Devil's Rock History

A few miles down the shore from the town of Haileybury, a shear cliff towers the deep waters of Lake Temiskaming. To most, it might not look like much more than a wall of rock where the land meets the water. But in fact, Devil Rock has a very mysterious and interesting history.

The official name, Devil Rock was given to the cliff as many swear if you look closely at a part of the cliff, the face of the devil can be seen in the rock. But as time passed by, people began to call it Devil's Rock because it was easier to say.

There was many legends surrounding Devil Rock. Temiskaming native Dave McLaren states that Indians used to appease the spirits on Lake Temiskaming by throwing tobacco into the water by the cliff before they would go by it. There are different explanations of why Indians did this. Some say that the ice would form in the cracks and it often would send some rocks down the cliff when someone was going by. Dave McLaren states, "That's probably how it all started, they were scared of it." Others also say that the Indians and fur traders left offering of tobacco to appease the sacred thunderbird spirits who controlled the weather on the lake. Also, there was supposedly an Indian princess whose parents did not want her to marry a warrior that she had in mind so she committed suicide by jumping over the cliff.

If you explore the cliff from the bottom by boat, you may notice five tunnels or in mining terms, "adits". They were blasted into the face of the cliff sometime during thesilver rush era between 1907 and 1912.

Mining explorations in the region eventually led Mr. Flemming to Devil's Rock where traces of Cobalt Bloom were discovered. Mr. Lavigne says, "Cobalt Bloom has a pink color, it's a mineral cobaltite or smalltite that is weathered a little bit and turns pinkish. Quite often, but not always, you'll find silver with it." So once they found little seams and narrow veins of Cobalt bloom at Devil's Rock, they began to drive several adits into the face of the cliff in search of silver. All work was done in the winter. The miners would put their camps out on the ice so that they could

get their sleighs and all of their equipment to the camp. From there they could work, driving adits into the cliff side following a vein of some kind. Mr. Lavigne explains, "They would drill a bunch of holes in the face and then load them up with dynomite and blow out a piece of rock. You usually did five or six feet at a time. You'd advance at the rate of about five feet a day so with the equipment that they had then, that would be about 100 feet in a month." In total, there are five adits, none longer than 100 feet since the exploration turned out to be unsuccessful. In the longest adit, they sunk a shaft or a "winze". Today the winze is filled with water as it has gradually seeped through cracks in the rock. "There is very little information about the exploration that went on at Devil's Rock," states Mr. Lavigne, "unless a mine got into production, there were no annual reports or government inspectors coming in. All they did there was just an experiment, they just drove in, had a look, didn't see anything and tried somewhere else."

Other activities that went on at Devil Rock included a lumber camp back in 1909, which was owned by Felix Lacarte. Dave McLaren, a former logger said that in the spring of that year they had a skid-way right on top of the cliff. Now a skid-way was where they piled the logs. They put a couple logs down and then piled them up. In the spring they let them roll into the water. Mr. McLaren recalls a story of a young lad, which they'd call a greenhorn because he had very little experience in the bush. "this young lad came up and grabbed a log with a peavy right when it was rolling off the cliff." A peavy was a stick that they used to help get the logs rolling. " He caught it in the back and it threw him right over the cliff and he landed down in the water. Besides being cold and wet, There was no damage."

One of the most interesting parts of Devil Rock is the fact that it appears in the landscape of the famous book series "The Hardy Boys" written by Leslie McFarlane. Mr. Lavigne, who lives in the

same house where McFarlane wrote some of his books states, "if you think about it, Haileybury is actually the same as Bayport, the made up town that the Hardy Boys lived in. He used the area as a scenario for his books." Specific books that use Devil Rock are "The Secret of the Caves" which are actually the caves that were made by miners exploring for silver. As well, "The House on the Cliff" ties into Devil Rock as the cliff in the story is said to represent it. The house may have represented the farmhouse, which was located right behind the cliff at the start of the trail to the lookout from Lorrain Valley Road. The field there has since grown in.

