Not on the Tour
When you to start to explore, you find out more. The following are back roads’ additions not on the tour but could be.
At the northeast end of town there are a number of features and immediate stops on the Kerr Lake Rd. such as the Right of Way Mine Site, the former Agnico Eagle Refinery Site and the LaRose Blacksmith Shop; take this road, travel east to the Cross Lake Rd. and then veer southeast at the bottom of the hill to Crosswise Lake. It is here that you can see the largest of all the tailings areas deposited by five former mills; this area has not been remediated. Tailings are the waste by-products of the milling process and consist of finely ground ore mixed with water and may also contain chemicals, such as cyanide. It is an ageing waste land.
At the same time, you could do an entire bike tour of tailings sites that have been remedied through various means. Go to www.cobaltmininglegacy.ca, this most interesting inventory was developed by Charles Dumaresq, a geologist and senior manager with the Mining Association of Canada. He says, “Over the years there have been numerous activities that have helped in the reclamation of the Cobalt area. Extensive waste rock piles have been removed, some of the tailings in the area have been covered and revegetated, and some of the sites have been cleaned up, including the removal of debris.”
Better still because wetlands matter, it is one of the “must see” stops because of its environmental implications. Lesley Hymers is a surficial geologist and Manager, Education and Outreach Programs for Mining Matters a national NGO. She said, “Cobalt was chosen for the Canada Land Reclamation Symposium, the conference encourages the pursuit of excellence in mine reclamation.”
She described one of reasons for the choice. “The Town of Cobalt uses a ‘constructed wetland’ to treat municipal wastewater and seepage from former tailings. It is a proven technology,” she said. “Ontario pioneered the development of this technology beginning in the early 1980’s. Since then the science has advanced considerably and is now used throughout the world. The treated effluent is deemed as clear as what would be produced via conventional waste water treatment.” There is a wonderful view of the anatomy of this wetland; pedal your way to the end of 3rd St., west side of Lang St./11-B past the William Henry Drummond cairn. (A writer of dialect verse, he was an Irish-born Canadian poet whose humorous dialect poems made him one of the most popular authors in the English-speaking world.)
Cemeteries tell a great deal about the heritage of a community. Silverland Cemetery is located on Cemetery Rd. on the west side of Highway 11-B/King St., ride out heading north, 2 km. Walk down the hill to read the compelling markers and note the unmarked metal and wooden crosses of many who lost their lives in the typhoid outbreak of 1909 and the Great Fire of 1922. It has a great view looking southwest towards town.
And for a longer ride you will want to bike out to the remains of the Ragged Chutes compressed air pipeline including exposed pipe sections, concrete anchors, valve shack, visible right-of-way, and surviving booster station. This plant had no moving parts and used falling water to produce enough compressed air to operate the many drills in the mines of Cobalt. You can access this story,
Google “Ragged Chutes compressed air station.” Take the Coleman Rd. at the southwest end of town and turn south on the Silverfields Rd., you will pass a number of mining relics and at about 5 km on the east side of the road you will see the black iron pipes of the main conduit, truly an industrial archaeological treasure, not yet posted as a destination.
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