New Resource – 1907 Claims Map

A new resource

A few years ago, I scanned a stack of original photos from the John Hunt estate. The photographer, or editor of an unknown publication, had typed captions on the reverse of the pictures. From these phrases, I knew that the photos documented a delegation of mining engineers to Cobalt in 1907.

A Google search or two later, I found a report titled The Ontario Meeting of the American Institute of Mining Engineers & Their Trip to Cobalt, Sudbury & Moose Mountain. Included were many of those photos. 

The online version of The Ontario Meeting of the AIME etc., was scanned from a microfilm and you can download a digital copy if you wish. It’s searchable, but the quality of the reproduction is… well, not great.

So close and yet…

For instance, the book included a 1907 claims map of the Cobalt and area mines. This map has more detail than anything in our digital collection. The above black and white illustration is from the online version of the AIME report. Unfortunately, when you zoom in, you’ll find that the map is illegible.

I’ve been looking for an original of the document ever since. 

What a surprise

So, you can imagine my delight when the folks at the Haileybury Heritage Museum showed me a recent acquisition – let’s just say Christmas came early for this Cobalt history fan!

The museum lent us the book and I have begun digitizing the pages, including the Pocket Map of the Cobalt Silver Camp, “Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada in the year 1907, by J.W. Evans, M.E., at the Department of Agriculture.” 

The hardcopy page measures 11 x 9”.  Even on the original, the text is next to impossible to read. I cannot imagine that those who read the report made much use of the map, unless a magnifying glass was distributed with each copy! 

For Example

I haven’t studied the map in great detail, but one of the claims caught my eye. Just below Sasaginiga Lake, sits the Silver Heels Mine, incorporated in March, 1907. Magistrate Browne was one of the directors and the subject of the previous blog post. Note that Browne’s property was directly north of an apparently unclaimed lot, soon to be known as the Cobalt Bullion Mines. Vice President Hartwell Preston Glidden was involved with that mine, and he also owned the land directly east, which he developed as the Glidden Townsite in 1909.

To access your own copy

You can download the image from our gallery of miscellaneous maps – scroll down to item 18.

In the coming days, I will upload more from this report. Stay tuned!