William Henry Wright William Henry " Bill " Wright ( 21 April 1876 – 20 September 1951 ) was a Canadian prospector who discovered the Kirkland Lake Break , which hosted seven gold - producing mines . He used the proceeds from his gold finds to launch a national newspaper in Canada , " The Globe and Mail " . Early life . Wright was born in Sleaford , Lincolnshire , England . As a teenager , he worked as a butcher ' s apprentice . In 1897 , he joined the British army and served both at home and in the colonies . He served through the Second Boer War and survived the siege of Ladysmith . In 1907 , Wright moved to Canada joining his sister , Frances Wright , and her husband , Edward Hargreaves , a master butcher in northern Ontario . The three of them went to Cobalt , Ontario in search of work . Wright and Hargreaves worked at a variety of odd jobs before attempting prospecting . They started in Cobalt , then went on to Porcupine , and finally to Kirkland Lake . The discovery . One evening in July 1911 , Hargreaves became lost while hunting for rabbits . He fired a shot to attract the Wrights ' attention . Wright walked towards Hargreaves and stumbled across a quartz outcrop . It was almost dusk , but he could see free gold in reddish feldspar porphyry . The next day , they staked three claims , two of which turned out to be directly on the fault line of the area . The partners staked more claims over the following weeks . This initial discovery was the first rich find that established the Kirkland Lake camp . Soon after the claims were made , the partnership ended . Hargreaves needed to support his wife , so he sold his interest in the claims . Wright was single . He held onto his interest , despite a lack of funds and harsh conditions . He was determined to hold and work the claims . The ground staked by Wright and Hargreaves eventually became three mines : Sylvanite , Lakeshore and Wright - Hargreaves . The gold extracted from these three mines totaled 13 . 5 million ounces . Wright had sold the claims that became Sylvanite to Harry Oakes in exchange for Lakeshore property , shares in the mine and a vice - presidency . The mine for which Wright is best known is the one that bears his name , the Wright Hargreaves . World War I . In 1916 , Wright felt the need to support the Allies in World War I . Though he was a millionaire and almost forty years old , he joined the Canadian army as a private and served overseas . He remained a private throughout the war , though he had to turn down the opportunity of promotion several times . Post - war career . After the war , he focused on the Wright - Hargreaves mine . It operated from 1921 to 1965 and was one of Canada ' s premier gold mines . The profits from this mine were used to build a major mining company with interests across Canada . In 1936 , Wright was approached by George McCullagh with the idea of acquiring two Toronto newspapers , " The Globe " and " The Mail and Empire " , and merging them . Wright went along with the plan and founded " The Globe and Mail " , which became Canada ' s national newspaper . Until it moved to its current location in the early 1970s , The Globe and Mail was published in the art deco William H . Wright Building at 140 King St . W . in Toronto ' s financial district , since demolished . In his later years , Wright lived in Haileybury , Ontario , raised horses and performed community work .