Murray Mine

It was August of 1883 and blacksmith Tom Flanagan was working in the area of Sudbury, on the expansion of the Canadian Pacific Railway(a)s westward line.

It is believed that Flanagan discovered rust-coloured material at a right-of-way, which was later identified as copper sulphide. Who made this initial discovery is uncertain as others also claimed to have found it first including magistrate Andrew McNaughton, and CP doctor William H. Howey.

In February 1884, the first claim to the area was made by brothers Thomas and William Murray, merchants from Pembroke. A mine was subsequently opened that same year and named the Murray Mine. It was the first mine to operate in the Sudbury area.

In 1891 the Canadian Copper Company was formed to mine the metal. Ore was shipped to a smelting plant in Constable Hook, NJ (owned by the Orford Copper Company). Processing revealed that the ore contained a much more valuable metal, nickel. As a result, the International Nickel Company (INCO) was formed in 1902.

INCO was a result of mergers between Canadian Copper, the Orford Copper Company, the Société Minière Caledonienne and other mines. The community around the mine was renamed Sudbury in honour of the England hometown of the CPR commissioner(a)s wife.

The Murray mine continued to operate for at least six decades. Today it is abandoned, containing a handful of old buildings as well as many mining relics. What appears to be a firetower watches over the site. At the site of the town itself, one lot contains a stone marker which reads, "Mayor Burford Aug. 1963".

As the mine is located on private property belonging to INCO, no directions are provided. The mine is located not too far from Copper Cliff.