The Porcupine Gold Rush was a gold rush that took place in Northern Ontario starting in 1909 and developing fully by 1911. A combination of the hard rock of the Canadian Shield and the rapid capitalization of mining meant that smaller companies and single-man operations could not effectively mine the area, as opposed to earlier rushes where the gold could be extracted through placer mining techniques. Although a number of prospectors made their fortune, operations in the area are marked largely by the development of larger mining companies, and most people involved in the mining operations were their employees.
68-515: The mines peaked between the 1940s and the 1950s but still continue to produce gold although the many smaller mines have been consolidated into a small number of larger holdings. By 2001, 67 million troy ounces of gold have been mined from the Porcupine area, making it by far the largest gold rush in terms of actual gold produced. For comparison, the well-known Klondike Gold Rush produced about 12 million troy ounces. The Porcupine rush, along with
136-547: A Métis guide, Billy Moore, and used the Canadian Pacific Railway 's mainline running along the northeastern edge of Lake Huron to the Mattagami River . They started off by canoe and eventually reached Porcupine Lake, exploring around the area for some time. Although he found gold in numerous quartz outcroppings, the tiny flakes he saw were in stark contrast to the nuggets that could be panned in
204-496: A candle along it, but instead of wax it was gold. The team later found that the bootprint of one of the D'Aigle team-members had pressed directly into a vein of gold. They staked 12 claims near their discovery and then– because different sponsors had staked them food money –they flipped a coin to determine how to divide the claims. Hollinger won the toss and chose the six claims on the west. Noah Timmins and his brother, Henry , former Mattawa, Ontario merchants who had bought into
272-551: A crowd who formed to see the samples. They received backing from a group in Scotland to develop the plots, forming the Scottish-Ontario Mine. The name later changed to Canusa (Canada–USA) and finally to Banner Porcupine over the years. The mine proved to have excellent surface gold veins, but stopped shortly underground and was never very productive. In early June, Jack Wilson, backed by two Chicago businessmen, led
340-710: A grain of 0.06479891 gram (exact, by definition), with 480 grains to a troy ounce (compared with 437 + 1 ⁄ 2 grains for an ounce avoirdupois). The British Empire abolished the 12-ounce troy pound in the 19th century. It has been retained, though rarely used, in the American system. Larger amounts of precious metals are conventionally counted in hundreds or thousands of troy ounces, or in kilograms. Troy ounces have been and are still often used in precious metal markets in countries that otherwise use International System of Units (SI), except in East Asia . However,
408-455: A larger-scale mining operation. Although these are thought of as "old" prospecting methods, these techniques are still used today, but usually coupled with more advanced techniques such as geophysical magnetic or gravity surveys. In most countries in the 19th and early 20th century, it was very unlikely that a prospector would retire rich even if he was the one who found the greatest of lodes. For instance Patrick (Paddy) Hannan , who discovered
476-415: A mine on the lake in 1907, along with a crude mill. They had managed to produce a single bar of gold by the next year, when a fire burned the mine down. They decided not to bother setting it back up again, and abandoned the site. By 1909 the north was being inundated by prospectors travelling up the new railway and hunting down any hint of riches. As the stories of the Porcupine gold started to filter back to
544-417: A new trail where needed. The party arrived at the mine site on New Year's Day 1936, and soon acquired 560 acres of claims, including those of Hollinger, Miller, Gillies and Millerton. In 1910, Dome Mines began operations by sinking four shafts, the deepest being seventy-five feet. McIntyre was the last of the three to go into operation; McIntyre's partners were constantly quitting due to his behaviour, and it
612-413: A party of four prospectors and three native guides into Tisdale Township. On June 9 then came across a dome of quartz sticking out of the ground and decided to trench around it. As Wilson later noted, As I was examining the seams in the quartz, about twelve feet ahead of me I saw a piece of yellow glisten as the sun struck it. It proved to be a very spectacular piece of gold in a thin sean of schist... when
680-511: A prospector must also stake a claim, meaning they must erect posts with the appropriate placards on all four corners of a desired land they wish to prospect and register this claim before they may take samples. In other areas publicly held lands are open to prospecting without staking a mining claim. The traditional methods of prospecting involved combing through the countryside, often through creek beds and along ridgelines and hilltops, often on hands and knees looking for signs of mineralization in
