141 years ago today, Milton Thomas Culbert was born in Granton, Ontario, Canada;
a small community in Biddulph Township about 10 km (7 miles) east of Lucan. Milton Thomas Culbert
has been described as "one of the cleverest men that the Canadian
mining industry has ever known."
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Milton Thomas Culbert, geologist and mining engineer. Photo courtesy of the late Robert Milton Culbert.
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Milton Thomas Culbert was a graduate in Mining Engineering from
the University of Toronto. He was well on his way to a brilliant career as the
manager of the O’Brien silver mine at Cobalt, Ontario when his life was
cut short at age 30. He died in 1911 from post-appendectomy septicaemia, in the
days before antibiotics.
Born 29 May 1880, Milton was the son of Thomas Culbert and Letitia
Dempster. You’ll recall Milton’s father from this previous post.
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| Milton Thomas Culbert's parents, Thomas Culbert and Letitia Dempster. Photo courtesy of Jane (Gras) Heigis. |
Milton was a bright young man but his high school days were short-lived.
For three years, he attended London Collegiate Institute where “he excelled
at playing hookey rather than hockey, with much of his truant hours spent
reading in the public library.”
One day, Milton was reprimanded for some misdemeanor by his teacher.
Tempers flared and there was a kerfuffle. Milton seized an old wicker chair and
brought it down with such force that the teacher’s head went through the seat!
Following Milton’s exit from the hallowed halls of London Collegiate, he drifted out to the foothills of the Rockies. The following summer his wanderings
took him to Parry Sound, Ontario, and after visiting a few mines there, he
developed a deep interest in mining. He went on to study at the School of Practical
Science at the University of Toronto. Milton graduated with honors with a
Bachelor of Applied Science degree in 1902.
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Milton Thomas Culbert's graduation photo from University of Toronto, 1902. Photo courtesy of Michael Gordon Dunsmore Culbert.
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Milton's alma mater.
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For a period of time, Milton lived at 226 McCaul Street, a short walking
distance from the U of T campus. I’m assuming that it was a boarding house for
students and young people starting out in the world. I found his name listed at
that address in the 1904 edition of The Journal of the Canadian Mining
Institute, v.7...
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226 McCaul Street (the left side of the two houses) in Toronto. Milton Thomas Culbert lived here about 100 years ago during his University of Toronto days.
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Following graduation, Milton worked on a number of projects with the
university, and travelled throughout Canada and the United States. In the
spring of 1905, he met Michael John O’Brien; one of Canada’s richest men, and
the owner of the O’Brien silver mine in Cobalt, Ontario. Recognizing Milton’s
talent and ambition, M.J. O’Brien hired Milton as the manager of the O’Brien silver mine. Not only were Milton and M.J. O’Brien colleagues, they soon became
friends.
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M.J. O'Brien, one of Canada's wealthiest men, and owner of the O'Brien mine in Cobalt. In addition, he founded the town of Renfrew, Ontario, and he was named to Canada's Senate in 1918. M.J. O'Brien hired Milton Thomas Culbert as manager of the O'Brien mine and the two men became friends.
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M. J. O’Brien was also known for financing the National Hockey
Association (NHA), founded by his son, Ambrose O’Brien. The NHA later became
the NHL (National Hockey League).
By the time that Milton Culbert arrived in Cobalt, the town was on its
way to becoming the boomtown of Canada’s northeast, thanks to its generous
silver deposits.
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| Cobalt’s train station in 1906: a hub of activity. Source: Library and Archives Canada, PA
59591. | |
As manager of the O’Brien Mine, Milton had his hands full. As well as
operating the mine, Milton built an electric power house, storehouses,
dwellings for the workers’ families, and a dormitory for sleeping 150 men.
Altogether, his work force totaled 220. He also built “the best cookhouse in
the whole Cobalt mining area.”
Speaking of the cookhouse, on June 7th, 1907, Milton wrote:
“I have a
hot-headed Irish cook here, and he ran amok last night. He grabbed me by the
neck and I punched him. If we had not been separated, we would have been into a
real battle. He was a good kitchen manager, and I had no previous trouble with
him. But now he is gone, fired, and I have more trouble on my hands. These are
some of the things I have to contend with daily.”
