Early Town History
Most of the employees working on the development of the mine, construction of the town, and construction of the railway were housed in temporary camps. The first worker’s home in Buchans was completed on March 13, 1927; twenty-six homes were completed by the end of that year. By the time of first concentrate production in September 1928, there were 56 housing units, an apartment house, a staff house, hospital, a town hall, and several bunkhouses in the town. Several businesses including a retail store, a laundromat and a barber shop had also been established. Both the company and the Roman Catholic Church opened schools in the town. In 1929, the company constructed tennis courts, a ski run, an athletic field, and, in winter months, converted one of its concentrate sheds into a skating rink. Buchans had running water, sewage, electricity, and other services in place by 1928. The town would grow in size and prosper throughout the next few decades. From 1927 until the late 1970s, most town services and infrastructure were administered directly by the company. Company support, subsidization and direction also continued during that time for most of the town’s major recreational services.
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After the Buchans highway was opened in 1956, several families who wished to own their own houses independent of the company-administered town settled on the banks of the Buchans River at the point where the highway crossed it, in a settlement known as “Pigeon Inlet.” This settlement was named after the fictional community of “Pigeon Inlet” created by Newfoundland writer Ted Russell. In 1963 these houses were re-located to a subdivision on the southeast corner of town. The subdivision, which became known as “Townsite” became the Local Improvement District of Buchans. Residents of “Townsite” owned their own homes and managed municipal affairs independently of Asarco. On October 1, 1978, the company town became a separate local improvement district. The two municipal governments merged to form the first democratically elected municipal government for the entire town on June 18, 1979.
Hockey, including school hockey and town and plant internal leagues had been a major recreational activity in Buchans going back to the 1930s. Games were played on nearby ponds, and eventually of the two large Asarco ore sheds on the north side of the town was converted each season into a skating/hockey rink.
Buchans was among the towns on the island to compete for the Herder Memorial Trophy, fielding senior teams from the 1930s through to 1969. The Buchans Miners senior hockey team won the Herder in 1950, 1951, 1952, 1954, and 1963. A Buchans team of one name or another also was runner-up for the trophy in 1937, 1940, 1948, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1964, 1968 and 1969. In addition to exceptional local talent, the Buchans Miners hockey dynasty attracted marquis “import” players from various parts of Newfoundland as well as from as far away as Kirkland Lake Ontario and parts of industrial Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
Buchans Minor Hockey Association sported impressive local Pee-Wee and Bantam leagues. From the 1960s through the early 1980s, Buchans Atom, Pee-Wee, Bantam and Midget teams frequently won championships in NAHA’s B divisions. There was also a brief resurgence of championship wins in E-H divisions for Pee-Wee, Bantam and Midget teams from Buchans in the 1990s.
Buchans Mines
The original 1905 Buchans discovery made by Matty Mitchell was only the first in a series of discoveries that would lead to 57 years of continuous mining later during the life of the down. “Old Buchans” as that mine was called, only produced a small percentage of the ore at Buchans – 217,135 tons. It was mined from 1943 to 1956 [Asarco accessed this orebody not through the original 1906-1911 shaft but connected to the mine primarily via 1 level in Oriental] and again in 1977 and 1978 [1977-78 – open pit/surface]. Besides Old Buchans, four major mines operated at different times between 1927 and 1984 – Lucky Strike Mine, Oriental, Rothermere, and MacLeans.
Lucky Strike orebody, named because it was discovered after a chance change of plans in exploration, was discovered on July 14, 1926. This mine, with its iconic 100 ft headframe overlooking the town; would produce ore from 1928 to 1958 and again from 1972 to 1979. In that time, 6,253,660 tons of ore were produced at Lucky Strike. As with all underground mines at Buchans, its normal underground “levels” were approximately 200 ft apart from one another and included elaborate workings for an office, explosives magazine, lunch room, and other functional areas. Lucky strike mine shaft extends 714 ft underground.
Oriental orebody, named due to its location east of Buchans River, was discovered on August 7, 1926. It would go on to produce ore as an underground mine from 1935 to 1969 and again briefly from surface/pit sources from 1980 to 1981 and from 1983 to 1984. 3,372,224 Tons of ore were produced over the life of Oriental mine.
Rothermere was discovered near the end of 1947. It was named after Lord Rothermere, whose family founded the AND company. The Rothermere mine shaft was 2,505 feet deep. The mine operated from 1950 to 1978. It produced a total of 3,508,226 tons of ore.
The deepest orebody mined at Buchans was MacLeans. It was named after Dr. Hugh J. MacLean, Asarco’s chief geologist in Buchans from 1941 until his tragic death in a bush plane crash at South Pond in 1951. MacLeans was discovered in 1950. MacLeans mine shaft was completed at a depth of 3,526 feet below surface [though the mine is actually deeper than this due to the mining of MacLean’s extension in 1983 and 1984 through a “winze” (diagonal decline) tunnel leading to “21 level.”] The mine produced ore from 1959 to 1981 and from 1983 to 1984. MacLeans produced a total of 3,514,989 tons of ore.