Rockhounds in Ontario and Canada

A rockhound is an amateur geologist or collector of rocks, minerals and gemstones. It’s not always about the value or selling them. Not for me. I like the history of rocks. Such ancient things, far older than even the oldest of trees. Eroded by time and the elements (mostly water) found on and under land, sea and space, small enough to fit into a pocket or far too massive to consider moving at all. How can anyone not find even the most common rock a bit interesting.

There is some difference between being an ordinary rock collector and someone who actually knows whether the rock they just picked up (because it looks interesting) is a gem, mineral, or just another rock. I’m the ordinary rock type of beachcomber, streetcomber, forestcomber, (even though only one of those is a considered a real word at this time).

I like rocks, sometimes I carry one home in my pocket. It’s a casual hobby. But, I couldn’t say for sure whether the rocks I keep are anything but an interesting looking rock. I did study geology in high school, so I know (remember) a little about how rocks are formed.

Ontario (I live in Ontario) with links found for the other Canadian provinces afterwards.

Ottawa Lapsmith and Mineral Club
The Niagara Peninsula Geological Society – St Catharines
Barrie Gem and Mineral Club (Currently inactive).
The Gem and Mineral Club of Scarborough – Toronto

The British Columbia Lapidary Society
Victoria Lapidary and Mineral Society
Ripple Rock and Gem Mineral Club – Campbell River
Port Moody Rock and Gem Club

Alberta Federation of Rock Clubs
Southern Alberta Rockhounds Association
Edmonton Tumblewood Lapidary Club
Calgary Rock and Lapidary Club

Prairie Rock and Gem Society – Regina, Saskatchewan

Montreal Gem and Mineral Club Quebec

The Central Canadian Federation of Mineralogical Societies
Mineralogical Association of Canada
Gem and Mineral Federation of Canada

Do you know all of these, what they are or even more about each of them? They are all connected to rocks in some way. Not on this list was rock piling or stacking. I’ve seen people turn them into bridges which continue to stand without anything but friction and gravity keeping them together. Also, Inukshuks, traditionally used for navigation and communication in northern Canada.

lapidary
tumbling
carving
sculpture
architecture
fossils
geology
paleontology
prospecting

List from: Virtual Museum of the History of Mineralogy

Abandoned Places to Find in Montreal

Not in Ontario, but, if you take a trip into Quebec it will be nice to have a list of places to see. There must be a great list of places in Quebec City too. Of course, there is the possibility that some of them will be gone before you get there. I found the Restaurant Chez Clo (#10 on the list) is already gone when I looked at the Google Street View link. You can still see it from overhead on Google Earth. But it magically disappears when you go in for a close up to Street View.

demolished

With all of the new construction going up around Montreal, it’s easy to forget about the city’s rich history. But Montreal has a long legacy of fascinating buildings that have been abandoned for various reasons. Here are ten of the coolest ones to check out.

1. Silo No. 5 – Pointe-du-Moulin
2. Brock Street Tunnel – Rue St-Antoine and Rue Beaudry
3. CN Wellington Control Building – Near Rue Smith and Rue Murray
4. Omnipac – 6240 Avenue du Parc
5. Blue Bonnets Raceway – 7440 Boulevard Decarie
6. Jenkins Brothers Steel Co. – Between Avenue Georges V and Ave 1re
7. CN Fruit Warehouse – 500 Rue Bridge
8. Dow Brewery – 990 Rue Notre Dame Ouest
9. The Negro Community Centre/Charles H. Este Cultural Centre – 2035 Rue Coursol
10. Restaurant Chez Clo – 3199 Rue Ontario Est

Source – 10 Abandoned Buildings In Montreal Worth Exploring | MTL Blog.

I took a look at that church/ community centre. Google’s images are from 2012, the post from the MTL Blog was from 2014 so no telling what shape that’s in now, if it’s still there. I noticed something interesting on top of the roof. I thought they were butterflies, but possibly not.

montrealchurchb montrealchurchf montrealchurchs montrealchurchw

Historically Interesting Casinos in Canada

Canada does not have a long history of actual buildings being made as casinos. We do have gambling far back in our history. John Cabot (circa 1497) noticed the native Canadians used sticks and pebbles to play games of chance.

The Canadian Criminal Code banned every form of gambling in 1892.

