1

Stamp Mill at the Rock Lake Copper Mine.
1900
Rock Lake, Ontario, Canada

2

Photo courtesy of Ian West.

3

In 1898 there was an interest in mining copper again, this time 12 miles north of Bruce Mines at Rock Lake.
Elaborate above ground facilities were erected, including a large stamp mill. The B. M. and A. Railway Co. was to transport the ore to a refining plant in Michigan. By 1902 the company had a lodging house, a boarding house, a company store, and a cookhouse. All constructed before the quality and extent of the mines had been determined. Only three levels were opened in the mine and no mining was done below the 200-foot level.

4

Boiler being moved from the Bruce Mines to the Rock Lake Mine.
1899
Rydal Bank, Ontario, Canada

5

A stationary boiler was hauled from Bruce Mines north to Rock Lake where it was used at either the mine site or the stamp mill. There were two boilers used at the mine, three at the mill.

Photo courtesy of Chris Moes.

6

After the ore was hoisted to the surface, it was hand picked by boys and men in a sorting room. At Rock Lake the building that housed the sorting room was 55'x16' in size. The powder magazine was located near the shore of Rock Lake, as was the rebuilt thawing house. This was where, in the winter, the explosives were thawed; a dangerous undertaking due to the volatility of the explosives. The original thawing house was destroyed in an explosion during the summer of 1901.

7

Postcard of the Stamp Mill owned by the Rock Lake Mining Company.
1905
Bruce Mines, Ontario, Canada

8

"At Rock Lake the Rock Lake Mining Company, Limited, are placing in producing condition a large and promising copper vein, the ore from which will be treated in the large concentrating plant now being put up. The railway from Bruce Mines on the shore of Lake Huron to Rock Lake will be of material assistance to this company in greatly cheapening the transportation of machinery and supplies."
-10th Report of the Bureau of Mines 1901.

Photo courtesy of Merritt Strum.

9

Jack Ferguson
1930
Rydal Bank, Ontario, Canada

10

At 3:45 p.m. on November 15, 1901, four young men were involved in a serious accident resulting in damage to their vision. A dynamite charge had been set, but did not go off. The four decided to investigate and were caught in the explosion when the charge detonated. John (Jack) Ferguson and John Nicholson lost their sight completely, while George McLeod and Murdock McLeod suffered permanent visual impairment.

Photo courtesy of the Rydal Bank Historical Society.

11

"...the ore is getting richer with depth. A force of 200 men are now employed in working it. The company have decided to extend the Rock Lake and Algoma railway about four miles, two miles into Bruce Mines and two miles to a copper range situated north of their property. Some 150 men were engaged this week to work on these extensions. The ore from the Rock Lake mine is being shipped to a smelter at Dollar Bay, Michigan."

-The Sault Star, 11 December 1902

12

"The Rock Lake mine stands out in the district as a regrettable case of energy misdirected from the start. There, extensive surface plant including mining machinery, railways, and finally a 22-ton concentrator, was installed and built before practically anything was known of the size, value and character of the ore body. The stockholders did all this on their own account without technical advice, considering, in their excited ignorance of such things that the mere fact of having fine surface showings of ore was reason enough for their way of mining. Fortunately the ore body was large and although opened out only to the second or 200 foot level, furnished sufficient ore at this one point of underground development to keep the concentrator running a year or more. With the workings gouged clean of ore, large additional working capital now became necessary; but this the stockholder would not put up and the property had to be closed."

-The Canadian Mining Review - Montreal, 30 November 1904

13

"Mirton Bean extols the virtues of the copper mining prospects of Rock Lake. 'Now if some of the other mines in the vicinity had the Mond Nickel push in them, they would have made good at Rock Lake, which I know will make a good mine someday, but never by building white houses with glass verandas and such like. You must get a mine first and the ore blocked out. Then you can go ahead and build, and let the mines pay for its building'."

-The Bruce Mines Spectator, 06 May 1920

14

"The mine was not a major producer and is chiefly of historical interest as a prominent example of inadequate development prior to commencement of mining."
"…After limited exploration and development, a 13-mile railway was built from Bruce Mines and a mill and tramway constructed at the site. After four years, the Rock Lake mine closed in 1903 because of economic losses."
-Collins, Geological Survey of Canada, 1925