known as Black Donald (fl. 19th century ), figure of legend. (Donald MacDonald, Donald H. MacDonald) Black Donald Lake, Black Donald Creek, Black Donald Hills, the Black Donald community, and the former Black Donald Mine or Mines, in northeastern Ontario, southwest of Arnprior and Calabogie, are said to be named for him. He was one of the shantymen from GC, working as a riverman on the Madawaska River. He got his designation of “Black” in accordance with the GC custom of designating people as black (dubh) or white (ban) by hair colour or complexion to distinguish them from others of the same Christian and family name. He was of huge stature, and in the heroic mould of the shantymen described by Ralph Connor (C. W. Gordon). A journalist of 1931 explained,

     “When the little mission church was built near the swift-running Deschene rapids in the Madawaska long years ago by the late Father Dowdall, whom the Indians called ‘father of the river,’ the congregation [was] comprised for the most part of Indians, half breeds and rivermen. There was nothing more than the church, but it became a center, a meeting place, the ‘four corners’ on the forest trails, the camping place of the red toqued rivermen, and in honor of the best-loved foreman along the Madawaska, by common consent the place was named ‘Black Donald’ and the little church was known ever afterward as ‘Black Donald’ church.

     “When enormous deposits of graphite were discovered in the hills about two miles distant from the little mission church, a settlement quickly sprang up; men came there to operate the mine, the mill and the refinery; to meet the need a larger church was erected in the mines settlement, the newer community and government post office assumed the name ‘Black Donald,’…[but now] a new generation has arisen and the picturesque riverman is seen nor heard no more along the Madawaska…”

     The Black Donald graphite mine was discovered in 1889. Mining operations began in 1896. The mine itself actually ran under Black Donald Lake. Production ceased in the 1950s, and in 1967 the site of the disused mine was flooded by a Hydro dam. The Black Donald Post Office, in the area of the mine, operated 1896-1944, and was immediately succeeded by the Black Donald Mines Post Office, which closed in 1965. Tins in which Black Donald Flake Graphite was sold showed a kilted man playing the pipes–if not the real “Black Donald” himself, at least one of the Highlanders such as he represented. He is said to have lived in Arnprior for many years.

Article repr. (from Arnprior Chronicle?) Glengarry News 18 Aug. 1922 * article by R. A. J. in Ottawa Citizen, repr. CF 22 Aug. 1931 * Clyde C. Kennedy, The Upper Ottawa Valley (1970) 176-178, on mine (with small illustr. of the tin, showing piper) * William C. O’Dwyer, Highways of Destiny: a History of the Diocese of Pembroke Ottawa Valley, Canada (1964) 197-199 * Joseph C. Legree, Lift up Your Hearts: a History of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pembroke (1988) 256-260 * Gazetteer of Canada: Ontario (4th edn., Ottawa 1988) p. 36 * NAC, RG 3: postal history record cards * Rita Quilty’s The Black Donald Story (1990) is about the mine only. D. F. Hewitt’s Graphite in Ontario (Ont. Dept. of Mines, Industrial Mineral Report No. 20, 1965) has various refs. to the Black Donald Mine