748-410: A symbol for the entire rush. The initial rush resulted in scores of small mines, but the hard rock mining demanded a high level of investment to be profitable, and many of the smaller sites with less valuable plots failed. There was a major first-mover advantage and many of the surviving properties were consolidated by the larger holdings to produce a single mine that was much more profitable. Although
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#1732765727430816-479: A system of units of mass that originated in the Kingdom of England in the 15th century and is primarily used in the precious metals industry. The troy weight units are the grain , the pennyweight (24 grains), the troy ounce (20 pennyweights), and the troy pound (12 troy ounces). The troy grain is equal to the grain unit of the avoirdupois system, but the troy ounce is heavier than the avoirdupois ounce, and
884-404: A triangular head, with a very sharp point. The introduction of modern gravity and magnetic surveying methods has greatly facilitated the prospecting process. Airborne gravimeters and magnetometers can collect data from vast areas and highlight anomalous geologic features. Three-dimensional inversions of audio-magnetotellurics (AMT) is used to find conductive materials up to a few kilometers into
952-401: A troy ounce. Improvements in mining techniques had by this time dramatically improved recovery rates and cost of operation, and a third wave of mines opened. These efforts included reprocessing of the massive tailing piles left by the previous mining efforts. Most recently many of the remaining plots were acquired by Goldcorp Inc . (Porcupine Gold Mines). Troy ounce Troy weight is
1020-439: Is also known as fossicking . Traditionally prospecting relied on direct observation of mineralization in rock outcrops or in sediments. Modern prospecting also includes the use of geologic, geophysical , and geochemical tools to search for anomalies which can narrow the search area. Once an anomaly has been identified and interpreted to be a potential prospect direct observation can then be focused on this area. In some areas
1088-513: Is considered to be sufficiently approximated by 31.10 g in EU directive 80/181/EEC. The Dutch troy system is based on a mark of 8 ounces, the ounce of 20 engels (pennyweights), the engel of 32 as. The mark was rated as 3,798 troy grains or 246.084 grammes. The divisions are identical to the tower system. The pennyweight symbol is dwt . One pennyweight weighs 24 grains, and 20 pennyweights make one troy ounce. Because there were 12 troy ounces in
1156-704: The Cobalt Silver Rush and Kirkland Lake Gold Rush , all in the early 20th century, drove most of the settlement effort in northern Ontario. During the late 17th century, explorers and fur traders established outposts in Northern Ontario (then part of Rupert's Land ) to capitalize on the fur trade. The Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company later developed several trading posts along major routes in Northern Ontario. The rivalry between these two trading companies resulted in
1224-625: The Earl of Derby . Charles Moore Watson (1844–1916) proposes an alternative etymology: The Assize of Weights and Measures (also known as Tractatus de Ponderibus et Mensuris ), one of the statutes of uncertain date from the reign of either Henry III or Edward I , thus before 1307, specifies " troni ponderacionem "—which the Public Record Commissioners translate as "troy weight". The word troni refers to markets. Wright's The English Dialect Dictionary lists
1292-535: The People's Bank of China has previously used troy measurements in minting Gold Pandas beginning in 1982; since 2016, the use of troy ounces has been replaced by integer numbers of grams. The troy pound (lb t) consists of twelve troy ounces and thus is 5 760 grains ( 373.241 72 grams). (An avoirdupois pound is approximately 21.53% heavier at 7 000 grains ( 453.592 37 grams), and consists of sixteen avoirdupois ounces). A troy ounce weighs 480 grains . Since
1360-551: The auncel . Troy weight referred to the Tower system ; the earliest reference to the modern troy weights is in 1414. The origin of the troy weight system is unknown. Although the name probably comes from the Champagne fairs at Troyes , in northeastern France. English troy weights were nearly identical to the troy weight system of Bremen . (The Bremen troy ounce had a mass of 480.8 British Imperial grains.) Many aspects of
1428-462: The "big three" were the most successful at this, there were a number of other success stories as well. The Coniaurum Mine was founded in 1924; backed by Cobalt money, they amalgamated several older plots north of the McIntyre area. The mine proved highly profitable due to the nature of the veins, which tended to run vertically. This allowed shafts to be sunk directly over the veins, without requiring
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#17327657274301496-602: The 15th century and were made official for gold and silver in 1527. The British Imperial system of weights and measures (also known as Imperial units ) was established in 1824, prior to which the troy weight system was a subset of pre-Imperial English units . The troy ounce in modern use is essentially the same as the British Imperial troy ounce (1824–1971), adopted as an official weight standard for United States coinage by act of Congress on May 19, 1828. The British Imperial troy ounce (known more commonly simply as
