The mining community of
KIRKLAND LAKE
, off Hwy 11 between Cobalt and Cochrane, isn't much to look at, but it does have an interesting story. To begin with, the town produces one-fifth of Canada's gold and the main street, Government Road, is actually paved with gold - the construction crew used the wrong pile of rocks, gold ore instead of waste rock. The town also featured in one of the most sensational stories of Canada's recent past - the tale that Nic Roeg made into the film
Eureka
with Gene Hackman and Rutger Hauer.
In the summer of 1911,
Sir Harry Oakes
arrived in Swastika, close to Kirkland Lake, with $2.65 in his pocket. He left in 1934 with $20 million, the largest fortune ever gained through mining in Canada. Oakes began his quest for gold in 1898, his search taking him to Alaska, where his vessel was blown into the Bering Strait and then captured by Cossacks. He escaped under rifle fire and continued his explorations in Australia, West Africa, Mexico and California until, fleeing a revolution in South America, he joined the gold rush in northern Canada. In 1912, he founded a mine here in what was later to become Kirkland Lake and this produced $100,000-worth of gold a month. In addition, in 1928 he opened up the Lake Shore mine, the most lucrative ore ever discovered in Canada. Oakes, obsessed with keeping his wealth from the tax man, then emigrated to the tax-free Bahamas and it was here that he came to a sticky end.
Around midnight on July 8, 1943, Oakes was murdered in his bed in Nassau, a crime that momentarily knocked World War II off the front pages of the newspapers. Detectives immediately arrested Alfred de Marigny, a handsome playboy who had eloped with Oakes's daughter, Nancy, two years previously. The case against him was thin, resting on the presence of a single fingerprint in Oakes's bedroom and the motive of money - with Oakes dead his daughter would inherit a fortune. During the trial it became obvious that the detectives had planted the fingerprint and de Marigny was acquitted. The case was never reopened, but the murder of Sir Harry Oakes has prompted a variety of theories. Alfred de Marigny implicated Oakes's debt-ridden friend Harold Christie, who had defrauded Oakes in a property deal that was about to be exposed by the auditors. Rumours of voodoo and Mafia involvement were rife at the time, but more intriguing is a possible cover-up involving Oakes's confidant, the
Duke of Windsor
. Apparently, the Duke and Oakes were involved in a money-laundering operation with a Swedish industrialist and alleged Nazi agent; the suggestion is that the Duke, terrified that the scam would come to light in the course of a prolonged police investigation, might have wanted de Marigny's quick arrest in order to throw people off the scent.
Oakes's 1919 Frank Lloyd Wright-style chateau is now the
Museum of Northern History
(Mon-Sat 10am-4pm, Sun noon-4pm; $3), located near the west end of Kirkland Lake. The museum details his climb from rags to riches and displays antique mining equipment, ores, minerals and stuffed animals. One room also highlights the famous hockey players who have come from the town - it's produced 51 NHL stars!
