Kirkland Lake, Ontario

Kirkland Lake is a town and municipality in Timiskaming District of Northeastern Ontario. The 2021 population, according to Statistics Canada, was 7,750.

The community name was based on a nearby lake which in turn was named after Winnifred Kirkland, a secretary of the Ontario Department of Mines in Toronto. The lake was named by surveyor Louis Rorke in 1907. Miss Kirkland never visited the town, and the lake that bore her name did not exist as it dried because of mine tailings, but recently due to floodings of the mineshafts has come back up to about half of its initial deepness. The community comprises Kirkland Lake (Teck Township), as well as Swastika, Chaput Hughes, Bernhardt, and Morrisette Township.

Kirkland Lake was built on gold, but is also notable for its hockey players. As well, hockey broadcaster Foster Hewitt called Kirkland Lake "the town that made the NHL." The town celebrated this via Hockey Heritage North, which was renamed Heritage North.

Until January 1, 1972, the town was known as Township of Teck. A by-law was introduced, on July 20, 1971, to change the municipality's name to Town of Kirkland Lake, effective January 1, 1972.

History

Gold in the Kirkland Lake region was originally reported in the late 1800s by Chief Ignace Tonené of the Temagami First Nation. In fact, he staked a claim near the north arm of Larder Lake but stated it was jumped (stolen). No action was taken on his report. Chief Tonene Lake was named in his honour. Chief Ignace Tonené would go on to help form Beaverhouse First Nation.

Later, Tom Price discovered a boulder containing gold on a visit to the Kirkland Lake area in 1906.

In 1911, important claims were made along the Main Break. John Hunton staked claims on February 18, 1911, which were incorporated as the Hunton Gold Mines Ltd. in April 1914, eventually becoming part of the Amalgamated Kirkland. Stephen Orr filed claims on February 22, 1911, the basis for the Teck-Hughes Mine and the Orr Gold Mines Ltd, which was incorporated in June 1913. George Minaker staked claims on February 23, 1911, part of which he sold to (Sir) Harry Oakes in September 1912, becoming part of the Lake Shore Mine. John Reamsbottom filed claims on April 18, 1911, which became part of the Teck-Hughes Mine.

It was at Teck-Hughes mine that miners and engineers developed Teck cable for sturdy electrical transmission. That type of cable is now used on electrical projects around the world.

C.A. McKane staked claims on April 20, 1911, which became the Kirkland Lake Gold Mine. A. Maracle staked claims on June 5, 1911, which became part of the Townsite claims. Melville McDougall staked claims on June 27, 1911, which he transferred to Oakes on September 6, 1912, and became the part of the Lake Shore Mine. Jack Matchett staked a claim on July 7, 1911, later acquired by Oakes, which became part of the Townsite Mine. On July 10, 1911, Dave Elliott staked claims which became the Macassa Mine. "Swift" Burnside staked claims on July 26–28, 1911, which became part of the Tough-Oakes Burnside Mine. Bill Wright filed claims on July 27–29, 1911, and on September 16, 1911, with his brother-in-law Ed. Hargreaves, which became part of the Sylvanite Mine. This claim extended into the lake's southeastern portion. More importantly, Wright found free gold near the future site of the Discovery Shaft. Ed. Horne staked a claim on October 12, 1911, which became part of the Townsite Mine, and the incorporation of Kirkland Townsite Gold Mines Ltd. in 1917. On January 8, 1912, Harry Oakes partnered with the Tough brothers plus Clem. Foster, who owned the Foster Silver Mine in Cobalt, staked claims which incorporated the No. 2 Vein and eventually led to the incorporation of Tough-Oakes Gold Mines Ltd. in 1913. Oakes filed additional claims on July 30, 1912, and Wright on August 26, 1912, both within the lake and eventually becoming parts of the Lake Shore Mine.

By 1914, there was one mine in operation, the Tough-Oakes, which included electric power transmitted from Charlton. A settlement had formed at the southwest arm of the lake, which included a post office, stores and a hotel.

In order to maximize taxation revenue from existing and potential mines in the area, the six square mile Municipal Corporation of the Township of Teck was formed with Wellington J. McLeod as the first reeve in 1919. Their first task was the establishment of public utilities, including roads and water pipes, in the rapidly growing area.
Kirkland Lake had numerous mines, in the early years, including the Teck-Hughes (1917–1968), Lake Shore (1918–1968), Kirkland Minerals (1919–1960), Wright-Hargreaves (1921–1965), Sylvanite (1927–1961), Tough-Oakes-Burnside (later Toburn) (1913–1953), and Macassa Mine (1933–1999).