However, during the days of the Klondike Gold Rush (1897 – 1899) Faro was a popular game of chance. By 1900 charities were holding bingo games and raffles. Next came horse racing and by 1925 agricultural fairs and exhibitions were permitted to hold gambling events.

Lotteries began in Canada in 1969. The government amended the Criminal Code to allow themselves to fund special projects from money made through lotteries. In 1974 the Olympics in Montreal were funded with lottery money.

In modern days most provinces have casinos.

Some are still government run, it depends on the province. Canadian casinos can be partially owned by private enterprise, government and the native Canadians who have special rights set out by the government. If you look for casinos in Canada you may find more online casinos than brick and mortar or land-based casinos. Like working from home you don’t actually have to get dressed up (or dressed at all) to play when your casino is online: www.gamingclub.com/nz/online-pokies

I grew up in the Toronto area where my family and I would attend the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) each summer at least once. My sister’s favourite part of the CNE were the games. Although the midway games had to gear down for children to play, there was a casino for the adults too. I never saw the inside of it. Each year it would be packed up again and disappear until the next summer.

Now I live near the Barrie casino, the Georgian Downs. I see the horse and buggy races now and then. In season you can drive right by on the main highway through Barrie and pass close enough to Georgian Downs to see the horses racing, warming up or exercising.

My plan was to write about historical casinos in Canada but once I started looking for them I found there aren’t any which are very old.

The first commercial casino opened in 1993, located in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The second to open and credited as the largest casino is in Montreal. It’s called The Montreal Casino and is located in Montreal, Quebec. Open 24 hours a day, to those who are 18 years of age or older, since October, 1993.

Canadian Cuisine

Canada is far away from some places on the planet and people in those far away places may wonder what Canadians like to eat. This is especially good to know if you are making plans to visit Canada and wonder what you might find wriggling on the end of your fork. Not that we eat a lot of things that wriggle.

Canada is not snow all year. We don’t camp out in the wilderness and worry about polar bears wandering into our backyards. Canada is big. There are a lot of people here, some of them are still here and some are being born right now. We are multi cultural. Some people think Canada does not have a culture at all. This is not the case. Canada is built from many cultures, yet we have a common history which connects us.

One common theme in Canada is food. Take a look at Canada’s Food Guide. We may overload on sugar (mmm…. butter tarts) but we do like fresh food, vegetables and a great coffee (or beer) to top it all off. Most Canadians like food which is fairly well known: hamburgers and fries, fish and chips, spaghetti, steak and potato, pizza, back and eggs, lasagna, cabbage rolls, sweet and savoury pies, coffee, stew… a fairly generic list isn’t it? You may think we are fairly uninspired but, Canadians do have an edible culture of our own:

What do Canadians Eat?

Poutine – French fries with cheese curd and topped with gravy.
French fries with vinegar
Maple syrup (Not on everything)
Butter tarts – Tarts which are very sweet: butter, sugar and eggs in a pastry shell.
Nanaimo Bars – From BC. A crumble crust, a sweet layer, topped with a layer of chocolate.
Tourtiere – A French Canadian meat pie (pork, onions and spices in a crust).
Pate Chinois – Layers of beef, creamed corn and potato.
Bannock – Inuit flat bread.
Salmon – Salmon does go well with almost anything.
Montreal-style bagels
Montreal-smoked meat
Ice wine – Made with grapes frozen on the vine.
Bloody Caesar – You need Clamato for this Canadian version of the Bloody Mary.
Screech – What happens in Newfoundland, stays in Newfoundland.
BeaverTails – Fried dough with assorted sweet toppings.
Ketchup chips
Timbits – Doughnut holes.
Back bacon or peameal bacon (In the US they call it Canadian bacon, we don’t know why)

What Do Canadians Cook?

Canadians are multicultural. So you can find an endless assortment of dishes in Canadian restaurants and home kitchens. Most of the dishes above came from another culture and were adapted to become something unique to Canada.

Canadian Chefs to Inspire You:

Old Bank of Montreal on Yonge

This was an old bank. I had an account here when the bank was active inside the old building. Now it has been turned into a huge new building which has the remains of the old bank included. I meant to get a photo of the outside too. But, here is the inside, the old stone carvings which I think were gold before. I could be remembering it wrong though.