A Global Environmental History of the Porcupine Gold Rush, 1909-1929
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A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF THE PORCUPINE GOLD RUSH, 1909-1929 “TREASURE HOUSE TO THE WORLD:” A GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF THE PORCUPINE GOLD RUSH, 1909-1929 by MICA AMY ROYER JORGENSON, B.A., M.A. A Dissertation Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for Doctorate of Philosophy. McMaster University © Copyright by Mica Amy Royer Jorgenson, June 2018 TITLE: “Treasure House to the World:” A Global Environmental History of the Porcupine Gold Rush, 1909-1929. AUTHOR: Mica Amy Royer Jorgenson, B.A. (University of Northern British Columbia), M.A. (University of Northern British Columbia). SUPERVISOR: Dr. Michael Egan. NUMBER OF PAGES: 297 + xi ii LAY ABSTRACT This dissertation argues that international forces shaped local environmental history in the gold mining district of Porcupine, northern Ontario, between 1909 and 1929. During these years, Canadian mining transformed from a relatively small extractive economy into a large-scale industrial one -- with a host of associated social and environmental consequences. The geological, climatic, and cultural characteristics of the Canadian Shield environment created significant challenges (including fires, floods, rock-falls, pollution, use conflicts, and disease) which required adaptation from the industry’s stakeholders. People solved environmental problems by relying on support from transnational gold mining networks of investors, managers, prospectors, geologists, prospectors, miners, communities, and governments. As a result, Porcupine’s environmental history was shaped by the convergent forces of its gold-bearing geology, an international context, and local Canadian history. Largely complete by 1929, the legacy of Porcupine’s environmental history lives on in the power of Canada’s international mining industry on modern extractive frontiers. iii ABSTRACT The discovery of gold at Porcupine Lake in 1909 brought a well-practiced era of ecological change to northern Ontario. By the early twentieth century gold rushes followed predictable patterns. Deforestation, soil depletion, water-shed modification, rapid immigration, transient populations, “get-rich-quick” ambitions, conflicts with Indigenous people, major fires, and hasty infrastructure development characterized multiple rushes in Africa, the Americas, and Australasia. In the aftermath of the nineteenth century mining booms, the 1909 Porcupine rush brought global gold mining knowledge and technology to northern Canada. At Porcupine, experiments in industrial extraction matured into a set of efficient methods for large-scale corporate extraction of low-grade gold. Although historians traditionally frame gold rushes as national or regional events, Porcupine shows how borders were permeable to people, objects, and ideas moving between mining zones to shape local environmental history. Porcupine’s gold-bearing landscape became a site of convergent historical forces between 1909 and 1929. The rush brought northern Ontario into an international community of mining frontiers at a moment of development in the province’s northern hinterland. Local conditions (such as climate and geology) worked together with transnational networks to shape the land and its communities. Industrial mining also created problems including fires, droughts, and industrial disease. By 1929, Porcupine had become a major player in the global industrial mining industry. The Porcupine rush set the stage for twenty-first century dominance in international gold economy and laid the groundwork for Canada’s modern relationship with nature. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thanks to my supervisor, Dr. Michael Egan. His irrepressible enthusiasm, encouragement, and kindness made the doctoral process a joy. He always seemed to know precisely how to say the things I did not know how to say, where to look for the things I could not find, and how to pull me up out of the archival weeds. I am also grateful to my doctoral committee, Dr. Ken Cruickshank and Dr. John Weaver for your thoughtful critiques and patient guidance. Thanks to Dr. Viv Nelles for his role in the early phases of this project, for connecting me with many wonderful mining people, and for leaving me a rich trove of rare books on Ontario history. I treasure the times I spent with each of you poring over books and ideas in the history department. I have also been privileged to have been part of an exceptionally talented cohort of fellow graduate scholars across Canada and the world. Andrew Marcille, Bre Lester, Chelsea Barranger, Heather Green, John Baeton, Lorena Campuzano-Duque, Nevcihan Ozbilge, Samantha Clarke, Scott Johnston, and Spirit Waite read drafts, shaped my argument, joined my panels, kept me company during late nights in the office, and supported my research in myriad other ways. I benefited immensely from both your brainpower and your friendship. Together you made me a better writer, a more efficient reader, a kinder colleague, and a more thoughtful scholar. I could not have even begun this project without the love and support of my family and friends. My mom Shirley-Ann Royer, my grandmother Pauline Royer, and my partner Eric Lane supported me financially and emotionally at the difficult moments in my studies. My friends Alexandra Lane, Celia Steniker, Erin Kleven, Jill Hughes, and v Sarah Lawley-Wakelin kept me grounded every day, even from the other side of the country. I am also grateful to the rock-climbing friends, ultimate frisbee teams, and gym buddies who kept me active, happy, and balanced here in Hamilton. Thank you to the archivists and librarians at the Archives of Ontario, Library and Archives Canada, the Timmins Public Library, the Queen’s University Archives, the J.N. Desmarais Library (Sudbury), the Cobalt Museum, and the William Ready Division of Archives (Hamilton). Working with the documents is the best part of any historical project, and I benefited from the hard work and expertise of professional archivists at every stage. Special thanks to Bridget Whittle and Jay Brodeur at McMaster for your enthusiasm, professionalism, and patience. I am indebted to the institutions and organization which enabled my research. My studies were funded by the generous support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Wilson Institute for Canadian History, the James Robertson Carruthers Memorial Award, the Ross Reeves Grant, the Armstrong History Fund, and the Mining History Association. I have also been supported by the Lewis and Ruth Centre for Digital Scholarship, where I worked under the guidance of Dr. Andrea Zeffiro and Dr. Dale Askey. I found an intellectual home among a warm and welcoming group of scholars at the annual meeting of the American Society for Environmental History. Finally, I was privileged to call myself part of McMaster’s History Department – the most collegial and productive community of historians I have ever met. I am especially indebted to Aurelia Gatto Pinto, Debbie Lobban, and Wendy Benedetti for their administrative help and mentorship over the years. vi CONTENTS LAY ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................. III ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... IV ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ V LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................ VIII LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. IX LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................. X INTRODUCTION: A Global Environmental History of the 1909 Porcupine Gold Rush .................................. 1 CHAPTER 1: “Promise of Reward to the Prospector:” An Environmental History of the Porcupine to 1910 .................................................................................................................................... 21 CHAPTER 2: Baptism by Fire: Mining Economies of Scale Before the Great War ................................ 82 CHAPTER 3: Entrenched Industry: War and Water Power at Porcupine into the 1920s....................... 142 CHAPTER 4: Digging Up Disaster: Environmental Crises and Transnational Solutions in Ontario Mines during the Roaring Twenties ............................................................................................ 203 CONCLUSION: Mining Stories, Conservation, and Fulfilling the Industrial Dream ................................ 270 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................ 287 vii LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 1 “Map of ohe Porcupine Gold Fields” ................................................................ 3 FIGURE 2 “Arriving in Porcupine, 1909-1929” ................................................................. 9 FIGURE 3 “Key Map” ....................................................................................................... 22 FIGURE 4 “Indian Hut and Potato Patch”......................................................................... 37 FIGURE 5 “Indians on Nighthawk Lake” ......................................................................... 60 FIGURE 6 “Dome Gold Mine Plant after Porcupine Fire” ..............................................