Shown is the LaRose mine and mill complex at the height of the Cobalt boom. The mine was one of the major producers among the forty-one local mines in operation which together were producing over $15 million worth of silver annually. As is suggested by the photograph, the individualistic and primitive methods of mining had been replaced by relatively expensive and sophisticated machinery. As the mining operations expanded and became more technically oriented, distinctions between the owners and employees increased. Attempts by the area miners to unionize in 1906 met with stiff resistance from the mine owners who, ironically, formed their own union, the Mine Managers' Association, which set wages at an average of about two dollars a day for a ten-hour day. A bitter strike in 1907 resulted in the departure of many experienced miners who were quickly replaced by inexperienced immigrants willing to work for the wage scales in force.
Courtesy: John Mitchell Collection, Canadian Kodak
