Trethewey Mine
1.Brother Joe I write to you to tell you of our fate
From moving here to Canada and the fortune we could make
2.Father first found silver here, Fraser valley by the lake
But silver there at Providence no more was ours to take
3.Its written that there’s silver here like stove lids in the ground
But stoves out here must be bigger Joe, for its more than that I’ve found
Will and Joe were running to the show, just to see what trouble could be found
With Sue and Sally on their arms they would dance the feast day round.
4.Come out then Brother Joe said Will and leave the lakeside shore
There’s slabs of Silver hidden here the size of our barn door!
5.A pinkish bloom upon the rocks, a wonderous sight to see,
To tell you then what heart felt then, the feelings that came over me
6.I covered up as best I could the riches that I found,
With moss and sticks and anything that lay there on the ground
CHORUS
7.Next day I went back to the woods to state my claim for sure
My name and number marked the spot. The same day I found more!
8.Of all the silver in this land, the richest to be seen,
Just one day to change a man the silver it found me.
9.The stage is set for more to come, there’s more for us to find
I’ll see that there’s a share for you, come out to Trethewey mine!
CHORUS
Notes
I wrote this song in 2020 and it’s about the incredible story of William and Joe Trethewey whose family left Gothers (in the St Dennis area) in the mid 19th century with their family to start a new life in Ontario. The family then moved west to British Columbia before William was drawn back to Ontario.
This song imagines William’s letter back to Joe asking him to join him at the Trethewey Mine. The chorus imagines their Cornish life as children in the Clay Country and partaking in feast day dances. There is part of The Rescorla Snail Creep at the end – a traditional Clay Country tune used for such dances!
It was fascinating researching this and speaking to people in Canada about this shared history. Huge thanks to Cobalt Historical Society for their enthusiasm and their kindness in using some of their images. Huge thanks too for the China Clay Historical Society and Tony Mansell for some of the Cornish ones. Thanks to Tom Fosten for his beautiful guitar playing! I have stayed in touch with the Cobalt Historical Society who even sent me a sample of some rock from the waste pile on the site of the original Trethewey Mine which contains small amounts of genuine Trethewey Silver!
Richard Trethewey
See also