Museum, Hall of Fame find home in Elliot Lake

In a ceremony that attracted 150 representatives of industry and government, the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame was re-established in this historic uranium producing town.

The ceremony was marked by emotional speeches and the satisfaction that the institution is based in a town that was created by the mining industry.

Among those on hand to mark the event were Brent St. Denis, member of Parliament for Algoma; Chris Hodgson, Ontario mines minister; George Farkouh, mayor of Elliot Lake; and George Miller, chairman of the Hall of Fame and of the Mining Association of Canada.

Since its inception in 1988, the Hall of Fame has recognized the achievements of Canadians who have made significant lifetime contributions to the mining industry in this country. The portraits of 70 such individuals hang in the Hall, which now shares space with the 29-year-old Nuclear and Mining Museum.

Both the Hall and the museum have been relocated in the town’s new Civic Centre.

The museum chronicles the history of Elliot Lake from its early days as a logging and trapping destination to its heyday as an important uranium mining camp.

The Hall of Fame’s temporary home in this town of 13,000 is significant, said Fred Mann, chairman of the museum’s board of management. “If it weren’t for the Franc Joubins and Joe Hirshhorns, there would be no mines here, and no town,” he said, echoing comments made by retired miners who used to live and work in the community.

The town of Elliott Lake came into existence in 1955, only two years after the famous “backdoor staking bee” of Hirshhorn had alerted mining companies to the area’s uranium potential.

Joubin, who made the first significant uranium discoveries around Elliot Lake, was one of the Hall’s first inductees. It is fitting, then, that he now shares the same room with artifacts from his early days as an explorer.

Most of the museum’s exhibits were donated, including the presidential flag given to prime minister Lester Pearson by U.S. president John Kennedy, and equipment used by historic mine rescue teams.

Several displays were crafted by residents of the town. A quilt made by the Elliot Lake Quilt Guild and entitled “A Salute to the Miners — 1956-1996,” was unveiled at the ceremony. Also on display was a life-size diorama of a miner working a uranium stope, a work designed and constructed by the students of Elliot Lake’s high school. Local artist Denis Gagnon, who once worked as a miner at the Stanleigh mine, contributed several paintings inspired by his mining experiences.