Top 3 Abandoned Places In Hastings County

There are so many abandoned places in Hastings County! This is a list of the top three abandoned places in Hastings County. Browse through all abandoned places in Hastings County

1. Craigmont (ghost town)

This vanished ghost town/ mine was once the world(a)s largest producer of corundum. This mineral was first found here in 1876. By 1900 the mine there began with a town built to house the miners. There were sections of the settlement- the west side was the mine and the east side was the town.

The town had a community hall that showed plays and fashion exhibits. It had boardwalks, a store, tailors, a barber, a photographer and a surgeon. They did not have a tavern, so the miners would travel to Combermere to get their fill of alcohol.

At its height, the mine produced 80% of Canada(a)s corundum and the town had a population of 600. A fire hit the mine in 1913 and the crushing operation was moved to this sister mine at Burgess. The town went bust by 1921.

This drive is awesome in the fall with the mountain scapes and changing colours, mixed with the ghostly old buildings. This was part of the old townsite. I have some cool photos below.

2. Richardson Gold Mines

PRIVATE PROPERTY - MUST BOOK TOUR - EXPLORATION PROJECT BY ONTARIOEXPLORATIONS101 - www.ontarioexplorations101.com/Richardson-gold-mine-geology
Edorado, Ontario, Canada rather has great history to its own name as it was the first town to host Ontario's first ever gold discovery in 1866. Before mining had taken place, the area was rather known as a Meteorite discovery zone as the first ever Meteorite was reported in Ontario, in 1854. Most of this had played an important role in the area as it was one of the biggest discoveries in Ontario, Canada at the time. Prior to the discovery of Meteorites, another prospector named Marcus Hubert Powell had settled out to explore the many townships owned by the British Empire as Canada was not yet its own country. He, and Nickolas Snider who was German copper miner had taken a two-year journey in discovering gold/copper within the area of Belmont, Elzevir, and other townships. After not coming across anything profitable it was rather reported that the two would split up. However, Marcus Powell was very confident that the area did host significant copper discoveries at the time, in which would make him settle out to Madoc Township, Ontario, Canada. It was at this point in time when Marcus Powell had rather teamed up with another associate by the name of William Berryman. This resulted in optioning the property from a land owner by the name of John Richardson who rather was a farmer and not a miner at the time. With the property option Marcus Powell, and William Berryman had started prospecting the area further when they came upon a copper seam. This encouraging discovery had made the two prospectors eager enough to keep digging at it when all a sudden the ground had broken beneath their feet, and opened up into a small cavern. By this time, the two had rather dug to about 15 feet where the encountered this cavern, and gold ore. Reports on the seam had reported it to be six inches wide at the top and decomposed for 6 feet, in which was then solid hard rock to about 15 feet. The cave was rather encountered at about 15 feet said Marcus Powell, and was 12 feet long, 6 feet wide, and 6 feet in height. Further examinations by the historical Marcus Powell had reported that the Hanging wall was quartzite, and the footwall being granite, with the roof being made from spar, talc, and rocks of various kinds. The floor of the mine was rather reported to have been mainly made from Iron, Talc, Quartzite, Mica, and other minerals. Gold that was encountered in this cavern was mainly found in all of these rocks in form of leaves, and nuggets Marcus Powell had reported. Much of the roof was very well mineralized with gold that had ran through a foot thickness like knife blades as it was stated in the reports at the time. One of the largest gold pieces at the time was reported to have been the size of a butternut, and was the very first discovery in the district. Much of the reasoning for stopping mining operations was because the ore-was found to difficult to process at the time as much attention was focus on finding ways to process gold and not sulphide ores. A lot of prospectors had rather came stampeding to Eldorado which is known to go by the term the Valley of gold, and a lot of focus was then made on other areas where arsenic was encountered in Deloro, Ontario, Canada. This type of mining was fairly easy as only arsenates with carbonates were encountered in Deloro at the time which made processing methods much easier.
It was rather within the same year when Marcus Hubert Powell, and William Berryman had sold the property for a mere 36,000 to Benjamin Lombart, and Joseph Harding of Chicago United States. Development of the property was rather undertaken within the same year as the two prospectors were focusing on sinking a shaft to the depth of 75 feet below the surface. Before all of this had happened most the discovery of gold was overheard by Lyman Moon who was rather a claim jumper. As Mr Moon had overhear John Richardson and Marcus Powell talking with other associate about the discovery of gold, he had decided to take action into his own hands. Prior to this, Mr. Lyman Moon would decide to the prospectors to court over who had ownership of the Richardson Ridge. As tensions flared, a court battle was now in session over who had really owned the Richardson Property at the time. The verdict at the time had rather awarded 80% ownership to Lombart, and Harding, and the remaining 20% was given to Lyman Moon. It was at this point in time when the Glass & Co had overtaken these properties that were won by Lyman Moon under the laws of the British Empire. This was rather a law suit that was known as the Lombart, and Harding Vs Carr and Johnson at the time. Much of the map below shows how much ownership was given to Lombart, and Harding, and how much was won by Lyman Moon.

