History of Silver Islet

The Silver Islet Mine was one of Canada's first successful mines. Like many early mining ventures, it was a chance discovery.

In the spring of 1868, an exploration team from Montreal Mining Company, led by Thomas MacFarlane, travelled to Lake Superior. They were sent to inspect some of the properties held by the company in that area. While drawing geological maps, MacFarlane's team decided to visit a small island just offshore. It was a barren rock that rose just eight feet out of the water and was about 75 feet across. They named it Skull Rock since its rounded edges reminded them of the top of a human skull. While driving a stake on it, one of MacFarlane's assistants discovered two veins of silver, intersecting underwater a few feet from shore. A single blast dislodged all the silver ore above the water line and more could be seen underwater. Silver Islet was born.

From that day forward, Silver Islet became the talk of the mining industry. It quickly gained the reputation as "The Richest Silver Mine in the World". Newspaper accounts from as far away as England and Australia talked about the silver bonanza discovered beneath the waters of the world's largest freshwater lake. But that bonanza turned into an engineer's nightmare. With underwater mining in its very primitive stages, the Montreal Mining Company sold the rights to the property to an American syndicate the following year. One of the principal partners was Major Alexander Sibley. He brought a wealth of know-how to the venture, having worked in the copper and iron mines of nearby Michigan. Under Sibley's supervision, tiny Skull Rock became a bustling offshore mining community within a few years. By constructing a breakwall around the islet and filling the inner areas of the rock, the islet was soon enlarged to seven times its original size. It eventually looked like a small town with a shaft house, boarding houses for the miners and even a small library. But the unpredictable waters of Lake Superior presented a formidable challenge. Year after year they hammered away at the cribbing, breaking it up and carrying it away. Much time was spent repairing damaged property and equipment.

Onshore, a vibrant community was growing. Miners' homes dotted the shoreline. The town of Silver Islet soon boasted a roomy company store, two churches (one of which doubled as a schoolhouse), a post office, assay office and bank. As the rugged miners worked to extract the rich silver ore from beneath the lake, onshore relationships were made, marriages and families were started and Silver Islet became one of the most important communities between Winnipeg and Toronto.

But it wasn't to last. By 1884 the best silver ore was gone. The pumps, which kept the mine from being flooded by lake water, stopped when a shipment of coal didn't arrive on time. The mine closed, families moved away and Silver Islet became one of the area's first ghost towns.

Today, much of what was built during that hey-day has survived. Many miners' homes have been turned into summer cottages. The company store has been carefully restored and re-opened as a seasonal business and tourist attraction.