Author Archives: edgarlavoie

Spring. Time to hit the road. Just a day trip, mind you, but after six months hibernation, it felt good. The odd snow bank still lingered on May 11. Just before the junction of Hwys. 11 & 584, new signs sprouted. They announced a major industrial zone. Greenstone Gold Mines had obviously revved up operations.Continue reading “NORTH from NIPIGON”

by Edgar J. Lavoie © 1  ̶  From Swamp to Shaft The single most important mining monument in Northern Ontario is being demolished. The No. 1 headframe of the old Macleod-Cockshutt mine was erected in 1937, and is still standing on April 16, 2022, but only for a few more hours. It stands at theContinue reading “MACLEOD-COCKSHUTT MINE : History of the No. 1 Shaft & Headframe”

This author has just received an award from Thunder Bay Historical Museum for a “popular” article published in its annual “Paper & Records”. The article is titled “Pioneering a Great Circle Route in Northern Ontario: Von Gronau’s ‘Greenland Whale’ Overnights at Longlac”. It placed first among seven other nominations by equally deserving authors. To sayContinue reading “POPULAR HISTORY & ITS FUTURE”

At 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 22, firefighters responded to an alarm on Bay Street, Thunder Bay. At that time, smoke was issuing from the eaves of the Finnish Labour Temple. Four pumpers responded and soon were battling flames coming through the roof. The next day, Thursday, the author saw the west end of BayContinue reading “HISTORIC LANDMARK GUTTED”

3  ̶  The Gold Era In the summer of 1936, forest fires swept through the Little Long Lac gold field and threatened to wipe out most mine sites. On July 4th, one fire started southwest of Barton Bay; another, just east of Geraldton townsite near the railway. Over the next few days, firefighters managed toContinue reading “THE KENWELL CONNECTION (3 of 3)”

2  ̶  The Height-of-Land Portage Tombill mine was located on a ridge. To the east, below the ridge, the waters of Magnet Lake and Magnet Creek began a journey that would take them to James Bay in the Arctic watershed. To the west lay a stretch of swamp and another rise of ground on whichContinue reading “THE KENWELL CONNECTION (2 of 3)”

(Chapter 1 of 3) 1  ̶  The Road Begins The name “Kenwell” established itself in the Greenstone Region by 1935, but the name has a long history. Back in the 13th century, the name originated as a family name in England, and was eventually bestowed on a now lost village in England. A map drawnContinue reading “THE KENWELL CONNECTION”

I had a brilliant idea. Okay. It wasn’t brilliant, it was different. I would pin up my own calendar photo each month. I would pin it up on the door of our condo. I would customize each photo with its own title and with the date and place where it was snapped. I often haveContinue reading “How to Snare a Photo”

by Edgar J. Lavoie On Saturday, October 23, after a long, meandering 15-kilometre drive north of Thunder Bay up Hazelwood Drive, we finally found a sign: Hazelwood Lake Conservation Area. We joined the event. That’s when we learned we had joined the wrong event. It was a tour publicized on the Thunder Bay Field NaturalistsContinue reading “FOREST FUNGI WALK”

by Edgar J. Lavoie Thunder Bay’s East End is so crammed with history that it’s coming out of the cracks in the sidewalks. So we discovered recently in Thunder Bay Museum’s history walk. The walk should have begun at 1:00 p.m. on Friday, October 22, at the monument that marks the site of Thunder Bay’sContinue reading “EAST END WALKING TOUR”