$55.00 CAD
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Nice early photo on one of the mines opened during the famous Cobalt Silver Rush in Northern Ontario.
‘CROWN RESERVE MINING CO. COBALT, ONT’ written on photo negative.
Crown Reserve Mine was located in Coleman Township, near Cobalt. Discovered in 1907, many of the ore veins where under Kerr Lake. Shut down by about 1948, in the 1960's Kerr Lake was dewatered and the waste piles in the bottom of the lake were reprocessed.
Postmarked 'LONGUEUIL JUL 25 12 QUE'
Crease LR corner, smudges on back, toned on back. Small dent on front caused by heavy postmark on back.
The Cobalt silver rush started in 1903 when huge veins of silver were discovered by workers on the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway (T&NO) near the Mile 103 post. By 1905 a full-scale silver rush was underway, and the town of Cobalt, Ontario sprang up to serve as its hub. By 1908 Cobalt produced 9% of the world's silver, and in 1911 produced 31,507,791 ounces of silver. However, the good ore ran out fairly rapidly, and most of the mines were closed by the 1930s. There were several small revivals over the years, notably in World War II and again in the 1950s, but both petered out and today there is no active mining in the area. In total, the Cobalt area mines produced 460 million ounces of silver.
The Cobalt Rush was instrumental in opening northern Ontario for mineral exploration. Prospectors fanned out from Cobalt, and soon caused the nearby Porcupine Gold Rush in 1909, and the Kirkland Lake Gold Rush of 1912. Much of the settlement in northern Ontario outside the Clay Belt owes its existence indirectly to the Cobalt Rush.
WIKIPEDIA
