Eldorado on the Mississagi: an evaluation of cultural resources on the Eldorado Nuclear Ltd. property near Blink River, Ontario

Abstract

In the fall of 1980, Archaeology Unlimited was awarded the task of evaluating the cultural resources associated with the property on with Eldorado nuclear Ltd was constructing a uranium hexafluouride refinery on the north shore of Lake Huron near Blink River, Ontario (figure 1). The evaluation was contracted for those parts of the property not already disturbed by early stages of construction. These stages included: construction of the access road; and land clearing at the sites of the refinery, construction camp and parking areas. A gravel quarry had been opened and landfill operations were underway in a marsh. A number of land depositions and further developments are being considered for other parts of the property. Therefore, it is appropriate that an inventory should be made even at this late stage, so that future decisions may consider cultural resources among others. This report presents the results of the evaluation. As proposed, the study includes a review of existing literature concerning fieldwork undertaken by prehistorians as well as archival documents and both written and oral local histories concerning 19th and 20th century activities. It also presents results of our own field explorations and attempts to set the whole into a developmental and environmental framework.