Gold in Kirkland Lake

Within an eleven-year span, first Cobalt, then the Porcupine, and finally Kirkland Lake established themselves as the pioneer large-scale mining camps in Ontario. Kirkland Lake was slow to grow, as the course of the First World War halted much investment, and even the Toronto newspapers were reluctant to take mining company advertisements, due to early fraudulent ventures. After the great Lake Shore Mine property was discovered and developed by maverick prospector Harry Oakes, the camp developed rapidly, and over a period of twenty years, seven great mines were established on what became known as the Mile of Gold. Other mines followed in the district, mainly in the east toward the Quebec border in Dobie, Larder Lake, and Virginatown. The mines of Kirkland Lake sustained a town that by its peak in 1938 had a population of 26,000; but by the mid-sixties, all but one of the seven mines that had given employment to the community had closed. This is the story of a gold town and of the people who made it thrive by delivering the precious yellow metal to an eager market. The perseverance, tenacity, and endurance of its people who stayed and built a home in the northeastern Ontario bush is a lesson in survival; and this gold town survivor celebrated its century of gold discovery in 2011.