page_title: Harris, Saskatchewan
section_title: The Great Ruby Rush
hierarchical_section_title: Harris, Saskatchewan / The Great Ruby Rush
caption_attribution_description: English: A small sample of garnet.
context_page_description: Harris is a village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the Rural Municipality of Harris No. 316 and Census Division No. 12. It was the site of the Great Ruby Hoax in 1914. Harris was named for Richard Elford Harris, an early settler to the area.
context_section_description: This is the incredible tale of one of the more bizarre episodes in Saskatchewan history; The Great Ruby Rush.  The story goes something like this:   One hot, dry day in the summer of 1914, while working on a road gang in the Bear Hills about 20 miles northwest of Harris, Alex McCarthy, an American miner, new to town, spotted some red nuggets in a big black rock.  He suspected that they might be rubies. Sensing opportunity, he stashed the stones in a cigar box and headed for the Commercial Hotel in Harris. Over a glass of beer, McCarthy showed the rubies to the Gordon Brothers, proprietors of the hotel, who were known to have some mining experience. 
  The Gordons quickly made their way to Saskatoon to stake their claim.  While there, word somehow got out about the ruby discovery.  Headlines in the Saskatoon Star newspaper proclaimed a ruby and gold discovery near Harris. Word spread fast and within days, thousands of prospectors arrived in Harris seeking their fortune. The Ruby Rush was on! The Gordon brothers took full advantage of the Ruby Rush. “Rubies” from the site of the discovery – a large black stone from the Bear Hills – were put on display at the hotel. The entrepreneurial Gordons supplied the miners with everything they could possibly need; lumber, food, alcohol and even prostitutes in a saloon, a restaurant and other entertainment in three large tents that they established on the site.  Drunkenness was rampant, to the point that one man was found dead from alcohol poisoning. Less than two weeks later, word came from Saskatoon that the rubies were not really rubies at all but worthless garnets and just as soon as it had started, the Ruby Rush was dead. 
  Rumours persisted for years that the entire was a hoax created by the Gordon Brothers, as a money making scheme.  For years afterwards, the Ruby Rush was a taboo subject in town, due in no small part to the main players and their families still lived in town.  Today, the town is not so shy about its connection to the Great Ruby rush, in fact, they have embraced the story.  The original “ruby” bearing rock is displayed prominently in town outside of the museum.  For years, every July, the town celebrated the annual Ruby Rush Days. The hotel in town is named The Harris Hotel Ruby Rock Pub & Grill.
  The plaque, erected by the Saskatchewan History & Folklore Society and mounted on the large rock next to the Harris Museum reads in part:
  Headline. Saskatoon Star Phoenix: July 1914 "Quartz Discovered 20 Miles N.W. of Harris" Suddenly the ruby rush was on! Lasting 10–12 days, at its height 3000 people were involved at the site, staking out claims and digging up stones. Tents housed saloons, restaurants (one egg at 1 dollar), and this rock, guarded by armed guards, containing the so-called rubies. The ruby rush was soon discovered to be a hoax as the rubies were garnets of little value. This ruby rock was moved from its original site in 1990.
caption: Garnet, the cause of the Great Ruby Rush
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