Malone 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.

Powell's finding would cause a gold rush that saw prospectors from across the world race to stake claims in the area. Prior to this discovery Powell had built a mill approximately seven kilometers northwest of Eldorado. The mill site, built in 1855, was appropriately named Powell's Mills. The site changed names and became known as Malone in 1863.

Despite the influx of eager prospectors, Malone never did see more than half of a dozen gold mines in operation.

Henry Bowerman owned and operated a local grist mill while George Richardson operated the local store and also served double-duty as postmaster when the post office relocated into the store (though the 1st postmaster was DN Powell). The town could also boast a school, butcher, Methodist church, blacksmith, tavern (operated by George McGregor) as well as a hotel (operated by Robert Arkles). George Richardson took over operation of the hotel in 1888.

The population stood at approximately 70 residents by 1869, a much smaller number than during the gold rush. Although most of the prospectors had left the Eldorado area by this time, a few determined prospectors remained in Malone. Two gold finds were recorded by 1871 with an average yield of 81 ounces. These finds brought a surge of over 350 residents back to Malone. Two quartz crushing mills were set up to process the ore. Unfortunately as much many gold finds these two finds proved to be small and isolated.

Life returned back to normal for the town of Malone. It was situated as a railway stop along the Central Ontario Railway where the shipping of lumber, cordwood and farm goods kept the town on the map.

Around 1890 however, the Crescent Gold Mining Company arrived and began explorations in the area. As a result the towns population wavered around the 100 mark. By the end of the century Crescent had three gold crushing mills in operation.ÿ The Sovereign mine operated from 1892 until 1900 although the amount of gold extracted is not known. As with mines that had previously come and gone, the lifespan of finding gold was short lived.

Two sawmills as well as two cheese factories (North Star Cheese and Champion Cheese and Butter Company) kept Malone active into the 1900's. When the lumber supply was exhausted however, the town's population slowly dropped as the mills closed. The post office closed in 1968.

Today the old hotel sign can still be found announcing your arrival into Malone.
Malone is located along Hastings Road 11. If you take Highway 62 it will be to your west. It can also be reached by taking highway 7 west from Madoc and then taking the Hastings Road 11 north.