Ruth: With all the beautiful places in Quebec, Gord wanted to go to Asbestos. Not one to deny him this dream, we spent much of the day taking side roads up to the giant town-swallowing hole. I am not exaggerating, the rock seam they were mining ran towards town and as the hole grew they had to move or abandon much of the town. In its current state the quarry is 2 kms across and 370 meters deep. Curiously, at the visitors’ view point there was no mention of the dangers of asbestos, but instead information boards explaining the multitude of uses for the stuff.
Sherbrooke, Quebec
Is the cross where they bury the miners that die of asbestosis (pulmonary fibrosis due to asbestos), diffuse pleural thickening, pleural plaques, pleural effusion, rounded atelectasis and malignancies such as lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma? (Yay, Wikipedia!)
Ah, men and boys. Men and toys. When I was a kid, my father drove the whole family up a deserted gravel road in the mountains to look at the world's biggest dragline.