Although he was very busy in the
day-to-day operations of the mine, Milton found time for friendship. As well as
the camaraderie of his friend and colleague, M.J. O’Brien, Milt was close friends with the physician and poet, Dr. William Henry Drummond. Drummond was famous for his
book, The Habitant and Other French-Canadian Poems. Drummond was also
the vice-president of the Drummond Silver Mine in Cobalt. The two mining
magnates visited back and forth, at which times Drummond would entertain Milton
with recitations of his poems. Milton enjoyed Christmas dinner of 1906 with
Drummond at the Drummond Mine. Milton wrote, “We had a glorious little party.”
Tragically, Drummond died just a few months later of a cerebral hemorrhage on 6
April 1907. It’s been said that probably no other Canadian poet has been so
widely mourned. Milton had lost a dear friend.
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Dr. William Henry Drummond, a close friend of Milton Thomas Culbert and "one of the most widely-read and loved poets" in Canada.
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While living and working in the predominantly male environment, Milton longed
for romance. He developed a long-distance courtship with Laura May Yeo of
London, Ontario (1884-1973) the daughter of Richard Harvey Yeo and Elizabeth
Rebecca Fish.
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Laura May Yeo.
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Milton and Laura had met as children, when Laura was a customer
at Milton’s lemonade stand. In his occasional visits back home to London,
Milton would have dates with Laura but she was playing it safe and acting non-committal.
This was due in part to warnings from her friends that Milton was “a man-of-the-world
college student, given to colourful exaggeration, and undoubtedly dishing out
the same syrup to bevies of co-eds.”
While Milton Thomas Culbert was living in Cobalt, and Laura May Yeo was
still living in London, they corresponded through handwritten letters. Their
son, Milton Richard Culbert kept over 100 of his father’s love letters, and
incorporated some of them in his autobiography, The Culbert Chronicles
which he published in 1995. Unfortunately, Milton Richard Culbert edited
out all of the “amorous language of the lovelorn young man, uttered in the
typical Victorian style of the times.” Nonetheless, we can enjoy excerpts from
the letters.
EXCERPTS FROM MILTON'S LETTERS TO LAURA: (I hope that Milton would forgive me, the
blog author, for adding comments. It's just that he's trying so hard to impress his
beloved.)
January 7, 1905.
I am giving a dance here on the fifteenth: Cobalt’s first ball. [The
towns of] Haileybury and New Liskeard being close, there will be a good representation
of the Fair Sex attending.
Blog author’s note: Was Milt trying to make Laura jealous?
January 24, 1906.
I have greater promise than most men of my age and I and my friends are
laying plans for great things in commercial life.
Blog author’s note: Bonus points for cockiness.
February 9, 1906.
Of course, I will remain with Mr. O’Brien, but I am also acting as
consulting engineer for the Temiskaming mine. I will make a big salary out of
that also.
Blog author’s note: Flash that cash, Milt.
February 24, 1906.
(While Mr. O’Brien was visiting), “Now Culbert, we want you to get
married, and we will build you a good house and furnish it for you.”
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| And build it, he did. Above is the O’Brien Mine manager’s house, built by
mine owner, M.J. O’Brien for Milton Thomas Culbert. The log structure (at rear)
originally had a large, open veranda on the front. At some later date after Milton
no longer lived here, the veranda was closed in, as you can see. Photo courtesy of Michael Gordon Dunsmore Culbert. |
More letters...
April 8, 1906.
The better classes of men are starting to arrive and the rougher
elements are kept in restraint.
Blog author’s note: Nothing like “classing the joint up” to attract a
lady’s attention.
May 13, 1906.
They are building a new theatre in Cobalt, so you can go to the opera
here.
Blog author’s note: See previous comment.
October 4, 1906.
Why don’t you put a little love in your letters? Tell me you love me
once in a while just to cheer me up.
Blog author’s note: Sounding a bit desperate, Milton.
The letter of October 4th was followed up a few days later on
October 7th with this:
Stocks have risen greatly within the last month. I made over a thousand
dollars on a small block of Nipissing I had in three weeks. Not bad is it, for
a start? I can make myself rich in these propositions, I think.
