Arabs in Deloro
/Another Story by W.J. Cottrell (circa 1927)
I have never seen, but have read about transients to Canada in summer time arriving in winter apparel. The following story has the order of things reversed. Three Arabs, sent by a Montreal employment agency, to wit ---" Abdul Mohammed and his two companions arrived at Deloro in the depth of winter attired in well laundered cotton shirts. They were men of short stature and were put to work in the Silver Plant.
How their teeth chattered in the unaccustomed climate. They tried to keep warm, pulling the glowing slag pots toward the dump, but all in vain. Not once did they remark "Allah be praised". They lasted a mere shift and next day were Montreal bound. No fellow countrymen of theirs ever followed in the wake. For more on Deloro employees, CLICK HERE.
When silver was discovered in Cobalt, a town in Northern Ontario, the Deloro Mining and Reduction Company purchased property in Deloro and began to set up a silver refinery, with arsenic as an important by product. It seemed foolish not to base the operations at Deloro since the cobalt ore, from which silver is extracted, contained arsenic and the deloro mine operators were experienced in dealing with ores containing arsenic. Professor Stafford Kilpatrick of Queen's University had developed a new process to extract silver from cobalt ore, of which the company made use.
