|
BY HEW CROMARTIE, M.A.
N the raw materials which
constitute the basis of industrial greatness, the Province of Ontario is
singularly rich. Her temperate climate and fertile soil not only assure
abundance of food for man and beast, but provide the necessary
conditions for rearing the domestic animals in the greatest vigour and
excellence; her forests of pine, spruce and hardwood maintain a great
industry in the manufacture of sawn lumber, square timber, pulp wood and
furniture; and to the patient fisherman her great lakes and inland
waters yield a bountiful return. But it is not so generally known that
in her mineral wealth Ontario possesses resources quite as needful to
the upbuilding of a nation as those contained in her fields, her forests
or her fisheries. The fact remains that with one or two important
exceptions all the commoner minerals are found in great profusion within
her borders, and many other substances of less frequent occurrence but
great usefulness in the arts and industries.
The geology of Ontario is
confined for the most part to the formations of the azoic and palaozoic
ages, and there is therefore not the great variety of rocks found in
some other countries; but the Huronian series, which is pre-eminently
the mineral-bearing formation, is extensively developed north of the
great lakes, and there furnishes deposits of iron, nickel, gold, copper,
silver and zinc, etc., while in eastern Ontario related rocks supply
gold, arsenic, corundum, mica, felspar, apatite, talc, graphite, iron
pyrites and lead. In the south-western peninsula the Devonian and
Silurian formations yield petroleum, natural gas, salt and gypsum.
Granite, trap, limestone and sandstone are quarried from the earlier
formations for building and other purposes; shell marl of more recent
geological date, found in the beds of dried-up lakes, is used in the
manufacture of cement; clays of various origin are used extensively in
the making of bricks and pottery, and an Old World industry in the
utilization of peat for fuel purposes bids fair to establish itself in a
new form on the bogs of Ontario.
Probably the most
important of all minerals is iron, and it has long been known that
Ontario has large stores of magnetite and hematite in the eastern
counties and also in the territory north and west of the great lakes.
For years the operation of various causes, including a hostile tariff in
the United States, retarded the development of the iron mines of Ontario
and the establishment of an iron- making industry. Until lately the pig
iron requirements of our manufacturers had to be met by importations,
which formerly came mainly from Great Britain, but of late years mostly
from the United States. All this is now rapidly being changed. There are
three blast furnaces in operation, one at Hamilton, one at Deseronto,
and a third at Midland, while five more are in course of
construction—four at Sault Ste. Marie and one at Collingwood. Two of the
existing furnaces and three of those under construction are designed to
use coke as fuel, while one of those now in operation and two being
built are for the manufacture of charcoal iron. The output of pig iron
in 1900 was 62,386 tons, valued at $936,066; for 1901 it was 116,370
tons, worth about $1,701,703.
When the furnaces began
work most of the ore they used came from the American side of lake
Superior, but the discovery of the great Helen mine on the east shore of
that lake in 1898, and its development by the Clergue syndicate, soon
furnished the coke furnaces of Ontario with ample supplies of native
hematite ore of good quality. The establishment of a bounty on iron ore
by the Provincial Government, and on pig iron and steel by the
Government of the Dominion, have played a material part in the growth
and prosperity of the iron business of Ontario.
During the past season
there has been great activity in searching for iron ores, and many miles
of "iron ranges" have been located in the neighbourhood of lake Temagami
and north and west of lake Superior, very similar in their geological
conditions to the famous Mesabi and Vermilion ranges of the American
side of the latter lake, which, it is not too much to say, have
revolutionized the iron business of the world, and transferred the
supremacy in iron and steel from Europe to the United States. Strong
hopes are entertained that careful investigations will discover similar
ore bodies on the Ontario side. The output of iron ore in this Province
in 1895 was nil; for 1901, the production will be about 300,000 tons,
valued at the pit's mouth at about $325,000.
In the deposits of nickel
ore situated in the Sudbury region north of lake Huron, Ontario
possesses one of the two sources of the world's supply of this important
metal. It occurs here in pyrrhotite in which part of the iron has been
replaced by nickel, the ore usually carrying copper as well as nickel in
varying proportions, but as a rule about two per cent. of each. The ore
bodies do not exist as regular veins with well-defined walls, but rather
as lenticular masses at or near the contact line of the granite and
diorite, or in the diorite itself, some of these masses being of great
size. A find recently uncovered by the Canadian Copper Company, called
the Creighton mine, bids fair to develop into the largest body of nickel
ore yet opened up in the district. In the Copper Cliff, one of the first
and most extensively developed of Ontario nickel mines, a depth of about
1,000 feet on the incline has been reached. Mining began about fifteen
years ago. The ores were at first worked for their copper contents, but
difficulties experienced in their treatment led to the discovery that
they carried nickel as well.
The Canadian Copper
Company, of Cleveland, Ohio, at Copper Cliff, and the Mond Nickel
Company, an English concern at Victoria Mines, are the chief producers
of nickel. Both companies bring the ore to a rich matte, containing
about eighty per cent. of nickel and copper, at their works in Ontario.