The Kirkland Lake camp produced $636,667 worth of gold in 1918 and that rose to a value of $17,000,000 in 1930. As Pain points out, "Kirkland Lake camp came to occupy a position of real importance in the mining world." By 1934, the production had reached $34,000,000 and 2,000,000 tons were being milled annually. Peak employment of 4,761 wage earners occurred in 1939, but that dropped to 2,064 by 1944. The 1939 population was 24,200.

Early in the Second World War gold production in the area decreased due to personnel being lost to more essential war industries. In 1942, gold mining was declared a non-essential industry to the war effort which resulted in gold mines across the country being at a lower priority for personnel and supplies relative to producers of base metals. After the war, local soldiers returned to the newly created Federal area in the northern section of the town. The Kirkland Lake Cemetery is a member of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and is the location of the graves of 12 soldiers, and 3 airmen of the Canadian forces who died during the Second World War.

Kirkland Lake's first fire hall was established in 1935 and the second fire hall in 1955.

In 1963 the open-pit Adams Mine began developing its iron ore resources. The mine would stay in production until 1990.

The Kirkland Lake Community Complex, now the Joe Mavrinac Community Complex, opened in 1979. Home of the Kirkland Lake Aquatic Club (KLAC) which has been the starting point for Dominique Bouchard - Olympic Swimmer, Rodney Thomas - Canada Games Double Gold medalist and numerous other university Varsity level scholarship swimmers.

In the early 1980s, LAC Minerals reopened the main shaft of the Lake Shore Mine and worked it from 1982 to 1987 to extract pockets of gold that had been left behind. Between 1987 and 1991 Vancouver based Eastmaque Gold Mines reprocessed tailings, or "slimes", from early inefficient mill operations, extracting 70,000 ounces of gold.

Between October and December 1988, Kirkland Lake was the filming location for the drama film '' Termini Station'' (1989).

On the morning of Sunday, May 20, 2012, a forest fire was discovered about north of Kirkland Lake, which grew to by the afternoon of May 21, causing a state of emergency to be declared. Residential and cottage areas on Goodfish Lake and Nettie Lakes and one street in Chaput Hughes were evacuated that afternoon. Kirkland Lake Gold and AuRico Gold suspended operations due to fire damage to power lines and local schools were closed. On May 29, the state of emergency was lifted, as the fire was determined to be no longer a threat to Kirkland Lake, although it was not yet under control.

On December 18, 2012, the town council voted to have fluoride removed from the local water treatment facility, after a breakdown left the town with a bill of $360,000.

Geography

Kirkland Lake includes the townships of Teck, Bernhardt and Morrisette.

Kirkland Lake is located in the resource-rich Precambrian Shield, an ancient geological core of the North American continent. Nearby is the Arctic Watershed, a drainage divide at an elevation of . Rivers south of that elevation flow into a drainage basin which includes Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River, while rivers north of the watershed flow into Hudson Bay.

Noticeable local landmarks include Mount Cheminis, rising above sea level, and many small kettle lakes, scraped out of the rock during the last Ice Age and filled with clear water.

Black spruce, jack pine, trembling aspen, white birch, white spruce, balsam poplar, and balsam fir are the dominant trees in the area. A prominent forest form in this part of the black spruce distribution is the black spruce/feathermoss climax forest, which characteristically exhibits moderately dense canopy and features a forest floor of feathermosses. Moose, beaver, muskrat, snowshoe hare, as well as numerous predators roam this area, including marten, ermine, fisher, otter, black bear, wolf, and lynx. The many wetlands and lakes support a diversity of bird species, such as great blue herons, ducks, geese, and that symbol of the north, the common loon. Ground and tree dwelling birds are also plentiful, including grouse, partridge, robins, blue jays, and Canada jays as well as birds of prey such as hawks.

Geology

Kirkland Lake is located within the Abitibi greenstone belt and the Abitibi gold belt. The main geologic feature in the Kirkland Lake Camp is the Kirkland Lake Break, or Main Break. This Break is a vein located along a thrust fault extending east to west and dipping steeply to the south. The area mine shafts are all located along this Break. Gold occurs in quartz veins in spatial relationship to this fault. The major mines in 1960, trending east to west, included Toburn, Sylvanite, Wright-Hargreaves, Lake Shore, Teck Hughes, Kirkland Minerals, and Macassa.

In the early days of staking claims, most prospectors tried to understand the lateral extent of this east–west trending vein defining the Main Break, as well as the associated veins paralleling it, e.g. South Vein, No. 2 Vein, No. 6 Vein, No. 7 Vein, etc. Most importantly, prospecting was extensive in the hopes the vein extended under the southern portion of Kirkland Lake.

