noticed a high elevation of rocky land.
He got off the boat and walking about a mile west of the river,
he came to what is known as Casey Mountain. His long experi-
enced eye saw at once that he had made a valuable discovery.
The result was "The Casey Mountain Mines Company, Ltd.,"
with a capitalization of $250,000, with the following officers:
R. G. Williamson, Toronto, President; James Thompson, Have-
lock, Ont, First Vice-President; H. A. Wood, Peterboro, Ont,
Secretary and Second Vice-President; D. A. Reid, Brandon,
Mail.; David Williamson, California, Superb tendent.

They have nine forty-acre claims, on which they have already
found ten true fissure veins from 2 to 8 feet wide, on one of which
they have sunk a shaft. At 60 feet they began drifting to the
west, and in the forty feet of a drift I saw three well-defined
cross veins, which run from 2 to 4 feet. They have already found
rich cobalt, nickel, and good assays of silver.

The plans laid out by the superintendent are to drift 100 feet,
sink 100 feet, thence back and raise up to meet the main working
shaft. While thus blocking out, he will always have free circula-
tion of air. This plan will be carried along throughout all the
work, the object being to get the ore by overhand stoping instead
of underhand. By this plan very little dead work will have to
be done throughout the whole mine.

This promises to be one of the good mines of the country.

Later. — The shaft is down 108 feet and is rich in cobalt.
They have about 15,000 tons of ore blocked out, "which will run
$35 to $35 in values. Just as this goes to press word comes that
a very rich vein has been struck at no feet — another case of
"two feet further."

PENSE TOWNSHIP

SITTING in a theatre one evening, I heard two men — be-
tween the acts — talking about some rich finds they had
recently made. Their conversation was more interesting
than the play, and at once I was all attention. When the
curtain was rung down and the orchestra had played God Save
the King, with which all well-regulated theatres close in
Canada, I asked of the men, "Where is the new mining
district of which you were speaking ? "

"In Pense Township."

"And, pray, where is Pense Township ?" I asked.

"Across the lake north from Haileybury, then up the White
River, through Harris, Casey, and Brethour Townships. All
told, some 25 miles. It lies along the Quebec line and is the
last surveyed township toward Larder Lake, from which it is
distant some 20 miles south."

"How is it reached?" I asked, as I was so interested that I
would visit it.

"Easy enough. Xake the boat at Haileybury, get off at
Pearson's Landing, and — and — "

"Well?"

"Then walk."

I did. Must tell you about that trip, as it was one of my
most interesting experiences, by reason of the many agreeable
settlers I met up the White River.

The little boat was the most unique affair I'd ever travelled
upon. It was loaded with everything from cows to dynamite.
The passengers were a cosmopolitan lot. The newspaper man
from Boston; prospectors on their way to Larder Lake, via
Toms Town; sawmill men on their way to mills along the river;
settlers and their wives returning from shopping and business
trips to Haileybury; and — and — well they were all there on

THE REAL COBALT 53

that little boat going up the White River, which has almost as
many mouths as a large family. We'd start up one, find it
blocked up with logs, then go up another till we'd come to a boom,
and then come back and take still another, only to find it blocked
by both boom and logs.

Our Little Captain and His Log-Climbing
Steamboat

The captain finally said "things," rang for a full head of
steam, and believe my "Geo. Washington pen," he ran right
through, or over, boom, logs and all — an acre of them. "What?"
The very question that Cobalt man asked when I told this to him.
Yes, I have the photograph, but it came out too dim for a good
cut, and I want nothing but the best for you. You see that
captain wouldn't stop at anything, once he set his head, and
rang for log climbing steam. Wish I had space for the stories
those settlers told me about "Our Little Captain," as they call
him. "Ours," for he was that obliging. "Why," said they,
"he'd stop and run over to the bank, to take our eggs down to
market, and bring us a spool o' thread next day." I saw him
run jam into the bank to let a passenger on. "Why, Cap," said
I, "you might have struck a rock!" "Aw, go wan! I know
the bank!" Guess he must have from the many prow prods I
saw along the way.

The teachers up that way are the kind I so used to love;
why, they let out school on the very slightest provocation. One
we saw had "let out" to come down to see our little boat come
in. I tried to "take" her and the scholars, but one of the boys
"moved," and it's a waste of "copper" to give you the picture
of the other little chap.

Pearson's Landing

I was sorry when, along towards noon, we reached Pearson's
Landing, we'd had that jolly a time coming up.

Know Jack Pearson ? Didn't know but you did — everybody

54 THE REAL COBALT

seemed to know Jack, used to live in Toronto, where he left off
selling things to come up here to run the hotel, store, and now a
little post office of his own, just to oblige the neighbors who
used to have to go down to Judge, three miles below, for their
newspapers and advertisements for new seed potatoes. Great
potato country, and the new variety men know it.

Thought I recognized a brother in Jack, and asked: "Are
you a Mason ?" "I am," said he, at which his little girl ran
in to her mother, and in disgusted surprise asked: "If papa is a
Mason, why has he been running all over the country hunting
for one to fix that old smoky chimney?"

"Why Does Papa Sell Him Coal?"

The children's stories of this northland will rank with the
best for brightness. In one of the towns "papa" sells coal.
One morning "mamma" was combing the little five-year-old's
hair, when getting the tangles out she pulled a bit too hard, when

the little one said: "D it, mamma, you hurt!" "Why, 'Neta,

where did you get that word?" "Bridget uses it every day
when you ain't here." "Do you know where little girls go
who use such words ? " " No, mamma, where do they go ? " " To
the bad place, where the bad man burns them all up!" "Is
that so! Then I wonder why in the d 1 papa sells him coal!"

Was surprised to meet Toronto's Street Commissioner, Jones.
"What are you doing here?" I asked. "Visiting," and there he
was Mrs. Pearson's father. My eyes, the variety of people I
do meet up here, building up this great country.

I Waded

That night at the theatre the men told me that to reach Pense
from Pearson's Landing that I'd have to walk. They were
wrong. I waded. Say, you ought to see some of the Govern-
ment roads! They dig ditches on either side of a narrow strip
oi muskeg, and wher^ " ' o bad they lay little eight-foot poles

THE REAL COBALT 55

across and call them "corduroy roads." The "narrow strip"
is made more so by the "mill races" that cut in on either side
after a rain. With so much land to use, I do wonder that they
make the roads so narrow. They seem to be trying to "run
things on the cheap." Some of the older roads are good —
where the settlers have taken to road-making themselves.

Part of this particular road was so bad that I had to "take
to" the piled-up stumps along the road-side to get through at all.

I reached the Brethour Mills in time to go to bed. Apropos
of these mills, I found many of the men from Hanover, the home
of Tommy Burns, the world's champion heavyweight. The
boys had many good stories to tell of him, and are naturally
very proud of the prominence he has brought to their town.
"We had a better man than he, if he had only trained. He
could always best Tommy in the early days. He went into
contracting and sawmilling, while Tommy took to another sort
o' " mills," and has made "both name and money. Geo. Reegan
is the other. He is now the manager of the Brethour. That's
why we're here."

$7,500 in Eighteen Days

It was at these mills I saw the Englishman Wilson, who,
later, quit work, struck it rich in a mining claim, got $7,500,
and spent them in New Liskeard in just eighteen days. He
did not spend the dollars, he threw them away. He'd burn a ten
dollar bill merely to prove to the gaping crowd that he had
"money to burn." He would pay a cabman, who had driven
him a short distance, thirty dollars. He bought watches and
jewellery for the children whom he had known around the mill.
He would get "insulted" if "Lorna" would offer to give him the
nine dollars change of a ten bill. He would buy fine clothes
for the boys — himself wearing the same old prospector's suit.
"I don't need 'em. They all know I'm rich." They didn't
know it long. In eighteen days he was glad to borrow a dime
from those who had been given his dollars. Men of his class

56 THE REAL COBALT

are confined to no district. I found him away up at the Brethour
Mills.

The Lame Guide

Next morning I got a guide and we started for Pense — three
miles above the mills. Pete said, as we started out: "Now, I
can't walk very fast, I'm lame." Say, did you ever try to follow
a Brethour cripple? Next time I went to Pense I hired a small
boy. I didn't want to have to keep up with "no cripples." I
could hardly sleep that night, I was that tired — and Pete as fresh
as when we started out.

But now about Pense: From Pearson's Landing to the very
edge of that township, the land was so level and farmlike — not
the remotest sign of rock — that I was sure I was on a "wild-
goose chase," or, in this case, on a chase for "fool's gold." But
when we got across the line the change was as marked as was
possible to be. Where most of Harris, Casey and Brethour were
ideal for farming, Pense was all rocky. I don't believe it has
one clear farm. All up hill and down, with "up" predominat-
ing — ideal-looking mineral land, and heavily timbered in places,
and all fairly well timbered where the rocks were not too close
to the surface.

I sure would have been lost a dozen times but for Pete, who
seemed to know every part of the ground. A creek — he called,
it a creek — Otter Creek — runs through angling, was a rushing
river that day, with but a great tree bridge to cross to the north
and westerly side, where much development work is going on.

As we passed along, Pete would point out the various claims.
"Here is George Reegan's lot," as we came to one that looked
as though a few shots would turn out the goods. " George has
several good claims." Going over to where a shaft had been
started, he said : "This is one of Armour Doonan's and A.
Perkins' lots. An assay from this shaft showed well in copper
and $6 1 in gold. They being among the very first to prospect
Pense, had their pick of the best — and I guess they picked them.
They are farmers down in Brethour, through which we just

The real cobalt 57

passed. They were struck by the formation of the rock of Pense
and did much prospecting before there was any excitement*
Now most of the good claims are staked. Another Brethour
farmer — one of the pioneers — John Wilder, has also been busy.
He has gotten hold of a number that promise well. He has one
in Pense, two in Brethour, down near the mineralized part of
Casey, and two good ones in Abitibi." I could not but note,
when I first came to New Ontario, that many of the good mines
had been discovered by farmers. "Jack" Hummel, one of the
discoverers of "The Dr. Reddick," was from Brethour. From
a poor man he reached wealth in one quick bound. Samuel
McChessney, whose farm residence near New Liskeard is one
of the "show" houses of New Ontario, found a mine in Coleman.

The Campbell-Thompson Mines

A man by the name of Campbell, of Chicago, owned a Veteran
claim in Pense. * Mr. J. C. Thompson, of London, and his nephew,
Fred. Thompson, of New Liskeard, finding on it*a great showing
of mineral, got in communication with Campbell. It resulted
in a company to develop it. They had not proceeded far when,
from assays shown in Chicago, an offer of $100,000 was made
and refused for it, and big development works were started.
Already they are sinking two shafts and have done much trench-
ing. The Thompsons have a number of other good claims in
Pense and have great faith in its becoming one of the big mining
camps of the district.

The James Veteran Lot

Possibly what will prove one fully as rich as the " Campbell,"
lies immediately north of this claim. It is a Veteran lot; south
half of No. s, in Concession 4. It belongs to W. A. James, a
Grand Trunk engineer, who bought it, as he said, as " a flyer."
If indications go for anything it certainly will be a good one.

58 THE REAL COBALT

The Pioneers

When I get into a new district, I always want to record and
preserve the names of its pioneers, for in writing of an old coun-
try I am glad to find the names of the early ones written down
by some thoughtful recorder.

This is a new country, up along the White River — the oldest
inhabitant coming to it but a few years ago, Among the very
first were the families of Judge, Keys, Roberts, the Bolgers,
the Gibbons, John Bucknell, who was the first to discover cobalt
in these parts. His find became "The Casey Mines," to be
mentioned further along; Armstrong, a few families of Jones,
but no Browns, with only a few Smiths; Wilder, Bristow, the
Doonans, O'Brien, Broderick, Penman, Perkins, Moore, Ellis,
Gouge, Pierson, Sheedy, Littlejohns, Cannon, the Gannons,
Reed, Breen, Coutts, Hummel, John Schmidt, "who digs part
of his potatoes in the fall, the balance in the spring."

I later visited that country in winter. Ah, that's the season
these people have their fun! Distance counts for naught, if the
fiddler is to be at the end of the journey — at the home of some-
hospitable friend. Great sleighs, holding twenty-five or more,
start out, with everybody singing: "And we won't come home
till morning," and they don't! Ah yes, winter is the season, up
the White River. Few old people live up there, and young
folk will have their fun.

CASEY MINES

AS showing the values in Casey Township, another mine in
this locality has recently been sold in London for $1,000,-
ooo. It is the Casey Mine, discovered on the John Bucknall
farm. IJe was the first man to discover cobalt bloom in
this section. This was followed by the discover}* of silver by
W. S. Mitchell, one of the most enterprising young men in the
whole Cobalt district. Mr. Mitchell, a representative of a great
banking house of London, came to Canada two years ago, and
has already become identified with some of the most valuable
properties in Northern Ontario. He is one of the few who are
never satisfied to iollow in the track of other prospectors. He
must ever lead. He and his unique band of prospectors were
the first to find mineral outside the beaten track. He found
gold in Playfair Township a month before Dr. Reddick made
his famous discovery at Larder Lake. His Town site Mine, in
Cobalt, was the first Cobalt mine to be listed on any of the great
exchanges of London, New York, etc. They were first to dis-
cover silver in Casey, and among the first to discover silver in
the surveyed part of James, up the Montreal River. The story
of the hardships of his band of prospectors, while up this wild
river, is a most entertaining one, as may be seen further on in
my own story of this young man.

He is a great organizer. It was he who organized the Elk
Lake Silver Mines, Limited, with large holdings in James.
Another of his enterprises is the Oposatica, and Chibogamoo
Exploration Company, now exploring the mineral lands of
the Province of Quebec. His Airgiod Co. has among its mem-
bers some of the most prominent Scotchmen in Canada — many
being members of the Dominion Parliament, Senators, and suc-
cessful men of affairs.

59

60 THE REAL COBALT

Mr. Mitchell has other valuable properties in Coleman,
not yet organized.

Being a resident of Haileybury, he is taking a most active
interest in the upbuilding of this Wonder City of the North,
which such as he are making to grow with marvellous rapidity,
as may be seen in my chapter on "Haileybury."

Mr. Mitchell's Montreal River Finds

As above, Mr. Mitchell's party were among the first to pros-
pect, successfully, in the surveyed part of James.

By reason of the personnel of the men composing this party,
it is doubtless the most unique among prospectors of New Ontario.
There were Jack Munroe, who once made matters so interesting
for big Jim Jeffries; Joe Acton, champion lightweight wrestler
of England; Jack Hammell, the cosmopolitan humorist, and
clever writer; Tom Saville, "The White Indian," a noted guide;
and Mose, "The Hungry Indian." Later the party was joined
by surveyor Charles Fullerton, of New Liskeard, and Neil Sharpe.

