History

For thousands of years the vast mineral wealth of Northern Ontario lay underground undiscovered.

Mother Nature gave up some of those riches with the discovery of silver in Cobalt by two railway tie contractors - James McKinley and Ernest Darragh. They followed their dreams of gold all the way to the California gold fields only to come back empty-handed. Their luck was about to change. In August of 1903, while under contract during the construction of the newly formed Temiskaming & Northern Ontario (T. & N.O.) Railway at Long Lake, they found the "glittering rocks" of men's dreams.

"They had learned to test nuggets by biting them with their teeth. When they tested the 'glittering rocks' they knew they had found native silver." - Yankee Takeover of Cobalt, John Murphy

The Silver Rush was on!

Prospectors, miners, speculators, and financiers came from all over the world to search for silver, stake claims, form mining companies, and extract riches of silver at unprecedented levels to create a boom town like no other: Cobalt - "the best old town I know."

"As a source of silver riches, the Cobalt area led the world in yielding a phenomenal 460 million ounces. That is about US$2 billion worth of silver at today's prices. In Cobalt's peak year, 1911, 34 mines produced some 30 million ounces."

Remarkably, the silver fortunes extracted far exceeded those made from Klondike gold. Cobalt silver helped drive the economy of Ontario - just out of a deep 1890's North American economic depression. It helped increase the wealth of Canadian Banks and attracted the financing for mining exploration and development. It produced a large number of Canadian millionaires and allowed for great investment in the Toronto Stock Exchange. Some would say, "Cobalt built Bay Street."

Cobalt silver funded the expansion of the T. & N. O. Railway that opened up Northern Ontario. It led to a new awareness of the rich natural resources of Canada. Cobalt mines were on the leading edge of mining technology. Great innovations in silver ore extraction took place. Power was generated for the entire mining site by compressed air systems at Ragged Chutes. The Haileybury School of Mines was established to train generations of mining engineers whose alumni would go on to develop mines all over Canada and throughout the world.

However, by the 1980's, most of the region's silver had been rendered from the earth and mining activity slowed. Cobalt's population dwindled to a fraction of its former self. The mines of former glory closed and lay dormant, and began to rust back into nature.

It goes without saying that the people of Cobalt have tremendous pride in their town "the cradle of Canadian mining."

"In 1906, the rush to Cobalt reached its height and the investment in its mines or prospective mines was estimated at a total of $75,000,000. The madness of speculation reached the city of New York, and for three consecutive days mounted police had to clear Broad Street of people who were obstructing traffic in their frantic efforts to buy Cobalt shares from curb brokers." - The History of the Bank, CIBC

Several banks arrived in Cobalt and hastily set up for business.

"From its earliest days the Canadian Bank of commerce, which was established in 1867 and which was merged with the Imperial Bank of Commerce in 1961, was closely associated with mining and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce is represented today in practically every mining district in the country".
- CIBC Optima, 1972

Sydney H. Logan was the first Manager for the Bank of Commerce in 1905. He initially opened the bank in a tent and was later responsible for acquiring from British Columbia a pre-fabricated building which still stands today. Logan left Cobalt to enjoy an illustrious career in the bank, eventually becoming President.

The bank's business necessarily flourished, and consisted largely of deposits, an aggregate of from two to three hundred thousand dollars a day being common.

"In twenty years about one billion dollars has come out of Northern Ontario. About $600,000,000 of this must have been spent in supplies, wages, food and machinery bought in Toronto and Southern Ontario. At present about $60,000,000 is being spent annually in materials and supplies by the mining industry of the Province. Do you know what this means for Toronto and the Province of Ontario as a whole?"
- Sydney H. Logan, Bank of Commerce,
The Caduceus, April, 1927.

Neil J. McKinnon was born in Cobalt during the Silver boom days. He went to work for the local branch of the Bank of Commerce in 1925 when he was fourteen years old.

"McKinnon went to work earlier than most, on the death of his father, a pioneer lumberman. Even before this he had worked during school vacations as a labourer in lumber camps and on mining claims, earning two dollars for a ten-hour day. From this experience, he says, came the ability 'to read men'."
- CIBC Optimia, 1972.

In 1973 the Toronto Star referred to Neil McKinnon as "perhaps the most influential businessman in Canada for much of the past 20 years. He was in charge of a bank that gave out multi-million dollar loans and was one of Canada's most illustrious bankers in history. He would be at the helm when the Bank of Commerce merged with its old rival the Imperial Bank of Commerce to become the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce."

