Victoria Mines

History

In 1899, Ludwig Mond established the Victoria Mine, situated a little over 4 kilometres (three miles) north of the Canadian Pacific Railway’s (CPR) Sault Branch. Mond’s reasoning was simple. He had discovered what he believed was a superior refining technique for nickel. He offered the process to several steel makers, and refiners, who all turned him down. Mond decided to apply the process himself and purchased a number of properties in the Sudbury area. Victoria Mine, also known as the Mond Mine, was the first of the properties to see production in 1900.

To process the ores after roasting he needed a nearby smelter. He built one a short distance south of the mine on the CPR, at a separate townsite called Victoria Mines. They mined the ore and transported it from Mond (Victoria Mine) to the roast yard, situated halfway between the mine and smelter. They also processed other ores from the Garson Mine and North Star. The company employed approximately 20 men under contract at the roast yards, each receiving 22 cents for each ton processed. Since there were no ore bridges at the yards, they hired muckers (people who shovel ore) to muck in and muck out all the ore. After they smelted the ore, they shipped it to Clydach, Wales (in the UK) for refining and casting.

Initially cordwood boilers powered the smelter. That lasted until 1909 when they strung in power from Lorne Falls. Following upgrades to the smelter from steam to electricity, its maximum output increased from 60,000 tons to 130,000 tons annually, thereby doubling its capacity.

A bustling town site grew west of the smelter on the north side of the line. At different intervals 300 to 600 people resided in the town. The community was quite extensive and included three boarding houses, one apartment building and 50 single dwellings. In addition, there were three general stores, livery stables, an officials’ club house, butcher shop, barber shop, bowling alley, bake shops, a doctor’s office, and the Mond offices. A post office opened in 1900, along with two schools, one public and the other separate. The mine posted both a sheriff and a police constable on site and constructed a jail to house all potential law-breakers. There were also three churches, Roman Catholic, Presbyterian and Anglican.

The CPR completed a station in 1904, which they later enlarged around 1908. They added a spur to service the smelter. There was also daily passenger service to Sault Ste. Marie and Sudbury. A small section crew, posted nearby the station and water tower, serviced the railway yards.

The smelter employed 200 men by 1911, but the company was already drawing up plans for a newer and larger plant. As production from the Garson Mine now largely surpassed the Mond deposit, they thought it would be more economical to roast and smelt the ore near its principal source. As well, the Canadian Pacific was linking its new Toronto line at Romford Junction 2.1 kilometres (1.5 miles) west of Coniston, which offered a lucrative connections to all four corners of the province. They finally closed the smelter and yards in 1913 and transferred all the machinery to the Coniston site.

In its short 13 years of operation the smelter had two major shutdowns; the first lasted from Dec. 2nd, 1902 to the end of 1904, with a brief spurt of activity in 1903. The second occurred in 1907 when the aerial tramway was partially burnt. They halted production until they could make the necessary repairs.

There were also three fatalities. The first claimed two lives in 1908 when the boiler suddenly exploded instantly killing both men. The two men had evacuated all the workers, but remained inside attempting to relieve pressure from the boiler when it blew up. The second incident occurred in 1911 when tragically an overturning ladle or tipping bucket rushed John Baby, one of the workers.

Within the year only a hundred or so residents remained. All the workers relocated to Coniston where a new and larger town site was developing. They moved many of Coniston’s first homes from Victoria Mines. As well, they moved the Anglican and Presbyterian Churches to Coniston, where they remain in use to this day. After the public school closed in 1914m students walked 4.2 kilometres (three miles) to the school in Mond. The separate school, which served a larger area, remained opened for several years longer.

Victoria Mines’ one claim to fame was the birth of Hector “Toe” Blake, infamous coach of the Montreal Canadiens. During the 1950s, when Toe was in his prime, a few structures, along with the post office, which closed in 1956, still stood at the townsite. However, by the 1980s, only three structures remained, and since then all have disappeared. Today all that remains are a few foundations and the smelter waste rock.