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Peter Fancy, 2004, 243 pages, Highway Book Shop, Cobalt, Ont.
December 17, 2007
Review by Steve Kirk
The province of Ontario was built on the strength of its natural resources. One of these, silver, was first mined in about 1846 in Thunder Bay. In August 1903, a chance find by two lumbermen searching out railroad ties yielded a vein of silver in the Temiskaming area that eventually produced over 500 million ounces of silver. Sounds simple – it was not! It was a complex process… Prospectors would stake a claim and collect ore samples; geologists identified the samples, often following up with an area survey; mining camps were set up and provisioned; digging began and the network of shafts developed; the ore was recovered and processed, then shipped to factories far and wide. But behind the entire industry lay a constant flow of money. Enter the entrepreneur. In his book “George A. Young – Mining Broker”, Peter Fancy examines the work of one such entrepreneur in considerable detail.
Originally a real estate agent, Young recognized the opportunities for an agent with an entrepreneurial touch in the budding silver fields around Temiskaming. From his office in Toronto, Young boarded a train for the new mining camp of Cobalt, Ontario, in 1905. Looking around for possible deals, he quickly became involved in schemes to register and sell various claims on behalf of prospectors. He concentrated on the area of land west of the Quebec border from Temiskaming in the south to Lake Abitibi in the north. This territory included settlements like Cobalt, Haileybury, New Liskeard and Kirkland Lake. His plan was to earn commission by helping prospectors sell their claims to rich investors. By 1911, this turned into a business largely related to the stock market. The original prospectors had become pretty savvy and most of their claims had been sold out to various investors who usually attempted to consolidate blocks of claims. This made the mining process more feasible and, of course, tended to lock out the competition. Young saw that he was no longer instrumental in setting up deals, but he rather moved into the role of issuer of company stock certificates (some of which he conveniently owned himself). This was a fairly complex financial procedure with which the miners were not particularly comfortable. In this way, he could help capitalize the mine during its start-up, without necessarily depending on single sources of investment, but rather a syndicate of venture capitalists.
This book follows Young’s career between 1905 and his death in 1931. The author, Peter Fancy, has set out his prime interest as that of preserving Ontario history – and in this regard, the book is confined to the facts and documentation preserved by Young’s surviving relatives. There are agreements, mining reports, claim transfers, receipts, newspaper clippings which “reveal the core of mine-making stories”. Some of the historic high points that Fancy examines through Young’s career include the development of the Argyle Mine in 1907, the Wasapika Gold Mine in 1917, the South Lorrain Mine in 1923, the Grenfell-Kirkland Gold Mine in 1923-4, Gull Lake in 1923, Red Lake in 1926, Bellellen Mine in 1925-6 and the Abitibi Coal Fields in 1929. Clearly, Young diversified beyond silver, especially when silver prices fell and gold prices rose. One can only imagine the commissions earned, even on failed projects, when the Kirkland-Larder Lake project netted, in total, over $1 billion throughout their operation. One can also wonder at the number of people involved in some of these projects. Red Lake, for example, involved 14 mines and hundreds of mine staff housed in improvised bunkhouses.
George Young was born in Toronto in 1874. He lived in the village of Chester (at the corner of Broadview and Danforth Avenues). When his father drowned in 1890, George and elder brother James carried on the family rendering business. In 1900 they each moved into the real estate business, with George adding an insurance agency. He lived with his mother at 858 Broadview, making numerous trips to the Ontario northland over the next 30 years. His initial business model involved contacting prospectors who had staked claims, helping them register the claims, submit samples for assay, then connecting them with potential buyers. Eventually, this evolved into a search for backers to help float a fledgling company and develop a mine on the claim site. He became quite adept at the art of issuing and selling shares. So his later model involved helping the initial investor base buy up existing claims, consolidating the claims into blocks and issuing enough shares to begin preliminary mining operations. Than, hopefully, successful assays would attract investors to pour money into grander stock issues. As these models changed, George Young’s role changed from one of entrepreneur to one of, essentially, stock broker.
