The top photo shows Benny Hollinger's test shaft with its crude tripod, hand winch, and bucket. Hollinger discovered gold at this spot by stripping moss off a rock. As his partner later described it, "the quartz where he had taken off the moss looked as though someone had dripped a candle along it, but instead of wax, it was gold." This and adjoining claims were sold to Noah Timmins and associates for $350,000.
Only four years later, the Hollinger mine had grown to the large complex shown in the bottom photo. The town of Timmins can be seen in the distance. The Hollinger was to remain in operation for fifty-eight years. It had produced more gold than any other mine in Canada when it closed. In the foreground and in the right background are company houses, considerably more substantial than the private residences in the area which are not clearly visible but are located to the left of the Hotel Goldfields, the main building in the left background. Timmins grew very slowly (it was still less than 4,000 in 1921) but was to become the urban centre of the area, eclipsing Golden City and South Porcupine.
Courtesy: Hollinger Mines Collection, Public Archives of Ontario; Peters Collection, Public Archives of Ontario
