Starting in 1907, the area became home to dozens of prospectors who explored the areas around Porcupine Lake and the Frederick House River.

It was not until the discovery of the Dome Mine in 1909, by Jack Wilson, a member of the Harry Preston crew, that the area became known as an important gold camp. Benny Hollinger and his partner Alex Gillies were not far behind the Wilson party; they were to discover the Hollinger Gold Mine.

Discovered by Alexander Olifant (alias Sandy McIntyre), the McIntyre Mines completed the string of important gold discoveries in the Camp. Many other gold mines would open up in the area around the Porcupine Camp in the next 60 years; however, no other gold mines discovered to date have ever equaled the importance of the first mines in the Timmins area called the "Big Three".

Most of the people who came to the Porcupine area settled around Porcupine Lake; Placer Dome Mine is situated one mile from the lake. Four miles down the road, around the McIntyre Mine, the hamlet of Schumacher (named after Frederick Schumacher, druggist and supplier of "miracle medicines" in a "dry" camp) grew. A mile from that site, the town of Timmins, which was in fact the company homes for employees of the Hollinger Mines, came to be. This entire area would form the core of the present City of Timmins, Canada's largest city in size (3,185 km2).

The arrival of the rail system in 1911 accelerated the growth of the Camp; until then, the trek to the Porcupine was done by canoe and by foot from Haileybury. That same year, (two days after the first train arrived in the Porcupine), the entire Camp was destroyed in the fire of 1911. Because of the importance of the gold discoveries, very few people abandoned the camp and the area was rebuilt in two months.

"... we could see the smoke and then it just seemed to be right on you before you knew anything about it. We kept getting reports about what it was like in South Porcupine - so many people losing there lives over there - well it drove them right into the lake... And a team of horses was drowned. And I knew of one man that I had seen on my way up when we were at Hills Landing. He lost his life going back to get his dog over in South Porcupine.
M.C. Calvert 1974 Oral History Project