It was rather within the same year when Marcus Hubert Powell, and William Berryman had sold the property for a mere 36,000 to Hector Lombart, and Joseph Harding of Chicago United States. Development of the property was rather undertaken within the same year as the two prospectors were focusing on sinking a shaft to the depth of 75 feet below the surface. Before all of this had happened most the discovery of gold was overheard by Lyman Moon who was rather a claim jumper. As Mr Moon had overhear John Richardson and Marcus Powell talking with other associate about the discovery of gold, he had decided to take action into his own hands. Prior to this, Mr. Lyman Moon would decide to the prospectors to court over who had ownership of the Richardson Ridge. As tensions flared, a court battle was now in session over who had really owned the Richardson Property at the time. The verdict at the time had rather awarded 80% ownership to Lombart, and Harding, and the remaining 20% was given to Lyman Moon. It was at this point in time when the Glass & Co had overtaken these properties that were won by Lyman Moo under the laws of the British Empire. Much of the map below shows how much ownership was given to Lombart, and Harding, and how much was won by Lyman Moon.

[b]it was rather by the following year when Benjamin Lombart, and Joseph Harding had resumed development on the Harding Shaft. The Harding Shaft was rather first sunk to the depth of 75 feet below surface at the time. Most of the sinking at the time had resulted in developing this shaft on an iron oxide formation that was rather following a quartz lead vein. An opening at the time result in station building when a crosscut that was 40 by 60 feet had been driven in an east, and west direction. Most of this development was aimed at extracting a very rich iron oxide formation that hosted several sulphide minerals of base metal chemical compositions. Several minerals from all categories were rather mined from this location that constituted Au, Pt, Pd, Ag, Al, As, Ba, Be, Bi, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se, Si, Sn, Sr, Ti, Tl, U, V, Y and Zn. However, much attention in 1867, was aimed a processing gold and silver values from the hard rock formation as smelters were not quite invented at the time. Not a lot of knowledge was also won as most the miners/prospectors were all newbies to hard-rock mining as they came from areas where placer mining existed such as British Columbia, Yukon, and California. A mill at the time was also built when the same contractors from Rea Dou Canal had built a 20-stamp milling facility out of rock from a limestone pit that was not too far away from the mine site. As the mill had commence operation it was reported that 1 ounce of gold was produce from 1800 pounds of quartz-lead iron rock. From all processing it was rather reported that anywhere from $25 to 30 in gold was produce from one tonne of rock. A failure was rather encountered at this time when the mine had also lost anywhere between $35 to $45 of gold per tonne of rock if assayed. Other impacts had also followed suit when a large quantity of silver was produce, but was soon lost due to the prospectors being in payroll debt with the miners. Another reason why it became lost was because the milling facility could not produce a full recovery of silver due to it being only a gold mill at the time. Some of the gold that was produce from the RIchardson Property had rather came from a depth of 20 feet into the ground that extended into cave workings. Assays at the time were taken by Mr. Ottawa, in which had sometimes recovered $400 worth of gold from a tonne of hard solid rock. Gold which was taken from assaying was reported to have sometimes not been visible to naked eye which is largely true about the Richardson Mine Property. At one point in time, the RIchardson Mine was rather known for lacking efficient energy to operate much of the needed machinery in which included a crusher. As the ore became crushed it was then place into 10 stamps in which the gold was extracted into sluices as the light stuff was washed out. Another set of 10 stamp were rather left out as the mine was not producing enough material to run this mill at full capacity. Ore that came from the mine was also at one point in time pulverized and treated at an amalgamation plant as it was found very successful in this operation. Most of this work was done in regards to testing the ore-body as no production was really taken besides samples of material that roughly produce 2,000 ounces of gold and an unknown amount of silver.