The final separation of the metals is effected in the one case in the
United States and in the other in England. Recently the Lake Superior
Power Company, whose president is Mr. F. H. Clergue, has entered the
field, and is vigorously developing the Gertrude and Elsie mines. Roast
heaps and smelting works to treat the ores from both properties are
being erected at the Gertrude mine, from which, also, selected ore rich
in nickel and carrying little or no copper is shipped to Sault Ste.
Marie for the manufacture of ferro-nickel. The nickel industry is
rapidly expanding, and under the stimulus of an active demand and high
prices, business during the past year was unusally brisk. In 1900, the
output of nickel-copper matte was 23,448 tons, equal to 3,540 tons of
nickel and 3,364 tons of copper. For 1901 the production will be
considerably larger.
The gold-producing areas
of Ontario are in the east and west portions of the Province. The
eastern field lies mainly in the County of Hastings, where there are
both free-milling and refractory ores. The latter owe their
rebelliousness to the presence of arsenic; indeed, this constituent
predominates to such an extent as to make some of the deposits more
valuable for arsenic than for gold. The difficulty formerly experienced
in treating these mispickel ores has now entirely disappeared, and
arsenic is being produced in Hastings county, of first-rate quality, at
the rate of about eighty tons per month. In western Ontariothe gold is
found principally in quartz veins carrying variable proportions of
pyrites and other concentrating minerals. For the most part the ores are
low in grade, but many of the deposits are of unusual size, and the
abundance of water and wood and other facilities for treating them
bespeak for the gold industry in this part of Ontario a notable future.
The yield for the Province in 1900 was 18,767 ounces, valued at
$297,861, and for 1901 it will be about the same.
Copper was one of the
first of Ontario minerals to be won on a large scale. The old Bruce
Mines on the north shore of lake Huron forty years ago were worked
extensively, and yielded several million dollars' worth of metal. A
revival of copper mining in this and other districts is now in progress.
The Bruce Mines themselves have been put in commission, though work has
again been temporarily suspended, and at Rock Lake, thirteen or fourteen
miles distant, Massey Station and Desbarats on the C.P.R., at points
near Sault Ste. Marie and elsewhere, deposits of purely copper ore are
being opened up.
The famous Silver Islet
mine, situated on a tiny island in Lake Superior, not larger than a
good- sized ball-room, yielded in its day many million dollars' worth of
silver, but has now been under water for years. Deposits on the mainland
were worked with much vigour until a fall in the price of silver
rendered mining unprofitable. In recent years work has been resumed on
some of the properties near Port Arthur, with satisfactory results to
the owners. The silver occurs in quartz and calcite veins in slate rocks
of the Animikie formation in the form of native silver and sulphides,
chiefly argentite. The rich ore is sacked and shipped as it comes from
the mine, while the leaner ores are stamped and concentrated before
being sent away. The yield of silver in Ontario for 1900 was 160,612
ounces, worth $96,367.
In eastern Ontario is
found mica, both phlogopite and muscovite, but chiefly the former.
Demand from makers of electrical machinery has led to considerable
production, which fluctuates from year to year according as prices go up
and down. North of Kingston, and in the neighbourhood of the town of
Perth, are fields from which a large yield of mica would come steadily
if the market called for it at remunerative prices. The deposits are
pockety and irregular, like those of mica in whatever part of the world
it is found. The production in 1900 was 643 tons, worth $91,750.
A new substance has
recently been added to the list of Ontario's mineral products. As an
abrasive, corundum has long enjoyed high repute, but its existence in
Ontario in commercial quantities was not suspected till 1896. A
mislabelled crystal in a collection of specimens purchased by a member
of the geological survey staff at Ottawa, led to the discovery of
immense bodies of corundum-bearing rock in the counties of Renfrew and
Hastings- doubtless the largest yet made known in the world. Tests
proved the mineral to be of first-rate quality, and its exploitation has
been entered on with energy. Crushed and graded corundum is being put on
the market in all the required sizes of grains, well cleaned and free
from injurious ingredients, and the manufacture of corundum wheels has
been begun. The crystals occur in all sizes, from that of a thimble or
cruet-bottle stopper to a sledgehammer, in a pegmatite or syenite matrix
accompanied by a small percentage of magnetite. In the county of
Peterborough, corundum is also found, and specimens have been picked up
of an ultra-marine blue tint, which encourages the hope that sapphires
or rubies like those of Burmah may yet be discovered.
Graphite is being
produced from the Black Donald mine, a deposit in Renfrew county,
felspar from Frontenac, talc from deposits near Madoc, while apatite, or
phosphate of lime, though found in eastern Ontario of first-rate
quality, has been put out of production by the more cheaply-mined
phosphates of the southern States.
The agricultural
districts of older Ontario are not usually associated with mineral
deposits or products, yet the yearly output of petroleum from the oil
fields of Lambton County approaches in value to that of pig iron at the
present rate of production, and forms the basis of a very important
industry.
