Page 38 who only stayed a year . Dome and some other mines in the eastern part of the Porcupine Mining Camp collected one dollar a month from each employee for medical ser - vice, whether they were needed or not. Dr . McLean reported collections always reached 100 per cent. The good doctor found out early area businessmen were honest to a fault. When Dr . McLean saw a sign on a shack that said “Charles A. See, Druggist, Pills and Things,” he asked Mr . See what the “things” were. The druggist replie d “my bootlegging operations.” Druggists commonly sold medicine that was 50 per cent alcohol, a prac - tice authorities turned a blind eye towards. It also allowed a lot of sick people to self-medicate themselves. The Dome had up to 400 men on its payroll in 1910 at the mine site but there were only two women, the mine manager ’ s wife and the mother in a family with two children . Most of the workers lived close to the mine. Dr . McLean was physician, sur geon and nurse from May 10, 1910 to July 191 1. He reported later that he didn’ t have much to do. He had no deaths, no epidemics and no marriages. What he was supposed to do about marriages was not ex - plained. His hospital consisted of a few camp beds, his offce and his bedroom. Dr . Hector McNeil went to work for the Dome in 191 1.He also had a nurse which probably made the two women happy . He recorded the frst appende ctomy at the hospital, a premature explosion in the mine shaft with several fatalities and a watchma n with epilepsy who fell into a crusher while carrying a lighted lantern. In the early days, safety was not a great concern. The total number of deaths in the more than 62 mines that have op - erated in and around T immin s is well past 600 and such deaths continue to Dome built Camp’ s frst hospital right at mine site occur in 2012. Another doctor told the Porcupine Medical Society in a report gathered for its 50th anniversary report in 1974 that the settlements were wild with prospectors, bootleggers and charac - ters of all sorts requiring treatment. He could have added prostitutes, pimps, madams, card sharps and crooked stock promoters. Dynamite wounds were common as were frost bite and typhoid cases. In 1926, Dome decided its mine hos - pital that had grown over the years into a 12-bed operation was no longer suitable. It realized the distance be - tween the mine-site hospital and the major communities of Porcupine and South Porcupine, up to three miles, was a problem. Also, most of its employees now lived of f its property . It decided that a lar ger institution was needed. It built one on Connaught Hill, the highest land in South Porcupine. Patients had a great view of South Porcupine and Porcupine Lake. Cost was shared with the Presbyterian Church and the institution was named the Presbyterian Hospital. (The Dome history called it the South Porcupine Hospital) In 1937, Dome decided that it was time to build a modern hospital and it sought funds from the public. The institution was to be named the Por - cupine General Hospital. The Dome provided the site, 40 acres, First registered nurse at the Dome Mine Hospital (in 1925) - Elsie Melinda Clem - ent (later Mrs. E. Longworth) - she would don mining helmet and boots to go under - ground to give frst aid to injured miners. By Gregory Reynolds The frst hospital in the Porcupine Gold, Camp was built by the Dome. The Dome was the most far -sighted of the Big Three mines, hiring a doc - tor and building a four -room hospital at the mine in 1910, the frst year of the company’ s production. It was a combination house and pa - tient facility for Dr . S.D. McLean Cont’d on pg. 38 “The Porcupine Camp” 100 Y ears of Mining Page 36