Deloro, Ontario
Deloro is a community in geographic Marmora Township in the Municipality of Marmora and Lake, Hastings County in Central Ontario, Canada. Deloro is about southwest of Ottawa and east of Peterborough. The Deloro Mine site sits along the banks of the Moira River, along the east side of the community. During the gold rush days, after striking gold in Eldorado in 1866, prospectors built at least 25 shafts on the area now known as the Deloro Mine Site. Deloro is also designated place for census purposes, and had a population of 143 in the Canada 2021 Census. History In 1868 gold was discovered in Deloro, meaning "Valley of Gold". The Canadian Consolidated Gold Mining Company (a British company) began mining in 1873. This eventually failed since the recover of the gold was so poor. In 1896 Canadian Gold Fields Company bought Deloro and built the first mill where they used a new cyanide process to extract the gold. Roasting furnaces were used to remove the arsenic from the gold, but the quality of the gold was poor, forcing the closure of the mill in 1903. After the completion of the railroad in 1904 it opened up the possibility to ship silver to the Deloro mine for treatment. In 1906 the Deloro Mining and Reduction Company was formed. In 1915 the company changed its name to Deloro Smelting and Refining Company Limited after Dr. Haynes developed the first commercially produced stellite in the world, which was manufactured at the Deloro plant. In 1916 the company began building homes and a public school for its employees and their families. In 1919 the village of Deloro incorporated, making it the smallest village in Ontario until its amalgamation with the Township of Marmora and Lake in the 1990s. The first reeve was S.B. Wright, the plant's general manager. For the next 40 years, the succeeding general managers would continue serve as reeve of the village. Deloro homes had water and sewers before Madoc and Marmora. The town became famous as a sporting community. The company was said to have brought ringers to work at the mine. Baseball, hockey, tennis and lawn bowling were important activities. The lawn bowling green can still be seen in Deloro today, beside the Deloro sign, though it is no longer used for bowling. Production was in stellite, arsenic, silver, and cobalt until 1956 when the stellite division moved to Belleville. Only silver ore continued to be treated there until the plant closed in March 1961. 'Cleanup' and demolition of the mine site followed with tons of arsenite refuse being buried, with the thoughts that it would eliminate the health hazard. The 45 company-owned homes were sold off in 1961 for prices up to $900. The residents named their own reeve and council to oversee the less than 200 population, which continued until its amalgamation. The last reeve of Deloro was Doug Lynch, who was one of the original buyers of the land. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population