Curiously, the listing of Young’s many deals over the years reveals a striking pattern: almost none of these deals actually work out! Although many go through the early phases of development, the major financing is seldom forthcoming and the mines are left derelict. Young manages to make enough in commission to keep his business going – largely thanks to the generous margins of capitalization on these projects.
In any case, we get to the core of this book: the rich legacy of documentation that is still available from the last century. Fortunately the Young family, mostly offspring of his brother James, archived and safeguarded this material. Many of their documents are reproduced in the book including letters, maps and lists of shareholders. This is extraordinary wealth of material. Many of the documents are hand-written, giving us some insight into contemporary usage, penmanship (by and large legible) and business etiquette. These things are truly fascinating. Equally intriguing are the letterheads of various businesses, especially that of the Hotel Haileybury, reproduced on page 173. Anyone researching this colourful period would find these resources invaluable – it’s a gold mine (my apologies)! It’s also amply clear that there are many stories that could be told about this period. They would be stories of high drama: the frontier life-style, the high finances and not-so-high morality, the ecstasy of overnight wealth, the agony of overnight ruin…all set against the rugged landscape of northern Ontario.
Peter Fancy’s writing style is a little arcane, but I think he
deserves a tip of our collective hat for a job well done…as does the
Highway Bookshop of Cobalt Ontario, publishers of this extremely
handsome volume. The “Early Northern Ontario Stories” part of the
title
is a somewhat puzzling however, as the actual stories are yet to come.
Index References
Places (Ontario unless noted otherwise): Abitibi, Ancona, Argyle, Aylmer (P.Q.), Baden, Bannockburn, Barrie, Beaver Lake, Benton, Birch Lake, Blacksmith Rapids, Blanche River, Bonsall Lake, Boston (Mass.), Brady Lake, Braeside, BGrantford, Brethour, Brockville, Bucke, Buffalo (N.Y. USA), Cart Lake, Casey, Charlton, Chester, Chicago (Ill. USA), Clear Water Lake, Cleaver Lake, Cleaver, Cobalt, Cobalt Lake, Cochrane, Coleman, Confederation Lake, Coniston, Coral Rapids, Crosswise Lake, Crow River, Dane, Deseronto, Dixon Lake, Don River, Don Valley, Donalda, Doncaster, Driftwood City, Dymond, East Clearwater Lake, Eganville, Elk City, Elk Lake, Englehart, Esther, Fargo (N. Dakota USA), Favourable Lake, Fernie (B.C.), Fort Hope, Fort Temiskaming, Frederick House Lake, Frederick House River, Galt, Gananoque, Gilles Depot, Giroux Lake, Glen Lake, Gordon’s Landing, Gowganda Lake, Grenfell Lake, Grenfell, Grenville, Grimsby Beach, Ground Hog River, Gull Lake, Haileybury, Hamilton, Harley, Harris, Harriston, Height of Land, Hilliard, Hincks, Hudson, Hull (P.Q.), Huntsville (Ala. USA), James, Jersey City (USA), Kashaweogama Lake, Keith, Kenagami (P.Q.), Kenmore, Kenogami Lake, Kerr Lake, Kirkland Lake, Kitchener, Lac Seul, Lachute (P.Q.), Lake Sasaginika. Lake Temiskaming, Larder Lake, Latchford, Lawlortown, Lebel, Liverpool (U.K.), Lockport (N.Y. USA), London (U.K.), Long Lake, Loon Lake, Lorrain, Los Angeles (CA USA), MacMurchy, Maidens Creek, Maisonville, Marvelville, Matachewan Lake, Matheson, Mattagami