Marmora and Lake

The rich history of Marmora Township is the story of mining in Eastern Ontario. Since the early 1800s, this Township has played a leading role in the development of iron mining. In addition, copper, lead, silver, gold and lithographic stone have been extracted.

On April 14, 1821, the government passed an act setting up Marmora Township and attaching it to Hastings County as per Charles Hayes’ request to do so in 1820. The new Township took its name from the Latin word for '[marble]' because of an ‘immense rock of most delicate white marble’. This giant rock stood on the southeast corner of Crowe Lake. The Lake took its name from the Crowe Indians that lived along the shore.

Marmora Township was opened for sale in 1821, but there was little settlement outside of the newly created mining village. Although mining and lumbering have been vital to the Township, agriculture has probably supported more people in the area since 1850. A remaining legacy of iron mining is the Marmora Open Pit Mine, a man-made wonder-lake, seventy five acres in area, six hundred and thirty five feet deep, filled with four hundred feet deep of clear blue spring water that is steadily rising to the top.

 

Madoc Township

Madoc is a village in Hastings County, Ontario located at the junction of Highway 7 and Highway 62, southeast of Bancroft.

It was originally named MacKenzie's Mills after Donald MacKenzie, who built a sawmill and grist mill here. It was later renamed after Madoc Township which it is now separated from. The area has had a rich mining history. Gold was discovered at nearby Eldorado in 1866. Fluorite was extracted from the area during the 1930s and 1940s. Now, talc is being mined nearby.

People born here include:

* Allan Roy Dafoe, who delivered and cared for the Dionne Quintuplets
* John Weir Foote, who was awarded the Victoria Cross

(SOURCE: Wikipedia)