It is often discouraging trying to get accurate and factual information for historical columns. Such is the case of who really discovered the Porcupine gold mining area.
There is the legend of George Bannerman, who with partner Tom Geddes, found the Scottish Ontario Mine in Whitney Twp. in 1909. Bannerman is generally credited with being the first to find gold here and with naming a lake and the Gold Camp after a porcupine.The following story is attributed to Charles Calvert, an owner of the Hunter Gold Mine. Calvert says Neil King left Cobalt on July 12, 1904 with an Indian guide named, Menard. “Menard took King via the Montreal River past Fort Matachewan, overland to the Redstone River into Carman Twp., inland about 3 miles into Whitney Twp.” “…As his was the first discovery of metal, he was given a free patent on 40 acres. The date of the staking was July 18, 1904 and the numbers were 451 and 452.”
“King and Menard went northwest 4 miles until they came to Porcupine Lake” (Was it already named Porcupine in 1904?) “And staked what later became the Preston property, in Tisdale Twp., on July 23, 1904.”
The story of Neil King puts the discovery of gold in the Porcupine 5 years before Bannerman and Geddes arrived.
A report from the Bureau of Mines of Ontario says that geologists and surveyors found promising traces of gold in quartz leads in 1896, 1898, 1903, 1905 and 1906.
H.P. Davis, in his book Handbook of Cobalt & Porcupine, says the first mining claim recorded in the Porcupine District was E.B. 12, in Shaw Twp. Mr. E.O. Taylor of Toronto filed the application December 29, 1906.
Another report says in July and August of 1907, E.R. Ostrom of Haileybury filed an application for claims in Whitney Twp., lots 10 and 11, Con. 1, specifying a discovery of gold in quartz.
In 1907 and 1908, a Toronto lawyer, H.F. Hunter sent 4 prospectors named Bruce, Dwyer, Lamond and Burns to stake claims around Porcupine Lake. Those claims became the Porcupine Lake Gold Mines Company, later known as the Hunter Mine.
So who really discovered gold in the Porcupine? Do we give credit to the geologists who came in 1896? To King in 1904? To Taylor or Ostrom in 1906 and 1907? To 4 prospectors in 1907 and 1908? Or do we credit Bannerman and Geddes who found the Scottish Ontario Mine in 1909? And who really gave Porcupine Lake its name?
Personally, I like the fanciful story that George Bannerman saw a windswept island where the trees looked like quills and a bare outcropping of rock resembled the head of a porcupine, so he named the lake for the animal. But there is no one alive who knows the real story.
That’s my view from Over the Hill.