1564-461: The 1950s many of the original plots had been mined out, and only the richer veins remained profitable. By the mid-1960s most of the mines in the area had closed. Even the main Hollinger eventually closed in 1968. Gold prices started to rise, inflation adjusted, for the first time starting in the later 1960s, rising to $ 150 by the 1970s. By the late 1980s this had increased to an average around $ 400
1632-480: The 23-level of the Dome extension was discovered in 1933. The Hollinger site was also wiped out in the fire, but rains that followed washed off the now unprotected topsoil to reveal many more veins of gold-bearing rock. The mine was processing 800 tons of ore a day by 1914, and that year they were able to announce that they had proven reserves worth at least $ 13 million, and started paying dividends. In 1916 they were
1700-495: The Earth, which has been helpful to locate kimberlite pipes, as well as tungsten and copper. Another relatively new prospecting technique is using low frequency electromagnetic (EM) waves for 'sounding' into the Earth's crust. These low frequency waves will respond differently based on the material they pass through, allowing for analysts to create three-dimensional images of potential ore bodies or volcanic intrusions. This technique
1768-911: The Golden Mile, Kalgoorlie , died without receiving anywhere near a fraction of the value of the gold contained in the lodes. The same story repeated at Bendigo, Ballarat, Klondike and California . In the United States and Canada, prospectors were lured by the promise of gold , silver , and other precious metals . They traveled across the mountains of the American West , carrying picks, shovels and gold pans . The majority of early prospectors had no training and relied mainly on luck to discover deposits. Other gold rushes occurred in Papua New Guinea, Australia at least four times, Fiji, South Africa and South America. In all cases,
1836-623: The Klondike, and he remained unimpressed. Nevertheless, he returned the next summer in 1907 with a larger party including several experienced prospectors and tools needed to break down the rock. Several test pits were dug, but none of them seemed terribly promising. Bob Mustard, one of the prospectors in the D'Aigle party, stated "Quartz veins in Ontario never pay to work." D'Aigle apparently agreed, and they simply abandoned their tools in their latest pit and headed south. Seven claims were staked by
1904-623: The La Rose silver mine in Cobalt, purchased Benny Hollinger 's claims and opened the Hollinger Mine , one of the greatest gold-producers in the western hemisphere. Noah's nephew, Alphonse Paré, described it: "It was as if a giant cauldron had splattered the gold nuggets over a bed of pure white quartz crystals as a setting for some magnificent crown jewels of inestimable value." On the strength of his nephew’s information, Noah paid $ 330,000 for
1972-403: The abandoned tools. Gillies' report of the find shows just how unlucky D'Aigle had been: ... Benny was pulling moss off the rocks a few feet away, when suddenly he let a roar out of him and threw his hat to me. At first I thought that he was crazy but when I came over to where he was it was not hard to find the reason. The quartz where he had taken off the moss looked as though someone had dripped
2040-445: The appropriate materials (in this case, gold). For most base metal shows, the rock would have been mined by hand and crushed on site, the ore separated from the gangue by hand. These shows were commonly short-lived, exhausted and abandoned quite soon, requiring the prospector to move onwards to the next and hopefully bigger and better show. Occasionally, the prospector would strike it rich and be joined by other prospectors to develop
2108-403: The area. Following right behind them was the smaller team of Benny Hollinger, a young barber from Haileybury, and his partner, Alex Gillies. They met Wilson's Dome group, who told them that most of the good sites were already staked as far as four miles (10 km) to the west. They decided to skip those six miles, and moved westward where they came across one of D'Aigle's test pits, the one with
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2176-399: The area. Golden City (later Porcupine) and Pottsville sprung up almost overnight, followed by South Porcupine at the end of the lake, closer to the main mining areas. As the area was quickly explored and staked, the main gold producing area was revealed to be three miles (5 km) wide and five long. South Porcupine was incorporated in 1911. Mines all along the area started production over
2244-592: The basis of a company that would, in 1909, become McIntyre Mines . Although his name made millions, Sandy McIntyre himself had serious drinking problems , and sold his claims to the Timmins brothers before he could grow wealthy from their rich yields. The Hollinger was the first of the three mines to go into production. In 1935, Timmins wrote that he had set out with a mining party in December 1909, and had followed an old logging road that had fallen into disuse, cutting
