Silver Mines in Cobalt, Ontario

Environmental Impact, Ethical Issues, and Social Effects

Sep 22, 2009 Kathleen Airdrie

The 1903 discovery of large quantities of native silver in Cobalt, Ontario resulted in riches for some, devastation for others, and severe damage to the environment.

More than 100 years after the great discovery, the town and its surrounding areas have not fully recovered.

Silver and Hope for New Lives in Cobalt

The small town and its citizens were overwhelmed by the influx of people who wanted a piece of the action. By the hundreds (later, thousands), they arrived in need of accommodations and tools for their work. Outfitters could not maintain enough stock to supply everyone. Later, men arrived with prospecting gear purchased from the T. Eaton Company.

One woman who arrived with her family in 1904 commented on the profusion of shacks and boarding houses and the landscape that was a “battlefield of mud, tree stumps, and rock dumps”. Women raising small children struggled while the men worked long shifts in the mines. Drinking water was sold by the bucket. Most of the houses were built of whatever materials could be scrounged, including dynamite boxes.

Not all newcomers were miners or prospectors. There were young families hoping to improve their lives. Some established blacksmith shops, cafés or stores. As the work progressed, Cobalt became a town of great ethnic diversity.

Deforestation and Destruction

When the large mining companies moved in, real difficulties quickly developed. By the end of 1905, the 16 operating mines shipped silver ore valued at more than $1,300,000. The large-scale operations had a severe effect upon the town’s environment, economics, and politics.

Town Council struggled to provide and protect reasonable living standards. Powerful mining concerns wanted to take as much silver as possible from the surrounding area that included lakes and town property. With no possibility of stopping the operations, Council members and residents saw the systematic deforestation and the destruction of the land. Hydraulic hoses were used to blow vegetation from the hills.

Unethical Practices, Fires, and Typhoid

Officials’ warnings about the free-for-all nature of some mining outfits, and the potential dangers, were mostly ignored. In 1906, a large section of Cobalt was destroyed by fire caused when a cache of dynamite exploded.

On July 2, 1909, a café fire tore through workers’ tar-paper shacks in the town’s north end. Strong winds swept the fire down crowded alleys and through boarding houses. Nearly 2,000 people were homeless in the town. Many of the destitute families that had to live in tents relied on a local stream for water. Later that summer, more than 1100 cases of typhoid were reported. A Public Health Nurse stated that the many unnecessary deaths “were nothing short of manslaughter”.

Cobalt Lake Draining and Mining

Town Council requested help of the provincial government to no avail. It was said that the government’s only interest was the profit garnered from the silver mining. Its big debate at the time was who should receive the rights to drain and mine the town’s water source – Cobalt Lake. Provincial Geologist Miller’s belief that the lake should be protected was ignored.

None of the $1,000,000 fee Sir Henry Pellatt (of Casa Loma fame) paid for the rights was made available to the town. His Cobalt Mining Company drained and mined the lake, and procured a massive fortune.

The Cobalt Water Commission was formed in 1910 to pump clean water from Sasaginaga Lake, and to protect it from pollution and sewage. To this day, the Commission continues to ensure the town is supplied with clean water.

The desperate situation and need to increase its tax base resulted in more problems at Cobalt Lake. The McKinley and Darragh Mine owners were given permission to drain and mine what was left. In return, it had to agree to annexation into the town’s limits. The resulting tax money helped alleviate some civic problems. All that was left of the lake in the centre of town was a mud pit.

Silver Mining Environmental Legacy

The environmental legacy of the silver mining operations is enormous. Cobalt Lake has never fully recovered. Huge piles of mine waste rock and mill tailings remain where they were dumped. Hillsides are scarred with the remains of mines, dilapidated buildings, and rusting machinery.

Arsenic contamination is prevalent in the area. BAC TECH, a Canadian corporation, recently announced expansion of its patented technology “to the processing of toxic, arsenic-laden mine tailings”. Perhaps, in time, with the company’s success, the Cobalt area will have a more complete recovery from the great silver rush

Sources:

The Real Cobalt by Anson A Gard, Published by The Emerson Press, Toronto 1908

We Lived a Life and Then Some: The Life, Death, and Life of a Mining Town by Charlie Angus, Brit Griffin, Published by Between The Lines (Toronto) 1996

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The copyright of the article Silver Mines in Cobalt, Ontario in Canadian History is owned by Kathleen Airdrie. Permission to republish Silver Mines in Cobalt, Ontario in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.