If one were to scan the financial sections of the dailies in Toronto back then, they would find them littered with ads for investments and penny stocks promising to cash in on the Silver Boom in Cobalt. The Royal Stock Exchange was established in Cobalt. Stock brokers like John Paris Bickell, who had his own seat on the Toronto Stock Exchange, have roots in the Cobalt Mines. Many have said that the Cobalt Mining Stock helped establish the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Come for a sense of adventure and learn about a rich part of Canada's history.

A story is told of a widely-travelled American who was asked where Toronto was. He thought for a moment, scratched his head and said, "Oh, yes, that is the place where you change cars for Cobalt"; and beyond Cobalt is Gowganda, and beyond Gowganda is Porcupine-all in New Ontario."
- Rev. Canon L. Norman.
The Empire Club of Canada Speeches 1910-1911,

Before the silver discovery at Long Lake, the town of Cobalt did not exist, the nearby pioneer farm communities of Haileybury and New Liskeard had just begun settlement in the 1890's, and the entire region had a population of less than a thousand people. After the silver rush, the population swelled, with estimates as high as thirty thousand.

The town was built in a hurry to get the silver mines rolling. Overnight, it went from being a railway construction camp to a mining camp, to a village of tents, to quickly becoming a town of thrown-together log homes and hastily constructed clapboard buildings, only later adding fine brick buildings.

"So when you see our tar-paper shacks and the shapeless, rough lumber buildings, do not say 'How ugly, and what a horrid-looking town.' Think of the high hopes, the brave hearts, and the strong hands that built them." - Elizabeth MacEwan,
first school teacher in Cobalt

Cobalt, for all its riches, suffered many disasters, while its people always soldiered on. Fire decimated the town more than once, forcing reconstruction of the helter-skelter little town. In 1909, a typhoid epidemic swept through the town directly attributed to a lack of clean water supply. Cobalt had limited health facilities. There was no time to build a bigger hospital, so they improvised and sent to Toronto for a war surplus tent to serve as a hospital. They rushed to recruit one hundred Registered Nurses from Toronto to meet the needs of the ill.

In the beginning, the mining camp was made up exclusively of men. That demographic changed quickly as miners came with their families to the fledgling silver town to seek out a living and make a home. Within a short time, restaurants and laundries appeared, along with dress-makers and tailors, butcher shops, and even an ice cream parlour. The merchants came to ply their trades from all around the world: Russian Jews, Chinese and Syrians, Polish and Greeks, Italians and Finns all did business in the town, and settled in amongst the French and Anglo Canadians.

They helped build schools and churches for Protestants and Catholics. They wanted to learn to read and improve their language skills and took part in Reading Camps. The town flourished with half a dozen banks, a stock exchange, hotels, an opera house, a few theatres and even a private zoo for exotic animals and people traveled by streetcars.

"The school was built on land that had to be secured from squatters and only constant vigilance kept it clear until a building could be erected. The school opened in the early spring of 1906 with twelve students. By the end of the year there were over one hundred. They came from places as far away as Poland, Finland, Sweden and Greece."
- We Lived a Life and Then Some,
Charlie Angus and Brit Griffin

"I am as a Canadian, proud of the development I see here in Cobalt," declared Sir Wilfred,.. "I am proud to welcome to this country those of other nations who have come here, be they from the northern shores of Sweden or the sunny shores of Italy. All are welcome who want to work. All we ask is that you give the best of your manhood. When I came here first and looked at these rocky hills I said. What better could nature have done here than to give us silver and gold? But the hills of Northern Ontario have produced a crop more precious then silver or gold. A crop of children which could not be surpassed on the plains of old Quebec."
- Sir Wilfred Laurier, Opening of the new Cobalt, YMCA.
Toronto Star, September 18, 1912

Wages and hours of work were the common issues that caused tension between the miners and Temiskaming Mine Managers and work stoppages would occur. However, housing conditions and control over the local hospital and access for miners' wives and children caused great concerns for the working class of Cobalt. The miners formed Local 146 under charter with the Western Federation of Miners, later called the International Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union. This was a time before modern labour legislation in Canada and mine management was not keen to recognize these unions.

The mines of Cobalt posed a great risk to the health and safety of those who worked there. Mining in those days was not a job for the weak. The hours were long and the conditions poor. They handled dynamite on a daily basis. Between the blasting, drilling and the risky conditions, hundreds of miners lost their lives or became permanently disabled.

"In this time of prosperity Cobalt averaged twelve fatalities per thousand workers"
- Fortunes in the Ground, Michael Barnes.

Charlie Angus and Brit Griffin immortalized the stories of the people, the characters who built Cobalt in their popular storytelling documentary book whose title is borrowed from the Cobalt song, We Lived a Life and Then Some.

