Cobalt in Timiskaming District, Ontario — Central Canada (North America)

Slusher and Scraper

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, June 1, 2022

1. Slusher and Scraper Marker

Inscription.
The SLUSHER hoist was used to move broken rock in the underground mining areas called STOPES. The ore was blasted and the scraper was pulled to move the ore so that more drilling could be done. In the early 1900's this would have been done with a shovel. The invention of the scraper and slusher meant that material could be moved easily horizontally and this in turn led to the development of different stoping or mining methods and increases in efficiencies.

Topics. This historical marker is listed in this topic list: Industry & Commerce.

Location. 47° 23.734′ N, 79° 41.123′ W. Marker is in Cobalt, Ontario, in Timiskaming District. It can be reached from Silver Street just north of Bunker Lane, on the right when traveling north. The marker is in the interpretive park on the north side of the Pan Silver Headframe. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 21 Silver Street, Cobalt ON P0J 1C0, Canada. Touch for directions.

Regionally, this marker is in Northeastern Ontario

and specifically in Northern Ontario.

It is also in Central Canada.

Globally,

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it is in North America,

the Great North Woods,

the Western Hemisphere,

the Western World,

and the Anglosphere.

Historically, it finds itself in what was once a British colony,

the Viceroyalty of New France,

the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Confederacy,

and Rupert’s Land.

Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Mucking Machine or Overshot Loader (here, next to this marker); Tripod Drill (here, next to this marker); Side Dump Cars (here, next to this marker); Battery Tramming Motor (here, next to this marker); Bar and Arm Drill (a few steps from this marker); Cages (a few steps from this marker); Cobalt Mining / L’exploitation Minière de Cobalt (a few steps from this marker); The Mine Hoist (a few steps from this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Cobalt.

Also see . . . Staying Alive: The Introduction of Slushing in Michigan’s Underground Iron Mines.

(by Terry S. Reynolds) Excerpt: What is slushing? In brief, it is the use of power-drawn scrapers to move ore or waste rock underground. In a typical early slushing system, wire rope wound
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, June 1, 2022

2. Slusher Hoist
around a drum on a compressed air-powered winch — usually called a tugger or hoist — and pulled a scraper that dragged ore along a mine floor to a point where the ore fell by gravity into a storage compartment or a mine car. At first, miners returned the scraper blade to the working face of the mine manually, but improvements soon mechanized that action through the use of a tail rope run through a sheave, or pulley, mounted near a working face, and connected to a second drum on the hoist engine. This enabled both pull and return to be powered. Alternate names for the slushing system included tugger-scraper, scraper-loader, scraper-hoist, and power scraper.

(Submitted on July 8, 2026, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, June 1, 2022

3. Slusher and Scraper Marker

Credits. This page was last revised on July 8, 2026. It was originally submitted on July 8, 2026, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 10 times since then. Photos: 1, 2, 3. submitted on July 8, 2026, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.