The Diary of the Two Jacks

I was shown the diary kept by Munroe and Hammell. In it
was a graphic account of their first trip up the Montreal. It
tells of the hardships they endured while searching for silver
claims. While Munroe gives the serious side, HammelFs sense
of humor crops out in every line, making his part of the "log" a
most entertaining chapter. He might be half starved and yet
could laugh at poor Hungry Mose's Oliver Twist-like calls for
"More! More!" He might be all but frozen and yet smile at
Neil Sharpe's frozen ears — taking out the stings with his
laughter.

It was in the dead of winter. On the last day of December,
1906, they ran out of provisions. Latchford was the nearest
point at which they could replenish their store — and Latchford
55 miles away! The tossing of a penny decided who should

THE REAL COBALT 61

make the return trip. These were sent by the penny: Jack
Munroe, Acton and Saville, leaving Jack Hammell to look after
Mose-the-Hungry.

As soon as the return party had gone, Hammell took up the
diary. He started in with a resolution to begin the year with-
out drinking. Next day he writes: "Am still on the water
waggon." Munroe said afterward: "No wonder, for we had
taken what little there was left."

Jan. i: "Been chasing six-hour-old moose tracks all day.
First I lost the Indian, then lost my fool self. Somebody had
side-tracked the scenery. Think I must have walked 1,000 miles
before I located the camp."

Jack did a bit of snowshoeing one day. "Crust just hard
enough to let you break through and enable your shoes to sneak
underneath, so as when you go to lift your foot you bring a ton
of crust along with it. As for going down the hills, I generally
slide them. To-day I flopped and then dived them. First your
feet break through, then the dive starts. I am champion acro-
batic hunter. Oh, if only the 42nd Street bunch could see me
now, they sure would laugh! This woods life is the only life!
Great for people with strong backs and weak minds!"

A day or two later Jack laments: "No food in sight yet!
If the boys don't soon come we'll have to stew up the moccasins
and snowshoes. Indian says, 'Him hungry!' That Indian is
always hungry! Can't blame him, though, to-night — have
almost forgotten how to eat, myself. Oh for a look in at Del-
monico's with the boys! This woods life is so different — No,
can't blame the Indian!"

From famine to feast! Munroe and party got back the next
morning, and Hammell is said to have got off the " water waggon "
before nine.

Munroe takes up the diary, and tells of the hardships of the
55 miles return to Latchford for supplies. They ran out of all
food but a little bannock (Indian bread), which they had to
divide up between the three.

62 THE REAL COBALT

The Squirrel Chase in the Cabin

One night they stopped in an old lumber camp in which a
squirrel had located. After a long chase around the big room,
Jack caught it. The other boys claimed that Jack called lustily
for them to "come quick and help me hold it." But the boys
do say lots o' things about big, good-natured Jack. The only
thing they could get to c<x)k it in was a tobacco can they found.
A little corn meal — very old — was also found, and with it and the
squirrel, a tasty broth was made. For the squirrel they cast
lots for the parts, and sat down to a contented feast.

"Shou Me the Mon 'Oo 'It Me With a Brick!"

At another time, when the whole party were together, they
were sleeping in a lumber camp with a dozen or more lumber-
men. It is the custom, in very cold weather, to sleep in their
clothes — boots and all. To preface this story I must tell you
that Tom Saville had a dog that had a way of crawling in among
the sleepers to keep warm. He crawled in with Jack Hammell
this night — as Jack thought. Jack was sure of it, for he could
feel the dog's hair rubbing against his face. Now Jack did not
object to the dog sleeping with him, providing he slept at the
"foot," but he drew the line at "the head," and especially his
head. "Get out, you beast!" said Jack, and emphasized it with
his fist. Imagine his surprise at having Joe Acton jump up,
with a loud yell, and as he pranced around the cabin over the
sleepers, wanting to know: "Wough, hl'm 'it! 'Oo 'it me?
Shou me the mon 'oo 'it me with a brick!" But everybody was
asleep, and Jack Hammell was snoring loudest of all, for he
respected Joe's reputation of being able to look after himself.
Joe related his night's experience next morning, and was sur-
prised that nobody should have known of it. "Didn't you 'ear
me, Jack? W'y, you were right next me!"

"Never heard a sound! I sleep tight when once I start,"
said Jack, with the faintest sort of a smile.

THE REAL COBALT 63

The weather was bitter cold along about Jan. 13th. The diary
says: "Very cold. Neil's face froze several times. We had to
watch each other all the while to keep from freezing."

Many Valuable Claims Staked

With all their hardships they returned with many valuable
claims staked. Some of them will turn out to be great mines,
as the work already done indicate wonderful things to come.

That was but a few months ago. They were among the
pioneers of many thousands of prospectors who have gone into
the Montreal River country. Where was then a wilderness, is
now a busy camp, with towns springing up, and before the year
is out, much of the valley from Latchford to the height of land
will be looked upon as an " Old Camp," so rapid follows improve-
ment in a mining country.

I must not leave out one of Jack Hammell's best. It's one
that the boys tell on him. It happened just before they returned
from Latchford with the supplies. He and Mose were down to
the bottom of the "barrel," and were both pretty hungry for
meat. As they sat around exchanging experiences, Jack started
in.

Jack Makes a Good Shot

" Oh, I didn't tell you, did I ? Well, Mose hasn't spoken to
me all day, just because I batted him one with a hunk of tree.
It was this way: I goes for a pail of water this morning, and,
coming back, I spies a big, voluptuous partridge right up in a
tree, just in front of the tent, so I calls to Mose, 'Hey, Mose,'
says I, soft like, ' grab something and come quick, there's a great
big partridge up this tree. It's meat for us, if you're a good
shot.' So Mose he grabs a stick of wood and steps out of the
tent. 'Now be careful,' I tells him, 'and don't breathe heavy,
and when I counts three, let loose at him.' Old Mose he sets
himself. You'd have thought he was gettin' ready to fight a
grizzly by the look on his face. But somehow things didn't go

64 THE REAL COBALT

just right. Old Mose he couldn't hold himself, for when I got
to the ' Two • count, it was all off. Mose couldn't wait any longer.
He just had to take a swash at him, and me, Mr. Simp, not want-
ing to be out of it, took a clout at him on the fly. Missed him,
of course — that is, the bird, but not the shot. No, Mose he
grabbed it right below the belt. Well, you should have seen
that Indian's face — the hurt look he threw at me! He imme-
diately sat down and commenced hugging himself with both
hands. He wouldn't even notice me. In fact, it was some
little time until I could get Mose to sit up and take notice to any-
thing. Finally he stopped loving himself, got up and sauntered
away, muttering something about some people being — poor
shots, which was an injustice to me, for if ever a man made a
pretty shot it was me, with that hunk of tree. It just goes to show,
though, how dense some Indians are. They never seem to look
at things in a broad-minded light. Sometimes I think that Mose's
mind must be bad, otherwise he wouldn't mind a little thing
like that."

Later. — Poor Mose is dead — died late in the fall — shortly
after my trip up the Montreal, of which I shall tell you further
on. I met Mose at Elk Lake City. I had thought him the
typical, high cheek bone, tall, blanketted and — well, the picture-
book Indian. He was so different that I could scarce believe
that the well-dressed boy I saw at Elk Lake City was the same
as he of whom I had heard so much — Poor "Hungry Mose!"
Hungry no longer.

Coomstock Lode to be Surpassed by Cobalt

But to return to Mr. Mitchell. He has made a deep study
of the situation in the Cobalt Camp. "Look at that," said he,
during one of my interviews with him. " That, " was the United
States Mineral Report. The particular part to which he called
my attention was the world-famous Comstock Lode of Nevada.
"Now see," said he, "up to 1900 there was taken out $203,636,-
062.84 of silver. It took 40 years to take this out, and they had
to go down 3,300 feet to get it. The greatest year was 1874 —

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THE REAL COBALT 65

the fifteenth from its start in 1859 — when the production was
$21,780,922.02. Now follow. This will be equalled, in 1909,
by tie Cobalt district, the fourth year after machinery was in-
stalled." I could scarcely realize this, but when he showed
what is being taken out from the mines now shipping, and
with such mines as the Cobalt Lake, Nancy-Helen, North Cobalt,
and a dozen others, now almost ready to start in as big shippers,
I had to admit the correctness of his prediction. Only to-day,
I visited a mine, and watched the men bagging ore at the rate of
a carload every twenty-four hours. Marvellous! And again,
wonderful, this story of Cobalt and its fabulous wealth of silver.
Later. — They struck a rich vein in the Casey, just as this
goes to press, that runs 5,300 ounces of silver.

THE IMPERIAL LARDER LAKE
AMALGAMATED MINES

This Company, with head office in New Liskeard, Ont.,
whose low capitalization and large holdings of 43 well-selected
claims, in the rich parts of the Larder Lake district, and in the
townships of Boston, Catherine, and Harris, must become one
of the successful mining enterprises of the country.

It has had assays of $1,354 in gold, with good showings of
copper and silver, in their township claims. Its capitalization is
but $250,000, with shares at par $1. Only enough of which
will be sold to develop the properties, and not run as a stock-
jobbing enterprise. The high standing of its officers and direct-
ors is a guaranty of honest management.

I have not seen their other holdings, but I have visited their
mine in Harris Township, and from it judge the carefulness of
the company. These are in the joining concessions to the Casey
Mines, recently sold in London for $1,000,000, and the $5 par
shares of which have already reached above $7. The forma-
tion of the rock in exactly the same as the Casey, and is growing
richer as they go down.

The officers and directors are all successful business men
of New Liskeard, and have gone into the matter as an honest
business enterprise: President, George Weaver, Real Estate
Agent and Mining Broker, and Vice-President of the Temis-
kaming Telephone Co., Ltd.; Vice-President, R. G. Zahalan,
hotel proprietor; Secretary-Treasurer, G. W. Weaver. Directors:
Frank Loudin Smiley, Barrister; Henri Loudin, Business
Manager; J. H. O'Brien, Contractor; W. J. Yates, Merchant;
and W. E. Kerr, Government Inspector of Roads.

Solicitors: Hartman and Smiley. Bankers: Imperial Bank
of Canada.

66

ELK CITY— THE NEW
COBALT

THE district around the new town that has sprung into exist-
ence within the past year, on the banks of the Montreal
River, or, by reason of the widening, Elk Lake, in the
Township of James, is well called The New Cobalt, by reason of
the wonderful richness of its mineral found wherever real work
has been done in search of it. Some of the claims show native
silver upon the very surface, and most of them that have been
well prospected are proving the right of the district to the name.

It is so recent, that a residence of less than one year makes
a man a pioneer. But recent as is the district, there is hardly a
lot that has not been staked, and on which work has not been
done.

A New York doctor, while hunting for big game in the sum-
mer of 1906, discovered native silver, just east of James, in Tud-
hope. His find is turning out very rich. This discovery set the
eyes of many toward the country, and yet but little was done
until in the late fall and winter, when a small army marched up
the river. It was even more difficult to get there than after a
steamboat line had been started, although, as the boys say, it
was almost as fast, but then the boys are given to say a whole
lot besides their beads.

Elk City is 53 miles from Latchford, and 25 miles from
Earlton, on the T. and N. O. Railway. Being destined to be-
come an important point, many roads are aiming toward it —
waggon roads, later to be followed by one or more railroads, since
it is on the line into rich mineral fields beyond. It must become
the great distributing point for a wide country up and down the
river. Owing to the width of the Montreal, which, at Elk

67

68 THE REAL COBALT

City, narrows down to 352 feet, this is the only place for miles
where a bridge can be thrown across. It is on a Veteran lot of
160 acres, owned and laid out by W. F. Greene, A. Klinginsmith
and J. E. Cook. The site is ideal, and has been laid out to the
very best advantage. The lot being in the centre of the miner-
alized belt that crosses James, the north part is soon to become
an active mining camp, as all indications show that these lucky
young men can do a big mining business "right in towIl ,, — an
industry to start on, almost before the town hall is up.

Already a number of substantial buildings have been erected,
and many more planned for the spring, which promises to be a
busy one. All of the claims held by men or companies of means,
will begin work as soon as the snow is off, and a large number
before that time. I have seldom found so enthusiastic a district.
"We've got the goods and we're goin' to show 'em what's in
James," say the enthusiasts. From what I saw, as I visited
among the various camps, this will not be hard to do. In fact,
some of them have already proved what is there.

The Mitchell, the Munroe, Saville, Hammell
and Hackett Claims

Elsewhere I have spoken of the properties held by W. -S.
Mitchell and his unique company of prospectors. They have
claims in many parts, in fact, in almost every district from Cole-
man to Abitibi, to the north, and along the way from Latchford
to Smythe, to the west. Here their claims ar£ among the best.
On the "Munroe lot," a short distance easterly from Elk Lake
City, I saw a vein that was opened up for 500 feet, and so straight
that one might have killed a line of birds sitting along its edge,
if the bullet would carry. This is one of the remarkable things
noted in this whole district— the straightness of the veins. On
this claim native silver has been discovered.

THE REAL COBALT 69

THE MOOSE HORN MINE

To the northeast, a short mile, I visited the Moose Horn Mines.
Locally they are better known as "The Gifford Mines," from
Charles Gifford, one of the best known men in this, as well as
in the Cobalt district, where he was long connected, as manager,
with the Victoria Mines.

The story of his coming to James is an interesting one. Sit-
ting in the Victoria Mines office with the late Colonel Charles
Turner, one day, the Colonel said: "Charlie, I've got some of
the best claims in the whole of James Township, up the Montreal
River. I know, for I have prospected them carefully." With-
out ever seeing them Gifford bought them then and there —
bought them under six feet of snow. He had known the Colonel
so long, that when he said: "I know they are good," he believed
it, and took them at the price offered. He believed that they
were good, but little did he dream how good they were — little
did he think to find native silver showing on the very surface,
and with well-defined veins showing all over the property.

Early in July he came up with his two partners, his brother
George and James Garvin, and set to work at once erecting a
commodious camp, and putting a large force of men to stripping
and sinking shafts. I was there in October. I could scarce
believe that in so short a time so much work could have been
done. But when I watched the admirable system under which
the work was being prosecuted, I then saw how it had been ac-
complished — men and managers working together with one
object in view, the bringing of the mine up to a high standard,
and that they are doing.

With 217 acres to develop, they thought to best forward the
enterprise by putting it in a company — hence the Moose Horn
Mining Company, with Dr. A. H. Perfect, President; Dr. Henry
Beatty, Vice-President; J. H. Charles, Secretary-Treasurer;
and Directors: Alfred Gillies and L. L. Anthus; Charles Gifford is
General Manager.

Mr. Gifford has had a wide experience. Born in New York

70 THE REAL COBALT

City, he has been in all the mining countries of the west, from
Mexico to Alaska, and looks upon this as one of the greatest
camps in all the wide range, and with a future which no man
dare predict.

