The Geraldton Gold Camp

Photo by Thomas William Kirkbride - January 13, 2007

Plaque Location

The District of Thunder Bay
The Municipality of Greenstone
In Geraldton, on the corner of Main Street and 4th Avenue.

Plaque Text

Discoveries of gold in the vicinity of Lake Kenogamisis in 1931-2 mushroomed into an extensive gold-mining field in this region. Prospector Tom Johnson, mining promoter Joseph Errington and geologist Percy Hopkins played important roles in its establishment. Geraldton was founded and grew into the principal community. Of the twelve mines operating at the field's peak of activity about 1940, Little Long Lac and MacLeod-Cockshutt are probably the best-known. By 1971, when all operating gold mines had closed, the camp had produced gold valued at more than one hundred and fifty-six million dollars. Geraldton's commercial and service industries with pulpwood-cutting and logging operations in the region, have helped to offset the loss in mining.