1873 When Cornwall met Blairton
/It is estimated that 6 million people worldwide are descendants of the Cornish tin and copper miners who emigrated from Cornwall, England between 1815 and 1915. On July 13, 2006, the mines of Cornwall were declared a UNESCO World Heritage
But how does this relate to our history?.
The 1866-67 depression in England, along with plummeting world prices of tin and copper , created such poverty that the famous miners of Cornwall were forced to come up with other solutions for work. As it so happened, Blairton in 1872 was experiencing a rebirth with the American development of the Cobourg Peterborough Marmora Railway & Mining Company and the Blairton Iron Mine.
Enter John Laskey Aunger, a Cornishman working in the Lake Superior Copper Mines in Minnesota, USA. He was hired by the Blairton Company to manage the mine, and in 1873 was sent to Cornwall to hire as many miners as he could find. He returned with 75 Cornish men who made Blairton their home.
Mr. Aunger was a colourful character, a man of principles, an efficient mine overseer, a geologist, a writer, a politician, a family man and certainly a man of opinions
