The Haileybury School of Mining opened in 1912 to help develop engineering expertise in Ontario’s mining sector. The planning and practice of mining activity became more “scientific” at that time, relying on precise measurements, geological planning, and increasingly complex equipment. The film follows these ‘mining students’ from the classroom into a mine where they encounter workers doing the underground work. From there we shift to the processing. With silver being the final product, the students pay close attention but engage in some levity too. In one scene a student hams it up by feigning to drink the effluent. The film closes with the students listening to the wisdom of Dave Hill, a famous prospector. The film expresses the hope that there’s another Sudbury, Porcupine or Cobalt and waiting to be discovered in the future.

Miners in the Making, 1922, film, 9 minutes, 6 seconds, Graphic Consultants Collection, Accession number 1972-0105, Item number ISN 120285, Library and Archives Canada

Film editing and musical direction: Mariana Hutten

Songs:  I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate - The Virginians, 1922

            Open arms - joseph Samuels' Music Masters, 1921

            Stealing - Joseph Samuels' Music Masters, 1921

Further Discussion

Baldwin, D. O. & Duke, D. F. (2005). “A Grey Wee Town”: An Environmental History of Early Silver Mining at Cobalt, Ontario. Urban History Review / Revue d'histoire urbaine, 34(1), 71–87.

https://doi.org/10.7202/1016048ar

The Haileybury School of Mining, Canadian Mining Journal, April 1, 2013

https://www.canadianminingjournal.com/featured-article/the-haileybury-school-of-mining/

Baldwin, D. (1977). A Study in Social Control: The Life of the Silver Miner in Northern Ontario. Labour Le Travail, 2, 79–106.

Wallace Clement, "The Subordination of Labour in Canadian Mining," Labour/Le Travailieur 5 (Spring 1980), 133-148.

“Montreal-Ontario to Start Milling”, Toronto Daily Star, October 31, 1922, p.12