Half the town was destroyed 150 buildings were lost and 3,000 residents left homeless by that time the water table had been contaminated and a typhoid outbreak earlier in the year had killed 111 people. In 1909, a fire in a cafe spread quickly through debris and garbage-filled alleyways. Fires Ĭobalt suffered two devastating fires in the 20th century. Cobalt mining was done with the use of wheelbarrows, pickaxes, hand steel and dynamite. Those who learned their trade in Cobalt moved north, discovering gold in Kirkland Lake and Timmins and further afield in Canada and around the world. The ore in Cobalt was close to surface, so men with limited experience could prospect, begin mining, and then hone their skills as the mines went deeper. The silver mines of Cobalt, and the prospectors and miners who discovered them and worked them, left an indelible mark on Canadian history, and the town is known as the birthplace of hard rock mining in Canada. One mill still operated in the area in 2017, and exploration for diamonds and other minerals was ongoing. By the 1960s, the area had produced over 420 million ounces of silver. Activity renewed in the 1950s then slowly dropped off, and since the 1980s, there have been no operating mines in the area. Mining continued until the 1930s, then slowed to a trickle. The town's population soared to 10,000 by 1909. In 1911, the 34 mines produced over 30 million ounces (937.5 tons) of silver. : 32,40īy 1908, the camp was considered the world's largest producer of silver and of the cobalt which is a byproduct of the process. Speculation over mining stocks on Wall Street in New York City required mounted police to control the crowds. The Timmins brothers bought the remaining claims from Fred La Rose, and erected some cabins. In 1904, Willet Miller, on a visit to Mile 104 on the T&NO, along with brothers Noah and Henry Timmins, named the future town Cobalt.

The subsequent Cobalt silver rush led to the development of the McKinley Darragh, La Rose, Nipissing, and O'Brien silver mines.

The silver from both sites was consistently high-grade. Later that year, Tom Hébert found a rich vein on the east side of Cobalt Lake and began a business with hotel owner Arthur Ferland. The discovery was made in 1903, near Long Lake (later called Cobalt Lake), by Ernest Darragh and James McKinley, who were supplying railway ties. Silver was discovered in the area during the construction of the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway (T&NO) from North Bay to the communities of Haileybury and New Liskeard, north of Cobalt. Logan discovered cobalt in 1884 at the future site of the Agaunico Mine, one mile south of Haileybury.

Project m cobalt legacy wii