THE MINERAL BELT

While the mineralized belt of the Montreal River country is
not yet fully known, its best showing has been found to centre
in James Township. Beginning in about the first mile in Tud-
hope (joining James on the east), and in the third concession,
it runs a little northwesterly, taking in a part of Smythe (to the
north), and passes on beyond James into the Unsurveyed, to the
west of James. Little has been found in the southerly part,
and yet it is claimed that with depth, mineral must here be dis-
covered. It is too early to even attempt to define the areas of
silver lands, since so many new places are showing value that
even the "barren" rocks of a few months ago are now promising
great things. Beginning in Coleman, and on both sides of the
river, in the Portage Bay district, a number of good finds have
been made. After this section has been passed, we find little
until the Maple, or Skull Mountain country, has been reached,
and even here only a few of the claims have been proved of value.
One company of prospectors staked over 3,000 acres, and had
all of the claims thrown out but about ten. And yet in this Skull
Mountain district are some great things. For one of these an
offer of $300,000 has been refused/ while the Mitchell and other
holdings are said to be most promising. To the north-west of
James, around Hubert, Bloom, and Calcite Lakes, some good
finds have been made, while the richness of the Silver Lake
properties, in the Unsurveyed, just west of James, places them
among the very best in the district.

THE REAL COBALT 71

JAMES TOWNSHIP SILVER MINES COMPANY

It may be owing to the greater amount of prospecting done
in James that makes the name of "The New Cobalt " seem so
fitting. It is without a doubt a safe proposition, almost any part
in and north of the third concession, and, as above, even the
lower part may yet prove good on proper development. Directly
west of Elk City two miles, the James Township Silver
Mines Company has two claims upon which much development
work has been done, and which assay high in silver, chalcopy-
rites, peacock, copper or bornite, and aplite, carrying silver, not
to mention good showings of cobalt bloom, galena and smalltite.
Sixteen well-defined veins have been uncovered and as work
goes on, new ones must be found since these lots lie in the best
portion of the township, west of the river.

The officers of the Company are: President, A. Klingin-
smith; Vice-President, J. J. Anderson; and W. F. Greene,
Secretary-Treasurer and Managing Director. Directors: B. N.
Law and Edward Gillis. The main office of the Company is in
the Temple Building, Toronto.

Here is one of the good stories of the camp. It is of a near-
by claim.

Inspector Irwin Makes a Great Find

A prospector had gone up into James, and after he had come
real close to his last dollar, without finding anything, he was
about to give up, when Inspector Roland Irwin happening along,
one day, when the prospector was away, and picking around
the mouth of the shaft, ran on to a vein that set the whole camp
wild with delight, and went far to bringing the army of other
prospectors into James.

A. H, McDonald

Immediately south of and joining the James Township Silver
Mines Company's lots are two of the properties of A. H. Mc-

72 THE REAL COBALT

Donald, who is finding so many good things "Up the Montreal."
These properties are not only in the best part of the camp, but
like the lots above mentioned, assay well in silver, galena and
copper. Just west, and adjoining, is possibly the best claim
in the district (the one Irwin found), by reason of the big find
of silver, made in the early days of the camp. The story of this
find is one of the stories they like to tell you up there.

Besides these two claims Mr. McDonald has 3, number of
lots in the Unsurveyed, about Silver Lake.

The foregoing are but instances of what is being opened up
in the great mineral section of the Montreal River. One can
hardly imagine what is in store for that country, since the com-
paratively little work already done has shown it to be so wonder-
fully promising.

THE MONTREAL A RIVER OF GREAT BEAUTY

A year ago so little was known of the Montreal River, that one
never heard it mentioned other than a way to reach the silver
lands along its banks. "Up the Montreal," meant nothing of
beauty, while I have rarely passed along so charming a stream.

I chose for my trip the month of October, the loveliest of all
the year. The early frost had yellowed the leaves of the annual
shedding trees into a thousand shades of colorings, and these,
interspersed among the spruce, the balsam and the pines, formed
giant bouquets whose changing beauty was ever and anon re-
marked by my fellow-passengers — the practical miners and
prospectors on their way to their various camps along the river.
A clinging snow had fallen the night before, and hung in delicate
whiteness upon the trees, festooning the branches of green, turn-
ing them into a painting more beautiful than the brush of man
had ever attempted. The great red sun changed to golden,
and as we crept along in the little steamer, in snail-like speed,
it melted the white into green again, turning backward the dial
of the seasons.

I could not but think what this river will be when it may be

THE REAL COBALT 73

traversed by swift-moving steamers. As it was, even the slow-
moving freight boat was endurable with so much of charm all
about.

A Unique Race

Did you ever note the inborn propensity to race in all of us?
I have, and that day recalled many of the stories told of the old
racing days along the Mississippi. We had hardly gotten fairly
started from Latchford, when, on looking back, we saw a small
craft leaving the dock. It wasn't the black raking craft of the
piratical type, but a light grey, built for swift movement. We
could ever keep in the lead, save when we would near a portage.
It was at such times that the little craft crept to the fore, and by
the time we had made the portage, and had taken another steamer,
the little grey had left us to catch up, which we would ever do
if the run was long enough between portages (of which there
were three in the 53 miles). Each time as we would creep along,
the excitement would become intense. "We're gaining. We'll
catch her yet. See, see, she's scarce a half-mile ahead!" "Pile
in the wood, engineer!" "Cap, think we'll beat out?" These
and many other questions and exclamations enlivened the way
all along to Elk City. Oh, it was great — that race! Did
we beat? you ask. Oh, yes; beat by a full quarter of an hour.
But with reason: One of the men broke his paddle, and thus
handicapped, the little Fredericton canvas canoe lost the race to our
swift-moving ( ?) steamer. Oh yes, an exciting race, that one up
the Montreal, that bright October day against the little "canvas."

The Drownings in the Montreal

While passing through Mountain Lake — a widening of the
Montreal — one of the passengers told of the drowning of a pros-
pector while coming down from James Township. From this
the subject of too many unnecessary drownings in the North
country came up, which leads me to write the following:

Scarcely a week but I hear of one or more deaths by drown-
ing — often careless drowning. Men start out in a canoe who

74 THE REAL COBALT

know nothing about handling it. They may have a smooth water
knowledge of a canoe or boat, but when they go upon the rough
lakes or foolishly attempt to run a rapid in these wild rivers, they
might well be called "At Sea" — and literally at sea, so far as
safety goes.

There is so much danger to the prospector that I have given
no little attention to the subject of canoeing upon the lakes and
rivers of this country. Too many think that all they need select
is a thing that is propelled by paddles, and that's a canoe. I
thought that myself until, upon much inquiry, I found that some
canoes are far safer than others, and I thereupon began to find
what one was the safest of all. I asked of the returned pros-
pectors from Larder Lake, Lake Abitibi, the Montreal River,
and from all parts, wherever canoes were used. Now, while an
occasional man had his favorite, and by long experience had be-
come an expert in its use, I found the general opinion was that
for safety, strength, ease of handling, and all round excellence,
the very best in this country is one made at Fredericton, N.B.,
by Chestnut and Son. More people know it as the "Canvas"
canoe, from its being canvas covered. Its advocates were so
enthusiastic that at first I thought they must have an interest in
the company. But as the number grew, I knew that it must be
the canoe and its excellence itself that accounted for the general
praise accorded it. Were it a waggon, a buggy, a carriage or a
car, to run on dry land, I'd hesitate to give space to any particular
make. But it is something so much more important — vitally
important — that I should be doing the intending green prospectors
a wrong, did I not tell them all I can that will tend to their good
— tend to their safety, and nothing that I can think of is of so much
importance as to how best prepare for a trip over the lakes and
wild rivers through which they must pass in their search for the
silver and gold that brings them to this northern country.

THE REAL COBALT 75

What the Late Edward Hanlan Said

When the late "Ned" Hanlan, the long time champion of the
rowing world, was in Haileybury at the recent great regatta, I
had the pleasure of a long interview with him. He was a most
entertaining character, having the pleasing ability of telling the
things that have interested him in his many trips around the world.

Having in mind the many cases of drowning that have come
to my notice (one occurred near by, during his visit. It was one
of the foolish drownings. Three men and a dog tried to go over
the lake with a heavy loaded canoe. The lake was very rough,
and their canoe upset. Two were picked up by a passing steamer,
but the third lies at the bottom of a deep channel while I yet
write of it). I asked him how best to act when a boat or canoe
upsets. " Never try to get upon the bottom of the upturned canoe
by going to the middle. Always go to the end, bear it down and
climb on as you would get upon a horse's back. If more than one,
then 'ride it double. ' It will thus hold till help comes. It's all
but impossible to climb upon the bottom by going to the middle
of the canoe. ,,

If this page save but a single life, then I am ten thousand
times repaid, and Chestnut and Son are welcome to all I have
said of their Canvas, for I feel that they have merited the words.

One day, shortly after I had written the above, I chanced to
meet H. B. Munroe, all around mining man, who has probably
had as much canoe experience in this upper country as any other
in it. He is a warm advocate of the " Canvas, " strongly urging
its adoption by the novice. He thinks it the best canoe made. " It
is next to impossible to swamp it," says he, " and I've had experi-
ence in every dangerous lake up here. Fve seen so many drown-
ings, by reason of poorly constructed canoes, that I would, if I
could, have a law passed prohibiting their use, and make the use
of some such canoe as you have recommended, compulsory. This
would save many a life. Yes, I look upon Chestnut's Canvas as
the best to be had."

76 THE REAL COBALT

44 Pioneers of the Montreal "

I found so much of interest "up the Montreal," that I have
nearly ready a little book with the above title. It will contain
a careful paper on the minerals of the district, written specially
for the work by the best informed mining engineer on that coun-
try — Mr. W. E. MacCready, of Haileybury, who has made a long
and careful study of the mineral resources of the river.

The booklet, aside from this, will be very light — just little
things to recall to the minds of the boys the days and nights they
spent "Fighting Flies in James." Apropos of the style of its
lightness and the flies themselves, I shall herewith give a few lines:

The Kinnedys were there in fource amang the pioneers,

The sthouries tould me 'bout the flies quite druv me into tears.
They tould me 'bout the black wans, about the sandflies too,

And the billions ov muskatos that ate ahl night ov you.
The pesky craters nare wud take their luttle boite in turns,

But pumped the pizen into ye a-filling ye up wid burns.
And whin the rosy sun got up, and ye whiffed the arly dawn,

Ye'd hope an* pray, wid ahl yer stringth, ye'd foind the divils gan.
Yer hopes an' prayers wus answered, nat a- wan o' thim wus buzzin',

But ivry wan hed bruthers, an' aich o' thim a cuzzin.
Af the nite wans ye thought wickid, the day wans they wus wurse,

Yer moind floys back to Agipt — to Agipt and its curse.
I'm sure the good Recorder wull grant ye lisenced claims,

And niver count the things ye sed whoile foighten' flies in James.

Each of the pioneers will get his one or more lines. There
will be a carefully drawn map witn a key, showing the holders of
the various mining lots in and about James. A few full-page
half-tones of river scenes will brighten the booklet. Then Leo's
"I've got something good in James" will make you sit up and
take notice. In short, it will be one of those trifle books, inter-
esting only because you knew it all before.

McDOUGALL CHUTES

McDOUGALL CHUTES is on the T. and N. O. Railway,
204 miles north of North Bay. It is one of the coming
mining centres, with some of the mines of great promise.
It takes its name from an Indian family — descendants of an
early Scotch Hudson Bay factor. It lies along the west side of
Black River, and to the east of the railway. There is a very
pretty fall just across a little bay-like formation of the river, from
the town. McDougall Chutes might be said to have started in
1906. But little was done, however, until this year (1907), al-
though George Johnson, Walter Monahan, the Transcontinental
Railway, John McChessney and some others, had built here as
early as 1905.

The town is building up without as yet having been laid out
into streets.

The Colonel and the Orderly Town

I was surprised to find McDougall Chutes one of the most
orderly places on the whole line from North Bay to "the end of
steel," which "end" is five miles north of McDougall. Of course
I asked the why, only to be told: "Say, I guess you haven't yet
met de Colonel!" "What Colonel?" "Why, The Colonel—
— Colonel James McCully, the provincial constable of this dis-
trict. To him much is due the order you remark." I later met
the genial Colonel, and at once saw the reason of the statement.
"I can keep 'em all straight but the ' Bishop*. But then he'd
get full on Black River water," said the Colonel with a twinkle.

His district covers all the country north of Englehardt, and
for 20 miles on either side of the railway — certainly a big area
for one man to keep clear of that wily animal known in New
Ontario as the "Blind Pig." But they all say that the Colonel
is "the one man" who can do it.

77

78 THE REAL COBALT

Rivers of the North

One of the surprises of this country is its great river system.
I have never seen one so well watered with brooks and lakes every-
where. A brook which one might step across turns into a navig-
able river in a remarkably short distance. -The Black River,
for instance, heads at the Height of Land, and twenty or thirty
miles away, at McDougall Chutes, we find a steamer carrying
freight down to where it joins the Abitibi River — fourteen miles
below. The Abitibi Lake is emptied by a river of the same name
which flows westerly from the lake for 25 miles, thence northerly
for nearly 200 miles, where it empties into the Moose River, to
flow on to James Bay some 40 miles to the north-east. All the
way along are fine lakes and rivers unnamed and unmarked.
It is well said that nobody knows what is in this country of mar-
vellous things. Development is so rapidly going forward that
the untrodden wilderness of January is a cultivated field before
the summer has passed, and towns have sprung up and great busi-
ness is done where so recently the moose and his wilder fellows
were supreme!

Romance of Gold Island

When the mineral history of New Ontario shall have been
written, one of its most interesting chapters will be " The Find of
the Two Swedes" — "Swedes" as all reports to now have called
them. As usual, the first writers of things get matters mixed.
Victor Mattson and Harry Bannala are Finns, whose story, briefly
told, is this: They came from Finland to Port Arthur, Canada,
in 1896; prospected in the Sudbury district for years, making
but one good .find in all the time; came to Cobalt this
spring, and worked in the mines for seven weeks; left
for Abitibi, first carefully examining a map of the upper country.
In looking over the map they noticed a large lake almost directly
west of McDougall Chutes, some 25 miles. Up to that time it
was practically unknown, although it covered and touched a half
dozen townships. To this lake the Finns went (instead of to

THE REAL COBALT 79

Abitibi), because it was unknown. They first prospected the
shores, and not finding any value they began to look among the
many islands (it is said that there are fifty of them) for they
knew not what, but anything that might be hidden away among
the rocks. They finally reached one which proved so rich in gold
that they at once named it Gold Island. Staking five claims upon
the island and the nearest shore, they started for McDougall
Chutes, with only the map to guide them. Here meeting Silas
Gibson and Alex Stirling, of the firm of Gibson and Stirling, post-
masters and general storekeepers, and telling of their rich find,
so interested these two enterprising young merchants, that it
was proposed that they return to Night Hawk Lake with Gibson.
The proposition was accepted. When Silas reached the island
and saw what the Finns had to show him, all the Aladdin stories
of old flashed into his mind, making him believe that it was all a
dream. But when, after two days spent in uncovering a 75-foot
dyke, and picking samples of pure gold nuggets, he had to be-
lieve as true what lay before him. He returned to McDougall
Chutes, laid the facts before some capitalists, and now 15 men
are at work, and as soon as the waterways are frozen, machinery
will be taken in and installed, and a large force of miners set to
sinking shafts and drifting.

