Timmins High and Vocational School - Porcupine Quill Yearbook (Timmins, Ontario Canada)

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1 1 The PORCUPINE QUILL -il Pioneers Iroquois Falls was also named by the In- dians. The first part of Iroquois means I have spokenug the latter means short joy or long sorrow. This place must often have been frequented by enemy tribes. It has a, falls on the Abitibi River. Another interesting name is Ka-puskaSir1S- Kapuskasing, which was a German intern- ment camp during the Great War, takes its name from the river upon which it is Situ- ated. Kapuskasing means shooting waters. Most of the towns of the North are named after men who were important at the time of the springing up of the settlements. In the year 1905, Mr. George Bannerman of Golden City and Mr. J. P. Geddes of Timmins were two of the first men in the camp. They reported gold in these localitiesg then the rush started. In 1909, Mr. A. Gillies and Mr. Ben Hollinger staked the Hollinger claims. Messrs L. H. and Noah Timmins, brothers, financed the Hollinger and the settlement which sprang up was called after them. About the same time Mr. Schumacher was working on the McIntyre property. Schu- macher had been called Aura Lake ffrom the Latin word for goldi, but when the McIn- tyre was discovered, the town was called Schumacher. Mr. Schumacher takes great interestfin Schumacher schools. Last year he presented an oil-painting of himself to the Schumacher Public School. - Pottsville was named after a one old lady by the name of Mrs. Potts, who was called Ma Potts, by the men. She kept one of the first hotels in Porcupine. Hoyle was named after an undertaker, Mr. W. W. Hoyle, at that time a speaker of the Legislature. Drinkwater Pit was named after lVLr. Drink- water, a. former roadmaster of the T. and N. O. Its oiiicial name is Dugwall. Dugwall owes its name to the two Nicholson brothers, Douglas and Wallace, who were early settlers there. The first syllables of their Christian names are united to form Dugwall. Connaught was named after the Duke of Connaught who was Governor-General at that time. Ansonville perpetuates the memory of Mr. Anson, president of the Abitibi Paper Com- Mr. Anson died about four years ago pany. and a. monument to his memory has been erected in Ansonville. Cochrane owes its name to Hon. F. Coch- rane, member for this riding in the Provin- cial and Dominion Houses. Kirkland Lake was named after Miss Kirk- land, an employee in the mining recorders oiiice. For Mr. Englehart. chairman of the T. 55 N. O... at the time when the railway was being fbuilt through, Englehart was named. Northern Ontario has not many towns which 'bear names given to them for senti- mental reasons. However it has a few which are very interesting. ' Canusa was named by joining the short form for Canada to the short form for United States of America QU. S. AJ to make Canusa. Mr. C. C. Farr, editor of the Haileyburian gave Haileybury its name, after his old college in England and New Liskeard was named after an old country town in England called Liskeard. Other towns in Northern Ontario have been named by circumstance. Aibout 1909 the Dome mine was discovered. It was called Dome because of the peculiar shape of the gold-bearing deposit. Mr. Hunter, about 1909, discovered what is now called the Hunter mine. The people living around this mine named the settle- ment, City of Gold, and then shortened it to, Golden City.

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10 TT1 The PORCUPINE QUILL Prologue All the worlds a stage. Therefore do we, on gold-not silver-screen Flash epics wrought by dauntless pioneers Who staked this Claim-and thus our First Act ends. The Second shows you many Stopes and Shifts, tThe setting is our Town-the Mine, our School, Knowledge the Cage which carries Seekers therei. To Learnings tools, the Levels spill their loads Of precious Ore. The 'Third Act then outspreads Rocks that may yield a truly rich Assay- Of Sports and Arts and Crafts conglomerate- Borne on the moving Zone of the school year To Agitator and to Crucible. The Surface Showingsf-spring, and winter too,- Act Four portrays to our accustomed eyes, We know them well. But here an Outcrop strange Calls loudly for new tools, new processes Then fades into the gold-illumined screen . . . e e age For imagery strained and lame and halt We crave forgetfulness-'tis but a Fault! iWritten for The Quill fby a member of the teaching staffl Act I Prospecting and Staking the Claim Scene I: CAMP SITES . We the rivers stemming, vexing we and piercing deep the mines within, We the surface broad surveying, we the virgin soil upheaving Pioneers! O Pioneers! -Walt Whitman Romance of Place Names in Northern Ontario 1 It is fascinating to speculate on the origin of of Northern ern Ontario and they had their settlements named before the white men came. Some of these names have been retained. This part of Ontario was called Porcupine because of place names, especially those Ontario. The names given to our towns of Northern Ontario are romantic and interest- ing. Some of these towns assumed their names from Indian loreg others show that those who gave them, loved dearly the homes they had leftg still others were christened by circumstance. Do you know how many of the towns in Northern Ontario got their names? You do not! Then I'll tell you. P The Indians were the first people in North- the many porcupines the Indians found here. Some people dispute this little tale, and say that when some prospectors were travelling over this part of the country in 1909, they caught sight of the lake in the distance. 'I hey could see that in shape it somewhat resembled an immense porcupine, and the surrounding country adopted the name.

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12 L The. PORCUPINE QUILL l- Porquis Junction is a railway junction for trains from Iroquois Falls and Porcupine. The name Porquis is made by adding the first syllable of 'iPorcupine, to the last pa1't of Iroquois, Swastika, the home of the Lucky Cross Mine, was named after the lucky swastika. cross. The name Cobalt suggests the mineral. When the T. and N. O. was being 'built through Cobalt. a. blacksmith, Mr. LaRose, threw his hammer at the rocks. A piece was chipped o1T, exposing the cobalt. Cobalt is used to give blue colour to glass, glazes and enamels, and to correct objectionable yellow and orange tints. These names have been oflicially given to the places named by the Ontario government. I am indebted to Mr. G. A. Macdonald of The Porcupine Advance for much of my information. VALEIRIE MORLEY 1 l LL-Md, A Street in Timmins Courtesy of A. Tomkinson Scene II: SAFETY FIRST The History of the Timmins Fire Department The greater majority of the houses in Tim- mins are wooden frame houses. Should fire get a firm hold on one of these, only a very efficient fire department c-ould save the build- ing from complete destruction. Most of you have walked past the Tim- mins Fire Station and have seen the two fine trucks: 'but how many of you have' given one minutels thought to what kind of fire depart- ment we had in Timminsrin its nrst days and to how it has progressed to-me eflicient fire fighting organization it snow- ls? In 1912 a group of volunteers 'met in a box car on a railway siding, with Jack Nolan as their chief. They had tenlengths' of hose and one nozzle. A hand reel was part of their equipment. Covered by a tarpaulin, it and the ten lengths of hose were kept on the vacant lot that is now occupied by the Im- perial Bank. A steam fire engine pumped the water from Miller Lake, now called the Cyanide, through a six-inch surface main. Later on, a shack was secured on Third Avenue on the lot now occupied by the Dominion Stores. By this time the fire de- partment had two reels. One night the house where they kept their pumping engine was burned down. The man who usually slept there was forced to make a. hurried dive through a window to save himself. The worst part of it all was that the engine did not 'belong to Timmins, fbut to the Watrous Com- pany of Brantford. In 1913 the fire hall was moved to its pre-