Gowganda and the Millerett Mine

The Millerett Mine and Mill, on the left. The photographer is facing south. Captured during the O’Brien era ca 1915

Introducing Gowganda

The Cobalt story started when contractors McKinley and Darragh discovered silver while working for the T&NO Railroad in 1903. 

Boom! The mining camp was born. 

Then, after the initial flurry of exploration activity in Coleman Township, prospectors spread out to neighbouring regions. Some travelled north along the Montreal River where they found silver near Gowganda Lake.

In this story, we feature the Millerett Mine. It was the first to ship ore of any substantial quantity from Gowganda.

Gowganda Ho

Superintendent G. M. Colvocoresses wrote a brief history of the Gowganda camp. He described the harsh conditions he encountered on the way to the site.

… [It was] during the summer of 1908 when prospectors following up the Montreal River found silver on the west shore of Gowganda Lake, while at nearly the same time silver-bearing veins were found near Leroy and Miller Lakes, which are 3 miles east of Gowganda Lake.

Prospectors in the Tom Lloyd party navigate one of the 20 portages along the 100 mile-canoe route from Elk Lake to Gowganda – here they land at Stoney Creek via Bloom Lake ca 1908

Travel conditions “nasty”

Colvocoresses continues:

My first visit to go Gowganda was in November 1908, just at the “freeze-up” which, barring the “break-up” is the nastiest time of the year. The canoe route was frozen up and the winter road was not yet cut through, so our party walked the entire distance from the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railroad at Charlton to Gowganda (60 miles), and back again, two weeks later.

Blackburn discovery

One of those early prospectors was a man known only as Blackburn. As he tramped through the bush in the south end of Haultain Township, he found silver nuggets in a vein running through conglomerate. Blackburn staked his claims, and then sold to the Millerett Silver Mining Company which incorporated in 1909.

The Millerett Mine was located at the south end of Haultain Township
Satellite view of the Millerett from Fishing Online Ontario

First things first

Remember, this was remote territory, without nearby access to a transportation route. Even though there were hundreds of people in the area, no substantial development work could be done until a winter road was built. Only then could supplies be hauled in and construction could begin. More importantly for the investors, the silver could be shipped out to market.

A sleigh hauling freight into the Gowganda camp – a typical sight on the winter road during the rush to build before the spring thaw.

Winter road and a new boom town

The winter road to Gowganda opened in early January, 1909, and a “mushroom town sprang up with surprising rapidity and the real rush to the camp began,” said Colvocoresses. The road saw extraordinary traffic in just four months.

By February, miners began underground development work.  Thirty camps were built, and teamsters hauled in nine power plants. Then operators laid in provisions and supplies for about ten months’ work and general stores were heavily stocked up at Gowganda. Throughout March, six hundred sleigh teams traveled back and forth between Charlton and Gowganda, and three hundred over the western road from the terminus of the Canadian Northern Railway at Sellwood.

Then the winter road broke up in April and it was no longer passable.

Packing over the trail to Gowganda – Bogart Studios
RPPC dated March 25, 1909; thanks to Jack de la Vergne
Left, the first air drill in Gowganda; right, lumber for the powerhouse
From the Engineering and Mining Journal June 11, 1910

Terrible freight rates and even worse roads

Mining at the Millerett began in 1909. Getting the ore to refineries was the next challenge. Since this was a boom town, the rules of supply and demand were in effect. Freight costs were high, and the number of available teamsters was low. 

If and when a wagon came available, Colvocoresses shipped ore to a stockpile in Elk Lake. He sent only ten to twelve bags at one time because the route was so bad. It was impossible to ship anything heavier. The ore sat at Elk Lake until freight rates and transportation options improved. 

30 tons silver from the Millerett mine leaving Elk lake June 16,1910. The cargo arrived in Latchford June 18. A record, according to the Cobalt Daily Nugget.

First significant shipment

In June 1910, the Millerett made headline news regarding a “trial” shipment of 800 bags, or thirty tons of ore from Elk Lake to Latchford, along the Montreal River. Though two cars of high-grade ore were ready to ship, management sent a stockpile of “seconds” instead. “If freight rates allow of a good profit on it, it will be of course assured on the high grade.”

The first steamer left Elk City dock Thursday morning. After several transfers to other boats, the shipment arrived in Latchford before six in the evening. According to the Nugget, a record time for the Montreal River. The trial was declared a success. 

From the Ontario sessional papers 1913.
The Millerett Mine and Mill on a lake that has since been filled with tailings.
From the Ontario Sessional Papers 1913 Millerett Mine camp on a lake that has since been filled with tailings.

The Millerett stamp mill

Mine production continued, and in 1911, management installed a mill to process the low-grade ore. The plant contained a 10-stamp mill manufactured by Allis-Chalmers Bullock and a small Blake crusher among other things. The stamp mill pulverised 30 – 40 tons a day.

Ore was mined from an adit, and two shafts to a depth of 200 feet. The ore ran out by the end of 1912. Total silver production of the Millerett was just over 600,000 ounces.

In 1913, the adjacent Miller Lake O’Brien Mine acquired the property and used the mill to process their low-grade ore.

A typical stamp mill of the time. The Millerett purchased their equipment from Allis-Chalmers Bullock, which was a Canadian subsidiary of Allis-Chalmers Co., formed in 1905 and based in Montreal. The Bullock name came from Bullock Electric manufacturing Co. which they acquired early in 1905.
Typical Blake Crusher, of the kind used at the Millerett

Siscoe acquired the Millerett

In 1945 Siscoe Metals Ltd. bought the Millerett property from the Miller Lake O’Brien Company. They mined a small amount of ore from the Millerett property by extending the mine workings of their nearby Miller Lake O’Brien mine and operated the Millerett Mill till at least 1951.

Siscoe built a new mill in 1951 and operated both that year. However, we have not been able to determine when the old Millerett mill finally ceased operation. 

Ruins of the Millerett Mill Gowganda Views 2009
Michael Adamowicz captured this image in 2014
Millerett Mill October 2023 Reiner Mielke

The Millerett – familiar to many

The Siscoe Mine closed down in 1972. This means that today, many people who read this story know someone who was employed at the Gowganda property. If you have any stories or pictures to share, we’d love to hear from you.

Acknowledgements, resources, and additional reading

Thanks to Reiner Mielke for research assistance.

Resources

Further Reading

  • Gowganda Ho An entertaining account of a very early canoe trip to Gowganda by a N.R. Green
  • 1908-11-06-AA Cole to JM Turnbull A letter on T&NOR letterhead to a gentleman in Trail, B.C., from A.A. Cole, the Mining Engineer of the railway, dated Nov 6th 1908. In this letter is a description of travelling to Gowganda via Earlton to Elk Lake by road and thence further by canoe. A description is made of the geology and mining claims in the Gowganda area, including a discussion of the Blackburn claims.
  • Stamp milling – comprehensive description of the stamp mill design, equipment, and process

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