2312-458: The boys came back we got out the drills and hammers, and that night had about 132 pounds of very spectacular specimens. Following the vein they found it to be several hundred feet long and about 150 wide, running down the side of the hill. The vein later became known as the "Golden Stairway", and the dome of rock gave its name to the Dome Mine , which would become one of the "Big Three" mines in
2380-518: The economics of running a mine, and an increased demand due to a lack of faith in paper money led to higher gold prices on the market. A number of sites formerly ignored due to low production were suddenly rendered profitable. By 1932, approximately 75% of the gold mined in Canada came from the Kirkland Lake and Porcupine camps. By the late fifties, the Porcupine camp employed 6,000 miners. By
2448-422: The fire, development shifted. On Labour Day 1911 Noah Timmins held a public auction for building sites on a relatively flat area of land just west of the McIntyre and Hollinger mines, creating the village that would soon develop into the town of Timmins. By the time it incorporated on January 1, 1912, it had already surpassed both Golden City (now known as Porcupine) and South Porcupine in size. Timmins has remained
2516-640: The first mine in the area to install underground electric railways, which paid for themselves in six months due to faster movement of man and ore. Hollinger then purchased the Acme and Millerton properties, creating a single 440-acre (180 ha ) plot, and becoming the Hollinger Consolidated Gold Mines in the process. McIntyre lacked the financial backing of the Hollinger or Dome, and took longer to get into full production. They had constant problems finding reasonable veins, and moved to
2584-506: The form of British pre-decimal pennies, in which pounds, shillings, and pence were indicated using the symbols £ , s , and d , respectively. There is no specific 'troy grain'. All Imperial systems use the same measure of mass called a grain (historically of barley ), each weighing 1 ⁄ 7000 of an avoirdupois pound (and thus a little under 65 milligrams). Mint masses, also known as moneyers' masses , were legalized by Act of Parliament dated 17 July 1649 entitled An Act touching
2652-472: The future goldfields. This was of little interest at the time, as the area was almost inaccessible. A University of Toronto geologist, W. Parks, followed up with three surveying runs in 1898, 1899, and 1903. These crossed through the main gold-bearing area along what was known as 'the Back Road' which has since been renamed "Goldmine Road". On his return to Toronto, he made a now-famous comment that "I regard
2720-462: The gold rush was sparked by idle prospecting for gold and minerals which, when the prospector was successful, generated 'gold fever' and saw a wave of prospectors comb the countryside. Modern prospectors today rely on training, the study of geology, and prospecting technology. Knowledge of previous prospecting in an area helps in determining location of new prospective areas. Prospecting includes geological mapping , rock assay analysis, and sometimes
2788-561: The imperial troy ounce) was based on, and virtually identical with, the pre-1824 British troy ounce and the pre-1707 English troy ounce. (1824 was the year the British Imperial system of weights and measures was adopted; 1707 was the year of the Act of Union which created the Kingdom of Great Britain .) Troy ounces have been used in England since the early 15th century, and the English troy ounce
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2856-475: The implementation of the international yard and pound agreement of 1 July 1959, the grain measure is defined as precisely 64.798 91 milligrams . Thus one troy ounce = 480 grains × 0.064 798 91 grams/grain = 31.103 476 80 grams. Since the ounce avoirdupois is defined as 437.5 grains, a troy ounce is exactly 480 ⁄ 437.5 = 192 ⁄ 175 or about 1.09714 ounces avoirdupois or about 9.7% more. The troy ounce for trading precious metals
2924-482: The initial rush but nevertheless sticking it out and eventually striking it rich along the Koyukuk River . After returning south he enrolled in a geology course at Queen's University , and used the library to pore over mining reports for new gold deposits. Discovering Parks' earlier report, he finished his course at the university and immediately set out for Porcupine. Ignoring the new railway, he hooked up with
2992-435: The intuition of the prospector. Prospecting of minerals found in mobile fluids, as is often the case of lithium , adds a "temporal element" to be considered. Metal detectors are invaluable for gold prospectors, as they are quite effective at detecting gold nuggets within the soil down to around 1 metre (3 feet), depending on the acuity of the operator's hearing and skill. Magnetic separators may be useful in separating
3060-502: The larger supporting towns along the line, more and more teams headed out for Porcupine. During the summer of 1909 there were several parties in the area; it was only a matter of time before the main veins were discovered. George Bannerman set out with a partner, Tom Geddes, and started prospecting in the area north of Porcupine Lake. They found an excellent surface sample, staked several claims, and started their return trip to Haileybury to register them. When they arrived they were mobbed by
