The road to the Gold

derekmac · **on:** October 26, 2014, 09:27:24 PM

I finally got to explore the Renfrew Gold mine some today, but it started to rain, so I didn't get as many pictures as I would have like. Hope you enjoy the ones I did get.

derekmac · **Reply #1 on:** October 26, 2014, 09:28:03 PM

derekmac · **Reply #2 on:** October 26, 2014, 09:28:27 PM

zoidberg · **Reply #3 on:** October 26, 2014, 09:37:34 PM

Cool pics mate. Looks like a nice mission.

Mike, Lord of the Spammers! · **Reply #4 on:** October 26, 2014, 09:42:45 PM

Wow! That looks like they just packed up and left

Sent from the astropathic choir.

derekmac · **Reply #5 on:** October 26, 2014, 09:56:18 PM

There was an entire town back there way back in the day. Here's a little blurb about it;

Renfrew Ghost Town is the location of the remains of a gold mining town in Nova Scotia, Canada.
In 1860 Renfrew, Hants County, Nova Scotia was an unnamed district of Nine Mile River where a few families thought that they could make a living on farming and logging. Little did they know in the coming years they would become millionaires. At the height of the Renfrew Gold Rush over 700 citizens lived and worked in Renfrew and the value of the gold extracted from the quartz would be over $20,000,000.00 in today's dollars.

On April 29, 1862 Renfrew was proclaimed a Gold District. The early prospectors worked near the brook, digging surface gold or cutting deep trenches, often using explosives to blast the shale and quartz. (It was not until 1867 that Alfred Nobel invented dynamite, which was used later at Renfrew in blasting.)

The common method was to find a vein containing gold, frequently near the surface, then follow it by trenching or by blasting down as far as possible.

Processing methods in the early years was very wasteful. An estimated 30% of the gold was frequently left behind in the tailings. Often when the gold was brought to the surface, water was splashed on it and only if gold showed was the rock sent to the crushers! There are thousands of ounces of gold still hidden in the hundreds of mounds of minestone scattered throughout Renfrew. I found a large chuck of quartz with some gold in it when I was scouting the area. It is easy to find pieces of quartz with gold in them!

When visiting Renfrew, be careful particularly with children and pets - there are open pits in the area.

And as hard as it is to believe today, at its height Renfrew was complete with homes, hotel, supply store, and post office!

The story of the area is recorded in Renfrew Gold: The Story of a Nova Scotia Ghost Town by John Hawkins. (Publisher: Lancelot Press, 1995)

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kirk13 · **Reply #6 on:** October 26, 2014, 10:05:32 PM

Great pix Derek

Mike, Lord of the Spammers! · **Reply #7 on:** October 26, 2014, 10:08:39 PM

Thanks for the info too mate

Sent from the astropathic choir.

ducttapetech · **Reply #8 on:** October 26, 2014, 10:20:07 PM

That is cool!! Great pics and info.
Thanks for sharing.

Nate

Chako · **Reply #9 on:** October 26, 2014, 10:38:29 PM

derekmac · **Reply #10 on:** October 26, 2014, 11:01:28 PM

I was so happy to finally be able to get back there!! The guys I went wheeling with today all wanted to go and see it. I'm a bit pissed about the rain, as there is so much to explore back there. You can't drive though as the road is gated off. There's a small shack that's meant for ATVers to use, but you can't get anything bigger through.

There are supposed to be some cool looking mine shafts back there too, and more mining equipment, but I'm not sure exactly where. The place is a little sketchy to explore though, as there are open shafts and pits, but none of them are marked. Some are covered with wood, but most of that wood is older than I am.

ColoSwiss · **Reply #11 on:** October 27, 2014, 02:06:14 AM

Nice shots of an interesting area!

comis · **Reply #12 on:** October 28, 2014, 05:36:08 AM

Thank you for the pictures and the writeup, it's a good read! Looks like a fun time and off-roading too!

Grant Lamontagne · **Reply #13 on:** October 28, 2014, 01:29:53 PM

Looks like a great time. One of these days I'll need to get back there and have a look around too.

Def

Megan · **Reply #14 on:** October 28, 2014, 05:11:56 PM

Quote from: Grant Lamontagne on October 28, 2014, 01:29:53 PM

Looks like a great time. One of these days I'll need to get back there and have a look around too.

Def

On the weekend?

Thanks for sharing Derek- these are so awesome!

Whoey · **Reply #15 on:** October 28, 2014, 06:23:27 PM

Quote from: Grant Lamontagne on October 28, 2014, 01:29:53 PM

Looks like a great time. One of these days I'll need to get back there and have a look around too.

Def

Wait for me! I'll bring my camera!

derekmac · **Reply #16 on:** October 28, 2014, 06:31:04 PM

Quote from: Megan on October 28, 2014, 05:11:56 PM

Quote from: Grant Lamontagne on October 28, 2014, 01:29:53 PM
Looks like a great time. One of these days I'll need to get back there and have a look around too.

Def

On the weekend?

Thanks for sharing Derek- these are so awesome!

There are also nice lakes back there, if you wanted to kayak and checkout this place out in the same day.

If this works, this should put a pin on where it is.
https://www.google.ca/maps/place/45%C2%B000'27.4%22N+63%C2%B038'12.8%22W/@45.007618,-63.63689,802m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0

derekmac · **Reply #17 on:** October 28, 2014, 06:35:18 PM

This PDF shows the different gold veins, and mine shafts.
http://novascotia.ca/natr/meb/data/mg/ofm/pdf/ofm_2009-001_s31_dp.pdf

Megan · **Reply #18 on:** October 28, 2014, 06:36:29 PM

Quote from: Whoey on October 28, 2014, 06:23:27 PM

Quote from: Grant Lamontagne on October 28, 2014, 01:29:53 PM
Looks like a great time. One of these days I'll need to get back there and have a look around too.

Def

Wait for me! I'll bring my camera!

Did you start driving yet?
That will be one heck of a road trip