iron ore on the south shore of the lake. He mapped the lake and found no such boulders on its north shore. He concluded that if there was iron to be found in worthwhile quantities, it would be beneath the lake. Exploration and development would not occur until 1938. On January 6, 1938, Joseph Errington, Julian Cross and W.S. Morlock founded the Steerola Expedition Company Limited to finance a drilling project on Steep Rock Lake lead by Julian Cross. In March of the same year, Cross discovered a body of iron ore under Steep Rock Lake after 6 test holes were drilled. The find confirmed what has previously been suspected. In the summer of 1938, the Ontario Department of Mines sent a geological party to survey and map the Steep Rock Lake geology using an electro-magnetic survey to outline the ore bodies. The Steerola Expedition Company did not have the necessary funds to develop a mine, so Steep Rock Iron Mines Limited was created February 24, 1939 with Joseph Errington as President and Managing Director, Julian Cross as Vice-President and Watkin Samuel as Consulting Engineer. Major-General Donald Hogarth, W.S. Morlock and R.D. Bradshaw were brought in during this period to be Directors of the Company. Early Mining Efforts In the early days of mining Steep Rock Lake, plans were made to sink a small shaft 1,400 ft. below the lake level and drill into the orebody to test the quality of the ore. July 1939 saw the collaring of the No.1 shaft with Morson Scarth (Pop) Fotheringham, then a mining engineer, in charge. The sinking went smoothly, however by August 1940 the first signs of problems appeared. It had become impossible to keep water out of the shaft and this led to the project being abandoned. At this time a new plan was already being looked into by the engineers of Steep Rock Iron Mines to drain the lake by diverting the Seine River. There was a large amount of skepticism for the plain, mainly from the U.S.A. about the ability to complete the project. Two American consultants were brought in, Hugh Roberts (geologist) and William Crago (Mining Engineer) to report on the ore reserves and the plan for mining the ore. The report, presented in March 1941 gave Joseph Errington and Donald Hogarth the necessary basis to approach American Financiers for the money needed to move the plan forward.