The 1920s Archives | The birth of Rouyn and Noranda: a mining story

The Itinerary Followed by Edmund Horne to Get to the Rouyn Township

There are 180 kilometres separating Angliers village from Rouyn township. Edmund Horne made the trip by boat on several occasions and with several assistants between 1911 and 1922.

Prospecting in the Rouyn Township

Interviewer: Mr. Hambry arrived in Rouyn in 1923. He said that there was close to 100 prospectors on the site. Even today at the age of 75 he […]

Prospector Edmund Henry Horne

In 1996, Edmund Horne was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame.

A Now-legendary Picture of Prospector Edmund Horne on a Canoe

When Edmund Horne prospected in the Rouyn township in the 1910s and in the beginning of the 1920s, there were neither roads nor railroads. The only way to […]

An Aerial Photograph of the Rouyn Mining Village in 1926.

At the time of this photograph, in the summer of 1926, Rouyn’s mining community had just been incorporated into a village municipality. You can see that the many […]

A few log cabins on the southwest shores of Osisko Lake

Starting in the winter of 1923–1924, the first log cabins were built around Osisko Lake. For its first inhabitants, this lake made it easier to get around and allowed […]

A Rudimentary Place of Worship

In 1925, there were very few buildings built in Rouyn, and the first parish priest, Albert Pelletier, had to celebrate mass in a tent pitched on the corner […]

First Campsite of the Horne Mine

This camp was located close to the future location of Noranda city up until it was destroyed in 1930. It consisted of two dorms—one for miners and another […]

The Construction of Perrault Street

This photo was taken on Perrault Street, from an eastern vantage point, on the corner of Du Portage Street and Principale Street. The photographer was standing on the […]

Du Portage and Perrault Streets in Rouyn

The corner of Du Portage and Perrault Street around 1926. The stumps have not been fully cleared from the lots and the streets yet, and several buildings are […]

Proposed Plan of Mercier City

Dated June 17, 1927, this plan was for a project that never got executed. Very few buildings, most of which were log cabins, were built in Mercier city. […]

Delivery of Goods in Rouyn Lake Docking Area

During the first years, the Rouyn Lake docking area was strategically located as the exclusive passage for people and goods. Road and railway construction have considerably diminished the importance of […]