3128-464: The magnetic fraction of a heavy mineral sand from the nonmagnetic fraction, which may assist in the panning or sieving of gold from the soil or stream. Prospecting pickaxes are used to scrape at rocks and minerals , obtaining small samples that can be tested for trace amounts of ore . Modern prospecting pickaxes are also sometimes equipped with magnets , to aid in the gathering of ferromagnetic ores. Prospecting pickaxes are usually equipped with
3196-589: The massive silver deposits in Cobalt were discovered, leading to a " silver rush " in 1903. This, in turn, filled Northern Ontario with miners, assayers, prospectors and all the requirements for rapid development of new mining sites. Reuben D'Aigle was the first to explicitly set out for the Porcupine Lake area in hopes of finding gold. D'Aigle had earlier been a latecomer to the Klondike , arriving after
3264-598: The massive amounts of lumber needed to shore up horizontal drifts. The Coniaurum was successful into the 1950s, when the gold ran out. Another success was the Vipond , which had veins similar to the Coniaurum, and used their profits to build up a larger set of holdings. Starting in the late 1920s and early 1930s a second wave of new mines opened across the area. Low labour costs due to the Great Depression changed
3332-470: The mine. Alphonse Paré, a Royal Military College of Canada trained mining engineer, continued working for the family company exploring stakes and mining operations all over the world. The third great discovery was made by Sandy McIntyre (né Oliphant) , an adventurous Scotsman who, years before, gave up his factory job as to become a prospector. He teamed up with Hans Buttner, and together they staked two claims north of Hollinger's. McIntyre's findings formed
3400-437: The monies and coins of England . A grain is 20 mites, a mite is 24 droits, a droit is 20 perits, a perit is 24 blanks. The troy system was used in the apothecaries' system but with different further subdivisions. Prospecting pits Prospecting is the first stage of the geological analysis (followed by exploration ) of a territory. It is the search for minerals , fossils , precious metals, or mineral specimens. It
3468-659: The need to get their furs to market as soon as possible and this led to the development of the Porcupine Trail , a trading route that connected the Abitibi River to the Mattagami River and passed directly through present day Timmins . There were hints of gold in the Porcupine Lake area on a number of occasions before the actual rush started. The earliest recorded mention is by a Department of Mines surveyor, E.M. Burwash, who reported seeing gold-bearing quartz as he travelled through Shaw Township, just southwest of
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#17327657274303536-513: The next few years, buying plots staked during 1910 and 1911. Seeing the obvious potential of the area the T&NO started construction of a spur line , but was delayed by the constant defection of workers to the goldfields. The province responded by shipping prisoners to work the line, handing secondary duties such as clearing trees and rock. The spur reached Golden City on June 7, 1911, and an official opening followed on July 1. More people poured into
3604-407: The north side of Pearl Lake, eventually digging five shafts before finding a reasonable deposit. By this time the company was having trouble paying bills and was often being delivered goods "cash on delivery", but without a strong financial backer this was difficult to arrange. There is an oft-told story in Timmins that the first bar of gold produced by the mine was rushed to the bank so quickly that it
3672-435: The old troy pound, there would have been 240 pennyweights to the pound (mass) – just as there were 240 pennies in the original pound-sterling . However, prior to 1526, the English pound sterling was based on the tower pound , which is 15 ⁄ 16 of a troy pound. The d in dwt stands for denarius , the ancient Roman coin that equates loosely to a penny. The symbol d for penny can be recognized in
3740-427: The other end of the lake. Throughout the day the smaller fires combined, and by the afternoon had merged into a single wall of fire up to 20 miles (32 km) wide at points, sweeping eastward on gale-force winds. It swept through South Porcupine around 3:30 p.m., burning it to the ground, and continued to burn its way as far as Cochrane , sending blankets of ash hundreds of miles downwind. Tom Geddes, co-claimer of
3808-418: The outcrop. In the case of gold, all streams in an area would be panned at the appropriate trap sites looking for a show of 'colour' or gold in the river trail. Once a small occurrence or show was found, it was then necessary to intensively work the area with pick and shovel, and often via the addition of some simple machinery such as a sluice box, races and winnows, to work the loose soil and rock looking for
3876-447: The real center of the mining area to this day. By March 1912 the site had grown so large they were able to host a major party for the investors, shipping them in via a new spur line that ran to the site. In its first full year in operation the mine had already produced almost a million dollars of gold, with a profit of $ 500,000. Over the next five years the quarry mining gave way to shafts, producing $ 5 million in gold. A rich ore body at
