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Murray Mogridge Mine.

Maisonville Township, Ontario, Canada, Circa 1918. Oblong 4to, flexible pebbled leather covers, gilt title and owner’s name on upper cover. 24 mounted silver prints, 4.5” x 6.5” each.

A fine album documenting a visit by company officials or investors to the Murray Mogridge Mine in Maisonville Township, Ontario, Canada, a site consisting of gold-bearing quartz veins. Prior to 1914, the Dane Copper Mining Company drilled a fifty foot shaft on the site, ultimately abandoning operations. From 1917 to 1919, Murray-Mogridge Mines Limited deepened the shaft to 227 feet, with lateral development on three levels. Work was suspended in 1920 due to a lack on funds.

The photographs seem to capture the mining operations at their most active, with those involved apparently at the height of their optimism. Men in suits, having arrived by train, mingle with the miners, investigating developments. There are images of the mining shaft and associated buildings, miners drilling or posed with their drills and other tools, men examining specimens, two boats on the water overburdened by capitalists, a railroad car full of the same, etc. The photographs are clear and well-taken. The wilderness setting for the excursion contrasts somewhat amusingly with the formally dressed money guys, who have had to resort to head nets to endure the blackflies and mosquitos.

CONDITION: Covers chipped and rubbed, otherwise good.

REFERENCES: Lakeland prospect (Lakeland North prospect; Murray-Mogridge mine), Mainsonville Township, Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada at www.mindat.org/loc-254001.html

Item #3125

Price: $1,250.00