“The half breed who showed the prospectors the Flin Flon ore body. His generous contribution to northern Canada will be eternally remembered.”
A century after sharing his discovery of the mineral deposit that would spawn Flin Flon, that inscription on David Collins’s tombstone remains the foremost marker of his legacy.
But that’s about to change.
This September, a committee of Collins’s descendents and supporters hopes to unveil a downtown cairn honouring the Métis trapper’s role in history.
“It’s an acknowledgement of David Collins and his participation in finding the original ore body,” says Mayor Cal Huntley, who sits on the committee.
“I see it as very positive.”
The cairn is to consist of a bronze plaque affixed, fittingly enough, to a large rock.
The cairn is expected to go up by Neighbours of the North Park, either to the right of the metal flowers or to the left of the nearby mining plaque.
“We don’t want it to be too small – we want it to be an imposing rock,” says Gerry Clark, chairman of the committee.
“It could very well be as tall as a man.”
Clark, a renowned local historian, says the committee is still finalizing the inscription for the plaque.
“It will just give the basic facts,” he says, adding that the committee does not want to spark controversy or denigrate Tom Creighton, the prospector who staked the claim for the historic ore body.
The committee is attempting to have the cairn ready in time for an unveiling at the Culture Days celebrations to be held September 25, 26 and 27.
In the meantime, they must fundraise an estimated $3,000 to create and affix the plaque to the rock.
Huntley said the city is behind the project.
“We’re going to ensure that the area that they need for the cairn will be available to them and suitable for them to put that up,” he says. “So we’ll support that acknowledgement in any way we can.”
Outcroppings
Many historians believe that in 1914 or 1915, Collins showed Tom Creighton the outcroppings of the ore body that led to the development of Flin Flon.
Creighton staked the claim and enjoyed the riches and acclaim that followed. It is said that all he ever gave Collins was $6.30 worth of flour, lard and bulk tea.
The campaign for the Collins cairn was born out of a skit Clark wrote and co-starred in at last year’s Culture Days festivities. Its central message: Collins never got the recognition he deserved.
This isn’t the first time an effort has sought to honour Collins in a meaningful way.
In 2008, Flin Flon resident Pascall Bighetty unsuccessfully asked then-Manitoba premier Gary Doer to erect a statue of Collins in Flin Flon.
“In Flin Flon, Tom Creighton is regarded as the founder of the Flin Flon mine,” wrote Bighetty. “In 1949, when he died, the town of Creighton was named in his honour. As for David Collins, he is buried at Bakers Narrows. There is no recognition of him. I would like you to honour this great man [with a statue].”
Also in 2008, Collins’ granddaughter, Amelia McNichol, revealed to The Reminder that Collins went to his grave regretting the day he turned Creighton onto the ore body.
McNichol said her grandfather felt that the smelter pollution that ensued from the mineral discovery would be disastrous for the environment.
In addition to the cairn, the committee is working to include an archive of information on Collins as part of the Flin Flon Heritage Project, an online repository of local history.
Collins died on May 27, 1931.
