People Archives | The birth of Rouyn and Noranda: a mining story

The Wright Mine at the End of the Nineteenth Century

After Mr. Edward Wright sold his deposit to New York’s Mattawa Mining and Smelting in 1889, numerous buildings were built in the vicinity of the Wright mine such as […]

Prospectors Setting up Camp

Given that the work of prospectors was most often done far away from any other settlement, they often had to live in the wild for many weeks on […]

A Painting Based on the Legendary Picture of Edmund Horne

This painting demonstrates how the famous prospector still lives in Rouyn-Norandians’ collective memory. The sister-cities named the mine and the smelter after Edmund Horne, as well as an […]

Prospector Edmund Henry Horne

In 1996, Edmund Horne was inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame.

A Now-legendary Picture of Prospector Edmund Horne on a Canoe

When Edmund Horne prospected in the Rouyn township in the 1910s and in the beginning of the 1920s, there were neither roads nor railroads. The only way to […]

Key Administrators and Investors of the Noranda Company

In December 1931, the key administrators of Noranda Mines Limited gathered for the 10th anniversary of the Chadbourne-Thomson Syndicate which gave birth to the company. They pose in front […]

Delivery of Goods in Rouyn Lake Docking Area

During the first years, the Rouyn Lake docking area was strategically located as the exclusive passage for people and goods. Road and railway construction have considerably diminished the importance of […]

Several Police Officers Near the Fences of the Horne Mine

A contingent of police officers assembled to control the strike of June 1934. Sergeant Turnbull, the Provincial Police Chief, hurriedly returned from his trip to Québec City to […]

A Crowd Gathered Outside the Horne Mine Entrance

On June 12, 1934, at the beginning of the strike, several hundred strikers and sympathizers joined in a picket line in front of the Horne mine gates. They […]

Ukrainian Celebration in Rouyn, 1938

This celebration took place in Rouyn in 1938. It was organized by the Ukrainian Society Prosvita to honour poet Taras Shevchenko (1813–1863).

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 […]

A Russian Vigil Held at the Finnish Hall

A Russian community lived in Rouyn and Noranda since the 1920s. In the 1930s, they would meet at the Russian Hall located on Taschereau Street in Rouyn. The […]