When I first heard of this discovery I set it down as one of
the many fairy tales one must listen to in a mining camp. But
seeing the samples, and talking with the workmen, who are most
enthusiastic as they go down in rich pay rock, I found it very
easy to accept as fact the stories told of it. That vast wealth
awaits the fortunate Finns, and those who are interested with
them, is proven by the assays of thousands of dollars per ton,
that have been made from the samples taken from "The Island
of Gold."

Silas Gibson is of the well-known Gibsons of the Gatineau
Valley. He and Mr. Stirling came to McDougall Chutes in
May last. Besides this fortunate strike, they are interested in
a number of other mining claims, which once they counted as
good, but seem now but insignificant holdings. It may well be

80 THE REAL COBALT

said: The finds of to-day often dwarf the great things of yester-
day. Good fortune does not always pass, un-noting, those merit-
ing the choicest favors. This is an instance which you will agree
if ever you meet these two young merchants of McDougall Chutes.

John McChessney

John McChessney is another whose mining claims around
McDougall Chutes are worthy of special note.

Mr. McChessney was one of the first to go to this thriving
village. He was long connected with The Veterans Locating
Association of Toronto. He has doubtless selected more Veteran
lots than any other in this north country. It was in August of
1903 when he came up from "the end of steel," which was then
at about where is now Englehardt. Later he built fhe first frame
building, and ran the store now owned by Gibson and Stirling.
He also built the log house used for a time as a hospital, now
owned by Walter Monahan.

When the Transcontinental Railway was preparing to build
the section in the Abitibi Lake country, a tote or cadge road had
to be cut through from New Liskeard to the lake — 150 miles.
Mr. McChessney was the one who cut it through. He had been
over the line before, going by canoe with goods for the Indians.
From New Liskeard to Abitibi there are 90 portages of from 200
feet to one-half mile each.

The Indians Had Never Seen Horses Before

Mr. McChessney was the first to take horses through to
Abitibi. He tells of the excitement among the Indians when they
saw these curious animals for the first time.

His knowledge of the country, gained while going through-
out the townships looking for land for the Veterans, stood
him in good 'stead when mineral was discovered. ^ He knew
where to go. He had seen~the formations that meant gold, silver
or copper, and knowing this began"prospecting in what he thought
to be the best localities. That his judgment was good is proven
by the claims he selected.

- " '" THE REAL COBALT 81

Munro Township

Mr. McChessney went into Munro Township ten or
twelve miles to the east of McDougall, where Burwash and
Barnet have since made their great discovery. Here he and
his partner, Isaac Jenkins, took up six choice claims. It was not
like the "tenderfoot" going about putting in stakes with no
knowledge of the formation of the rocks, for Jenkins had spent
years in South Africa's mines and in the mines of British Col-
umbia, from which he came on hearing of the great wealth of
this country.

Besides the six claims in Munroe, Mr. McChessney has a half
interest in a working mine right in McDougall Chutes, which
promises big results. In the unsurveyed country, at the Height
of Land, he has three claims, which show gold, silver and copper.
An assay from one of these, taken at 12 feet, gave 34 per cent,
copper, 250 in gold, and 3 ozs. of silver. The one in the village
assayed $9.60 in gold, 3 ozs. silver and 12 per cent, zinc blend.

In Abitibi Lake he owns the mining rights of 15 islands and
7 claims on the main land.

His good fortune will please many an old Veteran who has
profited by his judgment.

Walter Monahan

It was Walter Monahan, one of McDougalPs early citizens,
who first found gold in Munroe, where he has located some of the
choice claims, assays from which show the wisdom of his selection.
He has, in all, eleven claims, from which he has taken ordinary
samples that run from $16 to $50 per ton, while some run high
enough to satisfy even a Law.

Mr. Monahan came to McDougalPs from Huntsville, in the
Muskoka Lakes country, in June of 1905, and has done and is
doing his part to build up this enterprising town, whose future
promises much, owing to its admirable situation.

Mr. Monahan has charge of a land company in this locality,
and is doing much toward locating settlers,

THE L AROSE MINES

" V/'OU'VE been looking for it all the way through? Been

JL looking for the Larose?" I knew it, all the time. It's
just a way I have of saving some of the good things for
the last. Say. if you could but see this great mine, with its
millions of wealth in sight, you would sure wonder how I could
have kept back the telling so long. Why bless you, this very
thing is indicative of the camp itself. It started out well, so
did I, with the Hudson Bay. I shall end well, so far as the
thing I'm telling goes, and as to Cobalt, it is proving its
richness to be so far beyond expectation, that it hardly seems
the same camp. The thousands in the expectation of 1903
havie long since grown into millions of realization. In the case
of the Larose, in these early days, of 1908, millions of value
are blocked out, and to be mined at leisure. In 1903, where
was but little reason for hope of more than ordinary gain, is
now the riches of a Croesus. This, too, after thousands of
tons of ore have been shipped — more than from any other
mine in the district, one car returning $126,000, and during
1907 nearly 100 carloads were sent out.

If Cobalt had but one mine, and that the Larose, it would
still be reckoned among the rich silver camps of Canada. For
this reason its history is so much a part of the country that to
write of it in less than a whole volume to itself, is a real task.

To the casual relater, the Larose was the first mine discov-
ered. J. H. McKinley and Ernest Darragh had found mineral
a month before, but, as I have said, they kept it so quiet that it
was not known at the time Fred. Larose found it in September
of 1903.

It was on September 29th that "Fred. Rose" signed the ap-
plication for the discovery made by him on September 15th,

84 THE REAL COBALT

1903. His application stated that he had found mineral at
Station 113 on the T. and N.O. Railway, about 1,300 feet north
of Cobalt Lake (then Long Lake). His discovery was copper.
This application was sworn to before H. McQuarrie, a notary
of Haileybury. It was signed by "Fred. Rose" and Duncan
McMartin, who staked the claim, and together staked a number
of other claims — rumor says that they were first to discover
what afterward became the great Nipissing mines.

John and Duncan McMartin, two brothers from Glengarry,
were contracting on that part of the T. and N.O. Railway which
passes Cobalt. Larose, from Hull, P.Q., was their blacksmith.
All the way along from Mud Lake had the brothers encountered
rock — vast cuts of rock — and yet no mineral was noticed until
they had passed where now stands the station at Cobalt — about
a half mile north.

Incidentally, there are no more popular mine owners in the
camp than these Two Men from Glengarry. Great riches often
make of good men veritable cads, and you are tempted to regret
that they have been stniled upon by Fortune. In these two
brothers we find the sort one does so like to stop long enough
to commend Fortune for her selection — the elder known as "The
King of Cobalt," and Duncan, the younger, doubtless the next
M.P. for Glengarry.

Some one has suggested that John might follow his name
with a K.C. (King o* Cobalt); and still another, that plain
"Mr." preceding it would be more distinctive, since the late
deluge of K.Cs.

^fThey took in three partners from Mattawa, Ont. — Henry
and Noah Timmons, and D. A. Dunlop. Buying out Fred. La-
rose, they formed a close corporation, with the capital placed at
$5, 000,000 — an instance of a seemingly high capitalization prov-
ing very low in comparison to actual values.

No "Strictures," Just a Few Facts

I have been told that I shall not be allowed to "pass stric-
tures" on the Government. I shall not do so. Wouldn't do

THE REAL COBALT 85

it for the world and an interest in the Gillies Limit. Oh, no, I
shall not pass one. Neither shall I pass a Fact if I see it along
the way. Too many Facts are passed unnoted for the good of
this great upper half of a great Province.

Fact No. i. The application made for the 40 acres of the
Larose property was dated — as above — on September 29th,
1903. The company went to work on the development of the
mine, and were not long uncovering a fabulously rich vein. This
vein ran across the railway. It was in plain view, and so re-
mained for over two years. During all that time nobody ever
intimated that it was not a part of the Larose. All at once the
Government, seeing so much wealth lying along their road, said:
"Now we own the surface right-of-way, guess we better take
the mineral down below," and they took it, and sold it to J. P.
Dickson for $50,000, and J. P. paid for it in the first two cars
shipped. The Government had not — up to that time — made
any reservation. But a little thing like a "reservation" never
seems to faze them if they want to "reserve" as an afterthought.
Like John Sherman — or was it Horace Greeley? — who said: "The
way to Resume is to Resume." Here "The way to Reserve is
to Reserve," no matter when the "Reservation."

Fact No. 2. The Larose Company made a number of dis-
coveries on lands to the east of their mine. These were honest
discoveries. Applying for the lands they were refused. Suit
was brought to compel the Government to grant the application.
It was suggested that they employ a certain Toronto lawyer to
conduct the case for them. He was employed. The case was
set for trial; witnesses were brought from a distance at great ex-
pense to the company. The case was postponed. It was set
for another date, and witnesses were again called. Again it
was postponed. It was set for trial for the third time, and the
witnesses called to attend. Another postponement. By this
time the expenses had run up to $50,000. You are now asking:
" Was it wisdom for the Government to incur so great expense ? "
Why, bless you, what need they care so long as somebody else
paid it? No matter if the payers were some of their own citi-

86 THE REAL COBALT

zensl Citizens! Why, in New Ontario, rank foreigners ate
shown more consideration. That's not a "Stricture" — just a
little Fact!

"Was the case set for the fourth trial ?" I knew you'd ask
that. Oh, no. There was an easier way. The Government
just stopped bothering about trials, and handed the property-
covering some 200 acres — over to the O'Briens (I'm saying noth-
ing against the O'Briens). And there you are. Yes, without
trial, settled a case that involved millions of value.

Oh, it's easy if you know how! And they do know how, up
here. "Is that all? Did it close at that?" Say, you must
hear the rest of the story. As I told you, they do know how to
"Reserve." In this instance, the Government just reserved a
one-fourth interest in all that great property, and are to-day
getting one-fourth of all the ore mined upon it. "What right
had they to it, other than of that of any other mine about which
there is a question?" Now, see here, you will have to ask a
wiser than I, or any one else in New Ontario. I don't pretend
to know — neither does anybody else in the camp.

There Would Have Been No Cobalt

Here is another fact which is not generally known, even in
the district, or if known, not fully appreciated. But for this
great company, there would have been no Cobalt, so far as the wide
public is concerned. It would have been another Sudbury, or
another Yukon, with a few of our Americans owning the whole.
Didn't know that, did you? Am I telling secrets? Then I
am simply writing "The Real," as I promised to do at the outset.
Did the Government know this? Did it know that the very men
who had "done" our country were here after Canadian indus-
tries? Ask your men who represent the greatest Octopus in
the world. They can tell you — but will they? "Not loyal to
my own country, to speak thus?" Wrong again. I am loyal
to my own. So loyal, in fact, and so^appreciative of its interests,
that I would decry the men who have so long enriched themselves
at my country's expense, and will decry the men who are help-

THE REAL COBALT 87

ing them grow rich at yours. These men from my country have
been helped to get what you could not. Now, who is the loyal
one — I or he, or they, who would favor another country rather
than benefit the masses of their own ?

Enough of this for the present — the rest I shall reserve for
another time — another time when I shall have more space to de-
vote to the subject.

Fred. Larose Well Treated

Before I came to Cobalt, I had heard so much about how
the Larose Company had wronged Fred. Larose, that I thought
so ill of them that I had purposed to pass unnoted even so great
a mine. But when I looked into the early history of the camp,
and learned the uncertainty of things when the purchase of
Larose's interest was made, I saw it in a very different light.
This interest was purchased at a time when nobody knew if
the whole camp would be worth the $30,000 paid the black-
smith. We hear very little about the thousands of dollars that
have since been paid for claims which have proved of no value.
Nobody thinks to berate the men who have paid $50,000 — aye, an
hundred thousand dollars for simple prospects that have been
a total loss to all but the lucky sellers of the worthless lands.
When that purchase was made, the shaft on the discovery was
down but a very few feet, and scarcely no value showing. When
the $50,000 or $100,000 were paid, the camp had proven its value.
The Larose Company risked what to them was then a fortune —
a fortune on a bare possibility. It turned out well, and it has
been the pleasure of many to say ill of the fortunate purchasers.
Too many would rather say of a fellow-man: "We're sorry for
the poor devil !" than: "We're delighted at his great success."
We can ever know the mental calibre of a man by the size of
his bump of envy.

I have carefully investigated the manner of this company's
later purchases. They bought the controlling interest in the
University, paying a fair price for the stock; when the holders of
the Lawson vein were at their wits' end to know how to retain

88 THE^REAL COBALT

their rich claim against the men who would have taken it from
them, it was John McMartin, the President of the Larose, who
came to their rescue and made them men of wealth; and so on
down through their purchases of the Princess mine, the Fisher
and Epplett, the Silver Hill, the Cochrane and the old E. V.
Wright mine, over in Quebec. Whilst others had acquired hun-
dreds of acres of enormously valuable holdings for a bare $i
per acre, these men paid thousands for their properties. And
just here, and incidentally, I must remark a notable fact.
Men, in the early days of Cobalt, made a few thousand dollars
by being very shrewd. Some of them were exceeding shrewd,
but they devoted so much time to trying to take from honest
holders, honest holdings, that they let their own properties slip
away for the few paltry thousands, whilst the very men whose
lands they would have taken, on simple technicalities, are now,
in instances, worth millions. It is the best illustration I have
ever seen, where it pays to be square.

The Riches of the Larose — A Second Comstock

Lode

To speak of the enormous riches of the Larose Mine is like
telling you that a busy mint has vast stores of silver. No one
who has not seen its veins of silver — one of them (No. 3) traced
for 1,000 feet — can form any conception of what lies in the prop-
erty — in the original 40 acres — and the "J.B. 4," that joins it,
yet barely prospected.

From the 70 foot level, drifts have been run out more than
1,000 feet; over 700 feet on the 200 foot; and work starting from
the 300 foot level. They are proving that the pessimists were
wrong when they said: "It's a surface camp."

