A Series Of Letters

Charles B. Smith and Chase Osborn exchanged a series of letters over several years disputing compensation for services related to Smith having shown Osborn, in 1898, the limestone lands where Fiborn Quarry would eventually be located. This running disagreement was finally settled in 1909 when a mutual friend, Frank Perry, arbitrated the matter and awarded Smith $500.

Osborn writes to Smith in Regina, Saskatchewan on July 20, 1909: "So far as having discovered the stone is concerned, neither you nor I discovered it. I feel sure that I saw it before you did, and at least I saw it, as I state above, three years before I visited it with you. However, the place is well marked on the original government plats. The existence of the stone and the caves was known and referred to and recorded by the government surveyor about 1855. These plats I have had in my possession for a long time, and had seen the marking some years before I was at all interested in the stone. When I bought the lands, I bought them particularly for the natural interest that centered in the caves, and for the timber. Neither one of us had any intelligent idea that the stone would be valuable."

Smith replies on August 2, 1909 "...a good many were looking at that time for a limestone suitable for making carbide. I was one of these and knowing of the existence of that rock for over 20 years previous to that nearly as long as you I thing and being located close by not at Deerfoot Lodge as you state in your letter but at what we called our Hendrie Pit Camp, I got some of the rock and burned it and the lime looked to me to be a very fine quality. So the first time I met you afterwards I mentioned it to you, you became quite interested and asked me to send some of the rock to you at the Soo which I did."

Contained in this series of letters, more significant than the modestly conflicting accounts of affairs between two men, is a glimpse at the interest and knowledge of the limestone lands and caves in question that existed in the 1800's. This detailed information, while not as conclusive as a firm declaration of who first explored the caves, or who was the first that thought to develop the property, offers an intimate look into the history of this small area. Chase Osborn is the individual most responsible for Fiborn Quarry. However, he was one of many that moved in a rich fabric of life around what remains a notable natural area.

Lansing Journal, Aug. 1901

Several people can be connected to this land, notably Charles Rood, who bought 120 acres containing the most significant cave openings in 1893. It has not yet been learned if he actually visited the property. Others, before and after Rood, known and unknown, were on the property and formed their own impressions of its unique features. Continued research may uncover additional accounts of the lands, since quarried away, that would became Fiborn Quarry.

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