01890-01929 The ore was smelted in the pits by laying in huge beds of timber, clear cut from the surrounding forests that had blanketed the rolling hills of the Laurentian Shield. * The major portion of the sulphur in the ore was removed by in "open bed roast yards". The fires smouldered anywhere from three to six months releasing flora-toxic ground level concentrations of sulphur dioxide and contaminating the soils beneath with acid and heavy metals.¹ ¹ NO TREES, NO GRASSES, NO PLANTS, NO TOPSOIL