The Galway Gold Rush

By Guy Scott

In the 1800s, there was one sure-fire way of getting rich quick: find gold! The history of this century is littered with famous “gold rushes” around the world. California (1840s), British Columbia (Cariboo) 1850s and of course, the famous Klondike Gold Rush (1890s). Many were the tales told of finding fortunes in gild simply “lying about”, ready for the taking. Anytime the rumour spread about a gold strike, prospectors followed.

When the Ottawa-Huron Tract was opened for settlement in the 1850s, of course prospectors and miners flooded in to hunt for the world’s most valuable metal. Various ores of different values were actually found in the Kinmount area, the most common being iron ore. Irondale and Furnace Falls were the areas of the most promising strikes, but that is not the subject of this tale. Lead and zinc were mined over several decades at Galena Hill, just south of Kinmount, but again, a tale for another time. But the most valuable metal of all, gold, also had its moments in the local history.

The search for gold in our area was given an early jolt by the discovery of gold in Belmont Township (east side of Peterborough County) at Cordova Mines. The strike was never a huge profitable one, but gold fever came and went for the next 60 years! Hastings County (also on the Canadian Shield edge like Kinmount), had a big rush in the 1860s at a time named Eldorado. Neither strike became a rich gold find, but the precedent of gold in them there hills of the Canadian Shield was established: you just had to find the right spot or motherlode! Why not at Kinmount?

The stories and legends of gold strikes at Kinmount have never been recorded in detail. Various tempting tales can be found in the local newspapers, but the news is always about “potential” or “holes in the ground” were dug and the same hopes were ultimately dashed. An Ontario Mines listing records the following claims:

Con 14, Lot 16 – several pits, no gold

Con 14, Lots 5,6 – nothing

Con 15, Lot 15; Con 15, Lot 16; Con 17, Lots 10, 11; Con 18, Lots 10, 11 All sites were negative for gold, silver or any other mineral of value.

Nothing of value was ever found. The Galway Gold Rush never produced any gold. But it did produce two stories worthy of mention. The first one is a “satirical” article published in the Bobcaygeon Independent under the title “Development of the North Country”:

“Galway Gulch Gold Mining Company: Head Offices, Bobcaygeon. Capital $10,000,000 divided into 10 million shares at $1 each. Officers: Adolphr Smiff – president, Mr. Smiff – vice president, A Smiff – sec-treas. The following gentlemen are in no way connected to this company: Marquis de Salisbury, Rt. Hon Jos. Chamberlain, Lord Rosebury, Hon. Wilfrid Laurier, Dalton McCarthy; but their names give a tone and silk fringe effect to the prospectus highly desirable to the promoter. The Galway Gold Gulch Mining Company is the only Ontario product in the market. The enormous production of gold in the last two years in South Africa and the United States has aroused the self greed of the whole world, extending into the remotest parts of this vast Dominion. Gold is the most universally diffused metal in existence. Indeed, scientists are agreed the weight of the earth compared to its size is a certain indication that the whole centre of the earth is a mass of pure gold. Consequently, there is no surface cropping necessary, all that has to be done is to go down deep enough. This company proposes to go down. Your subscription for shares is invited. There should be no hesitation, no questioning, no doubt when it will pay. It is merely a matter of development: sinking a hole into the mass of gold beneath. Five millions of the stock has been placed into the accounts of the directors of the company. Five millions of the $1 shares are now offered at 1 cent per share. The shares will be fully paid, non assessable and dividends are positively uncollectible. The chance of the century: don’t fail to bite. Remittances can be made by cheque, postal order or stamps to A. Smiff, Bobcaygeon.” From the Bobcaygeon Independent, August 27, 1896.

The other tall tale about Galway Gold concerns a “hidden treasure”. The following story was printed in the Watchman-Warder, December 3, 1908: “A man named Rube somehow got wind of a story about a pot of gold that had been deposited somewhere near Minden. Rube got all the particulars down as fine as he could, and went on the search with a companion. The pot had to be discovered during the night, without noise and without any light or fire. The search was made and the indicated spot was reached. Rube began groping in the dark with his hands, and presently touching a pot when instantly sparks of flame shot out. His companion dropped into a swoon having seen a ghost with a flowing beard that reached to his waist. After getting his companion restored to his senses, Rube marked the spot and helped his companion to safety. More recently he returned with 3 companions, but their efforts were fruitless. The conditions were not favourable as they had lights and made a noise. The hidden pot of gold was not found.”

The moral of these last two stories is to mock the gold seekers or “get rich quick people”. There were no “pots of gold” in Galway Township. It was all legends, myths and false hope. But it sure made good stories! Two points about these tales. Both originated in the Bobcaygeon Independent. The second story is loosely based on another legend: Starne Kendricks missing gold. Kendricks was an English “remittance man” who received a monthly allowance from his family back home if he “stayed away” from them. Each month a package of gold coins arrived in the mail. He was a frugal person (except for liquor) and most locals figured coins received did not equal coins spent thus leaving a surplus. After his death, an extensive search of his property (between Kinmount & Minden) was carried out, but no cache of coins was ever found. Yet.