Telluride minerals were present in the Tough-Oakes ore. They are also present in the Sylvanite Mine, though sylvanite is not one of them. The Sylvanite Mine started a 200-ton mill in 1927 and shafts reached by 1930.

Kirkland Lake Gold Mines Ltd. was incorporated in 1913 before the property was taken over by Cobalt's Beaver Consolidated Mines Ltd. after a shaft was sunk . They formed the Kirkland Lake Gold Mining Company in 1915 and the main shaft was sunk , which prompted the building on a mill in 1919. Shafts reached a depth of before the mine closed in 1924. Operations restarted in 1926 with new financing organized by Dr. J.B. Tyrrell, and high-grade ore was found at . By 1930, the mine had reached a depth of and had acquired the Chaput-Highes claim to the south. The property was acquired by the Kirkland Minerals Corporation in 1956.

Tough-Oakes produced 213 tons of high-grade ore in 1914. Operations included a five-stamp mill for amalgamation plus a cyanide plant. However, the presence of high-grade ore in the vein terminated at the level and the mine shut down in 1918. This property was consolidated with Burnside's to form Tough-Oakes Burnside Gold Mines Ltd. in 1923 and the Burnside No. 3 shaft was deepened to . The operation went bankrupt in 1928. Operations restarted as the Toburn in 1932, as a subsidiary of the American Smelting and Refining Company.

Lake Shore Mines Ltd. was incorporated in February 1914. Oakes proceeded with sending a crosscut from his shaft on the South Vein towards the anticipated Main Break under the lake to the north. This crosscut encountered high-grade ore and a 100-ton mill was in operation by March 1918. Their No. 1 shaft reached a depth of and their No. shaft a depth of by 1930 and was considered "the wonder mine" by Pain. There was 1,600 feet of high-grade ore at the 1,000-foot level and at the 2,400-foot level.

Wright-Hargreaves Mines Ltd. was incorporated in 1916. The Wright-Hargreaves Mine had a 100-ton a day mill operating by 1921 and shafts reached a depth of by 1930. Almost of high-grade ore was found between the level down to .

In 1916, the Teck-Hughes Mine built a 50-ton cyanide mill after the No. 1 shaft reached a depth of . In 1923, the company was reorganized as Teck-Highes Gold Mines Ltd, which included the Orr claim to the south. The central shaft reached a depth of and a south shaft was sunk in 1928 to reach a depth of . A 1000-ton per day mill was in operation by 1930. High-grade ore of up to was found on six levels.

Macassa Mines Ltd. was organized in 1926, which included the Elliott claims. Mill operations started in 1933 and acquired the United Kirkland Gold Mines Ltd. claims to the south.

The lake itself was gradually filled in by mill tailings, such that the water had disappeared by 1930. By 1960, of underground workings were in the Kirkland Lake camp and of direct hoisting shafts. The Lake Shore and Wright-Hargreaves mines had the deepest working depths in the world, at below the surface.

Climate

Kirkland Lake enjoys four distinct seasons. Spring and autumn offer a mix of warm sunny days and crisp, cool nights. Summers are comfortably warm, with dry air and temperatures reaching into the mid-20-degree Celsius range (mid-70s Fahrenheit). Winter temperatures may seem brisk, but high winds and high humidity are rare, allowing residents to take full advantage of outside recreational activities.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Kirkland Lake had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.

Economy

The town experienced an economic decline in the late 1900s, with the closing of the original mines. That ended in 2001, when Foxpoint Resources (now Kirkland Lake Gold Inc. or KLG) bought five of the mining claims in the town and began intensive exploration work. KLG successfully resuscitated the local mining scene, finding new zones of mineralization that, combined with the steadily increasing price of gold, turned the town around. Today, Kirkland Lake is probably one of the most successful communities of its size in Northern Ontario. Some of the more recent developments include:
* Kirkland Lake Gold Ltd. continues to expand its operations. Since December 2002, the company's confirmed gold reserves have increased by 160% to 2,022,000 tons with an average grade of 0.46 ounces per ton containing a total of 927,000 ounces of gold. In 2003, the Company started a $21 million, 3-year exploration program targeted at adding 15,000,000 tons of ore to reserves and resources. Currently, over 500 personnel are directly or indirectly employed at the mine site. Based on today's resources, the mine has a 12-15 year life span. A recently announced $16 million expansion in its exploration activities is already paying dividends. The mine recently announced the discovery of the richest ore veins ever found in the history of the Kirkland Lake camp, a move which will significantly increase the mine's life span.
*While the forestry industry has been hard hit across Canada, the impact on Kirkland Lake has been mitigated by the conversion of the existing Tembec

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