There were no saloons in Cobalt like in the Wild West. In fact, alcohol was prohibited by law anywhere within five miles of a mining camp in Ontario. You might pay the price for your intemperance by being arrested by the lone lawman of the town, "The Sheriff of Temiskaming," George Caldbick, who was the first provincial police constable appointed by the government of Ontario and sent to keep law and order in the silver boom town.

Further appointments soon followed as the boom spread from the silver fields of Cobalt to the gold fields of Porcupine, Larder Lake and Kirkland Lake. By 1909, so many officers had been appointed by the Legislature that the Ontario Provincial Police force was officially formed and Cobalt and Niagara Falls became home to the first District Headquarters. In 2009, Cobalt will join with the Ontario Provincial Police to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the opening of the first detachment.

The town even grew to have its own skating arena, and from all reports there was no shortage of hockey fans. They developed their own competitive teams that would challenge other towns. The Cobalt Silver Kings played in the National Hockey League in the 1909-1910 season. They also enjoyed boxing and other sports.

The "Silver City" would attract many visitors, with estimates of up to 300,000 per year during boom time. Movie stars like Mary Pickford came to take a look.

Life was far from easy for women in this mining frontier town:

"Agnes Clark and Nancy Groom, the first two women to arrive in Cobalt, learned to laugh at such things as blackflies, houseflies, mosquitoes and most other members of the insect world. They protected their babies with white cheesecloth canopies. They took for granted such things as slivery white pine floors and mud; lye soap and creek water; epidemics and fires; they helped each other through childbirth and ailments while their husbands drank and schemed down at the bars in Haileybury. They were blessed with unfailing courage, resourcefulness, generosity and above all, a keen sense of humour, that helped them endure all the exigencies of pioneer life."
- Maude Groom, The Melted Years

Haileybury, in particular, benefited from the mining boom. Because of the limited living space in Cobalt, many mine managers and some of the wealthier inhabitants in the area made their homes on the west shore of Lake Temiskaming, in an area that became known as "millionaires' row." Although there were no mines in Haileybury, the town was mining's congenial host. A large number of mining companies had their head offices there and the Mining Recorder's office for the Temiskaming Mining Division was established at Haileybury. Four large hotels served the thirsty miners from the "dry" town of Cobalt; and Haileybury's population quickly rose from 400 in 1904 to 5,000 five years later. As the New Liskeard Speaker stated, "everybody knows that it was the mining boom that saved the place." - Cobalt: Mining Boom Town, Doug Baldwin

There was a strong sense of community in the region and when much of Haileybury burned to the ground in 1922, the townspeople of Cobalt opened their doors to receive the injured and burnt out refugees. They acted totally selflessly even as their own town was at risk of catching fire as well. In addition to giving asylum to the Haileybury fire victims, they mobilized relief efforts. Indeed, Cobalt has always had special ties with its close neighbours of Haileybury and New Liskeard, and the three communities have become known as the Tri-Towns.

In 2006, the town of Cobalt will mark its 100th anniversary and celebrate its most valuable asset, the Spirit of Cobalt.

"The old days may have been hard, maybe in some cases cruel to the newcomers, but out of this struggle was born a friendliness and patriotism and love for each other that became known as the Cobalt Spirit.it was a wonderful sprit in those early days."
- Elizabeth MacEwen

Cobalt was an exciting place to live back in the early 1900's during the "Silver Rush". A town built right on top of an emerging silver mining camp. People came from all over the world to make a living off the Cobalt silver mines. They set up home in what would become the Town of Cobalt and Coleman Township. The more affluent would set up residence in nearby towns of Haileybury and New Liskeard. Cobalt played a leading role in the development of the mining and banking industry in Canada. After the mines slowed the Cobalt Miners would move out to new mining frontiers like Kirkland Lake, Timmins and Sudbury. Cobalt is often referred to as the "cradle of Canadian Mining".

If you are searching information on your Cobalt/Coleman ancestors a good source of information is the 1911 Canadian Census which includes Cobalt and Coleman. This database is easily accessed online www.collectionscanada.ca This census data is a primary source for family research. The census records include the individual name, birth date and list of family members, address, marital status and religion, occupation and religion, citizenship and nationality.

The Cobalt Mining Museum is a good source on the history of the people the area and holds a large collection of photographs and old newspapers that would be of interest to those putting together a family history. Also worthy of a visit in the region is the Haileybury Heritage Museum.

The local region is fortunate to have an active genealogical society, Temiskaming Genealogy Group. The group has put together some excellent sources of genealogical material including; cemetery and church records, newspapers and vital statistics. They can be reached online This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Plans are underway to have a Self Help Genealogy Desk at the Welcome Centre of the Historic Cobalt Mining Camp for summer of 2006.

Nothing beats a first hand visit to the area to take in the history and the vitality of this incredible town, "the silver capital of Canada".

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