ODDS’N’SODS — Paper profits

When I was a barber in Timmins, Ont., I always kept copies of The Northern Miner on hand. My clients enjoyed following stories about mining projects and developments, including the nearby Texas Gulf Sulphur copper-zinc strike.

I’ve also been a prospector and rockhound for many years. I developed an interest in rocks in the early 1950s and have a lovely specimen collection to show for my many trips around the province. I even knew Ed Ross, who found the Ross gold mine at Holtyre, Ont. I currently have 21 claims optioned to four mining companies in Bristol Twp., near some property held by Band-Ore Resources.

Just before Christmas, I attended a party held by local prospectors and claimstakers to celebrate the year’s events and deals. I decided to take the edition of April 30, 1964, which reported on Texas Gulf’s work, thinking the guys might like to read it. One fellow I showed the newspaper to was very interested and asked if I would loan it to him so he could photocopy some of it. I refused because I’ve loaned out things before and never got them back.

He then asked me if I would go by his office the next day so he could photocopy the paper there.

When I arrived at his office, he immediately asked me if I would sell it to him for $25. I said no. I’ve held on to this copy for a long time, I told him. He raised his price to $50. I’m not hard up either, I explained.

I thought that was the end of it, but he found me 30 minutes later and offered me $100 for the issue. That’s more interesting, I thought. How often does one get $100 for something that only cost 50 cents back then. I agreed and he dug two $50 dollar bills out of his wallet. That’s as good as $100, I said, and we shook hands.

I’m going to frame the bills as a souvenir of the time I received good money for something that came so cheap. That particular issue had seen better days anyway.

I had a similar experience some years ago when a friend of mine came into my barber shop and asked if I had a claim map of Godfrey Twp. I did, since I had claims there. I gave him the map and away he went. He returned about two weeks later and told me to hold out my hand. When I did, he filled it with six $20 bills. That map only cost me 50 cents.

— The author, a prospector, resides in Timmins, Ont.