Heights, Mattagami River, Mattawa, McKenzie Island, McNeil, Mill Creek, Mink Lake, Montreal River, Montreal (P.Q.), Montrose, Moorehead (Minn. USA), Mountjoy, Mud Lake, Narrow Lake, Neverfreeze lake, New Liskeard, New York City (USA), Niagara Falls, Night Hawk Lake, Lake Nipissing, North Bay, North Cobalt, North Pickerel Lake, Oakville, Oba, Onakawana River, Ottawa River, Oxbow Lake, Pacaud, Patricia, Peterborough, Philidelphia (Pa. USA), Pickle Lake, Pine Ridge, Pittsburgh (Pa. USA), Porcupine Creek, Pork Rapids, Powell Creek, Powell, Prince George (B.C.), Proctor’s Hill, Red Lake, Renfrew, Ribble Lake, Rochester (N.Y. USA), Rouyn, Sandwich, Savant Lake, Schumacher, Scranton (Pa. USA), Setting Net Lake, Sheffield (Ala. USA), Shonia Lake, Silver Centre, Simcoe, Slim Creek, Smyth, Spencerville, St. Petersburg (Fla, USA), Sudbury, Sutton Bay, Swastika, Swinborne, Tampa (Fla. USA), Teck, Temagami, Temiskaming, Thetford Mines (P.Q.), Timmins, Tisdale, Todmorden, Tom Fox Lake, Tomstown, Toronto, Trout Lake, Truax, Tudhope, Vancouver (B.C.), Ville Marie (P.Q.), Wabi River, Wasapika Lake, West Shiningtree Lake, Westmount (P.Q.), Westree, Whitefish Creek, Whitney, Widdifield Station, Wilson Lake, Wollaston (Mass. USA), Woman Lake, York.
Family Names: Ackerman, Acton, Adair, Albutt, Alderson, Aldous, Alschbach, Anderson, Arntfield, Ashley, Aubin, Auer, Bagshaw, Bain, Baldwin, Bannerman, Barker, Narnett, Barry, Barthe, Bayne, Beach, Beaudette, Beaumont, Becker, Bell, Benn, Bennett, Bickell, Black, Bonin, Bonsall, Booth, Botsford, Bowers, Brackenridge, Branch, Brennan, Brewer, Brooks, Browning, Bruce, Bryce, Bucknall, Bulger, Burt, Busch, Buttner, Cain, Caldwell, Cameron, Campbell, Carr, Chadbourne, Chambers, Chaput, Charlton, Chisholm, Clark, Clemens, Clements, Cobbold, Cochenour, Cockeram, Cohen, Cole, Colville, Conkey, Connell, Cook, Costigan, Cragg, Craig, Cram, Craven, Crawford, Culbert, Culver, Cumming, Cummings, Cunningham-Dunlop, Daggett, Davidson, Davy, Day, De Bruyne, De Keyser, Denison, Denny, Dickenson, Dickson, Dixon, Donaldson, Dorfman, Dorris, Duffy, Dunbar, Duncan, Dunlap, Dunn, Earle, Edmunds, Edwards, Elliott, Ellis, Emens, Enrick, Ernhous, Evans, Fair, Fancy, Farr, Fasken, Fenwick, Ferguson, Ferland, Finnery, Fisher, Fitzgerald, Fleming, Forneri, Foster, Fowler, Fraser, Freeman, Galbraith, Galt, Gamble, Gates, Gauthier, Geddes, George, Gillies, Ginn, Goodchild, Goodwin, Gordon, Gould, Gove, Grace, Graham, Grant, Gray, Green, Greene, Grover, Grozelle, Haentchel, Hall, Hallet, Hamilton, Hammell, Hargreave, Harris, Hartman, Hay, Hayes, Hebert, Henderson, Hennessy, Hensler, Hepbourne, Hersey, Hicks, Hill, Hogg, Holland, Hollinger, Hollister, Holzer, Honsinger, Hopkins, Horne, Howes, Howey, Hughes, Hulley, Hunter, Hunton, Hutton, Ingram, Jackson, Jamieson, Janson, Jarvis, Jemmett, Jodouin, John, Johnson, Johnston, Jonason, Jones, Jordan, Jowsey, Kamerer, Kearney, Kee, Keeley, Kemerer, Kennedy, Kennelly, Kerr, Killoran, Knight, Knox, Koons, Labine, Lafrance, Lamb, Lanier, Latilla, Laughlin, Lawlor, Lawson, Lawton, Leach, Leask, Lee, Lees, Lennox, Lillico, Little, Lobb, Lockington, Longwell, Loring, Lott, Loveman, Lukes, Lyman, Macdonell, MacGregor, MacKay, Mackintosh-Bell, MacLean, MacPhadyen, Manion, Marsden, Marshall, Martin, Mason, Matheson, McArthur, McAulay, McCaffrey, McCamus, McColumb, McCuaig, McDermott, McDonald, McDonough, McDougall, McEvoy, McFadden, McGinley, McGuire, McIlwaine, McIntyre, McIsaac, McKane, McKay, McKelvie, McKinley, McLean, McLellan, McMartin, McMillan, McMurrich, McNeeley, McNeil, McNiven, Merrill, Mickle, Middleton, Miles, Miller, Minaker, Mitchell, Moore, Morgan, Morris, Morrison, Mosher, Moulton, Moysey, Mulliken, Mulvany, Munroe, Murdoch, Murdock, Murphy, Nelson, Nesbitt, O’Brien, O’Hara, O’Meara, O’Sullivan, Oakes, Oliver, Orr, Osborn, Osler, Otisse, Papchick, Parent, Paul, Payne, Pearce, Penly, Perran, Perron, Perry, Peters, Pfander, Phillips, Plummer, Pollock, Poole, Porteous, Powell, Pratt, Preston, Price, Pride, Provencher, Rankin, Rattray, Reamsbottom, Reaney, Reaume, Reid, Rice, Richardson, Riddell, Ritchie, Roberts, Robertson, Rochester, Rosche, Ross, Rudd, Russel, Russell, Ryan, Saville, Segsworth, Seguin, Sharp, Shillington, Slaght, Smith, Snyder, Somerville, Southworth, Staples, Steindler, Stevens, Stewart, Stitt, Storms, Strick, Strong, Sullivan, Sumbler, Summers, Sutherland, Sykes, Taylor, Thompson, Thomson, Tighe, Timmins, Tough, Towers, Tredway, Tremblay, Trethewey, Tyrell, Urquhart, Van der Voort, Van Norman, Vipond, Waite, Waldron, Wallace, Ware, Warner, Watson, Webb, Wende, Wettlaufer, Whitbread, White, Whitney, Wiedrick, Wilkinson, Willans, Willard, Williams, Wilson, Wise, Wishart, Wood, Woodney, Woods, Worth, Wright, Young.
Back to ListThe Call of Copper
G. Leigh Hornick, 1969, 47p., North Shore Printing, Bruce Mines, Ont.
Review by Steve Kirk, University of Toronto
This little typescript folio was produced largely by the Grade Thirteen
history class of the Bruce Mines High School under the editorial
guidance of their teacher. G. Leigh Hornick. The result is a craggy but
fascinating read, whose stated purpose was to raise funds for a library
"containing the history of the area". There are three introductory
chapters outlining the general history of the area. They are followed by
nine chapters on the life and times of the region including "Finding a
Home", "The Indian Question", "Soap Making" and "Disasters". The
histories of local schools and churches are particularly thorough. The last
five chapters are colourful anecdotes from the region that give a taste
of the local consciousness. It would certainly be a worthwhile project
to redo this volume using today's desktop publishing technologies.
Clean typeface, crisp photo reproductions and thorough on-line sources
could well turn this into a regional best-seller. The chapter entitled
"An Adventure" about the mysterious white girl in the Indian village of
Green Lake is potential movie material. In fact the entire Bruce Mines
saga cries out to be filmed.
The credited authors are:
G. Leigh Hornick, Suzanne Gjos, Lorna Iles, Randall McClelland, Al
Crockford, Edward H. Capp, Jane Ann Hornick
Names mentioned are:
Louis J. Abrahams, Miss Minnie Andrews,Dave Ballentyne, Mr. Baxter,
Rev. F. C. Berry, Howard Bond,Raymond N. Bond, E. B. Borron, Mr. Boswich,
William Braden, Etienne Brule, Mr. Cairns, J. D. Cameron,
Jacques Cartier, Samuel de Champlain,
Chingwahose, George Clark, Mr. Clarret, Mr. Crawford, G. R. Crittsinger,
C. H. Cunningham, G. A. Cuthbertson, James Cuthbertson, Roy Davis,
George Desbarats, William C. Dobie, Lord Percy Douglas of Harwick (later
the Marquess of Queensbury), James F. Duncan, W. S. Edwards, Lord Bruce
Elgin, Hon. James Ferrier, Bill Fleming, Rev. Robert Gordon, Rev. C. B.
