Worthington, Ontario
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Worthington is a former mining settlement in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It was located near the community of Beaver Lake in the former municipality of Walden. The original settlement once had a population of around 400, but is now a ghost town. None of the original buildings remain.
The community was settled in 1892 by employees of the mine. The original town was located near the current Totten Mine, south of Fairbank Lake Road. In 1927, the mine collapsed, partially damaging the town.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":1" /> The mine permanently closed shortly after, and the original townsite was abandoned. Worthington continues to exist as a postal designation.
History
Worthington was named for James Worthington, a Canadian Pacific superintendent and shareholder of the Dominion Mineral Company, which acquired the mine in 1890.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He was also known for naming the nearby settlement of Sudbury after the birthplace of his wife, Caroline Hitchcock.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Mine itself was originally called the Crean Mine and was one of the oldest mines in the Sudbury area.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Prospector Francis Charles Crean applied to acquire the land on June 14, 1884, and received a grant from the Department of Crown Lands that November.<ref name=":0" /> In the spring of 1885, a shaft was sunk to a depth of Template:Convert.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref> As only a small quantity of ore was discovered, the mine was abandoned.<ref name=":0" />
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The Dominion Mineral Company acquired the mine in 1890.<ref name=":3" /> Mining operations were suspended in 1894, with 25,000 tons of ore extracted.<ref name=":3" /> In 1892 the settlement had thirty five dwellings, a company store, post office and railway station, with a hotel and social hall being constructed by 1910.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite web</ref>
The Mond Nickel Company purchased the mine in 1910 after the suspension of its operations at Victoria Mines, and a third shaft was added at a depth of Template:Convert.<ref name=":1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":3" /> In 1918, the third shaft was deepened to Template:Convert, with the ore zones in the mine expanded using the shrinking stoping method.<ref name=":2" /> After the purchase, several workers’ cottages were constructed and the population of the settlement reached a peak of around four to five hundred residents by 1927.<ref name=":4" />
By 1927, the mine had shipped 129,000 tons of ore, with its output largely being sold to the Canadian Pacific Railway to be used as track ballast.<ref name=":3" /> Samples from the mine contain a mix of minerals, including sulfides like gersdorffite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, pentlandite, and molybdenite, along with the arsenide niccolite.<ref name=":3" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
1927 mine collapse
At around Template:Format time on October 3, 1927, shift boss D. Ballantyne descended to the third level of the mine at a depth of Template:Convert.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite book</ref> There, he observed the movement and sounds of abnormal rock shifts within the shaft pillar, which were extending outward to the main shaft openings.<ref name=":2" />
Ballantyne informed mine superintendent William Mumford about his observations, and Mumford descended into the mine to examine the situation.<ref name=":2" /> Mumford ordered the weak spot on the third level to be reinforced with additional timbers so the fifty miners on the day shift could be safely evacuated.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5">Template:Cite news</ref>
With the timbers installed, the miners were evacuated by around Template:Format time.<ref name=":2" /> By Template:Format time, the shifting of rock on the third level had accelerated to the extent that Mumford observed that the floor east of the shaft had been forced upward by approximately Template:Convert.<ref name=":2" /> At this point Mumford himself evacuated the mine, with no other miners allowed underground afterwards.<ref name=":2" />
The following morning at Template:Format time, the entire underground portion of the mine collapsed down to its fifth level at a depth of Template:Convert.<ref name=":2" /> Approximately Template:Convert of rock as well as Template:Convert of clay and sand subsided into the collapsed mine, creating a Template:Convert crater on the surface.<ref name=":2" /> Above the collapse, the mines power house, a miners residence, and Template:Convert of Canadian Pacific track, along with two gondola cars, fell into the crater.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":6">Template:Cite news</ref>
Frank Stos and his two sons, along with Frank Pisoskowski, his wife and their baby, were inside the home that fell approximately Template:Convert feet into the crater.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":6" /> Although the house did not collapse when it fell into the crater, Mrs. Pisoskowski was bruised when a table overturned and struck her.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":6" /> The only other injury was to one of the Stos’ pigs, which broke a leg when it fell into the crater along with the houses backyard.<ref name=":1" />
Investigation
Above the fifth level of the mine, the shaft pillar had shown signs of weakening for several years, and the area had received heavy rainfall in the weeks prior to the collapse.<ref name=":2" /> It was proposed that the rain accumulation had weighed down the supporting pillars of the mine, which lubricated a previously undiscovered geological fault and shifted the surface load to the mines structural supports.<ref name=":2" />
Aftermath
The Canadian Pacific station, although not destroyed, was abandoned due to the crater being within a few yards of the building, with the last train passing through the town two hours before the collapse.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":7">Template:Cite news</ref> The home of another family sat still standing at the craters edge.<ref name=":5" /> Due to the evacuation of the mine, no casualties occurred, and the sight of the collapsed mine attracted sightseers from around the region.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":8">Template:Cite news</ref>
A temporary diversion for the destroyed section of the Canadian Pacific track was also destroyed following another collapse on October 19th, caused by continued rainfall. The track was reopened on the 22nd.<ref name=":8" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":9">Template:Cite news</ref> The track was later rebuilt to the south of the crater, and a section of road that sat within a few feet of the crater was rebuilt to the north.<ref name=":4" /> The flooded mineshaft was capped in 2005.<ref name=":10">Template:Cite web</ref>
After the collapse, the destroyed mine was formally abandoned on October 4th.<ref name=":10" /> Salvaging work at the mine removed much of the equipment from the collapsed power station, which was moved to Monds other operations.<ref name=":9" /> C.V. Corless, managing director of Mond Nickel, indicated that the company was already planning to abandon the mine and transfer many of the 170 employees to its other operations prior to the collapse of the mine.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":7" /> A number of the employees were later moved to Garson, Levack, and Frood mines.<ref name=":9" />
Abandonment
With the collapse and subsequent abandonment of the mine, the surviving portion of the original town-site was also abandoned due to its proximity to the crater.<ref name=":4" /> The few remaining residents then established a new town-site along the rebuilt highway to the north, primarily functioning as a highway outpost.<ref name=":4" />
Activity briefly returned to the town with the reopening of the nearby Kidd-Copper mine in 1955 and Totten Mine in 1964. The return of mining activity was short lived, with Kidd-Copper closing and reopening twice throughout the 1950s and 1960s, and the closure of Totten Mine in 1972.<ref name=":4" />
The following year, the township containing Worthington was amalgamated into the newly formed lower-tier Town of Walden within the Regional Municipality of Sudbury. The highway through Worthington was then downgraded to the regional government, with Ontario Highway 17 being moved further to the south. With the downgrading of the highway, most of the remaining residents left.<ref name=":4" /> Although Worthington continues to have its own postal code, it no longer has its own post office.<ref name=":4" />
See also
References
External links
- Worthington at ghosttownpix.com
- Worthington Mine at mindat.org
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