The Lawson, the University, and Others

j§ On or before March first, work will be resumed on the cele-
brated University; the fabulously rich Lawson vein; the Fisher
and Epplett, with its 18-inch calcite lead, in the vicinity of the

THE REAL COBALT 89

famous Temiskaming; the Princess — near the McKinley-Dar-
ragh — which promises to be another of the great mines of the
camp, shipments of ore having already been made that runs
over 4,000 ounces to the ton; and on the Cochrane, another in
the Temiskaming locality. In a few months every one of these
will be busy camps, for the Larose people never do things in a
small way. If what they will do may be judged from what they
have already done, then I may well repeat: If Cobalt had but
one mine, and that the Larose, it would still be reckoned among
the rich silver camps of Canada, yea, of the world, and one would
be safe in predicting that it will be a second Comstock Lode.

COBALT— CANADA'S WON-
DERLAND

HOW TO GET THERE

THE first question one asks when hearing of a new place is
"How do you get there?" I asked this when I used to
hear, in Ottawa, of the silver land of New Ontario. I
knew, as you know, that Cobalt is away up somewhere in the
north. That is all I knew.

I went to the Canadian Pacific station in Ottawa and asked
for a ticket to Cobalt, and the train did the rest, It was in the
middle of May, that charming month for travel. One needs but
sit in one of the palatial cars of this great road and glide through
beautiful changing panorama, not once noting the passing of
time — ever and anon looking out upon rapidly growing towns
along the way. Oh it is delightful!

I am ever interested in the towns along the way, each with
its own individuality.

There was the live town of Carleton Place, then Almonte
with its busy mills. It was to Almonte the Prince of Wales —
now the good King Edward — was driven from Arnprior while on
his memorable visit to Canada in i860, and Arnprior with its
vast lumber mills, sixteen miles away, where again we reach
the Ottawa River, which we had left at the Capital. Seventeen
miles beyond is the beautiful town of Renfrew, with its well-
laid streets, miles of concrete sidewalks, and its varied indus-
tries. Cobden, whose life went out when the old Ottawa River
boats no longer ran the upper river, is another sixteen miles
away. Onward nineteen miles and we have come to the great
lumber and manufacturing town of Pembroke. Here my mind

90

THE REAL COBALT 91

ran back to that day three years before when I started from
here to go up Lake Allumette on that jolly 50-mile trip to Days-
Washing (spelled Des Joachims) with Captain Murphy. Sweet
memory, that day three years ago!

At just 198 miles from Ottawa we come to Mattawa, once
the livest, busiest town in all the north. It may not be what
once it was, but it has given to other Canadian towns, men who
have made those other towns. I later visited Mattawa, and
found those who were left, a charming people, genial and cour-
teous. It is here that the Mattawa River enters the Ottawa,
which at this point turns toward the north, to run in tumbling
rapids to Lake Temiskaming, 39 miles away. Along the eastern
bank of the Ottawa runs a branch of the C.P.R.; it passes
Lumsden's Mills, or Temiskaming, where it connects with a
steamer line whose boats run up the lake for nearly 100 miles,
and goes on a few miles north-easterly to the beautiful Kippiwa
Lake, with its 600 miles of indented shore line. At Temis-
kaming is the popular summer hotel — the Bellevue, and the great
mills of John Lumsden, of Ottawa.

NORTH BAY

Beyond Mattawa, some 45 miles, we reach North Bay,
destined by reason of its advantageous situation to become a
large city. It was a result of the Canadian Pacific Railway —
nothing in the early 8o's, now a business and railway centre
of many thousand people.

North Bay is 244 miles a little north of west of Ottawa. It
lies on the north shore of Lake Nipissing — at its eastern ex-
tremity. The Nipissing is but a spot on the map of Canada,
and yet it looks here to be a great lake as it goes out of "sight to
the west. Its waters flow west to the Georgian Bay through
the French River, and the Ottawa carries a part of it to the east,
through the River Mattawa; the lake is fifty or more miles in
length.

So full of lakes is this great north, that the "little ones ,,
don't count, and thus many a charming sheet of water is never

92 THE REAL COBALT

heard of until one by accident runs across it. This is why
Canada is well called "The Land of Surprises." No preconceived
notion of it will fit the situation. One must see it to know
even a little bit about it. This of the eastern half — the grandeur
and the sublimity of the western may never be painted, and cannot
be told. Through the length of both runs this great railway,
through varied and ever-changing beauty, each year becoming
better known and more popular as a tourist road.

THE TEMISKAMING AND NORTHERN
ONTARIO

At North Bay begins the Government railway, the T. and
N.O., and here is where passengers from the east and west
change to go to Cobalt, which lies 103 miles to the north.

This railway is the consummation of the Hon. Frank Latch-
ford's dream. For years he worked for it, session after session,
when in the Provincial Parliament as Minister of Public Works,
He was finally successful and before he went out of power he
saw trains running to the north for more than 100 miles. The
Whitney Government took up the work and are pushing it
rapidly on toward James Bay, many hundreds of miles toward
the North Pole. From a small beginning it promises to be-
come one of the most important in the country, by reason of the
vast forests and millions of acres of farming lands that will be
made available by it, not to mention the thousands of square
miles of mineral lands which may be made practical for mining.

What was once called " The Land of the Muskeg and Stunted
Poplar" will yet be found rich in mineral and a very garden in
productiveness. Along its line are growing up prosperous
towns, many destined to become cities by reason of the vast
wealth that lies around them.

It is well called " The Picturesque Temiskaming," for here
and there all along the way are lakes and rivers with magnificent
falls pouring down through deep defiles of the hills.

Lake Temagami is in a forest reserve of 1,400,000 acres.
It in itself is one of the most beautiful lakes in the north, and

THE REAL COBALT 93

besides, this vast reserve contains innumerable other lakes and
many rivers. The Montreal, with its endless interest, bounds
its northerly edge. It is reached at 72 miles from North Bay,
at Temagami Station. Here a number of lines of steamers
connect and carry the tourists far up and around its borders.
It is so full of islands — they do say nearly 1,300 of them — that
the scenery is kaleidoscopic in its beauty. Many hotels are here
and there along the way, private residences peep out at the
passing steamer through vistas on the islands, palatial yachts flit by
with merry parties from the hotels and cottages, and — but it would
take a book to tell you about it, and I'm on my way to Cobalt
on the T. and N. O.

Beyond Temagami, and a few miles before reaching Cobalt,
we cross the Montreal River at Latchford, named for the Hon.
Frank. Here are big lumber mills. It is from Latchford
that the mining country of the Upper Montreal River is reached
by steamer, or if you are in a hurry, by canoes.

We now come to the end of our destination, Cobalt, as before
said, 103 miles from North Bay, and 347 miles from Ottawa.

It has been a pleasant trip, fine scenery, and many bright
travelling companions, all intent on " what we'll find when we
get there." Enough of them had been there before to point out
the places of interest along the way, and to tell the "tender-
foot" what to expect when he got there. Elsewhere I have
told you of some of the more important places along the line
of the road.

It is one of the pleasures of the writer to meet old friends in
new places. When in Pembroke in 1904 I was indebted for
many courtesies to W. D. Cunningworth, who was then with the
Canada Atlantic. I had lost trace of him and had often wondered
where he had gone, but coming to the far north I found him
an active part of the T. and N.O. Railway line. The Commis-
sion certainly deserve credit for its selection for the road's man-
agement. From its genial young manager, J. H. Black, down
through the office force, the young men are wideawake and
efficient. At North Bay a fine office building of stone is being

94 THE REAL COBALT

erected; its stations are models of beauty, especially those of
Temagami and Englehart — the latter rarely equalled, for size,
in places less than a large city. The roadbed is well laid, the cars
are remarkably well built, after the latest models, and manned
by a train force, from conductors to brakemen, whose courtesy
is most pleasing. "Why so efficient"? I asked, and was told
than "J. H. will have nothing less." The road is now com-
pleted to McDougall Chutes, 204 miles from North Bay, and
regular trains will shortly begin running beyond Englehart,
the divisional point. From McDougall Chutes to the crossing
of the Transcontinental Railway it is some over 40 miles, and
for this portion of the line the contract is let and work is pro-
gressing rapidly.

The great Transcontinental, under the wise supervision of
our good friend S. N. Parent, Chairman of the Dominion Rail-
way Commission, is rapidly going forward. At the crossing,
east and west, a section 150 miles in length is being cleared, and
the roadbed being graded. It is a vast undertaking, since to
get material for the roadway and supplies for the army of men
and the hundreds of horses requires great generalship. Were
the T. and N.O. completed to the crossing it would be but com-
paratively easy, but to overcome the 40 miles of a gap may
require the blasting out of the rock along the bed of the Abitibi
River, that steamers may carry down the material and supplies.

So silently move the vast works of this great upper country
that one must see to realize their magnitude.

F

WHERE TO STOP WHEN
YOU GET THERE

TO the stranger it is ever a question, "Where shall I stop
when I get there?" What hotel will best entertain me?
After months of sojourn I feel that I can answer these
questions, if you are seeking the best in the various places you
may visit in the north while on business or pleasure trips.

Beginning at Temiskaming, at the foot of the lake, is the
Bellevue; at Ville Marie, the Bay View; at Haileybury, the Mata-
fcanick; at New Liskeard, the Canada; at Murray City (North
'Temiskaming), at the head of the lake, The King of the North;
and at Englehart, on the T. and N.O., is the King Edward. It
Is a pleasure to speak of them as hotels. One may safely say:
"Here is where to stop when you get there."

THE BELLEVUE HOTEL, LUMSDEN'S MILLS

Possibly the widest known hotel in New Ontario is the Belle-
vue, at the foot of Lake Temiskaming, at Lumsden's Mills.
Built by the late Alex. Lumsden, when he owned and ran the line
of lake steamers, it has long been a popular summer resort for
people from Canada and the United States. Being near to
beautiful Lake Kippiwa, it is noted as a centre for fishing and
hunting.

It is reached from the Canadian Pacific railway at Mattawa,
by a 39-mile branch of that railway, which runs the distance
along the east side of the Ottawa River. Under the manage-
ment of Mr. Freeman I. Daniels, it is made both home and
hotel. After Mr. Lumsden's death, the Bellevue and the vast
lumber interests of that successful man were taken up by his
son John, who has become one of the most prominent business

95

96 THE REAL COBALT

men in this upper country. He took up the lines wheer his
father laid them down, and is carrying on the great business
with an energy seldom seen in the sons of the rich. From the
200 square miles of timber limits on the Rippiwa and the Quinze
Lake country, he is taking out vast quantities of lumber. He
is known as "The J. R. Booth of the North." He has recently
gone into high-class farming and stock raising. I visited his
stock farm on the west side of the lake, opposite the Bellevue,
where may be seen some of the best horses and cattle in Northern
Ontario, from whose Agricultural Fairs he carries away many
premiums. He has also gone into mining, having acquired no
less than six valuable mining claims in the Cobalt district, with
an interest in 12 more. Some of these are in the immediate
vicinity of the Temiskaming mines south of Cross Lake, and
being in the same formation, must prove of great value.

THE BAY VIEW HOTEL, VILLE MARIE, QUE.

Down the Temiskaming Lake and 12 miles across from
Haileybury, on the Quebec side, is one of the oldest and quaintest
villages in this upper country. No one thinks of missing a visit
to it, for if one do, one is asked so many times: "Have you been
to Ville Marie ?" that one must go once in self-defence, and
after that as a habit. It is so different from all other places you
have seen ! There is here a " natural " grotto, built by the good
fathers three or four years ago, to which many religious pilgrim-
ages are taken from points around the lake. There is in Ville
Marie a hotel which, for neat architectural beauty, surpasses all
others. It is by the famous A. Durand. It is the Bay View
kept by H. Landreville, known as "Henry the Strong Man,'
from his unusual strength of arm. It is claimed that even " Big
Pete," whose giant strength is proverbial, cannot withstand him
in " arm bending," and yet his manner in the entertainment of
his guests is as gentle and courtly as possible. He makes them
feel that it is a real pleasure to look after their every
comfort. .

£

—

u3

1/3

<

bbons, PraprYeVoT* See v ;v £>* ^ Y l
Proprietor. Het v a S fc ^

THE REAL COBALT 91

THE MATABANICK, HAILEYBURY

Long years ago the Indians were wont to hold their annual
meetings at some central point to make their plans for the com-
ing year. They ever chose places not only for convenience, but
for beauty of situation. These meeting places were called
" Matabanick." Where is now the charming town of Hailey-
bury was a famous Indian gathering place. To it the red man
came up the Temiskaming Lake from the south, down the lake
from the north, across from Quebec to the east, and over the
divide from the wilds of the Montreal river to the west.

When David Hammond built the first hotel in Haileybury,
he wisely chose this beautiful name, and called it the Mata-
banick, and through three buildings, each growing larger, the
Matabanick has ever proved a "meeting place" for the travel-
ler, the tourist and all who seek for the best in hotel convenience
and home-like good cheer — "the comforts of an inn with the
luxuries of the modern hotel. ,,

Its situation is ideal, overlooking the broad Temiskaming,
from which it may be seen far up and down and across.

In the spring of 1903, Mr. A. Ferland came up from Mat-
tawa and purchased the original building, which was burned
in 1905. Mr. Ferland sold the site to Messrs. F. Chaput and
E. Edmonds, who at once erected a new house, and this in turn
was swept away in the big fire of Aug., 1906. Mr. Ferland
joined the two enterprising young men, and the present great
building was started and opened September 28th, 1907. In
beauty, convenience and situation it would be a credit to a city.

Mi. Chaput is from Chapeau, on Allumette Island, near
Pembroke, from which he went to Sudbury, where at the Ameri-
can he got his hotel experience. Mr. Edmonds came from To-
ronto, from which^he went to Detroit, and later to Barrie and
Sudbury, from which latter city he and Mr. Chaput came to
Haileybury. Later.— Mr. Ferland and Mr. Edmonds have pur-
chased Mr. Caput's" interest, and T the^latter is now manager, and
a good one he is — genial and obliging.
7

98 THE REAL COBALT

In New York City it is a comfort to say: "I stop at the Wal-
dorf-Astoria." In Toronto "The King Edward." In Hailey-
bury "I and my friends put up at the Matabanick."

THE CANADA HOTEL, NEW USKEARD

One of the pleasant memories of my stay in New Ontario
will ever be, what may well be called, my home life. It was
only by chance that I found my way to J. A. Lawless's Hotel,
The Canada, in New Liskeard. From May to November it
was my home. I might go into many parts in search of infor-
mation, but ever returned to room 31 as a place of real rest.
So many hotels are simply a stopping place. You come and go,
forgetting and forgotten, when once you pass from the door.
Not so with the Canada, for, from the time George Kennedy
meets you at the station, with his jolly: "This way for the
Canada!" to Vizena's genial: "Come again!" you are a guest
in its fullest sense.