The informations on Devil's Rock comes from an article found in "Terra 99" researched and written by Joel Vandenberg and Ryan Dalton


	Devil's Rock History A few miles down the shore from the town of Haileybury, a shear cliff towers the deep waters of Lake Temiskaming. To most, it might not look like much more than a wall of rock where the land meets the water. But in fact, Devil Rock has a very mysterious and interesting history. The official name, Devil Rock was given to the cliff as many swear if you look closely at a part of the cliff, the face of the devil can be seen in the rock. But as time passed by, people began to call it Devil's Rock because it was easier to say. There was many legends surrounding Devil Rock. Temiskaming native Dave McLaren states that Indians used to appease the spirits on Lake Temiskaming by throwing tobacco into the water by the cliff before they would go by it. There are different explanations of why Indians did this. Some say that the ice would form in the cracks and it often would send some rocks down the cliff when someone was going by. Dave McLaren states, "That's probably how it all started, they were scared of it." Others also say that the Indians and fur traders left offering of tobacco to appease the sacred thunderbird spirits who controlled the weather on the lake. Also, there was supposedly an Indian princess whose parents did not want her to marry a warrior that she had in mind so she committed suicide by jumping over the cliff. If you explore the cliff from the bottom by boat, you may notice five tunnels or in mining terms, "adits". They were blasted into the face of the cliff sometime during thesilver rush era between 1907 and 1912. Mining explorations in the region eventually led Mr. Flemming to Devil's Rock where traces of Cobalt Bloom were discovered. Mr. Lavigne says, "Cobalt Bloom has a pink color, it's a mineral cobaltite or smalltite that is weathered a little bit and turns pinkish. Quite often, but not always, you'll find silver with it." So once they found little seams and narrow veins of Cobalt bloom at Devil's Rock, they began to drive several adits into the face of the cliff in search of silver. All work was done in the winter. The miners would put their camps out on the ice so that they could get their sleighs and all of their equipment to the camp. From there they could work, driving adits into the cliff side following a vein of some kind. Mr. Lavigne explains, "They would drill a bunch of holes in the face and then load them up with dynomite and blow out a piece of rock. You usually did five or six feet at a time. You'd advance at the rate of about five feet a day so with the equipment that they had then, that would be about 100 feet in a month." In total, there are five adits, none longer than 100 feet since the exploration turned out to be unsuccessful. In the longest adit, they sunk a shaft or a "winze". Today the winze is filled with water as it has gradually seeped through cracks in the rock. "There is very little information about the exploration that went on at Devil's Rock," states Mr. Lavigne, "unless a mine got into production, there were no annual reports or government inspectors coming in. All they did there was just an experiment, they just drove in, had a look, didn't see anything and tried somewhere else." Other activities that went on at Devil Rock included a lumber camp back in 1909, which was owned by Felix Lacarte. Dave McLaren, a former logger said that in the spring of that year they had a skid-way right on top of the cliff. Now a skid-way was where they piled the logs. They put a couple logs down and then piled them up. In the spring they let them roll into the water. Mr. McLaren recalls a story of a young lad, which they'd call a greenhorn because he had very little experience in the bush. "this young lad came up and grabbed a log with a peavy right when it was rolling off the cliff." A peavy was a stick that they used to help get the logs rolling. " He caught it in the back and it threw him right over the cliff and he landed down in the water. Besides being cold and wet, There was no damage." One of the most interesting parts of Devil Rock is the fact that it appears in the landscape of the famous book series "The Hardy Boys" written by Leslie McFarlane. Mr. Lavigne, who lives in the same house where McFarlane wrote some of his books states, "if you think about it, Haileybury is actually the same as Bayport, the made up town that the Hardy Boys lived in. He used the area as a scenario for his books." Specific books that use Devil Rock are "The Secret of the Caves" which are actually the caves that were made by miners exploring for silver. As well, "The House on the Cliff" ties into Devil Rock as the cliff in the story is said to represent it. The house may have represented the farmhouse, which was located right behind the cliff at the start of the trail to the lookout from Lorrain Valley Road. The field there has since grown in. The informations on Devil's Rock comes from an article found in "Terra 99" researched and written by Joel Vandenberg and Ryan Dalton