Art by John Ernsting

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MacLeod-Cockshutt Mine Macleod-Cockshutt Gold Mine
Acrylics on artist board 9"x12", 1998 Private Collection.
Acrylics on artist board 18"x24", 1998 Available

August of 1931 found William W. Smith in the Little Long Lac with his partner Stanley B. Watson. South of the West Narrows of Kenogamisis Lake, the prospector partners beached their canoe on a rocky point. Panning samples of the rock on the point, Smith found colour. Quickly the partners identified three veins. "This", said Smith to himself, "is a major discovery". This exiting discovery led to development of the Hardrock, MacLeod-Cockshutt, Little Long Lac, Bankfield, Tombhill, and Magnet gold mines. (from ...And the Geraldton Way - History of Geraldton and District up to 1947 by Edgar J. Lavoie.)

The MacLeod-Cockshutt gold mine is located in southwestern Ashmore township and southeastern Errington township. The property is accessible by highway 584, south from Geraldton, Ontario, Canada. Claims were staked by Arthur Cockshutt and Fred MacLeod in 1931. The mill operated at a peak rate of 2500 tons/day by 1953. By 1970 underground operations ceased. Gold mineralisation appears as relatively undeformed quartz-carbonate-sulphide veins, often localized by shear faults.
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Gold at the Narrows
Last night I checked
my mind to see
what I remembered
to be clear

Steering my canoe oh so
this way or that
and watching the squared rock
on shore and beneath the waves

I knew it had to
be there where I
saw the right rock
with a glimmer
of gold

A glimmer, a hint
A splash of quartz
small veins on the way
and so close at that

I stepped out of the canoe
into the water and dug
at the shallow end showing
gold in fragments
by John Ernsting
Val caron
1998

Last night I checked my mind to see what I remembered to be clear
	Steering my canoe oh so this way or that and watching the squared rock on shore and beneath the waves
		I knew it had to be there where I saw the right rock with a glimmer of gold

		A glimmer, a hint A splash of quartz small veins on the way and so close at that
	I stepped out of the canoe into the water and dug at the shallow end showing gold in fragments	by John Ernsting Val caron 1998