Monday, May 24, 1993
E.B.
Freeman,
Ministry
of
Northern
Development
and
Mines
7,500
BC:
Sheguiandah
quartzite
quarry,
Manitoulin
Island.
Pre
1650:
Porte
de
l’Enfer,
red
ochre
mine,
Mattawa
River.
1800
Ontario’s
first
blast
furnace
for
iron
a
Lyndhurst
(Furnace
Falls),
Leeds
County.
Soon
abandoned,
the
ore
came
from
the
nearby
Bastard
Township.
1813
Second
blast
furnace
erected
in
Charlotteville
Township,
Norfolk
County.
Unsuccessful.
1818
First
locally
made
bricks
produced
in
Toronto.
1819
Blast
furnace
erected
in
Marmora
Township,
Hastings
County.
Ore
obtained
from
the
Blairton
Mine,
Belmont
township,
Peterborough
County. This
furnace
was
unsuccessfully
operated
on
several
occasions
until
closure
in
1847. Ontario’s
first
gypsum
mine
opened
on
the
banks
of
the
Grand
River
at
Paris
(this
was
only
the
second
discovery
of
gypsum
in
North
America
and
the
first
in
Canada).
1825
A
brick
factory
was
established
in
Peterborough.
1826
First
mention
of
a
graveled
street
in
Ontario,
King
Street,
Toronto.
1831
A
flast
furnace
erected
in
Olinda
(Gosfield),
South
Township,
Essex
County.
Local
bog
iron
ore
from
Colchester
Township
was
used.
1841
A
limestone
quarry
opened
at
Thorold
for
the
first
natural
hydraulic
cement
manufactured
in
Ontario.
1848
Wallace
copper
"mine"
discovered
at
White
Fish
River
on
the
north
shore
of
Lake
Huron.
First
discovery
of
nickel
in
Ontario
occurred
here.
No
production.
1851
First
well
dug
for
petroleum
near
Oil
Springs,
Lambton
County.
1855
Canada’s
first
phosphate
(apatite)
mine,
North
Burgess
Township,
Lanark
County.
1858
North
America’s
first
commercial
oil
well
drilled
near
Oil
Springs.
1859
Oil
extracted
by
distillation
from
bituminous
shales
near
Craigleith.
1860
Ontario’s
first
phlogopite
mica
mine
(Pike
Lake
Mine),
North
Burgess
Township,
Lanark
County.
1863
Molybdenite
mined
at
Harvey
Hill,
Leeds
County.
1866
Frontenac
Lead
Mine
opened,
Loughborough
Township,
Frontenac
County. First
discovery
of
gold
in
Ontario
(Richardson
Mine)
at
Eldorado. First
production
of
salt
in
Ontario,
from
a
well
drilled
at
Goderich
in
search
of
oil.
1869
Salt
produced
at
Seaforth
from
a
brine
well.
1870
Globe
Graphite
Co.
produced
from
North
Elmsley
Township,
Lanark
County. First
recorded
commercial
shipment
of
apatite
(phosphate)
in
Canada,
from
North
Burgess
Township,
Lanark
County. Ontario’s
first
arsenic
producer,
near
Deloro.
1875
First
made-in-Canada
clay-working
auger
machine
for
brick
manufacture;
London.
1880
Lacey
Mine,
Loughborough
Township,
Frontenac
County
begins
production
of
phlogopite
mica.
Became
one
of
the
world’s
largest
producers
of
this
mica.
Crystals
were
found
to
9
feet
in
diameter.
1883
Actinolite
mining
begins
in
Hastings
County.
1884
Discovery
of
the
Kingdon
Lead
Mine,
Fitzroy
Township,
Carleton
County,
Ontario’s
largest
lead
producer
until
superseded
by
Texasgulf
Inc.’s
Ecstall
Mine
in
1970.
1885
Mining
of
marl
for
the
manufacture
of
portland
cement,
first
quarry
at
Strathcona,
Lennox
and
Addlington
County.
1889
First
commercial
natural
gas
wells
discovered
in
Ontario;
near
Port
Colborne
and
Gosfield
Township,
Essex
County.
Graphite
discovered
on
the
shore
of
Whitefish
Lake,
Renfrew
County
(this
later
became
Ontario’s
richest
graphite
mine,
the
Black
Donald
mine).
1890
Ontario
Bureau
of
mines
organized.
1896
Graphite
mining
begins
on
the
orebody
that
later
becomes
the
Black
Donald
mine.
1897
Long
Lake
zinc
mine
begins
production,
Olden
Township,
Frontenac
County.