Cobalt, ON, Canada

Sara Gribbon
Feb 24, 2018
2 min read

The town of Cobalt is located in the district of Timiskaming, in Ontario, Canada. With a population approximately 1,118. Cobalt in the early 1900s, was popular for mining silver; the silver ore also contained cobalt.

Cobalt is known as The Silver Capital of Canada.

Nickname: Silver City, according to Wikipedia.

Cobalt without a doubt is a small town with so much rich history! There is so much history tied up in one small Northern town. From mined silver, to two devastating fire in the 20th century, according to Wikipedia.

The first fire was in 1909, a fire in a cafe spread quickly through debris and garbage-filled alleyways. Half of the town of Cobalt was destroyed; 150 buildings were lost and 3,000 residents left homeless.

Around this time, the water table had been contaminated and typhoid (is a fever, a type of enteric fever along with paratyphoid fever) outbreak earlier in the year had killed 111 people.

The second fire, occurred on Victoria Day in 1997, a discarded cigarette was the cause and as a result destroyed 140 buildings and left over 400 homeless.

I am quite familiar with the town of Cobalt because I have a few family members who were born and raised in the Cobalt area. Since I was young and still do this day I visit and tour the town of Cobalt, at least once a year; taking pictures and learning about the local history.

If you are interested in history, want to see more photos, traveling North, or just want to learn more about the history of Cobalt be sure to check out my social media accounts and the below links, to learn and see the captured photos of Cobalt from the 1900s to now.