Eldorado: Ontario's First Gold Rush

Jane M. Wilson is a Toronto-based chartered financial analyst in the
investment business.

In 1866, gold was found near Madoc, Ontario, just 36 miles north of
Belleville. An estimated 3000 to 4000 people were attracted to the
discoveries, and the village of Eldorado was born. Mine operators were
delighted at the arrival of visitors, and allowed many to take away ore
samples showing visible gold. This entertaining book is as much about
the gold rush as it is about the gold-mining business, and the numerous
archival photographs and newspaper clippings provide a vivid image of a
small area of Canada around the time of Confederation. It was a Canada
where drilling and blasting on the Sabbath “may [have done] in such
places as Chicago or California, but ... shocked the feelings of all
moral men here,” and where a newly recruited mounted police for the
Madoc area—a forebear of the RCMP—was soon disbanded due to a lack
of crime.

Gerry Boyce’s intent is to “set the record straight” on the
little-known events here and their importance to the history of Canadian
mining (and policing). The style is discursive and the degree of detail
varies. There are several surface maps and one section map, but business
historians may find the financial history of the companies involved
somewhat incomplete, and may wish for more information on the legal
disputes and the impetus behind government regulation. There is a
comprehensive bibliography and an index for those who wish to delve
further. The author also comments on some of the more recent activity in
the area.

The author, a historian of eastern Ontario, has written other books on
the area and has helped to establish two museums in Hastings County. His
contributions to regional history have been recognized by the Canadian
Historical Association and the Ontario Historical Society.