Cobalt Museum

Cobalt Mining Museum The Cobalt silver rush started in 1903 when huge veins of silver were discovered by workers on the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway (T&NO) near the Mile 103 post. By 1905 a full-scale silver rush was underway, and the town of Cobalt, Ontario sprang up to serve as its hub. By 1908 Cobalt produced 9% of the world's silver, and in 1911 produced 31,507,791 ounces of silver. However, the good ore ran out fairly rapidly, and most of the mines were closed by the 1930s. There were several small revivals over the years, notably in World War II and again in the 1950s, but both petered out and today there is no active mining in the area. In total, the Cobalt area mines produced 460 million ounces of silver.

The Cobalt Rush was instrumental in opening northern Ontario for mineral exploration. Prospectors fanned out from Cobalt, and soon caused the nearby Porcupine Gold Rush in 1909, and the Kirkland Lake Gold Rush of 1912. Much of the settlement in northern Ontario outside the Clay Belt owes its existence indirectly to the Cobalt Rush.

This museum's collection includes one of the world's largest native silver displays as well as minerals specimens from around the world. The collection not only displays the life of early miners but also focuses on all social aspects of the town. Photographs, newspaper clippings, videos as well as hundreds of artifacts help demonstrate the life of the early Cobalt Camp. Other Activities include the Heritage Silver Trail, a driving tour to 20 different mine sites, as well as, the Cobalt Walking Tour, the Guided Colonial Adit Underground Tour and the Right-of-Way Headframe tour.