Cantley 1889 Articles
The following article first appeared in The Echo of Cantley Volume 24 no 4, October 2012. This article is made available for the enjoyment of others with the express permission of the Echo of Cantley.
A. M. Edmond's 1873 Sketchbook of the Haycock Iron Mine
by Wes Darou
Last month we published a history of the Haycock Iron Mine, a mine and accompanying village from 140 years ago, entirely inside today's Cantley. Fifty years ago, Library and Archives Canada received a sketchbook of the mine, the tramway and several other local scenes dating from 1873. It has taken this long for LAC to understand exactly what the drawings represented.
Little is known about the artist, A. M. Edmonds, except that he was a teacher in Burnsville, Ontario, West of Arnprior, and even that information was difficult for the Archives to uncover. The sketches are quite beautiful, although sometimes embellished to please the patrons - hills become mountains. A Google search shows a cartographer of the same name and fine hand working for the CPR in the 1880's.
One sketch is of the Darby Farm, just inside the northwest edge of the Nakkertok Ski Club. The foundations can still be seen. Rocky Hill near McGovern's shows the southeast corner of Cantley. There is visible track bed just east of the Nakkertok lane way. The plan of mine shows buildings and the fairly substantial Hematite village. Another sketch depicts the entrance tramway, sawmill, blacksmith and bakery.
The full sketchbook can be found by going to the website for Library and Archives Canada, and typing "Haycock Mine" in the search function.
In December, we will publish an article that shows what the sketched subjects look like today.