Grassie, Albert Grigg, Rev. T. J. Hall, A. H. E. Hames, Charles
Harman, A. M. Henderson, Alexander Henry, Dr. Douglas Houghton, Pastor John
Hutchinson, Fraser Ingram, Richard Jeffery, "Jeremiah" - local prophet,
Henry Jones, Kabosa, Mr. Keating, John Knight, Mr. Latimer, B. H.
Lennoni, Harold T. Leslie, W. E. Logan, Daniel MacKenzie, W. MacNaughton,
Mr. Marks, Rev. J. McConnell, Rev. George McDougall, W.J. McDougall, W.
Clark McKendrey, Peter McLean, Rev. D. H. McLennan, Norman McLeod,
Mrs. Peter McRorie, Ben Meen, Alfred Miller, Mr. Miron, Alexander
Murray, Peter Nicholson, Mr. Parks, Mrs. M. Peeling, Rev. H. Peeling,
Captain John Plummer, William Plummer, Q. H. Price, Bill Prout, Frank Prout,
Charlotte Rattawabide, John Richards, F. W. Rickaby, Captain Roberts,
Mrs. L. J. Robinson, Charles Rousseau, Hayes Sheen, Forrest Shephard,
Harold Skusky, Jim Stobie, Rev. W. L. Stroke, Albert Sullivan, Rev.
Edward Sullivan, Thomas Sullivan, John Taylor, Dave Tees, Miss Thornton,
Mr. Trelease, Will Tuer, Frank VanNorman, Alexander Vidal, Sampson
Vivian, Rev. Fred Wagner,Rev. W. B. Wagner,Sidney D. Waldon, Mr. White, A.
B. Whitelaw, Carnegie Williams, S. E. Wolfe, Joseph Woods, Rev. Yunt
by Dan Douglas
Review by Maggie
143 pages including index
This book concentrates on industry and the railway in the Michipicoten, Wawa & Hornepayne areas of Northern Algoma. There is also a small section on the small town Lochalsh. It contains quite a few photos of people and the area, also two maps showing the region and towns around the railway. It is a good general history of the area, written with facts and resident memories.
Some surnames mentioned are:
Armstrong, Arnott, Atkinson, Ball, Balmer, Barber, Bauer, Bedwash, Berdusco, Black, Boileau, Bond, Bradbury, Bucknell, Campbell, Cappellani, Cawley, Charbonneau, Charlebois, Clergue, Cline, Copps, David, Docherty, Doyle, Drury, Dubreil, Dunn, Durham, Easton, Elliott, Fisher,Fong, Foster, Franz, Gardiner, Gatz, Gideon, Goodfellow, Gordon, Gray, Haavaldsrud, Hamilton, Harasymiw, Hawreluk, Herxberg, Hill, Hook, Hornepayne, Howe, Hugill, Kangas, Kenny, Kerr, Knox,Kuhl, Lapointe, Lavoie, Leggat, Linus, Lowson, Mackie, MacLellan, MacLeod, Mahoney, Mann, Martin, McConnell, McCormick, McEwan. McLaughlin, McLeod, McPhee, Melville, Mills, Mosher, Murphy, Nolan, Nyman, O'Keefe, Olivier, Paquette, Patterson, Paul, Pearsall, Pearson, Prevost, Quinn, Rae, Rice, Robinson, Ross, Schmidt, Selkirk, Shaganash, Sherritt, Shewfelt, Sinclair, Skinner, Smith, Spreng, Stuart, Summers, Taylor, Teddy, Thompson, Turcotte, Turuba, Van Horne, Whent, White, Whitehall, Woodsworth, Wynne
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