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In
my travels along Highway 11 I’ve noticed that some towns are really
quaint (Earlton), others are really clean (Mattice), some are a little goofy
(Nipigon), others have some spunk
(Moonbeam), some are kinda big (Thunder Bay), others don’t
exist (Lowther), while others seem like
they’re on the edge of the world (Hearst).
And then there are some that are just plain cool. Enter Cobalt.
Cobalt
is just really neat. Part of it is the history. Part
of it is the town’s independent streak. But mostly, it’s
just so old and, well, old, that it’s really interesting. (Scroll
to the end of this page for more photos.)
From
“Yikes” to “Cool”
My
first impression of Cobalt was “oh god.” And not in a good
way. But boy was I wrong. Cobalt is the kind of town that
would have five taverns but no grocery store.
(Scroll
down to the bottom of the page for more photos.) And that's
what makes it so interesting.
It
was when I stopped to take a break from driving that I really
saw my surroundings. I realized that what looked old and
run down was simply historic. That was looked grotty and
old really had a tonne of character. That instead of tearing down
older buildings and erecting cheap, shoddy new ones in their place,
Cobalt had preserved its history. A history they were proud of.
This place wasn't run down, it was preserved. Cobalt
was named Ontario’s most historic town for a reason.
Sure,
there aren’t a tonne of stores or boutiques. But at least
there aren’t a tonne of places selling crap either. There
is no grocery store left in town (it closed in 1992 when the store
owner cleared out the remaining products and held dance parties
in the store to commemorate its closing), but what else is there
is because it needs to be there – like museums, mine shafts, and
bars. Despite being relatively empty, I’m surprised at how
much Cobalt has to do.
 The
Highway Book Shop is a classic tourist destination that never
feels like a tourist destination. It’s a family-run used
bookshop on Highway 11 just outside of Cobalt and it is not only
worth a visit, it is worth some time. Maps, books, magazines,
teaching materials, kid’s lit, old books, new books, big books,
rare books - you wouldn’t believe all the crap they have in there.
I think I spent an hour on two separate occasions perusing the
cramped store. It might smell like your grandmother's basement,
but it's really neat, and no visit to Temiskaming is complete
without a stop, in my opinion. About a year ago, I read in a magazine
that the Bookshop was for sale. I beleive the owners are looking
to retire, but want the bookshop to live on.
Cobalt
Classic Theatre is the only remaining theatre from Cobalt’s
heyday in 1920s. While other towns were using economic development
funds to build golf courses, Cobalt restored the old Classic Theatre
in 1993 and now hosts students, playwrights, and actors from across
Ontario. The theatre is restored to what it looked like in the
1920s and is a focal point for the community.
The
Cobalt Mining Museum has the world’s largest display of silver
and offers the only underground mine tour that I’ve seen outside
of Timmins. The Bunker Military Museum has a good collection
of memorabilia, the Great Canadian Mine show displays mining technology,
and there is also a firefighter museum in town.
Cobalt
also has two separate self-guided walks. The Cobalt Walking
Tour brings you through town past historic buildings and historical
places, while the Heritage Silver Trail is a self guided tour
of many of the abandoned mine headframes in the area.
There’s more. There is Fred’s Northern Picnic,
an annual music festival that the local Member of Parliament usually
plays at (he’s a musician by trade) and where you get three days
of music and free camping for like $60. The Silver Street
Cafe has good food and decent prices, and they also cater local
events with real food (forget hamburgers and hot dogs, think steak
on a bun and pulled pork with onions.) The Silverland Inn
and Motel is a restored hotel from Cobalt’s mining heyday and
also serves food. There is a stained glass shop, a gem shop,
and Iddy Biddy Petting Farm. Cobalt also has more murals
than Nipigon.
Hockey,
Streetcars, and Casa Loma
I
read in the James Bay tourist brochure that there is a legend
that Cobalt blacksmith Fred Larose threw his hammer at a fox,
uncovering a rich vein of silver in the process. Further
silver and mineral deposits were found in 1903, triggering a mining
rush like no other in northern Ontario. The significance
of the Cobalt finds supposedly led to riots over mining stocks
in New York City. Others say that Cobalt built Bay Street
(Toronto’s Wall Street.) A testament to the town’s wealth,
the Cobalt Silver Kings played the 1909 season in the NHA,
the NHL’s precursor. Another first in Cobalt include
the Temiskaming Streetcar Line, which was installed between Cobalt
and Haileybury,
and was the first streetcar system north of Toronto.
In
addition, the mines of Cobalt built Casa Loma, the famous "castle"
built upon Spadina Heights in Toronto. Sir Henry Mill Pellatt
was a wealthy Canadian mine owner (some say Canada's richest man
at the time.) It was his mining operations in Cobalt that allowed
him to gather the immense wealth to build Casa Loma. Construction
began in 1911 and took more than three years, 3.5$ million, and
more than 300 full-time workers. With 98 rooms, it was the largest
residence in Canada at the time. Pellat eventually lost his residence,
as the Depression and the decline of mining in Cobalt led to his
financial ruin. Casa Loma was essentially built with the revenues
Sir Henry Mill Pellatt gained by draining Cobalt Lake for silver
mining.
The
Cobalt rush eventually produced more than $260 million worth of
silver, countless myths and stories about how and where silver
was found, who struck it rich, and who lost their pants in speculation.
The Cobalt silver rush resulted in a whole little Cobalt culture
developing - embodied by the Cobalt Song (click here
to download the sheet music.) Cobalt led to the founding towns
like North Cobalt (a
bedroom town for miners) and Haileybury
(a bedroom town for wealthy mine owners.) The mining boom in Cobalt
also paved the way for exploration further north, which led to
massive gold finds in Timmins and Kirkland Lake, both of which far exceeded
the value of the mines of Cobalt in the long-run.
Although
Cobalt survived the usual northern Ontario disasters, including
a typhoid outbreak in 1909, and Great Fire of 1922, it couldn’t
survive the decline of mining. Well, it survived, but it’s
much smaller today and mining no longer exists. There is
some exploration for diamonds, but I don’t think they’ve been
found. I’ve heard that many of the old mines still have
minerals in them, but that it’s just not economical to mine such
old shafts for minerals at today’s prices. But, in the end, the
history of Cobalt is one of a town that conbtinually gets kicked,
but then manages to find its way back up.
Cobalt
is considered the third part of the Tri Towns along with New
Liskeard and Haileybury.
But for some reason it didn’t amalgamate into Temiskaming Shores
in the late 1990s when the province forced municipalities to squish
together. Maybe it’s too far away. Maybe old hostilities
with North Cobalt scuppered a move. Maybe the town is too
independent. Maybe there is still an old hockey rivalry
between Cobalt and Haileybury
from the one season both towns had a team in the NHA. I’m
sure someone in the town of 1200 put up a fight. I don’t
know.
I
haven’t spent as much time as I would like in Cobalt, and, I must
admit, haven’t visited any of the touristy things here other than
the Highway Book Shop. But I’ll be back (multiple times
I’m sure.)
(Scroll
down to the bottom of the page for more photos.)
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