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Willet Green Miller Site

Located on the main street in Cobalt, Ontario, Canada, this site is a focal point in the story of the area's mining history. Here, the former Pan Silver headframe houses the office of the Cobalt Heritage Society. South of the headframe, a plaque is mounted on stone to honour Willet Green Miller, a government geologist who investigated the first silver deposits in the area on behalf of the Government of Ontario. He also named the town of Cobalt.

To the south and east of the headframe,a collection of mining equipment is displayed, along with several unique relief carvings and sculptures that depict miners at work in the Cobalt Mining Camp.

The Cobalt Mining Camp has been recognized by the Historic Sites and Monuments board of Canada (HSMBC) as having national historic significance due to the unique concentration of mines, mill remnants, open-cut veins and townsite elements that illustrate how silver mining here made an important contribution to the development of northern Ontario and economic development in Canada. An HMBC commemorative plaque was unveiled at this site in 2004.

NOTE:
Click on the picture to see an enlarged view of any picture throughout the exhibit.

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Willet Green Millar Memorial Site Site 14
9 April 2006
The Heritage Silver Trail, Town of Cobalt and Coleman Township, Ontario, Canada. Site #14

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The Willet Green Miller Memorial Site
Site #14

This is a monument and not a working mine-site. The headframe was originaly mounted on the Harrison-Hibbert shaft in North Cobalt. The owner, Pan Silver, donated the structure to the Heritage Silver Trail Committee and in 1998 it was dismantled and moved to its present location, and reconstructed as a visitor attraction. It houses the office of the Cobalt Historical Society.

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Willet Green Miller, Plaque
9 April 2006
The Heritage Silver Trail, Town of Cobalt and Coleman Township, Ontario, Canada. Site #14

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Plaque inscription: Willet Green Miller, First Provincial Geologist 1902 – 1925. To Cobalt he gave it’s name and a place among the great mining camps of the world. He read the secret of the rocks and opened the portal for the outpouring of their wonderful riches. His monument is new Ontario.

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Mine Schematic Cobalt Mining Museum
1940
Cobalt Northern Ontario Mining Museum, Cobalt, Ontario, Canada

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Relief, Hand Mining
9 April 2006
The Heritage Silver Trail, Town of Cobalt and Coleman Township, Ontario, Canada. Site #14

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The relief at Site #14 is representative of old time miners drilling with hammers and hand steel underground. It is hard to realise that these miners would be swinging their hammers by the light of their candles and the target that they were hitting was the size of a quarter. This was their job, hour after hour, until the holes were deep enough to put explosives in to break the rock!

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Tripod Drill
9 April 2006
The Heritage Silver Trail, Town of Cobalt and Coleman Township, Ontario, Canada. Site #14

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Tripod Drill
9 April 2006
The Heritage Silver Trail, Town of Cobalt and Coleman Township, Ontario, Canada. Site #14

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Tripod Drill
9 April 2006
The Heritage Silver Trail, Town of Cobalt and Coleman Township, Ontario, Canada. Site #14

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Bar and Arm Drill
9 April 2006
The Heritage Silver Trail, Town of Cobalt and Coleman Township, Ontario, Canada. Site #14

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Bar and Arm Drill
9 April 2006
The Heritage Silver Trail, Town of Cobalt and Coleman Township, Ontario, Canada. Site #14

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Car and Relief
9 April 2006
The Heritage Silver Trail, Town of Cobalt and Coleman Township, Ontario, Canada. Site #14