Porcupine Gold Rush - A Near Miss

A Near Miss

Reuben D'Aigle was the first to explicitly set out for the Porcupine Lake area in hopes of finding gold. D'Aigle had earlier been a latecomer to the Klondike, arriving after the initial rush but nevertheless sticking it out and eventually striking it rich. After returning south he enrolled in a geology course at Queen's University, and used the library to pore over mining reports for new gold deposits. Discovering Parks' earlier report, he finished his course at the University and immediately set out for Porcupine.

Ignoring the new railway, he hooked up with a Métis guide, Billy Moore, and used the Canadian Pacific Railway's mainline running along the northeastern edge of Lake Huron to the Mattagami River. They started off by canoe and eventually reached Porcupine Lake, exploring around the area for some time. Although he found gold in numerous quartz outcroppings, the tiny flakes he saw were in stark contrast to the nuggets that could be panned in the Klondike, and he remained unimpressed.

Nevertheless he returned the next summer in 1907 with a larger party including several experienced prospectors and tools needed to break down the rock. Several test pits were dug, but none of them seemed terribly promising. Bob Mustard, one of the prospectors in the D'Aigle party, stated "Quartz veins in Ontario never pay to work." D'Aigle apparently agreed, and they simply abandoned their tools in their latest pit and headed south. Seven claims were staked by the team during their prospecting, but all of these eventually lapsed.

Although D'Aigle's parties were the largest, several other prospectors also made attempts to find gold in the area, potentially after hearing of his efforts. In 1905 Edward Orr Taylor claimed a plot on the south side of Night Hawk Lake, but the low grade of gold in the ore dissuaded Taylor from setting up a mine. Following his lead, two Finnish prospectors, Victor Mansen (or Mattson) and Harry Benella (or Penella) set up a mine on the lake in 1907, along with a crude mill. They had managed to produce a single bar of gold by the next year, when a fire burned the mine down. They decided not to bother setting it back up again, and abandoned the site.