3944-517: The region south of the Porcupine trail as giving promise of reward to the prospector." A major event that led to the eventual rush was the start of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway (T&NO) running from North Bay through to Cochrane . As it expanded northward it allowed prospectors to support longer surveys deeper into the bush, looking for the minerals that were expected to stretch across all of Northern Ontario. Almost immediately
4012-513: The sites that started the gold rush, died attempting to save his dog. The T&NO spur line, unharmed north of the lake, sped relief supplies to the area. Eaton's funded an entire train of supplies, including blankets, tents and supplies, while churches across Ontario responded with clothing and other supplies. As crews returned to South Porcupine they found and collected the dead, including people who had died of smoke inhalation or asphyxiation and were seemingly uninjured. Some 500,000 acres of land
4080-400: The team during their prospecting, but all of these eventually lapsed. Although D'Aigle's parties were the largest, several other prospectors also made attempts to find gold in the area, potentially after hearing of his efforts. Edward Orr Taylor had camped on Nighthawk Lake three years before a major discovery. The two prospectors Victor Mansen (or Mattson) and Harry Benella (or Penella) set up
4148-453: The towns, and by the end of the summer there were 8,000 active claims. The summer of 1911 was unusually hot, reaching a record temperature of 107 °F (42 °C) on July 10. There had been no rain for several weeks, and by the evening several small bushfires had been spotted. The threat to the mining townsites was obvious, and starting on the morning of the 11th boats started ferrying women and children from South Porcupine to Golden City at
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#17327657274304216-514: The troy pound is lighter than the avoirdupois pound. Legally, one troy ounce (oz t) equals exactly 31.1034768 grams. Troy weight is generally supposed to take its name from the French market town of Troyes where English merchants traded at least as early as the early 9th century. The name troy is first attested in 1390, describing the weight of a platter, in an account of the travels in Europe of
4284-635: The troy weight system were indirectly derived from the Roman monetary system . Before they used coins, early Romans used bronze bars of varying weights as currency. An aes grave ("heavy bronze") weighed one pound . One twelfth of an aes grave was called an uncia , or in English, an "ounce". Before the adoption of the metric system, many systems of troy weights were in use in various parts of Europe, among them Holland troy, Paris troy, etc. Their values varied from one another by up to several percentage points. Troy weights were first used in England in
4352-408: The word troi as meaning a balance , related to the alternate form 'tron' which also means market or the place of weighing. From this, Watson suggests that 'troy' derives from the manner of weighing by balance precious goods such as bullion or drugs; in contrast to the word 'avoirdupois' used to describe bulk goods such as corn or coal, sometimes weighed in ancient times by a kind of steelyard called
4420-462: Was burned. The dead, officially numbered at 73 but thought to be as high as 200, were buried in a new cemetery across the point of the lake from the town, known to this day as Dead Man's Point. Although most of the Porcupine area mines were destroyed in the fire, the return to production was almost overnight. The Dome founders held an emergency meeting within two days, and funds to rebuild were immediately forwarded. With most of Porcupine wiped out in
4488-414: Was not until 1915 that any real production started. By the spring of 1910 the rush was in full swing. Thousands of fortune seekers poured into the area, either in an attempt to stake their own claims, or more and more commonly, looking for work in high paying mining jobs. Towns, often nothing more than tent camps, sprung up along the banks of Porcupine Lake, at that point the terminus of the canoe route into
4556-416: Was officially adopted for coinage in 1527. Before that time, various sorts of troy ounces were in use on the continent. The troy ounce and grain were also part of the apothecaries' system . This was long used in medicine, but has been largely replaced by the metric system (milligrams). The only troy weight in widespread use is the British Imperial troy ounce and its American counterpart. Both are based on
4624-482: Was still warm. Things improved dramatically when Sir Henry Pellatt , rich from the Cobalt silver mines, took interest in the McIntyre, and the mine paid its first dividend in 1917. In 1924 the company went on a buying spree, purchasing the Jupiter and Pearl Lake mines, creating a single 626-acre (253 ha) plot. In 1927 they built their Number 11 shaft, whose headframe can still be seen on the north side of Pearl Lake,
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