ABOUT WILSON, MCINTYRE and HOLLINGER
At the turn of the 20th century, several gold and silver discoveries, and a newly-built railroad, lured adventurers and fortune-seekers to northern Ontario. Among them was Jack Wilson (1872 - 1948), a Toronto-born railway superintendent and veteran of the Spanish American War, who led a prospecting expedition into the dense, blackfly-infested bush near Porcupine Lake. They found so much gold that Wilson apparently described the find as a "regular jewelry shop." On June 6, 1909, his team discovered gold-encrusted quartz on a large, rounded outcrop; this "big dome" became the Dome operation, which is still in production, and is Canada's longest-running gold mine.
News of this discovery brought Benny Hollinger (1885 - 1919), a former barber from Haileybury, to join the rush to Porcupine, accompanied by Alex Gillies, a prospector. They headed west, beyond the already-staked area. Hollinger uncovered a wide vein constellated with visible gold; these claims evolved into the Hollinger Gold Mine, Canada's largest ever gold producer, which operated from 1910 to 1968. Hollinger was only 24 years old when he made his discovery, one of the biggest in Canadian mining history.
Sandy McIntyre (1869 - 1943), the most famous, and certainly most colourful, of the three prospectors to be commemorated by this project, emigrated to Canada in 1903 to seek his fortune. He and a partner, Hans Buttner, found their way to the Porcupine Camp, pulled their canoe up onto the shores of Pearl Lake, and started to stake the nearest open ground. They, too, found visible gold, and staked the claims which would eventually become the McIntyre Gold Mine; it operated between 1912 and 1988.
On January 14, 2010, Benny Hollinger, Sandy McIntyre, and Jack Wilson were inducted into the Canadian Mining Hall of Fame.