Thunder Bay, Canada - Amethyst and Solitude

Kathy ran. I slept. Then Marie served us a big hearty breakfast of fresh fruit, oatmeal, and cheese omelets.

During breakfast, Marie helpfully listed possible activities for the day. We knew that we would barely get a taste of the Canadian north shore, since we had reservations in Grand Marais that night. I did want to visit an amethyst mine and had downloaded information on a couple nearby mines from the internet. Marie suggested that the mines that had websites were too commercial and that we should visit a mine nearby that a friend of hers owned. She also suggested a visit to nearby Sleeping Giant Provincial Park, a huge park that filled Sibley Peninsula, a peninsula extending into the lake that formed one side of the bay. From a distance, the topography suggests a prone human form, hence the name.

Getting to the Blue Point Amethyst Mine required a long drive down a dirt track with potholes and protruding rocks—well worth the price of admission in itself. The couple in the trailer-towing car ahead of us were not enamored, however, and were discussing it between themselves at great length and in colorful language when we arrived. “Arrived” in this case, refers to arriving at a clearing containing a shack devoid of any sort of human presence. The shack shared the clearing with a decrepit school bus, an ancient cement mixer and various other pieces of mechanical detritus. Blue Amethyst was definitely not commercial. A hand-lettered sign directed us down another path with the words “mine path.” I was only slightly worried that it was a warning sign and that the path contained land mines. The owner eventually appeared. I secretly hoped for somebody leading a mule and looking and sounding like Gabby Hayes. In fact, he was in a truck and looked and sounded like a Minnesotan—not surprising, since he was from Silver Bay. We paid him the requisite twenty buck in exchange for a couple of gallon ice cream buckets. The mine was “open pit”—a ten-foot deep hole in the ground about the size of a football field. It was not hard finding the vein of amethyst. We spent the next couple of hours, not looking for amethyst, but rather finding the best specimens to fill our buckets.

Amethyst

We only had a couple hours to spend sightseeing in Sleeping Giant Park. Considering the size of the park, that meant we mostly just had time to drive through it. The park supposedly contains great vistas, waterfalls, beaver dams and lodges, scenic overlooks, and unique plant life. Unfortunately, we pretty much saw woods through the car window.

At the very tip of the peninsula we found a small cluster of houses, one lone store with a sign proclaiming “Store”, and lots of solitude.  This is what remains of a small town named Silver Islet that supported a silver mine on a small island of the same name located just off the peninsula. Silver was discovered on the island in 1868. At that time, the island was only 150 square feet in size and was only a couple of feet above the water level. Silver Islet Mining Company was formed in 1870 to extract the silver, which was so rich it was practically pure. The company built wooden breakwaters and increased the island’s size by a factor of ten. In 1878, they were considering shutting down operations since most of the purest ore had been removed. Then they discovered a second vein. By 1883, most of the highest quality silver had been taken out of that vein as well. The mine’s deathblow came that year when a coal shipment didn’t show up in time. The mine, by that time, was almost a thousand feet deep and pumps were needed to keep the mine dry. Without coal, the pumps shut down and the mine gradually flooded. In the 16 years it was in operation, 3.25 million dollars worth of silver had been extracted from the mine.

Today, the public is not allowed on Silver Islet, and all that remains of the mining operation are the buildings scattered around the tip of the peninsula. The store is open as a store and the remaining houses are used as summer cabins. All of the structures rely on wind and solar for electricity since there is no power on that part of the peninsula.

We were running out of time since we had a long drive to reach our lodging for the evening, back in Grand Marais. So we headed south toward Grand Marais, stopping only once, at the beach at Kadunce River where we picked up a few rocks and took some pictures.

We arrived at the Aspen Lodge in Grand Marais at dinnertime, checked in, and ate dinner at the Gunflint Tavern. We ate there based on our previous good experience and were not disappointed this time. I had tomato Romano soup and chicken mole with a nice fresh salsa, good rice, and black beans. The hotel was a step down after staying at B&B’s but the room was pleasant and we could hear the waves lapping on the shore all night.