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Chapter 4 Forging of a Local Monopoly From Prospectors and Speculators to the International Nickel Company (1883–1902) The discovery of nickel-copper ore at Sudbury in 1883 was the impetus for the strangest boom in Canadian mining history. There was no “rush” at the start, such as occurred in the Klondike or at Cobalt. Only a handful of dreamers expected more from Sudbury than the echo of train whistles and smell of sawdust. The work of prospecting proceeded slowly, and when the speculators arrived, it became clear that they were not in a financial position to undertake the actual process of production. The widespread nature of the ore deposits and the problems associated with their refining and marketing, compared to gold or silver, dictated the need for large mining corporations with technical expertise and deep pockets. Thus it was not until the 1890s that any real development of the mining industry was possible. Within a short period of time, Sudbury’s dominance in global nickel production came to be matched by the local supremacy of one company: the International Nickel Company. How this dominance came about is one of the great stories in Canadian mining history. Prospectors and Speculators The discovery of minerals in the Sudbury area is the stuff of legend. While it was suspected as early as 1856 through findings made by A.P. Salter and later by Alexander Murray that minerals likely existed in the area, their assessments were lost in government reports and did not attract much attention.1 The discovery of minerals was a byproduct of the construction of the CPR mainline as it wound westward. In 1883, clearing parties in advance of the railway noticed a peculiar rusty or “gossan” look to some of the rocks northwest of Sudbury. According to early accounts, it was a blacksmith named Thomas Flanagan who Forging of a Local Monopoly 51 made the discovery in August of that year. Whatever the merit of this assertion, it paved the way for bringing the mineral potential of the Sudbury area to international attention. Flanagan’s site has since been commemorated as a historical site by the Province of Ontario. The find attracted the attention of John Loughrin from Mattawa, who applied for permission to purchase the rights to 310 acres (at the statutory rate of one dollar an acre) on Lot 11, Concession 5, in the Township of McKim on February 25, 1884. This was the first deposit of nickel/copper ore found in the Sudbury area. On October 1, 1884, Loughrin, along with Thomas and William Murray and Henry Abbott, acquired a mining patent for this historical property, later known as the Murray mine. Most of the other discoveries in 1884 were limited to within eight kilometres or so of the original find alongside the CPR mainline. A second ore body was patented by Rinaldo McConnell, Joseph Riopelle, and John Metcalf in the southern half of Lot 1, Concession 4, and part of Lot 2, in the Township of Snider. This property, which became the site of the Canadian Copper Company’s (CCC) Nos. 4 and 6 Mines, was also the location of the Clarabelle Pit. A chance discovery of the Worthington ore body in Lot 21, Concession 2 in the Township of Drury was made by Francis Charles Crean in the same year during the construction of the Sault Ste. Marie Branch of the CPR. Other finds in 1884 included the Elsie, located by Francis Crean and patented by Henry Totten, the Frood Mine by Thomas Frood and A.J. Cockburn, the Frood Extension by A.J. Cockburn, the Lady McDonald named after Sir John A. Macdonald’s wife, and CCC’s No. 2 Mine. In the spring of 1885, prospectors fanned out from the railway and made more discoveries. The scene became chaotic as other prospectors made new finds, such as the Creighton Mine by Henry Ranger, Copper Cliff by Thomas Frood (biography 2), the Mount Nickel and Stobie Mines by James Stobie, Crean Hill by Francis Crean, and the Evans Mine by F.J. Eyre. While these prospectors legally held the rights to potentially unlimited wealth, the reality of their economic situation was somewhat different. Aeneas McCharles, the prospector who discovered the North Star mine, was not in the region long before he learned a hard truth: “The Sudbury district is not a poor man’s camp. A few big companies are going to make all the money there is in mining there. It takes...

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