Toronto people visit iron mine
Made trip over the Canadian Northern Railway to Moose Mountain.
Went to Key Harbor, too.
And saw the big docks where the ore will be loaded into steamers.
A new stage in the history of Ontario’s northern country was reached on Friday last [July 3, 1908], when a large party of representatives of the Board of Trade, the City Council, and the city press were taken over the new Parry Sound-Sudbury line of the Canadian Northern Ontario Railway as guests of the company. It was the official opening of the line, and was the first time a passenger train had passed over the rails.
Difficult line to build
The construction evidently proved no light matter for the engineers in charge, for the iron, from Parry Sound to Sudbury, is either raised on an embankment of crushed stone, or runs through deep cuttings in the solid rock. Scarcely a foot of the whole way but had to be either built up, or cut out of the rock, with the aid of dynamite and gunpowder. The line is unusually straight, but there are some exceedingly pretty curves, where the mountains of rock are exceptionally high, or a deep river is to be spanned.
And the scenery along the route! It is more than difficult to do it justice. Seated in the coach enjoying its easy, gliding motion, one looks out at a panorama which only the wilds of Ontario’s north country can produce.
Now we go flying down a long, level stretch of track, which leads straight into the virgin forest. The trees [illegible] close together, flanked by matted undergrowth, which makes one wonder how the surveyor ever did his work.
Fine view from a bridge
Then, on a sudden, the car is whizzed around a long sweeping curve on to a mighty steel bridge, roared hundreds of feet above the broad river, giving a magnificent view of miles upon miles of wildly grand country, with its huge rocks, the dark green forests, and its pretty little lakes, set like tiny mirrors in the hollows between the hills. Then back again into the forest. The scene changes every moment.
There are many odd features on this route. As the train passes on to the high bridge over the French River one of the first things seen is a big full-grown pine, growing from the face of the solid rock, about 50 feet above the water. There is no sign of even a rift in the rock, yet the tree has stood there for years.
Damage by fire to forests
From time to time one was forcibly reminded of civilization by seeing the piles of tomato and other vegetables and fruit cans which marked where the construction gang had pitched their tents. That they were none too careful with their camp firs was seen by the miles upon miles of forest which have been swept by the flames within a few months. Thousands of blackened trees lie in a tangled mass on the blackened ground, looking as if a tornado had swept through the forest.
This new country is of especial interest to tourists and sportsmen of all kinds. The rivers are full of fish, and the forests ranged by herds of deer. Foxes, bears, muskrats, and minks also abound in large numbers.
At the iron mines
At 7.30 on Saturday, the party, now largely augmented by guests from the town, left Sudbury to Moose Mountain, to see the huge iron deposits there, and inspect the mining plant of the Moose Mountain, Limited.
This company’s property consists of some 4,700 acres of the richest iron ore in Ontario. The vein being worked at present is about 150 feet wide, and 500 feet long, of ore running from 58 to 60 per cent. metallic iron. It was discovered in 1901 by J.R. Taylor, a prospector, who staked it out, and later, in 1902, conveyed it to the Moose Mountain Company. Messrs. Mackenzie and Mann secured the controlling interest in 1905, and it is largely to make the conveyance of the ore to the smelter that the new line of the C.N.O. has been built.
Crushing the Ore.
While the party was examining the plant, Mr. N.L. Leach, the engineer in charge of the works, had a big car of ore dumped into the crusher. This machine is a huge steel structure weighing some 50 tons. It is composed of an outer shell, inside of which, and slowly revolving on an eccentric, is a massive casting of the hardest steel, weight ten tons. The lumps of ore are dumped in the top of this crusher, and, dropping between the outer wall and the moving section, are ground into pieces of the size of furnace coal. They are then run through a second crusher, which reduces them still more, when they are ready for shipment.
When the ore is placed on the cars, it will be run to Key Harbor, on the Georgian Bay, for shipment to any port of the great lakes, for smelting. This may be the Soo, Hamilton, or Midland. The promoters state that Key Harbor is 500 miles nearer these points than the Lake Superior mines, and thus a big saving will be made in the expense. The plant at the mines cost $150,000, and is in a position to commence shipping at once. A town site has been laid out, to be called “Sellwood,” and it is expected to engage 500 men in connection with the mine and railway, making this a distributing centre for the surrounding region. The mine is 35 miles from Sudbury, and 80 miles from Key Harbor.
Docks at Key Harbor
After a survey of the mine, the party left for Key Harbor, where magnificent docks are being constructed for the shipping of the ore. Already over $300,000 has been spent and the work is not yet completed. The capacity of the loading trestles is 8,000 tons of ore a day. Beneath it is a tunnel blasted in the solid rock, in which there will run a huge belt of rubber, carrying 185 bins of pockets, into which will be dumped 144 tons of ore a second.
The party returned to the city at 1.30 Sunday morning, after one of the most pleasant of trips.
Ref: Sudbury Subdivision.