A lost prospector, a rifle shot and a misplaced step…these were the elements that lead to the founding of Kirkland Lake, and signalled the opening of one of the most exciting chapters in Canadian mining history.

William Wright, and Ed Hargreaves were prospecting in the area in 1911. Hargreaves became lost while hunting for rabbits and fired a shot to attract the attention of Wright. While scrambling through the bush, Wright stumbled across a quartz outcrop with clear evidence of gold – lots of it. The next day, Wright and Hargreaves staked out their claims. Little did they know that they had just discovered the main ore-bearing fault of the Kirkland Lake gold camp. Later those claims became the nucleus of three great mines: the Sylvanite, Wright – Hargreaves, and Lakeshore. And with that staking, the Kirkland Lake gold rush was on.

The Kirkland Camp attracted some of the most colourful characters in Canadian mining history. Sandy McIntyre of Porcupine fame tramped the area, staking claims that resulted in the Teck-Hughes Mine. The Tough brothers snowshoed four miles in the middle of the night in –50’ to stake out the land that would become the Tough Oakes mine. J.B Tyrell, best known for discovering the dinosaurs in the Alberta badlands, made Kirkland Lake Gold Mines a success, while Robert Bryce, one of Canada’s leading mine engineers bucked conventional wisdom and the financiers of the day to bring the mighty Macassa mine into being.

But of all the characters in the camp, none surpassed Harry Oakes for sheer tenaciousness and strength of character. It was he that talked the Tough brothers into the midnight jaunt that would make them rich. And it was he that read the signs that others missed, staking his claims on the shores of Kirkland Lake. And from those claims came the Lakeshore mine, one of richest gold mines in the world. From that point on, Harry never looked back. Success followed success, until his mysterious murder in the Bahamas in 1943.

As prospectors gave way to production, civilization followed. The municipal council of the Township of Teck was sworn in 1919. The new council quickly set about bringing order to the unorganized township. Roads were built, pipes laid, and rules created to govern the rapidly growing population. And the people came. Some like Roza Brown and Charlie Chow will forever live in our memories and imagination, for they were the kind of people that added true colour to the community. But there were many others. In 1939, the population peaked at 24,200; 4,680 of which worked for the mines.

Mining remained the economic mainstay of the community until the latter half of the 20th century, when stagnant gold prices and rising production costs and the lack on new finds led to a gradual slowdown. The Toburn mine closed in 1953, followed by the Kirkland Minerals in 1960, Sylvanite in 1961, Lake Shore and Wright-Hargreaves in 1965, Teck-Hughes in 1968 and Macassa in 1999.

Today KL is a smaller, quieter community. Mining is still important: Foxpoint Resources (now Kirkland Lake Gold Inc.) reopened many of the old mines in 2001, while Newmount Canada continues its operations north of the town. But today, other sectors such as forestry and professional services are equally important.