Hidden by forest growth, and completely obscured from the sky, you would never find the Forest Ruins Mine without already knowing about it. A monument to natures ability to reclaim, the site would have required intense bushwhacking if not for the bush roads that cross through the site. And while very little remains other than foundations, there is certainly enough present to get a feel for what the site might've looked like in it's heyday.

The Forest Ruins Mine certainly lives up to it's name; the extremely remote site has been mostly overtaken by a young forest, growing since humanity abandoned the site in the 1920's. Like many other spots we reached this trip, the Forest Ruins Mine has been on the radar of myself and Brind for years; we intended to get to it before the pandemic sidelined everything. Finally making a shot for it, access required trucking down the bush road until we encountered a steep water crossing that marked the end of the line for our vehicle. From there, it was a 1.5km hike following a bush road in the general direction, slowly being soaked by a rainy downpour. We weren't completely sure about the bush road as we couldn't completely follow it from satellite imagery, but we soon found ourselves among the concrete ruins of the mine, having lucked out.

During its operations, this was a busy mine with a bustling community; over 850 people called the town site home in 1915. The site was served by a single rail connection to the rest of Canada, with no roads available at the time. The town site itself was built a little bit up the hillside from the mine, and originally consisted of a series of dwellings, all built in a row. We found the first few of the foundations for these dwellings alongside the ATV trails we took into the site; I have no doubt that we would have found more foundations if we had pushed further into the woods. The dwellings themselves were long gone; the foundations were the only trace that they had even existed - and for good reason.

The mine itself closed in 1921, when ore reserves were depleted underground. The surface facilities, which included a smelter, lasted a further few years, before they were salvaged in 1926, leaving only the concrete frames behind. The town itself was salvaged at the same time, which is why we only found the foundations. The bush road we took connects to a highway that wasn't built until the post-war era, likely blazed for the brief period of exploration drill hole work that occurred around that time.

During our visit, we noted the foundations for the head frame, the mill, and several other buildings around the area. One of the concrete smokestacks for the smelter remains, toppled over on it's side. A large concrete water tank also remains, similarly toppled over. The mill itself is interesting, with one long wall with a line of six identical holes and bolt patterns, showing where equipment stood, revealing the scale of the operation. This was no small mine; this was a large producer of iron ore.

As far as the workings go, we couldn't get to the shaft itself to see what state it was in; the head frame foundation proved impenetrable. Information I had stated the shaft had been capped in concrete years ago, though, so we didn't put much effort into it. We also located two of the numerous raises reported at the site; inspection revealed that the raises were flooded to pretty close to surface. This isn't surprising, of course... Ontario mines are notoriously wet and flooded, owing to the high water table of the Canadian Shield. A shame, though; the underground workings are reported to be extensive, with the shaft having reached a depth of 611 feet.

Maybe one day we'll find a way to access the flooded workings. Until then, though, we'll let the Forest Ruins Mine be, slumbering under the canopy of the forest away from human activity.