Blog author’s note: When all else fails, show her the money.
Sometime in November, 1906, Milton must have boarded the train for
London to visit Laura, and probably to see his parents, too. This was a
distance of 401 miles (645 km), back when Canada’s automobile industry was in
its infancy. Most people travelled at that time by horse and carriage or by
train.
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Distance in modern times from Cobalt to London.
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The next letter reflects the fact that he spent some time in London with
Laura during that visit.
November 13, 1906.
I woke up this morning to find six inches of snow and the land in the
grip of winter. The first thing I did was to buy a coonskin coat. When I left
you on Sunday night, I was in an ecstasy of delight with your kisses fresh on
my lips and the touch of your arms still lingering around my neck. I went home
dreaming of you and went to sleep with a smile of content on my face.
Blog author’s note: !!!
Milton’s many missives to Laura must have swayed her decision to marry
him, as Milton Thomas Culbert and Laura May Yeo wed on 19 June 1907 in London,
Ontario. After a “rapturous honeymoon that took them by train to Montreal,
thence by ship down the St. Lawrence and up the Saguenay rivers,” Milton
swept his sweetheart off to their dream home in northern Ontario, a mile out of
Cobalt.
One year later on 1 June 1908, Milton and Laura’s first and only child,
Milton Richard Culbert was born.
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| Laura May (Yeo) Culbert with her son, Milton Richard Culbert, born 1 June 1908. Photo courtesy of Michael Gordon Dunsmore Culbert. |
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| This photo was taken in 1909 at
the O’Brien mine. It shows Milton and Laura’s baby son, Milton Richard Culbert
in the arms of his nanny, Nessa McAuley. We think that is probably Milton Thomas
Culbert and his wife, Laura standing with them. Notice that almost every tree
has been chopped down for lumber or firewood. The halo over young Milton Richard’s
head was drawn in by Milton Richard himself, later in life, much to his own
amusement and ours. Photo courtesy of Michael Gordon Dunsmore Culbert. |
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Front of a postcard that Laura sent to Milton's mother, Letitia Culbert showing the O'Brien mine mill.
Postcard courtesy of Michael Gordon Dunsmore Culbert. |
Sadly, less than four years after
Milton and Laura were married, Milton Thomas Culbert died at age 30 from
post-appendectomy septicaemia on 14 March 1911 at St. Michael’s Hospital in
Toronto. He left behind his widow and their two-year old son.
Milton's funeral was held from the
home of his parents at 784 Wellington Street in London. It was attended by a
large delegation of mining and municipal men from the Cobalt district, showing
the esteem and honour in which Mr. Culbert was held.
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| Milton
Thomas Culbert's funeral was held from 784 Wellington Street, London,
Ontario; the home of his parents, Thomas Culbert & Letitia Dempster.
Photo by Mary Jane Culbert, 2017. |
Milton’s widow, Laura raised
their son, Milton Richard Culbert in Toronto. Milton Richard Culbert went on to
become a successful orthodontist who married Gwenyth Mary Somerville and had
three sons: Captain Robert Milton Culbert, Peter Somerville Culbert, and Michael Gordon
Dunsmore Culbert.
Milton Thomas Culbert’s widow, Laura
(Yeo) Culbert died 1 November 1973, age 89.
Milton is buried at London’s
Woodland Cemetery in the adjoining lot to his parents, Thomas and Letitia Culbert
who are buried in Section P, Lot 167 SE.
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| Milton
Thomas Culbert's headstone in Woodland Cemetery, London, Ontario.
Laura's name is not on the headstone so it's possible that she was
buried somewhere else. Photo by Mary Jane Culbert. |
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| Obituary. Source: Applied Science, Volume
4, November 1910-April 1911, published by the University of Toronto Engineering
Society. |
MILTON THOMAS CULBERT’S FAMILY
TREE:
Ancestors:
John Culbert & Mary Ward
(grandparents)
Thomas Culbert & Letitia
Dempster (parents)
Milton Thomas Culbert
Descendants (Children):
Milton Richard Culbert
UPDATE: (Updated on 16 June 2021). Click here to read about Milton Thomas Culbert's mineral samples at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.
