Monday, May 30, 2016

Cobalt Silver Mines

Cobalt is the location where hard rock mining in Canada started.  Legend has it that a frustrated blacksmith threw his hammer, and it glanced off a rock.  When he went to pick it up, he saw the rock where the hammer hit is was shiny.  And as they say, the rest is history!

When you arrive in the centre of town (much smaller today than when mining was in its heyday), you can't help but notice this headframe.  It's a real headframe, from a mine nearby, but was dismantled and moved here to be part of the Mining Museum.

There was a small display of old mining equipment, and these sculptures of miners, in relief against the bedrock, looking as if they're about to enter a mining tunnel.

I thought the sculpture was quite effective, and the more I read, the more I got fascinated by the history.  The silver discovery was made in 1903, and Cobalt quickly became a boom town.  Busy mining lasted about 30 years before the veins of silver no longer brought a profit.

Silver was mined in horizontal tunnels into the rocky hills, and more frequently in tunnels accessed by vertical shafts.  In the tunnels, narrow gauge rail lines like these were used, first with miners simply pushing the small carts, and later with battery powered 'locomotives' like the one on the right of these three.
The headframes (some preserved like this one, and some dilapidated) that are such an obvious part of the history, provided the hoist up and down into the mine.   There are several right in town (this is the Right-of-Way mine site), and quite a few more scattered outside the town.

These seem to be the iconic symbol of the silver mining, and you can see several by following the Silver Heritage Trail, a driving route which wanders southeast of Cobalt.  Both it and part of the town itself are a National Historic Site.

Inside the museum are several paintings of headframes from different mines.  I was interested to see this one which was obviously an older painting of the picture above.

Another mine headframe.  The success of the silver mines in Cobalt is the foundation of Canada's hard rock mining industry.  Skills developed here were taken elsewhere, and prospectors from Cobalt discovered gold in nearby Kirkland Lake and Timmins and further afield.  The provincial School of Mines was established here (now part of Northern College), and the first Provincial Geologist appointed here.   The silver provided profits for mining companies to invest elsewhere, with the result that mining of metals has been an important industry in Canada ever since.

Tomorrow - our mine tour.

19 comments:

  1. We lived in a mining town in central Newfoundland for a number of years. It was a great place to live and the people were wonderful. It is a hard job. While we lived there, two men died underground, during the last few years in the life of the mine.

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  2. Interesting history. Where I grew up gold was mined in the 1800s. There was still one gold mine operating when I was a kid, but it's since closed down.

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  3. What an interesting story, a read I enjoyed. My brother in law worked in a coal mine, it was such hard work, he was very humble! A beautiful sculpture!

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  4. I so admire anyone who can work underground, cola, copper, silver or any other mineral or ore. And before modern machinery would have made the work a little less arduous ( I was going to write.. A little easier.. but as it was so hard to begin with, they would have needed so much to make a difference). Thanks for all the photos and history.

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  5. oops, spelling error, when did "cola" ever get under the ground?

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  6. I love wandering around such places and piecing together their history. There's no mining in this part of the country, apart from some very ancient flint-mines, but up in Derbyshire there are extensive remains of the old lead-ming industry.

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  7. Hello, I always thought mining as a difficult and dangerous job . I like the sculpture of the men and seeing the equipment. Thanks for sharing the history of Cobalt. Have a happy day and week ahead!

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  8. Interesting post.....there will no doubt be a mining connection between New Liskeard and Liskeard in Cornwall!

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  9. It must have been a hard life to be a miner, but it's a fascinating subject. I look forward to the tour. :-)

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  10. Very interesting. As John mentioned above, there are lots of old lead mines near me around Derbyshire (England) and I always love to learn about them and explore the mines where possible.

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  11. The relief sculpture really catches my eye. It's good that a museum has risen up here.

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  12. Enjoyed your post. Very interesting. I know a couple of people who work in the coal mines today.

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  13. I was at mines of iron ore in Minnesota but I have visited the silver mining town of Cripple Creek in Colorado. The old western town hangs on but is now a tourist town. One company did come in and is chemically removing the silver of all the stone piles left behind by the old fashioned mining procedures. Silver can still be seen in small strands in the rock foundations of the old stores and houses.

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  14. I love the textures of the old buildings. I wonder how much more silver is hiding down beneath those lands, perhaps only inches beyond the last probe.

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  15. Humans are an interesting animal. Digging and exploring all around creation.

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  16. Your photos capture the era and the history of that time. Good job.

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  17. Typical history of extractive industries -- boom & bust. Although, it looks like Cobalt still has a life. The history of many of the coal mining towns here in Pennsylvania is similar, although a great many of them have never developed a life after coal and are gradually withering away.

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  18. What an interesting post and a lovely selection of photo's.
    Those sculptures are done so well aren't they.

    All the best Jan

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