A few samples were rather sent of to Professor T. Bell of Albert College who had presented the results on the Assays. It was also concluded that two pieces from the Dolomite at the Richardson Mine had yeild 9 ounces, 11 dwts, 16 grams, and 4 ounces, 5 dwts, 17 grams of gold per tonne. Much of the metalic sulphides which were chiefly iron pyrites had also contributed 88 ounces of gold per tonne in samples taken.[/b]

[b][color=#fb0303]It was rather on Friday of the 26th, 1867, when mining operations were once again resumed at the Richardson Property. However, even more impact on the mine was about to occur when Benjamin Lombart, and Joseph Harding were served with an order from the court of Chancery on Wednesday of the same year. Whatever the two prospectors had try to accomplish on this property it was rather hammered with further suspensions in mining operations. An unlawful unorganized attempt was then prevailed as some 100 miners along with other stock holders had affected the entrance to the Richardson Gold Mine. Most of this became achieved as many of these shareholders did not believe that gold existed in paying quantities at the property. At the time, Harding who was the superintendent of the mine had allowed Caribou Cameron, and another one of him men into the mine, and were rather quite satisfied with the results. At the time, ropes were rather thrown over the shaft as the men wanted to tear it down, but before that happened they were more please by the discovery to cause damage. The picture rather shows why they were very satisfied with this mining operation as it was a mine that not only has a beautiful formation but was a work of deformed art. A lot of people say there is no gold at Eldorado, but little do they know that Eldorado is called the Valley of Gold for a reason. Major events at the time had taken place here that caused an impact to occur on this site, in which revealed shock quartz that are associated with gold values.

A village named Eldorado was rather formed from these discoveries in 1867, in which it became a town with a unique history. This resulted in building the first ever log shanty, and over eighty buildings had occupied the town. Transportation in 1867 was also rather a tricky process in which was achieved by four four-horse coaches, and two covered stages. Most of this journey would first start off at Belleville for a price of $1.50 per a ride to Eldorado at the time. Eldorado was rather made into a town when a farm property owned by John Moore became the planned community known as Eldorado, Ontario, Canada today.[/color][/b]
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[color=#b08100]A guy by the name of Joseph Elevier was rather the main person who had been in charge of guarding the entrance to the mine. Mr. Elevier had rather pick up some rock, which was lying around from the small-scale excavations, and had been very rich in gold. Most of the mine at the time was also being examined by the geological survey in which a specimen of $20 was purchase. Significant gold discoveries were also made when some of the California Gold Miners became a part of exploring Eldorado further. This resulted in placer findings which were relatively small gold grains that were found within the rich mineralized soil. The mine at the time had also employed roughly over 100 miners who became in charge of forming the mine site. All transportation from the mine to the mill was also being done by the usage of two horse that were employed for ore haulage. Reports of an incline that had reach a depth of 105 feet at 045 degrees was also reported to have served most of the production taken. A level was then driven on the 60-foot section where stope that ran 40 feet west, and 60 feet east was being mined. Work was also progressing as at rapid rate in which 25,000 tonnes of ore was hoisted, and still lies on the property today. A tailings pile was also made in which the on-site 20 stamp mill had also lost significant amounts of the gold, and silver that average well over 2 ounces of gold per tonne back then. Mining at the Richardson Property was only continued till 1868, when work was very satisfactory for the last 6 months of that year. By 1869, the Phoenix Gold Mining Company had purchased this mine from Hector Lombard, and Joseph Harding.