J. A. Lawless, though reared on a North Renfrew farm, is
a born hotel-keeper. At nineteen he was given his first license,
and is the only man in Ontario who holds two hotel licenses —
the National of Peterboro, and the Canada. Starting in Cobden
he went first to Ottawa and afterward to Toronto, where
he fitted out the first apartment house in that city — the St.
George, which he left to manage the Lambton Golf Club House,
and thence to the National, as above. Being largely engaged
in mining in the Cobalt district, and being offered the Canada,
he purchased it, and at once set about enlarging it to its present
91 rooms capacity — 91 sleeping rooms with commodious office,
great dining-room, baths, etc., making it a hotel that would
be a credit to a city. But large as it is, his wide and growing
circle of patrons will leave few vacancies.

The Canada was New Liskeard's first hotel. "Big Pete"
(I. Farah) once came here on a hunting trip, and seeing the
need of a hotel, built and ran this house^up to the spring of 1907.
It has ever been a popular stopping place, first with the hunters

THE REAL COBALT 99

and landseekers, and later with the mining men, and now with
the tourists and commercial men, among whom Mr. Lawless
has so many genuine friends.

When one has spent months in and about a hotel, coming
and going, one naturally carries away many names of those
who've sat round the board day after day — names and faces of
those one would remember always.

There was "Doc," and "Jim," and "Samson,"

With "the Broker," "Bert," and "Mac";

"The Captain," too, was round the board,

And "the Colonel" from Lahdah Lac;

"Sir Richard" from Old England,

And "Billy" from the Soo.

I was happy at the Canada —

That summer — wasn't you?
(The King of the North will be found under head of Murray
City.) .

THE KING EDWARD, ENGLEHART

As I have mentioned elsewhere, I have never seen so cosmo-
politan a country as the mining district of New Ontario. Some
interesting characters are among the number — men who have
made a success of life — others were born failures, and will keep
it up to the end. Among the former may be noted H. I. Kert,
of the King Edward Hotel of Englehart, so widely and favor-
ably known by reason of his courtesy and enterprise. He came
from Poland, when a boy, to New York City, next to Montreal,
then to Sudbury, and in 1890 went to Mattawa.

It was in Mattawa where his ability was first remarked and
appreciated. He was for nine years a member of the School
Board. He was two years a member of the Town Council.
When he became a councilman the town was paying 9 per cent,
for money. This he had reduced by one-half. So valuable
. were his services looked upon that his going away was the re-
gret of all classes.

He left Mattawa to go with the T. and N. O. railway, with

100 THE REAL COBALT

whirr, ht waf mnncnec as a supply contractor. In this be
war sr surressiu tna: ox. the advice of those prominent in Gov-
ern men: zimer.. lit nuil: the iieautiful King Edward hotel in
Lngirnan. Bert nt look ar active interest in the town's up-
building, exnendiiif. murr. money in hs benefit.

Ht ir imeresiec in l number of good Tnmrng claims in Co-
:»al: and :nt A:»i:iD! Lakt district.

Mr Ker: i? reurinr l family of sons who hare inherited his
rare a:>iii:y Ldvard. a: fourteen, often takes full charge of
the Kinc Ld ward, rondu-ting i: in a manner that would do
credi: to out ii^r :»ey;>nd his years. Mj. Kert is connected with
s:mt n: :ht pr:>ininen: families of New York City and Montreal,
the famous I»r. Weinburc of New York being a cousin.

Few ir Englehan take so lively an interest in the welfare
of the towr. a* :he landlord of the King Edward. After the late
ejec:i:»r for the firs: Mayor and Council (Jan., 1908), Mr. Kert
gave a ban que: in their honor, which would have done credit to
a city. Ii was a: the banquet where I analyzed the why of
Englehan *s rapid growth. Men there were, who sat round
the board, who showed, by speech and conversation, abilities
rarely found outside a large city. They were filled with the
spirit of progress, and if this new town does not speedily take
its place among the best in this upper land, then I greatly mis-
take in placing men in their proper niche.

HAILEYBURY

THERE is a beautiful town of some 3,000 inhabitants five
short miles north of Cobalt, on the T. and N.O. It lies
upon a gently sloping hill from Lake Temiskaming west to
the railway, four blocks back from the shore. Scarcely a part
of it from which cannot be seen the charmingly beautiful lake
which stretches across to the Province of Quebec, five miles away
to the east. It surely is an ideal site, and is being built up with
rare taste, by a people of culture and refinement seldom found
in a new town. It was one of the great surprises to me when
I first looked upon it. I had long heard of Haileybury, but the
picture formed by the name, was that of a rough mining village
of small, unpainted houses, inhabited by a rough element, and
a few uncultured people who had " struck it rich," bought good
clothes and got an organ. Instead I found a city — a city in all
but in size. The people are charmingly hospitable, educated
and cultured to a high degree in music and the arts. The college
and university men are so common that they do not count.

Haileybury has a fine school system, shortly to be improved
by a large high school. It has many churches, which are well
attended, and with ministers of ability, much good is being
done. So law-abiding is Haileybury that two policemen, fine
specimens of stalwart manhood, with little to do, keep perfect
order. The same may be said of both New Liskeard and Cobalt,
the former with two, and the latter with three of a police force.

Its hotels are far above the standard for like size towns, the
Matabanick being unequalled, for size and appointments, in any
town in Canada, while it has a club house, the like of which is
hardly to be found on the continent. The membership of this
club, nearly 500, is unique, being made up of men from every
mining district in the world.

101

102 THE REAL COBALT

Its architecture may be judged by the pictures of residences,
business houses and public buildings which I give. Its name
was taken from an English college town.

First Settlers

" Who was the first to come" ?~is a question the writer always
asks about a town of which hejs t writing. I asked it about
Haileybury. Its long history runs back into the vague, to the
time when it was " a coming out place," as here the shore of the
lake changes from a rock-bordered edge to level landing for boats
coming up the lake.

While many came and went — the Indians for unknown ages—
the voyageurs for years, and later the Hudson Bay traders, it was
Mr. P. T. Lawlor who first took up a permanent residence here.

Mr. Lawlor was so much identified with the early history of
the town that I must needs give a passing word to his memory.
Born in Russell county, Ontario, in 1857, he came to Temis-
kaming in 1885, anc * t0 tne s ^ te * Haileybury in 1887. Here he
took up that part of the place now known as Lawlortown, to the
south of the business portion. He became a councillor when
Bucke township was made a municipality. He was also one of
its first school trustees. WTien Haileybury was incorporated he
was chosen its first Mayor. He was Mayor when he died in May
of 1907. He lived to see his land change from an unbroken
wilderness into a thriving town. His business ability was remark-
able. When a town is started, shrewd business men often induce
lot owners to share with them their lots for the promise of helping
to bring a railway to make valuable the residue. Shrewd men
could not induce him to share, and he left to his family a rich
inheritance.

In a western town it was once said: " The best business man
in town is a woman." This might be said of Haileybury. One
more gifted in business that counts, than Mrs. Lawlor, would be
hard to find; she is ever watching for industries that will add to
the growth of Haileybury. She gave bringing inducements to
one of the largest and most complete brick-making plants in New

THE REAL COBALT 103

Ontario, ready to start with the opening of spring. And when
a big foundry would have come, she was first to offer
inducements to bring it. The typical business woman is
too often cold, calculating, austere, save when selling something;
Mrs. Lawlor is as gentle-mannered as she is capable, and as
kind as she is able; and, like her husband, ever ready to do
her part when her town's interest is in question.

Builders of Hailcybury

Not until mineral was found in nearby Cobalt was there any
remarkable growth in the town. From that date, 1903, is marked
a rapid increase. It was to Haileybury that some of the great
mine owners came to reside. It is here we find Colonel Hays,
President of the Trethewey; the Timmons Brothers, and D. A.
Dunlop, of the Larose; C. A. Foster, of the Foster, and President
of the Green-Meehan; A. Ferland, of the Chambers-Ferland;
Matt. Murphy of the Devil's Rock, R. Shillington of the Temis-
kaming, H. H. Lang and Wm. Lewis of the City of Cobalt, Wm.
Powell and Cyril T. Young of many interests, W. S. Mitchell of
the Casey Mines, the Townsite and numerous others; the Wright
Brothers, E. C. and Marty, discoverers of the Drummond and the
Jacobs mines, and the latter the owner of the charter for the
Montreal River Power Company, destined to become a great
factor in the future of the mining industry. Many of these have
here built beautiful homes, changing the crude village into a
veritable city of taste, for if we may judge by the late .Christmas
numbers of the newspapers, Haileybury, before the advent of
the silver men, was not much but "a coming out place." From
these Christmas numbers we cannot but conclude that it was
they who " laid" Haileybury.

Timber and Lumber Interests

Not only is Haileybury a "silver city," but one of
timber and lumber as well. Here are Howard Dunbar,
Clement A. Foster, the Little Brothers, A. J. Murphy,

104 THE REAL COBALT

while the E. B. Eddy Co., and J. R. Booth, have each a
resident representative, S. D. Briden for the former and M. S.
Hennessy for the latter. It is thought that for many years
there will here be a timber supply for the various companies.
The town has the double advantage of the railway and the lake,
for bringing in and carrying out the supply and finished product.

Mayor Clement A. Foster

In the above, both in mining and in timber and lumber, may
be seen the name of Clement A. Foster. He is Haileybury's young
Mayor, chosen for the second time by a majority that looks as
though he had been the only one in the field. He is one of the
results of the camp. Coming a poor man, scarce beyond boyhood,
he worked up through and against many difficulties, to a place
among the few great successes of the Cobalt district. That
which would have turned the brain of many another boy, has but
solidified and made a man, capable and substantial, of the boy
Foster. Both he and Mrs. Foster are giving to Haileybury their
best efforts towards its permanent growth — he in a business way —
Mrs. Foster in a social way — not the heartless way of so-called
empty society, but in the advancement of the musical, the literary,
the artistic progress of the town, the way that counts for good —
the way that leaves no heartburnings.

Needed Power

What the town requires is a cheap and sufficient power for
manufacturers, and this it could have from the Montreal River,
at the mouth of which thousands of horsepower need but to be
harnessed and transmitted, to make of the town a busy hive of
workers.

Trolley Line

It needs, too, a trolley line to connect with nearby towns, power
for which it might have from the same source as for its factories.
It is well for any municipality to safeguard its interests in giving
charters for trolley and power lines, but it is no part of wisdom

THE REAL COBALT 105

to "safeguard" both away from the municipality. Get it. Get
them, either or both would be too valuable to keep out on trifling
terms.

Later. — A charter for a trolley line is about to be given.
It will be a boon to the camp, and means the building up of
the whole distance between Haileybury and Cobalt.

Hospitals

As showing the heart of the people, I must cite the hospital
work done in these upper towns. In New Liskeard is one of the
finest hospital buildings — The Lady Minto — of any town its size
in the country. Haileybury will soon have a fine hospital,
Mayor Foster having donated a twenty-two-acre site for it.
Cobalt has a good building to shelter and care for its ill and in-
jured. Even McDougall's Chutes had a hospital almost before
it had any residences; this for the railway workmen while the
road was building. Besides the public hospitals, there are a
number of private ones, Dr. Field, of New Liskeard, having a
well-appointed one.

Whether these good people need hospitals more than do we
in the States I cannot say, but our towns of like size cannot com-
pare with those of Canada when caring for the sick and afflicted
is in question.

Music

With so many people of city culture it is not surprising that
we find here so many who excel in music. I have attended enter-
tainments, whQse only talent was local, that would rank high in
any community. The names of Mrs. W. H. Train, in Haileybury;
F. A. York, in North Bay; and Mrs. C. A. Wismer, in New
Liskeard, stand justly high among musical directors. To them
very much is due the well-trained choruses of these towns.

The town has an excellent cornet band, which under the
efficient leadership of J. Walter Marriott, has grown from six to
twenty members. This leader is a good illustration of what these
northern towns have to draw from. Marriott is from Leicester,

106 THE REAL COBALT

England, and for more than eight years was a member of the
Tenth Regiment Band. It is an interesting story that Walter tells
of his Egyptian campaign, " when Kitchener fought the wild hordes
of the Soudan."

It is well worthy a passing note of remark the excellence of
some of the Salvation Army singers. I have never heard so sweet
voices among those of any other country as here in the far north.
And apropos of the Army in the various towns. It is composed
of a most excellent class of workers — and they are doing much
real good. They are assisted by all classes and creeds, show-
ing the high respect in which they are held.

He Had Sung with Girl Rosa

As indicating the cosmopolitan crowds that find their way
into a mining camp, I must give you a pathetic incident,
which came under my notice one day in aHaileybury hotel, where
a strolling harper — and a good one he was — was entertaining the
crowd. He had been playing for some time, when he struck up
" The Heart Bowed Down." At this, a tramp-like fellow, who had
been listening intently, arose and sang the words. Often had I
heard that beautiful song, on many, stages and in many lands,
but never before had I heard it more beautifully rendered than
by this wreck of a once noble singer. At the close I called him to
one side and asked, "Who are you, and with whom have you
sung?" for I knew he was no ordinary man. He looked at me,
and feeling that I was honest in my inquiries, gave me his name
and said: "I have sung all over the world with the Carl Rosa
Opera Company." Then, "Say, Mr., if you ever write of this,
don't give my name. Don't give my name, my friends don't know
where I am, they don't even know that I am living, and I'm so far
down, I don't want them to know." Some of the people tried
to reclaim him, for there are many kind hearts in this northland.
But it was all to no purpose. They clothed and made him look
again the cultured gentleman that he was by nature. One of the
churches took him into its choir, and for a time his solos were a
feature. Such music may never be heard again in this upper

' THE REAL COBALT 107

country. But it was only for a time — only for a time. He went
back to drink and drifted away, no one knew whither. During his
short reclamation he was one of the most refined men I have ever
met. His magnetism was such that in a short while he had drawn
around him a host of friends — friends who would have done
everything for him. But it was no use — he drifted away, and was
again lost to all who had grown to love him.

I later learned that he belonged to a great family in a European
city, and that he had told me the truth about his Carl Rosa
campaign.

Athletics

Haileybury excels in many of the games and sports, but it
can't play hockey, while New Liskeard, a town five miles to the
north, along the lake shore, has possibly the best hockey team,
for the size of the town, in the world. This team plays as near
perfect hockey as I have ever seen the game played. I am told
that last winter, when they had beaten all local teams, that the
Victorias from Ottawa were brought here to play them. They
went back to the capital good subjects for a change of name.
The manager of the Canadian Soo brought here a professional
team, and only won by a single point — the manager saying that
"If I had the New Liskeard boys for one month, I could meet
any hockey team in the world." One cannot realize that such
perfection of play could be possible in so small a town.

