Mining Michipicoten

Mining Michipicoten. . , Mountains of Minerals , The town of Wawa is surrounded by some of the world's oldest rock. These ancient Precambrian mountains were formed some 2.7 billion years ago. Within these mountains is a melting pot of minerals that have attracted mankind to the region for centuries. The early Ojibway people mined special veins of haematite to create red paints for their rock art like the collection of pictographs found at Agawa Rock and Missinaibi Lake. The rumours of Ojibway mining native copper on the shores of Lake Superior brought the first European fortune seekers to the Michipicoten region in the 18th and 19th centuries. , Gold and Iron , When the cry of "GOLD" started the great Klondike gold rush in the Yukon in 1897, one thousand prospectors were lured to the "miniature Klondike" in Michipicoten. During a picnic on the shores of Wawa Lake, local Ojibway trapper William Teddy and his wife Louise Towab uncovered a rich vein of gold filled quartz. By 1899 Michipicoten City and WaWa City were registered at the land registry office. Every creek bed, hill and river valley was staked and panned for gold, silver, copper and whatever other mineral caught the prospector's eye and investor's pocket books., In 1898, a large vein of haematite iron ore caught the eyes of Ben Boyer and Alois Goetz as they explored the highest hill north of Wawa Lake. A sample was given to American entrepreneur Francis Hector Clergue. By 1900, he had transformed this lump of ore into the birth of the Helen Iron Mine in Wawa, the Algoma Steel Corporation in Sault Ste. Marie, the Algoma Central Steamship Line, Algoma Central and Hudson's Bay Railway, and Michipicoten Harbour. , For the next 100 years, gold and iron mining was to be the major industry to fuel the economy in this rugged corner of Northern Ontario. A prospector's map of the Wawa area would show a patchwork of claims and abandoned mines that at one time had names like Grace, Darwin, Minto, Cooper, Stanley, Kozak, Norwalk, Centennial, Golden Reed, Josephine, Van Ollie, Lucy, Ruth, Gertrude, Deep Lake, Ranson, Helen, Sir James and Magpie. The remains of the Sir James Dunn Pit at the end of Wawa Lake is shown to the right. , During World War I, the Michipicoten iron mines were the only suppliers of Canadian ore to the allied war effort. During the 1950's Depression, gold mines in the region employed hundreds of miners and their families. While Wawa was a ghost town, small mining communities like Parkhill (now a ghost town) sustained a population of 300 people. The Wawa region can boast of 3 gold booms. Each lasted about 10 years and occurred in 1898, 1929 and the 1980's. , Mining Relics , The forests of the Wawa area continue to hold untapped mineral wealth as well as many abandoned shafts, adits and pieces of mining equipment. Some of the mining equipment has been salvaged and put on display throughout Wawa. , The yellow mucking machine and rail track, and the yellow shaft bucket on display outside the Tourist Information Centre were retrieved from the Kozak Mine (1930's) site near Hawk Junction by W. Desrochers. , As you continue in to town you will see a unique hoist from the Golden Reed Mine on display in front of the River Gold Mine office (#1 on Map). This gold mine operated briefly around 1908. This equipment was retrieved and refurbished with the assistance of the Cyr and Miller families. , On display outside Young's General Store is another shaft bucket and a grocery wagon. Both of these pieces were salvaged by W. Desrochers from the Josephine Mine (#2 on Map). This iron mine was located between Wawa and Hawk Junction which operated in the 1940's. A shaker table from this mine is also sitting in front of the River Gold office (#1 on Map). , Wawa's largest monument to mining is the Joy Super Heavyweight Champion Rotary Blast Hole Drill. It is on display on the Wawa Beachfront Heritage Walk overlooking Wawa Lake at the north end of Broadway Avenue (#3 on Map and shown in picture). It also represents Wawa's continuing reliance on our mineral rich environment. A rugged and remote environment that challenges us to sustain and develop an economy based on a fine balance between natural resource extraction and natural resource appreciation.