The wells are mostly of
small capacity, yielding not more than one-quarter or one-third of a
barrel of crude per day; but they are very numerous, perhaps ten
thousand in all, and are economically worked by means of a "jerker"
system of pumps. The oil is obtained from the Corniferous limestones at
a depth of 460 or 470 feet, and though containing a greater proportion
of sulphur than the Pennsylvania petroleum, yet yields, under modern
methods of treatment, an illuminating fluid equal to the best.
The counties of Essex and
Welland contain two natural gas fields, from which large quantities of
gas are yearly taken, the yield in 1900 being valued at $392,823. In
both fields the flow comes from the Silurian rocks—in Essex from the
Guelph dolomite, and in Welland from the Guelph dolomite, Clinton
limestone, Medina sandstone and Trenton limestone.
A large part of the gas
from both localities has, in the past, been piped across the border line
and consumed in Buffalo and Detroit, but the Ontario Government has
within the past few months revoked the license of occupation of part of
the Detroit river-bed, under authority of which the gas was sent over to
Detroit, and has thus brought the exportation from the Essex field to an
end.
That the counties
bordering on the eastern shore of lake Huron —Bruce, Huron and Lambton
were once at the bottom of a salt lake or sea is proven by the great
beds of chloride of sodium, otherwise common salt, which are found in
the lower part of the Onondaga formation at a distance of about one
thousand feet from the surface. This process of deposition may be seen
going on at the present time in many parts of the world, notably at Salt
Lake, Utah, which receives the waters of four large rivers but
discharges none, the equilibrium being maintained by evaporation, which
leaves the solid constituents behind. The principal of these is salt,
and the water having become saturated with this mineral, the excess is
deposited at the bottom and in shallow places at the sides of the lake.
From the Ontario wells the salt is pumped in the form of brine, which is
led into pans and there evaporated. The resulting article is of
excellent quality, and in the beds of the lake Huron district there is
ample supply for all the needs of the country for many thousands of
years.
The Government of Ontario
recognizing the importance of the mineral industry to the Province has
adopted a policy of lending it every legitimate assistance and
encouragement. The mining laws are acknowledged to be fair and even
liberal. No royalties of any kind are exacted, and the prices of mining
lands are very low, the highest rate being $3.50 per acre. On the other
hand, development being the object aimed at, the law requires that
certain expenditures be made upon the land—at least $6.00 per acre
during the first seven years after title is issued. The prevailing form
of tenure is leasehold, payment of $i.00 per acre being required for the
first year, and from 15 to 30 cents per acre for subsequent years,
according to distance from a railway. The lease is for ten years, on the
expiry of which time the lessee is entitled to a grant of the land
without payment if he has complied with the law.
Direct aid is given to
the iron mining industry in the form of a bounty on: iron ore raised and
smelted within the Province, the rate of bounty varying from year to
year according to the quantity of ore mined and smelted, but not
exceeding $1.00 per ton of the pig iron product of the ore. A fund of
$125,000, called the Iron Mining Fund, has been created by the
Legislature for purposes of these payments, out of which aid to the
extent of $25,000 may be disbursed annually.
Indirectly the Government
aids the mining industry in many ways. The Bureau of Mines was
established in 1891 to promote the development of the mineral resources
of the Province, and it has since been actively engaged in collecting
and disseminating information respecting the mineral wealth of Ontario
and the output of minerals, in examining and mapping promising fields of
discovery, and in drawing the attention of capitalists and others to the
opportunities afforded for investment in mines and mining properties.
The yearly reports of the Bureau are in strong demand, and have proven
very useful in promoting the development of mining in the Province.
Another practical step was the establishment of an Assay office, located
at Belleville, where prospectors and others may have samples assayed and
examined at very moderate charges. In the chief mining districts local
agents have been appointed for the purpose of supplying information as
to granted and ungranted lands and otherwise assisting prospectors in
their work.
In the Sault Ste. Marie
and Michipicoton regions great results have followed the policy of the
Government towards the newer portions of the Province, in increased
activity in mining as well as in other industries. The opening up of the
great deposits of hematite at Michipicoton by Mr. Clergue and his
associates has led directly to the building of four blast furnaces (now
under erection) at Sault Ste. Marie where the ores are to be smelted,
and to the construction of an immense steel plant at the same place,
which is almost ready to begin operations. Ferro- nickel is also being
made there from nickel ore brought from the Gertrude mine, the sulphur
contents of which are used in the manufacture of sulphide wood pulp.
Charcoal and coke ovens form part of the Sault Ste. Marie programme, and
will convert the wood and coal respectively into fuel for use in the
furnaces on the spot. A large plant for the pro duction of bleaching
powder and caustic soda from salt brought thither from Windsor is
running very successfully. All these industries derive their motive and
electric power from the falls of the St. Mary river, which forms the
outlet of lake Superior, the energy already developed and in process of
development being about 95,000 horse-power.
The opening up of
northern Ontario is a task to which the Government of the Province has
definitely committed itself, and useful minerals form no small share of
the dormant wealth of the Crown domain. To bring about their
development, to convert the uninhabited wilderness into scenes of busy
industry, and to found in new Ontario communities which in their
solidity and progressiveness will equal those of the old, is an ambition
worthy of any government, and all patriots will wish it a successful
issue. |