Athletic Bankers and Lawyers

The above was written before the bankers and lawyers played
their game. I must therefore modify "Haileybury can't play
hockey." Yes, modify it a whole lot. Some of them can play
hockey. The bankers and lawyers are among the "some."
The umpire said it was a one to one game. It would have been
a two to one, were it not that the lawyers carried their everyday
practice into the play. They are so used to getting smoothly
through close places, that they shot the puck clean through the
mesh of the net without the umpire ever seeing it — so the lawyers

108 THE REAL COBALT

say. The bankers say that the claim is an overdraft on fact and
refuse to cash up.

Your notion of lawyers is that they are anything but athletic
The Haileybury variety differ from your notion, and may be
known by the " One to One" with young men who are proverbial
as among the best in physical manhood — the bankers.

Apropos of the legal profession of the town — twelve of them.
They rank high in ability, and are fine specimens of men, strong,
young and mentally and physically able. This may be said d
the clergy and medical men as well.

Haileybury a Judicial Court Town — Perhaps

Efforts are being made to have Haileybury the Court Town
of this upper country. Now, all but the small cases have to be
taken for trial to North Bay.

Capital of the New Province

Those who have a way of looking into the future, have made
of Haileybury the capital city, when New Ontario shall have been
made a separate province. They makejof New Liskeard and
Haileybury one great city, with the capitol buildings on that
magnificent site that lies between the two.

These seers of division may be but idle dreamers, but when we
think of Ontario being as large as the twelve states that lie between
the Mississippi River, at Illinois, and the Atlantic Ocean, it cer-
tainly seems a most sensible move, and especially so when Old
and New Ontario differ so in conditions and products. New
Ontario will become one of the richest mining countries in the
world — Old Ontario is rich in farming, fruits and dairying. If
this great upper half had not men capable of conducting the
affairs of state, it might be well to have its mining interests
managed by the dairymen, fruit growers and farmers of the south.
But it has men most efficient in many things, and some do go so
far as to say that they could even make mining laws — mining laws
that they themselves could understand after they had made them.

THE REAL COBALT 109

They would, at least, make them in their own interests, and in
a way that mine owners could not, on technicalities, lose both
money and mines. But I was telling you about Haileybury.

- Newspapers

The newspapers of the town are quite up with the times.
The Haileyburian was the first started. I mind with what
interest we used to read the brilliant clippings from this crisp
paper. It was copied far and wide in the early days.

The Silver City News is devoted to mining news almost
exclusively, keeping a staff of men among the mines, throughout
the district, collecting everything of note to the outside mining
world.

New Liskeard has two excellent newspapers. It was in this
town where Roberts, a surveyor, started the first paper in the
upper country. This was the short-lived Gazette. The Temis-
katning Herald was the next. It and The Speaker will rank with
any in the Dominion for the size of town. The latter is so
much up-to-date that each week it gives a full page of " Buster
Brown " for the children. And apropos of this conception of
Outcault's, it is the most popular of its kind in Canada.

In Cobalt, The Cobalt Nugget, a bright, newsy paper, is the
only one in the town, with The Mining News to start very shortly.

Each of the papers of the three towns got out most creditable
illustrated Christmas numbers — The Herald giving both half-
tone and line-cut work, having employed a special artist for the
latter. Oh, yes, the Press of this far north country could give
many a pointer, on excellence, to some of the large city papers!

Teddy Bear and His Island

Speaking of R. F. Outcault and his "Buster Brown," reminds
me that another is here who has made and is making glad the
hearts of millions of little ones. On a beautiful island, in Lake
Temiskamirig, and but a short distance from Haileybury,
Seymour Eaton spends his summers, in a most picturesque cottage

110 THE REAL COBALT

that stands on a point of the island. I used often to see him
during the summer, and was most entertained with the story of
his " Teddy Bears." The cottage was built by Brown, of Wanna-
maker & Brown, of Philadelphia. His was the island. He came
years ago, before civilization had become prevalent, but when
white shirts grew fashionable he sold his island and went away
to far-off Abitibi. How long he will find that a pleasing solitude
is hard to tell, with the railway bearing toward it and the gold-
hunters pouring in.

Haileybury a Summer Resort

So many places of interest may be reached from here that
each year more and more pleasure-seekers are finding the ad-
vantages here offered. Across the lake to the north-east is
Murray City, 15 miles away. In another chapter may be known
what is to be seen there. Ville Marie, 12 miles down and across
the lake; the old fort and mission, 3 miles further, and the famous
Notch, at or near the mouth of the Montreal, some miles below.

The Devil's Rock

Three miles south, down the lake from Haileybury, and on
the same shore, is The Devil's Rock, a high bluff that rises sheer
up, hundreds of feet, from the lake. It is truly bold and pictur-
esque — one of those sights one goes far to look upon and wonder
at what Nature can do with its rocks.

Years ago it is said that Dr. Bell, the famous geologist of the
Dominion Government, when passing this rock for the first
time, remarked that mineral must here be present — the formation
being perfect. But being a geologist he did not find it. They
seem always to know where it should be, but it is left to be found
by the patient prospector. In this instance, the prospector was
once almost as famous as the Dr. himself — but in another line —
a more popular line. You boys whose hair is just beginning to
turn a little silver, all remember that Cornwall lacrosse player
whose prowess with the stick carried his name across the con-

THE REAL COBALT 111

tinent — that splendid fellow, Matt. Murphy. It was he who
found the mineral which Dr. Bell said "must be here." He
found it on three claims, turned them into a strong company (of
which Jackson Booth of Ottawa is President), and has since been
its general manager and resident director.

The stranger passing the rock at night might get the impres-
sion that it was well named, were he not told that those flickering
lights came from the candles of the miners, who are running drifts
in from the water's edge. Thousands of dollars are thus saved
by not having to sink shafts down through the hundreds of feet
of rock. Having drifted in to catch the veins they will on these
veins — now grown rich — go down to reach the lodes which they
are now confident lie below.

Mart's old love of athletics is being renewed. He ever takes
an interest in honest sports. The rink managers are giving to
Haileybury a cheerful winter.

The Beauty of the Far-North Girl

It is truly a beautiful sight to sit in this great rink and watch
the youth and beauty of the town glide round and round to the
music of an excellent band. Ye who know but the sallow faces,
can little conceive of the ruddy, health-glowing beauty of the far
north girl; cultured and active, she moves upon the ice with an
inborn grace that is truly pleasing to look upon.

A Cosmopolitan Town

Haileybury is many towns in one. Here are Ottawans, To-
rontonians, and from points all down the line, while one could
well think that Mattawa had been depopulated that Haileybury
might be. From there came the Timmons Brothers, the Fer-
lands, Dohertys, Dunlops, Capt. W. A. and A. H. Rimsbottom,
Dr. Haentschel, Joseph Bell, P. A. Ferguson, John Rankin, Mrs.
Edwards, Mrs. Dr. Jackson, and many others prominent. It
was Mattawa from which came the obliging and efficient Mining
Recorder for the Temiskaming District, Mr. Geo. T. Smith.

112 THE REAL COBALT

This town has been more to Haileybury than any other one.
Many of the finest residences are the homes of Mattawans, and
I sometimes think that the cordiality of Haileybury may be
attributed to the people from that hospitable little place down the
Ottawa, where hospitality is so proverbial.

In concluding this necessarily brief sketch, I cannot more
heartily, more accurately do so, than in the words of a lady
of much culture and wide travel, who, in speaking of the towns
of the north, said: "I found Haileybury, Ontario, one of the most
delightful places I have visited. Its people are charmingly
cordial, and the sort you like to have charmingly cordial toward
you. They make you love both them and their town, and in
going away you carry with you kind remembrance of many acts
of genuine courtesy.' '

Along the Picturesque T. and N. O* Railway
See page 92

MURRAY CITY

(North Tcmiskaming)

SOME cities boast of their manufacturing facilities; some,
of the rich farming lands surrounding them; others of
beauty of situation, with scenery of forest and stream.
Still others of their healthfulness. Rare, indeed, is found one
that can boast of them all.

When my eye first caught sight of Murray City, the balmy
June morning I crossed the lake from Haileybury, I could not
but exclaim: "Here is the ideal site for a great metropolis!"
As the little steamer plied its way from lake into river, the high
banks extending for miles far up to where river turns from north
to east, I was charmed with the scenery; when later I visited
the mighty rush of water down the fifteen rapids, the unused
power appealed to me as I saw the future uses to which they
must be put for manufacturing; looking at the rich fields, which
lined the way, I saw agricultural possibilities that would have
made glad the heart of an Illinois farmer; and still later, when I
found that the only doctor in town had gone to seek his fortune
among the mines of northern Quebec, I could not but feel that
here was a veritable health resort. " Rare, indeed, is found the
one that can boast of them all," but here I had found "the one,"
as surely 'twas an ideal site for a great city that burst upon our
view that morning as we steamed up the Quinze River.

" Where is the site that commands so much enthusiasm ? " I
knew you would ask that, and I had my answer all ready.

Lake Temiskaming is a magnificent inland sea, more than
seventy-five miles long, and in places six to eight miles wide. It
is one of the chain of lakes of which the Ottawa River is made up.
It is the greatest of the many. It begins at the south, at a place
with many names: "The Long Soo," "Temiskaming," and
8 113

114 . THE REAL COBALT

" Lumsden's Mills." It ends, or possibly more properly begins,
at what might well be called "Ideal City," of which I am writing.
It lies between the Provinces of Quebec, on the east, and On-
tario on the west.

An Indian Reserve

Murray City is in a 60,000 acre Indian Reserve. It lies in the
Province of Quebec — and not far from the west line.

I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Adam Burwash, the Indian
Agent, who came up here, a third of a century ago, from Lachute,
in Argenteuil. He was one of the pioneers of this north country.
I asked him of the Indians of whose welfare he has to look after.
"How many are there in the reserve"? I asked. "Of the old
families there are but three left: the Wabis, the Masinikijeks,
and the Matawsens. Of these there are 220 people. I might
mention Coquana, one lone member of a once great family.
When he is gone — and he is now very old — the family will be
extinct."

" Do they own the land, these few people" ? " Yes, in a way,
but they cannot sell, save through the Quebec Government,
which decides, whenan offer is made, if the price is proper."

Mr. Burwash lives on the east side of the river, across from
the town, where he is laying out into town lots his 200 acre farm,
in anticipation of the great boom that must be when the Canadian
Pacific Railway comes up from Lumsden's Mills. The wise
ones have already begun to take up lots, which, owing to the
magnificent situation, overlooking river, town and lake, must
become most valuable the minute the rcfad reaches here on its
way to strike the great transcontinental, 100 miles to the north.

Originator of a Great Mining Company

Mr. Burwash was the originator of the now famous Hudson
Bay and Temiskaming Mining Company, whose one dollar shares
are now held at as high as $300, since the great find of September
9th. Few^companies, in all time, have equalled the success of
the Hudson Bay, whose originator had never made any pretence

THE REAL COBALT 115

as a financier. From a poor man he has within a few short
months become one of the wealthy men of the land. In the hands
of such as he, money is a blessing.

The Real Heroes of Canada

To Mrs. Burwash, the cultured wife of the Agent, much is
due the building of the fine hospital at New Liskeard. She it
was who called its need to the attention of Lady Minto — after
whom it was named: "The Lady Minto Hospital" — who at
once set about securing a grant that made its building possible.

All throughout the country this good woman is known. Many
a sick room has been brightened by her cheery presence. She has
ever been the friend of the pioneer — friend when there was most
need.

"The real heroes of Canada," says she, "are not they who
shoulder their rifles and go to battle, but the pioneer wife and
mother, who endures hardships and privations which would try
the bravest hearts. Talk about the builders of the Empire! It
is not the men whose names find place in history, but these grand
women who go with their husbands into the wilds of the forests,
there to suffer and often die, far from home and loved ones, back
at the ' Front.' These are the heroes! All honor is due their
noble lives." As I listened to her enthusiastic words in behalf
of the pioneer women, I could not but think of the vast good that
a little of the rich man's money could do, in sending trained nurses
to the various backwoods sections, where many a woman dies
for want of meagre care.

One day, while passing a cabin, in a far backwood, the man
with me said : " See that little house " ? Several unkempt children
were playing around the yard as we passed. The man continued :
"Last winter the wife and mother died under most distressing
circumstances." I later learned the circumstances. The husband
was away. A neighbor passing, was hailed by one of the little
children, who, crying, said: " Oh, mister, my mamma said she was
going to die, and now she won't talk to us" ! He went in and
found the woman unconscious. He secured help, but it was too

116 THE REAL COBALT

late. Two lives had gone out, in that backwood cabin, when a
few dollars of the worse than wasted wealth of the idle rich might
have saved both.

Could they who are ever looking for fads on which to spend
their money see here a need, they surely would give heed to a
suggestion to send trained nurses to lessen the hardships of the
pioneer women of this north country, where, to get a doctor, is
often an impossibility. Incidentally, doctors have to go, at
times, as far as forty miles, into sections almost impossible to
reach — and to their honor be it said, they seldom refuse the call
of the pioneer.

Old Friends in New Places

I am ever meeting old friends in new places. No matter
where I go, some of the boys have gotten there first. Almost
the first one I met, at Murray City, was John Foran, who used
to do my engravings, when at the head of the Federal Engrav-
ing Company, on Elgin Street, Ottawa.

"Happy"? repeated Jack. "Why, I wouldn't change for
two farms. Never knew what real living was until I came up
into this free, clear, bracing air!" And he looked the "Happy
Jack." Of course the fact of his having acquired no end of
good mining claims would naturally tend to make him feel on
good terms with all the world.

A Great River with a Deceiving Name

" Jack," I asked, pointing to a broad stream that flowed by
the town, "what river is that"?

"That," said he, "is the famous Quinze," but you'd never
have believed it^when you heard it pronounced. It's just like
you went to say "Has" with a " C" instead of an "H"— Cas. It
means the Fifteen River, fifteen falls, which I referred to before,
and which gives it a^possible right of being pronounced any old
way, because of the greatness of its unused power.

Just to think of it! In going eighteen miles it drops 270

THE REAL COBALT 117

feet. Some time it will drop to a purpose, and then you will
not have to be told where Murray City is to be found.

Thomas Murray, the Many Times MP*

No wonder Thomas Murray quit Renfrew politics to buy here
and start a city which must sometime become one of the great ones
of Canada. Its situation, as I have said, is ideal for a vast
manufacturing centre, besides being a distributing point for a
great area of back country.

To refer to Thomas Murray is but to mention a name too
familiar in Canada to need any introduction. You who have
followed Canadian affairs know of his eight years in the Domin-
ion Parliament, and his twelve years' service as member in the
Ontario House.

