Or: The Naming of the Town of Cobalt
When the T&NO designed the new railroad from North Bay to the farming settlements around Lake Temsikaming, they had no plans for a station at mileage 103 beside Long Lake. During the build, the only name for this temporary location was the “Long Lake Construction Camp”.
Of course, that all changed after McKinely and Darragh spotted shiny bits of silver on the beach at the southeast end of the lake. At the north end, a few weeks later, Fred Larose made his find.
The third discovery
Then Tom Hebert found a vein which consisted almost entirely of cobalt minerals and no significant silver. The so-called “Cobalt Mine” was operated by a group of men from Haileybury. This particular vein ran diagonally down the slope of “Cobalt Hill” into the lake.
The AIME report of 1907 recalled that “… On October 21st, Tom Hebert discovered the first vein on the property now owned by the Nipissing Mining Company. The next day A. Ferland, of Haileybury, and W. Galbraith, one of the construction engineers of the Temiskaming & Northern Ontario Railway, assisted Hebert in staking his find. The vein is now known as “Cobalt Hill Vein.”
The rebranding of Long Lake
Informally, then, there was a Cobalt Mine, and a Cobalt Hill. It seems reasonable that the lake into which the vein extended might be also called Cobalt? Maybe that was in the back of Willet Green Miller’s mind when he visited the camp in 1904.
More from the 1907 AIME report:
Cobalt owes its name to Dr. W. G. Miller. Fearing that the name Long Lake, about which there is a sad lack of distinctiveness, would be retained, Dr. Miller, in the first week of June, 1904, put up a post on the railway near the lake, and nailed to it a piece of board on which was inscribed the legend, “Cobalt Station, T&NO Ry.”
From the first, the name proved adhesive. Very soon the register of the Haileybury Hotel gave evidence of this. Prospectors, workman and others registering there gave their address as “Cobalt.”
which describes the reason for name of the new town.
“Cobalt is to be the name of the one of the new towns on the Temiskaming railway… It was in this locality that the rich finds of nickel, cobalt, arsenic, and silver were made last fall, and cobalt has been given the preference in naming because the cobalt ores found are among the richest and finest known to scientists.”
Adhesive is right
First a cobalt vein named “Cobalt Hill”, then Miller rebranded Long Lake, and finally, out of continued usage locally, we have the name of the Best ol’ Town we Know! Indeed, the name “Cobalt” stuck.
And I can confirm this!
Below are entries from the Matabanick Hotel register for 1904. Top E.J. Darragh, of McKinley and Darragh fame, and bottom, N. (Noah) A. Timmins who along with his partners purchased the Larose Mine from Fred.
And while we’re name dropping, look who else signed the register: Mr. W. G. Miller himself.
For a 3D Interpretation of the Nipissing Mine site, including the Cobalt Hill Vein, check out this video by created by Dan Laroque. You can find this, and more of Dan’s creations on our research page.