The Early Years

Harry Oakes was born December 23rd, 1874 to Edith & William Pitt Oakes, of Sangerville Maine. He attended Foxcroft Academy, one of the best schools in America at the time. He would later also attend Bowdoin College, earning an BA degree. Finally he would spend two years study at Syracuse Medical School.

Harry, wanting to pursue a prospecting career, would leave Maine in 1896 in search of adventure and wealth. Harry's sense of adventure, a strong work ethic and his dream of becoming wealthy, turned into a 16 year journey - one that would take him around the world - to places such as Alaska, New Zealand, Australia, the Phillipines, Mexico, Africa, and the American West.

Arrival in Kirkland Lake area

When news of Silver discoveries in the Cobalt area reached Harry, he returned to Canada in 1910. After hearing of granite discoveries east of Swastika he made the train ride North with his prospecting tools, and only $2.65 in his pocket. Within days he discovered a rock deposit featuring a gold bearing quartz vein.

When he ran out of funds, he joined forces with brothers Tom & George Tough to stake a promising prospect. In order to stake the prospect the new partners had to act fast. On January 8th 1912, in the wee hours of the morning, the group snowshoed 6 miles through the dark from Swastika and started staking claims at midnight. The temperature was minus 40 degrees celsius, and Harry is said to have worn 5 pairs of pants to keep out the bitter cold.

This property would become the Tough-Oakes-Burnside Mine, the first in the Kirkland Lake Camp, would later become the Toburn Mine.

The Lake Shore Mine

With money from the success of the Tough-Oakes-Burnside Mine, Harry returned to his original discovery in the area, near the Lake and began sinking a Mine Shaft. Convinced that the property contained significant gold bearings Harry formed a public company, Lake Shore Mines, to raise money for his project. His diligence and tenacity paid off in early 1918 when he discovered his "main break". A rich deposit was found on the property with a 100 foot wide vein in some places; it was eventually mined to an 8,000 foot depth.

The Lake Shore Mine would soon become the largest gold producing mine in the Kirkland Lake mining camp, and at one time the largest and most profitable mine in the Western Hemisphere. From 1918 to 1965 it produced 8,499,000 ounces of gold at a recovered grade of 0.51 ounces of gold per ton milled (the equivalent of approximately 35 African elephants, 16 transports, 15 garbage trucks or 20 school buses.

Life Outside of the Mine

At age 48, when travelling in the early 1920's, Harry met Australian stenographer Eunice McIntyre. After a brief, month long romance, the two married June 30th, 1923; Eunice was 24 years old. The couple would have five children, all born in Toronto - Nancy, Sydney, Shirley, William Pitt, and Harry.

Harry gave back to the communities in which he lived, particularly in the one that made him wealthy. He donated land and money to several different groups in Kirkland Lake for future builds, including the land for Central School and the Kirkland Lake Community Arena. He funded purchases for the Kirkland Lake Hospital, and sponsored local sports teams.

The Kirkland Lake Chateau would become a work and vacation home when the family moved to Niagara Falls more permanently in the mid 1920's. Around this same time Harry would renounce his American citizenship and become a naturalized Canadian. The family moved again to Nassau in the Bahamas in 1934, largely due to Harry having to pay some $17,500 a day to the Canadian Government in Taxes. He continued his philanthropic duties by employing locals to build water works, a golf course, setting up a bus service, an airplane service for emergencies, and programs for children and unwed mothers. Harry would also donate more than $400,000 to the St. Georges hospital in London, England. On June 8th, 1939 he was granted the title of Baronet of the United Kingdom by King George VI, making him Sir Harry Oakes.

The Death of a Millionaire

Harry Oakes was murdered in his home in Nassau, Bahamas, and was discovered the morning of July 8th, 1943. He was found in his bedroom after being struck over the head, partially burned, and feathered. The crime remains unsolved to this day, though there are still many different theories regarding the murder.

After a short investigation, Sir Harry's son-in-law Alfred de Marigny was charged with the murder. He had been seen nearby during the murder and found with singed hair on his arm. The most damaging evidence, a perfect fingerprint allegedly found on the silk screen next to Harry's bed. De Marigny would later be acquitted due to questionable evidence.

Other theories believed that the mafia had Harry killed for opposing the legalization of gambling in the Bahamas. Others thought the Duke of Windsor hired the murderer due to an implied affair between Harry Oakes and the Duke's wife, Wallis Simpson.

More than 75 years have passed since Harry's murder, but the sensationalized crime still speaks to researchers, authors, and the curious mind...Who killed Sir Harry Oakes?

History