The Phoenix Gold Mining Company was now on a mission as the shafts were being prepared for the second phase of production. No ore was mined from any of the shafts as the company was engaged in sinking a new shaft to a depth of 50 feet below the surface. This became known as the Phoenix Pump Shaft as plans were aimed to continue develop to the east in order to connect with this shaft. Examinations of the property revealed that one lode from a few inches to 6 feet wide was exposed from this development. Exploratory work was also continued onward when more branches, and feeders were discovered in 7 different places. A total of 300 tonnes of rock was crushed that was produce by the mining operation done under the former managers. Assays which were obtained from this rock reporter yield $4 per tonne which was just under 1 ounces in 1869. Some more assays of 50 tonnes were also taken from the mine in which had yield $9 to $20 per tonne of rock mined. Other statements reported that the best assays were taken from the bottom of mine as this indicated that the ore-body had continued at depth.[/color]
[color=#b08100][b]Much of the structural formation of the Pheonix Pump Shaft was rather a Dolomite Quartzose that was associated with Talc, Slate, Iron, and copper pyrites. As the company prepared to put this mine back into production it was also stated that a total of 10,000 was spent on machinery during the time period Harding, and Lombart had it. A considerable amount of this total was rather over that when it came to mismanagement, and thefts of the property, which the two owners had lost significant amount of capital. As a result of this it was reported that Harding, and Lombart were in considerable amount of debt with the project before it was taken over by the Phoenix Mining Company. Processing which was done within that period of operating was mainly achieved by Battery Copper Plates, a Blanker Concentrator, and Iron Pans. As this process became completed the concentrate would be amalgamated in oscillating cylinders, and had then went onto a shaking table; Mining costs at the time which included excavating, hoisting, hauling, and amalgamating and preconcentrating amalgamating was roughly at $3.00 per tonne of rock. Prior to this, the Pheonix Pump Shaft was rather divided into three compartments in which hosted a Double Bucket Way, Man-Way, and Pump Way. No ore was rather taken out as most of it was being sampled at the time like the Richardson and Harding Shafts. Due to financial difficulties

3. Eldorado - Ghost Town

In August of 1866 Marcus Herbert Powell was prospecting a rock outcrop for copper on John Richardson's farm. Powell was exploring a shallow pit on Richardson's farm when the ground gave way and he fell into a cavern. He discovered that the walls of the cavern contained a bright yellow metallic ore that he believed was copper pyrite. It would take a few weeks before a jeweller from Madoc would announce to him that the copper was, in fact, gold.

The news travelled around the world and Ontario's first gold rush had hit the area of Hastings County. Prospectors rapidly descended upon the area. A series of hotels, bars, boarding houses, stores and brothels were constructed to service the 10,000+ prospectors. The area came to be known as Eldorado and was located 6 miles north of Madoc on Hwy 62.

A few prospectors had ventured five miles west to the Malone area and then south to the Deloro area. Others went north towards Kaladar. Prospectors panned out to cover almost 1200 square miles in an attempt to ensure that no gold was undiscovered.

Unfortunately the stories of riches were either falsified or exaggerated and by 1870 many of the gold mines had closed. The prospectors returned home with only their dreams. The town of Deloro was more fortunate and saw gold mining activity continue until the 1930's.

Eldorado still maintained a little of its former glory as a small terminus for the Central Ontario Railway where it serviced the farmers and few industries that remained.

Today you will find a few abandoned buildings, the Eldorado Gold cheese factory and The Trading Post which serves as a gas station and general store. A historical plaque can be found along the highway which tells the story of Eldorado's past.

Directions: On highway 62 just 9km north of the Highway 7 junction.