Prospecting in the Rouyn Township
Date: 1976
Credits: BAnQ Rouyn-Noranda, Comité du 50e anniversaire de Rouyn-Noranda funds, interview series. 08Y,P34,S2,P140.
Caption: A prospector with a tool designed to find ores in the ground.
Photo credits: BAnQ Rouyn-Noranda, Ministère des Ressources naturelles funds, mining industry. 08Y,E20,S2,SS1,P1556.
Interviewer: Mr. Hambry arrived in Rouyn in 1923. He said that there was close to 100 prospectors on the site. Even today at the age of 75 he still wants to do prospecting work. He explains to us what it was like.
Mr. Hambry: I worked with Bob Gamble. And we cut the lines, and then staked claims and all. And in Rouyn, we dug trenches. And then we used a compass on a map and we looked at it and headed there. We arrived there and then we would try to find a bump on the rock and we would look at it. If it was good, if there were veins, we staked a claim. If there were none, well, we would go back and tell the others. We worked for eight hours, sometimes ten, it depended. The days we lost, well… sometimes, we lost two to three days because it was raining pitchforks and well, we stayed in later to show them that we had done something. And then, we walk in the forest and we search for veins and for bump on the rocks. We look at them. We tested the rocks every 50 feet and every 100 feet.