Mr. Murray is not a novice at town building. He it was
who saw the future of North Bay, and, with John Ferguson,
started this enterprising city towards the position it must hold
among the great ones of Ontario. " Great " by reason of its situa-
tion, and the enterprise of the people who have since come to
it. It was Thomas Murray who secured for North Bay its
Court House and other public buildings, and had the back coun-
try opened up by roads.

Besides his interests in Murray City, he will shortly start
to build a town at the mouth of the Montreal River, which, by
reason of the wonderful power, soon to be harnessed by two
great companies, must become more than town. It too must
become a city of factories. And not only that, but the beauty
of the site will attract those who are ever looking for ideal summer
homes.

'The King of the North"

Murray City is fast becoming a summer resort, for what
with the magnificent lake, the river of many falls, so full of beauty
spots, and the pure air of this northern clime, it is attracting
many from our own country as well as from Canada. The
Temiskaming Navigation Company's steamers make daily

118 THE REAL COBALT

trips to this point throughout the season, bringing many tour-
ists and pleasure-seekers.

The Gibbons, R. and P., saw here the need of a hotel, and
have built "The King of the North." They built for the pros-
pector, the traveller, the tourist and the hunter — built as they
thought large enough for them all, but once the beauty of
the situation of Murray City is known abroad, the "King"
must be enlarged again and again to accommodate the many
who will come to see and enjoy.

The River of Rapids

I could not but think this the day I went up the Caz River,
to look upon sights and scenes nowhere else to be found in the
world. To tell you of this river of rapids would convey but
little of the real grandeur of the scenery. So swift and seething
the waters that great bodies of foam, like floating ice blocks,
reach from the first rapid — two miles away — to the landing near
the hotel.

These rapids, in their order, were given me by the famous
river man, Ben. McKenzie: First Chute; Second Chute; The
Devil's Chute; The Island, which is two miles long, is made up of
a number of nameless rapids: Pipestone, so called from the stone
the Indians used in making their pipes; Little Pipestone; The
Kayha, Indian 'for hawk; The Cypress; The Maples; and The
Head. There are others but they are small and nameless.

The Devil's Chute

Here is what I wrote the day I sat upon the great rocks over-
looking the Devil's Chute. It will but feebly convey the en-
thusiasm I felt in the presence of so much that was beautiful.
It must be seen to be appreciated.

"The third rapids is called The Devil's Chute. If strength,
power and awe make the name, then it is well named. But if
beauty, grandeur, and inspiration be taken into account, then
it is Godlike. Would that my "Ideal" could convey to you

THE REAL COBALT 119

what lies before me this bright June morning! To the left,
some three hundred yards away, the tumbling waters come into
view from the east, at the bend of the river, and sweep, a rolling
rapid, round a basin to pay very feet, where they break into an
incline of forty-five degrees, down which the whole Ottawa
pours, a mighty mass, through a narrow gorge, and falling into
a roaring caldron, churns into a cloud of mist as the waters
foam and sweep away to the rapids below. The grey titanic
rocks on which I sit, as I pen these lines, add to the grandeur
of the scene. Looking in all directions around, upon the verr
dure-clad hills, is a picture so magnificent that one might cross
a continent to gaze upon.

"Wait! Wait! A boylike spirit comes over me. I will
go up the rocky bank and roll into the rapid one of those great
logs that have caught and hold their feeble tenure in the eddy,
then return and watch it plunge down the chute. Quick! It
is off! BuHong before I can get back it has shot through and is
tossing in the caldron like a feathery thing."

So little is all this appreciated by the people, that to reach
this chute I had to pick my way through the underbrush along
the river bank, and when I would return, by way of the hill
above, I had to hold my camera in my teeth as I pulled myself
up the steep ascent by catching hold of small stems that grew
along the side. But the enterprising Gibbons boys purpose
having a path made, by means of which their guests may easily
find their way to the Chute, which when known will draw vast
numbers to see and enjoy its beauty.

The Indian Church

There is at Murray City one of the quaintest little churches
I have seen in Canada. It is Catholic, under the wise care of
Father Laniel. I attended it while there, and more devotion
I have seldom seen than was manifested by the Indians, who
make up the larger party of the congregation. Some of them
have good voices and joined heartily in the singing of the
services.

120 THE REAL COBALT

Hunters' Supplies

Murray City is on a direct line to the great hunting grounds
of the north. Here the hunter is wont to fit out for his expedition.
The house of Murray & Foran, as well as J. P. Ranger, keep
every requirement for hunter, fisher and tourist. No one intend-
ing to go for moose, for fishing in the lakes, toward the Height of
Land, or for mere pleasure, need bring an outfit, as all may
here be had on most reasonable terms.

Incidents by the Way

On the way over to Murray City, there were three priests
that morning on the steamer. I always make it a point to meet
and know the good fathers. I'm ever sure to find in them good
travelling companions. This morning I was specially fortu-
nate, for one of them proved to be the famous Father Fafard,
O.M.I., of Albany, James Bay, the priest who made the 500
mile snowshoe trip from Albany to Murray City last winter.
He told me of that trip, jokingly saying, "I came for my health."
Now what do you think of that! Five hundred miles through
a trackless wilderness, with the thermometer on friendly terms
with fifty below! Well, for mine, I'll take the health prescrip-
tion with 490 miles off, and that in the good old summer time.

Fifteen years ago he was stationed at Murray City, then
North Temiskaming, and from here went to his present home in
the far north.

He was full of pleasing reminiscences, and could tell a good
story. When passing Wabis Point he told of

Big Wabi, the Indian, Who Followed the Way
of the White Man

" Chief Wabi," began the father, " was certainly one of the char-
acters of the country. I asked him one day: 'Wabi, how do
you get on so well ' ? t How I get on ? I tell you. One tarn it
was Little Wabi, little eat, big work. I see white man, I follow
he's way. Now, little work, big eat, Big Wabi.'

THE REAL COBALT 121

"To give his conception of the ways of the white man he
told of how he had succeeded in following those ways: 'I sit
in cabin, on day. White man came along. Hay very scarce
that year. White man he say, "Wabi, got any hay?" I say,
" Yes, three ton." " How much " ? " Fifty dollars ton." He pay
me, and I have heap money. Nuther man came along, and he
say: "Wabi, got any hay?" I say, "Yes, three ton." "How
much"? "Fifty dollars ton." He pay me and I feel big rich
man. Nuther man came along. Hay very scarce. Every
body want hay, but nobody want hay till winter tarn. He say:
"Wabi, got any hay"? I tell him same as before, and he pay
me. What? Oh, yes, same old hay! Sell him three tarn,
and have beeg, beeg money. Winter tarn come long. Ver' cold
winter! Cattle eat all grass, then stan' round and get ver' thin
and poor. I feel ver' sorry for cattle, and then I feed 'em white
men's hay. White men come after while and all say: "Wabi,
want hay." I look ver' sad, and say, " Cattle'eat it up. Hay all
gone!" White man no get mad. He used to it!' I have
seldom heard a more apt illustration."

Besides "health" Father Fafard had come to have printed
some books in the Cree language. He was about to return to
Albany. This time by canoe.

Incidental Meetings

These meetings are the pleasures of travel — the incidental
meetings. Which reminds me of the three young prospectors who
got on the steamer at Murray City to cross to HaUeybury. They
were just returning from months of prospecting in northern
Quebec. They had three bags of samples, and reported great
finds. Two were from British Columbia, and one, a doctor,
from a Quebec town. Once knowing a very prominent man
who had lived in that same town, but^who had died some years
ago, I naturally asked of the doctor if he had known him. " Oh,
yes, I knew him well. Fine man he was too!" "Yes," said I,
"and a fine lady, his wife!" "Right you are there," said he
smiling. "I know, for she is my wife now." Little world this I

122 THE REAL COBALT

The doctor had read a number of my books, and we were at once
friends. An author's readers always have a peculiar interest
to him. They ever seem nearer.

This was my first trip to Murray City. All throughout the
summer I have many times gone across the lake. Some times
alone, but oftener with pleasant parties from Haileybury. The
Temiskaming is surely a most delightful pleasure lake. It has
many places for a day's outing, all along, and around its charm-
ing shores, from Murray City, at the north, to Lumsden's Mills
at the south, where lake again turns to river, to flow in tumbling
rapids through more lakes, and on down, for hundreds of miles,
to join the beautiful St. Lawrence at Montreal. Sweet mem-
ories — this summer spent in the far north!

TORONTO-THE QUEEN CITY

WHEN I had finished my work in the north country, with its
vast mineral wealth; had seen its broad areas of timber
and rich farming lands; when I had looked upon its water-
falls, destined to furnish power for mighty works; when I had gone
up and down its rivers and lakes, through beauties yet to be
found by the spying tourist; when I had collected my manu-
script, feebly telling of a few of the things to be seen in that land
of wonders, I felt that my months spent among such kindly
people, and amid so much that was pleasing, had been the most
enjoyable months of my life. And now I am off for the Queen
City, which I am to see for the first time.

On my way from Cobalt to Toronto I learned the location
of many a town whose name alone I had known. One must
see to know location.

From North Bay I went by way of a branch of the Grand
Trunk Railway, whose ever-growing system is reaching into every
nook and corner of the Dominion. Muskoka lakes, always
seemed away off towards Georgian Bay, but in a vague way.
Passing through Bracebridge and Gravenhurst, by which these
marvellous lakes are reached, I could see the picture clear and
distinct, never again to be vagued in location. Then The Lake
of Bays was but a name — passing Huntsville the name and
location became real and fixed identities.

From North Bay to Toronto are a score of towns, and two
score of stations, in the 226 miles of distance.

Along this branch are South River; Sundridge, from which
is reached the new and very rich copper country, 16 miles to the
west; Burk's Falls, with its mills; Scotia Junction, where is crossed

123

124 THE REAL COBALT

the old Canada Atlantic Railway, now an important branch of
the Grand Trunk; Huntsville, as above, from which is reached
the charming summer resort of The Lake of Bays; Bracebridge,
a beautiful town of 3,000 people, from which you can get into the
famous Muskoka lakes to the west; a short distance, Graven-
hurst, with its widely known sanatorium for consumptives.
This is another entrance to the Muskoka. Twenty-five miles
further along, on the north shore of Lake Simcoe, we come to
one of the best known towns in Western Ontario, Orillia, made
so by its live, wideawake people, who are sparing nothing to
bring its name and manufacturing advantages before the business
world. Near by is one of the great asylums of the province — a
beautiful building three miles to the south. Barrie, with its
retired farmers, is some twenty miles below, and the railroad
town of Allandale, near by, both on the western arm of Lake
Simcoe. Bradford, Newmarket, and Richmond Hill are the
names familiar of towns we pass before we reach Toronto.

This is but a hurried run through one of the most marvellous
lake countries in the Dominion, which means in the world.
Tens of thousands of people yearly come to visit these lakes,
not only from Canada but from many parts of our own country
and Europe, and as they become wider known, more tens of
thousands will pass here their summers rather than go far to
visit less of beauty.

I Had Heard of It Before

Before coming to Canada in 1901, 1 had heard of Toronto,
when I got to Canada I heard of Toronto, when I met
people from that city I heard of nothing else. I grew to
thinking that Toronto must be IT — now I know it — for I've
been there.

A kindly people have a beautiful city — made so by the greatest
civic pride I have ever met with in any country — unless it be
Virginia in their love of State. The people are as loyal to their
city as the Virginians to their State, and as kind and courteous
to the stranger. I once met a round-the-world traveller from

THE REAL COBALT 125

Australia. I asked him, " What is the most beautiful city you
have seen"? "There are two, Honolulu and Toronto." From
this and all that I had heard in praise of the Queen City, I was
prepared to like it — and I do. Ask of any one you meet for a
direction and he will stop and direct you, often going out of his
way to do so, and that cheerfully.

I was in the greatest church in the city one night. It was
crowded to the doors. The minister, after preaching a beautiful
sermon, invited all strangers to tarry and meet in the lecture
room that they might become acquainted. I tarried. Now,
I'm going to make a criticism. I did want to meet that preacher
— to meet and know him and some of his people, for I was lonely
that first night in the city. I tarried. The lecture room was
crowded. Where was the preacher? Where were his people?
Before I left I had learned that all had gone their way, leaving
the "strangers" to get acquainted. I never after went into that
lecture room. I could meet and know the strangers outside
of it. That's all — aside from the coldness of its churches — now
so general in all large cities — Toronto is ideal.

Toronto a Tourist City

Nobody thinks of coming to Canada without including in
the tour Toronto. For this reason hundreds of thousands have
come, seen the city, and carried its famed beauty into every
land.

There is not only much to please and interest the tourist or
passing traveller, in the city itself, but in every conceivable
direction there are places worth visiting — by trolley, by steam
cars and by steamboat. From all I can gather from those who
have spent summers here, these people are all a committee of
one, and the duty of that committee is to see that not a soul
leaves town without carrying away a good opinion of its beauty
and the kindly hospitalities of its people. I may speak from my
own knowledge next summer — but if their summer hospitality
may be judged by their winter courtesy, my opinions are already
formed.

126 THE REAL COBALT

The Queen and Her Brilliant Satellites

Within a radius of 120 miles of Toronto are many prosperous
cities and large towns. Hamilton at the very western point of
Lake Ontario, with a population of 60,000, is 39 miles south-
west. It is reached by the C.P. and the G.T. railways, as
are most of the cities and towns named. Brantford, with 20,000
people, lies directly west of Hamilton; a little northerly of Brant-
ford, and westerly from Toronto, are a number of the busiest
manufacturing centres in the Dominion — Brampton (22 miles
from Toronto), Guelph (48 miles) Gait (57), Berlin (63), Brant-
ford (63), Stratford (88), Woodstock (88). On a wider circle
westerly of Toronto and north from Lake Erie, are St. Thomas
(122), and the beautiful city of London (115), with its 52,000
population. To the north-east are Peterboro (76 miles), a busy
city of 15,000, famous for one of the greatest lift-locks in
the world, and Lindsay (69) not far away. Besides these are
scores of other places of interest, such as: Port Credit, Oakville,
Dundas, Burlington, Milton, Cooksville, Streetsville, Acton,
Weston, Woodbridge, Aurora, Markham, Uxbridge, Port Perry,
Whitby, Oshawa, Georgetown, and — but "too numerous to
mention" — many of them with great paper mills, agriculture
implement manufactures, etc. When I think that once I knew
but the names of Toronto, Hamilton and London, and then
find this corner of the province so full of such places of note as
the foregoing, I feel it an imperativevduty to name them, that
my readers may not be as ignorant of their existence as I was
before I came to Canada.

(Toronto is so near our country that it seems like one of our
own cities. As the bird flies, and the steamers run, it is but 27
miles, across Lake Ontario, to Niagara-on-the-Lake, 14 miles
from the Falls. By rail to Niagara, via St. Catharines, another
important city, it is much farther, by reason of having to go
around the head of the lake.