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15 Government Rd. E. |
Ontario Tourism Region : Northeastern Ontario
Description From Owner:
- Pop. 10,098. In Teck T., Dist. of Timiskaming, on Hwy 66, 90 km N of New Liskeard.
- In 1911, prospector Bill Wright headed east from Swastika, skirted the shore of an unnamed lake, panned rock, and discovered gold. He and his brother-in-law founded the Wright-Hargreaves Mine.
- Six months later, Harry Oakes staked a claim on the south shore of the same lake. His claim, the Lake Shore Mine, developed the deepest mining shaft on the continent.
- (The Macassa Mine here, 8,000 feet deep, is claimed to be the deepest mine anywhere except Africa. Because the mines in Africa's Rand District start from a higher elevation, Macassa is the closest anyone has been to the centre of the earth.)
- The first producing mine was Tough Oakes, which sparked a gold rush that led to the incorporation of Swastika, Chaput Hughes, and Kirkland Lake into the T. of Teck in 1919.
- The place was named after the lake, (now filled in by mine tailings), which was named by L. V. Rorke of the Department of Mines after his secretary, Miss Winnie Kirkland of Toronto who never visited the place.
- From 1911 through 1927 there were so many gold mines along a strip ofland on the south shore of the lake that the area was called The Golden Mile. It is said that the streets of Kirkland Lake are paved with gold, and to some extent that's true.
- A construction crew building the road was instructed to take material from a ballast rock pile. By mistake, they took material from an ore storage pile.
- By the time the error was noticed the ore had been covered by concrete and its recovery wasn't worth the expense. Kirkland Lake has produced more professional hockey players than any other place in the world.
Map Below gives Canadian Geographical Names
Natural Resources Canada in the District of Temiskaming.
Natural Resources Canada in the District of Temiskaming.
Address of this page: http://www.ruralroutes.com/kirklandlake