Residents of Greenstone, Ont., mourn as decades-old landmark is set to give way to a gold mine

The 700-kilometre stretch of Highway 11 snaking through a vast expanse of northern Ontario is home to many unique roadside attractions, from the "world's largest snowman" to polar bears, to lumberjacks.

But after this week, the landmark that welcomed residents and tourists alike to Greenstone will be gone.

The headframe of the old Macleod-Cockshutt mine, which was constructed in the 1930s at the junction of Highways 11 and 584, is being dismantled by Greenstone Gold to make way for a new open-pit gold mine set to begin operations in mid-2024.

"It represents home, safety, love, and it also represents the legacy of our mining town and the history of it," said Hilairy O'Brien-Walter, who was born and raised in Geraldton (now amalgamated into the municipality of Greenstone).

O'Brien-Walter grew up on the same street as the headframe, which is the structure that sits above the entrance to a mine shaft.

"When you're driving on that highway, heading towards Geraldton, it's the one thing that tells you, 'Yes, you've made it home, you're just a few minutes away.'"

Northern Ontario experienced a major gold rush in the early 1900s, bringing miners and their families from all over to settle in the region. At the height of the gold boom in the mid-1930s, the Little Long Lac area — now known as the Greenstone region — in northwestern Ontario became renowned for its deposits, said Edgar Lavoie, a writer and historian in the Greenstone area.

It was in 1934 that the original shaft was sunk at the Macleod-Cockshutt mine, although not much happened for the next couple of years, Lavoie said. In '36, tragedy nearly struck when a "great fire" threatened to wipe out all the mines and towns in the region, he added.

Disaster for the burgeoning mining community was avoided, but the headframe for the No. 1 shaft at the Macleod-Cockshutt mine burned down. It was rebuilt in 1937 and stood tall outside Geraldton for decades, guiding people home and helping to extract $1.5 million worth of gold from its mining shafts, according to Lavoie.

"Now we have an 85-year-old structure which is being demolished in the name of progress," Lavoie added.

LISTEN | Greenstone, Ont., residents share what it means to lose this landmark:

Greenstone's municipal council agreed to sell the landmark to Greenstone Gold in 2017 for $1.4 million, Lavoie said, paving the way for the company to remove the headframe — in addition to relocating parts of the provincial highway and demolishing a neighbourhood — and clearing space for the new mine.

Still, seeing workers actually begin dismantling the headframe surprised many in the community.

"It's really heartbreaking. It's a sad, sad day here," said Tim Milne, who has lived most of his 48 years in the community. "Many generations view that as something that should always be there."