Economic History Archives | Page 2 of 3 | The birth of Rouyn and Noranda: a mining story

Interview with Rémi Jodouin About the Foreigners Strike of June 1934

Interviewer: Did you experience one of the first strikes that happened over here in 1934? Rémi Jodouin: Yes, but from afar if you will, because I was in […]

Noranda’s First Development Plan

A development plan was implemented when Noranda got incorporated as a municipality in March 1926. It was put into place so that the city could develop according to […]

A Masked Man Driving a Car in the Smelter

The significant environmental impacts of sulphur dioxide released during copper smelting were common knowledge even before the construction of the Horne mine. Proof of this is the fact […]

The Horne Smelter with its Two Smoking Chimneys

As soon as Noranda Mines undertook construction of its smelter, mine and city, the company needed to bring heavy equipment into the township. The construction of a railroad […]

The Construction of the Horne Smelter

The construction of the smelter started in June 1926 on the Horne mine location. About 600 workers, many of whom helped build the Ontario railroad, were gathered there. […]

Interview with Mr. Vanek, Former Chief of Staff at the Quemont Mine

“In 1952 there were many immigrant groups. French Canadians would generally refer to them as DP, but this is a fallacy. DPs were people that were displaced for […]

Interview With Anthropologist Sylvain Beaupré

Sylvain Beaupré : “In lode mines, where the deposits are at their narrowest, we still use outdated technologies. But the system is always the same. The driller gets […]

Interview with Rémi Jodouin about the Working Conditions of Miners in the 1930s

Interviewer: And then you started working at the mine in 1931. Can you tell us how it was, working in mines, at that time? What was the job […]

Dumulon General Store Shelves

This photo was taken in the re-creation of the Dumulon General Store which has become an historical site. On the left, you can see household cleaning supplies, including […]

Prospectors Search Occurrence of Precious Ore Deposits on a Rock Outcrop

When rocks are not outcropped, prospectors must dig in the overburden in order to find the part of the rock that could potentially contain precious ores. To run […]

Underground Work at Elder Mine

Elder mine, sometimes called Peel-Elder mine, was located in Évain (today a district of Rouyn-Noranda). Gold deposits were discovered in 1933, but Elder Gold Mines Limited only started […]

“Les Fros”, a song by Richard Desjardins

We are by the Horne Mine’s barriers in 1934, in the midst of an economic crisis, there is a strike led by those we called the “Fros” when […]