ODDS ‘N’ SODS/A.E. ALPINE — Blue Quartz reverie

Following the Porcupine gold strike in Ontario in 1911-12, prospectors staked claims all along the Destor-Porcupine fault line in the province’s north.

Two prospectors working on a narrow quartz vein near Matheson came across what became known as the fabulous “Golden Sidewalk.” That discovery touched off an aggressive staking rush, and the rock outcrop around Painkiller Lake, a few miles from Matheson, received particular attention.

By 1925, “Hec” McQuarrie, a well-known shaft-sinking contractor from Timmins, was involved with two shaft projects — the Blue Quartz and the Coulson — on either side of the lake.

Construction at Blue Quartz included a “2-stamp” mill plus bunkhouses, a cookery and three staff houses. Hec arranged for his wife and five daughters to occupy one of the houses while the girls were on summer vacation. His daughters were thrilled at the prospect of their first train ride, living near a lake and being in the bush for the summer.

A jovial old cook at the site took to providing the girls with an unexpected bonus of fresh milk and oatmeal biscuits twice a day. Their mother insisted that the girls wear shoes, clean dresses and ribbons in their hair prior to going to the cookery. With the increased demand, keeping the biscuit container at a satisfactory level was difficult, and the cook asked one of Hec’s daughters to help him with the task of baking them.

Among the memories the girls share of the Blue Quartz was the “discussion” between the hoistman and the pumpman. One Sunday, when only the two of them remained on the property, the hoistman lowered the pumpman so that he could start the pump at the bottom of the shaft.

However, when the pumpman pulled the bell cord, signalling that he wanted to return to the surface, the cage did not appear. He tried several more times and decided to climb the ladders in the manway. Upon arriving at surface, tired and angry, he stomped to the hoistroom where he discovered the hoistman sound asleep.

In the ensuing discussion, the hoistman received a black eye, which the girls thought made him look like a raccoon.

At the end of the summer, the family returned, by train, to Timmins. Many years later, the baker’s helper (now my wife), received the recipe for the oatmeal biscuits that were supposedly served at the Blue Quartz. She was assured by our family that she had lost none of the biscuit-Making skills she learned that summer near Painkiller Lake.

— The author, a frequent contributor to this column, resides in Boyertown, Pa.