Karen Bachmann is the director/curator of the Timmins Museum and a writer of local history.
TIMMINS – I can’t remember what romantically inclined poet first said it, but the adage was very true – the Porcupine Camp did, “like a Phoenix, rise from its ashes” after the great Porcupine fire of 1911.
For those of you unfamiliar with the event, here is the New York Times version of what happened, printed on July 13th, 1911: “Hundreds of lives were lost and millions of dollars’ worth of property was destroyed in the forest fires which swept the Porcupine mining district in Northern Ontario yesterday.
“The mines burned include the Dome, the North Dome, the Preston, the East Dome, the Vipond, the Foley O’Brien, the Philadelphia, the United Porcupine, the Eldorado Porcupine, the Hollinger, the Standard Imperial, the West Dome and the Success.
In four short hours, starting at 12:30 on July 11th, the fire swept from the Standard Mines right through to the shores of Porcupine Lake where it ate up the town sites of South Porcupine and Pottsville and part of Golden City, as well as many small buildings around the waterfront.
“Hundreds fled before the flames which were eating up the shacks in the outlying section of South Porcupine. The dense clouds of black smoke hung very low over the land and made flight difficult. Many perished from exhaustion and lay prostate before the raging fire as it swept over the town.
For the rest of this article: http://www.timminspress.com/2018/03/25/history-porcupine-rose-from-ashes-of-1911-fire