Norm Tollinsky is editor of Sudbury Mining Solutions Journal, a magazine that showcases the mining expertise of North Bay, Timmins and Sudbury. This article is from the September, 2006 issue.
For a guy who was supposed to end up in a ditch, Don McKinnon has done OK for himself. Northern Ontario’s most successful prospector, McKinnon began taking an interest in rocks while working in the bush as a woods superintendent for paper maker Kimberly-Clark.
He had an early taste of success in 1964, making more than $900,000 in a staking rush sparked by the discovery of the Kidd Creek copper-zinc deposit just east of Timmins. His real claim to fame, though, was his and partner John Larche’s key role in the discovery of gold at Hemlo on the North Shore of Lake Superior.
Born in Cochrane in 1929, McKinnon remembers having a talent for art and acting, but had no patience for sitting still. He and good friend Tim Horton co-starred in a school production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, but both were, first and foremost, rink rats who played hockey every chance they had.
Tim ended up as an all-star defenceman for the Toronto Maple Leafs and the founder of the quintessentially Canadian coffee and donut chain.