History of Nova Scotia
with special attention given to
Communications and Transportation

Chapter 5
1 January 1900   to   31 December 1919

Go To:   Index with links to the other chapters

A generation which ignores history has no past – and no future.
Robert A. Heinlein

Miners Killed at Work
1863 - 1958

...brought to mind the following incomplete tally of miners killed in Nova Scotia: 
        60 miners killed   1863   Pictou
        40 miners killed   1866-1872   Nova Scotia
         6 miners killed   1878   Sydney Mines
        49 miners killed   1880   Pictou
         7 miners killed   1881   Vale colliery
        13 miners killed   1885   Vale
       125 miners killed   1891   Springhill
        11 miners killed   1899   Caledonia
         5 miners killed   1903   Reserve
        10 miners killed   1905   Port Hood
        65 miners killed   1917   New Waterford
        88 miners killed   1918   Stellarton
        21 miners killed   1938   Sydney Mines
        19 miners killed   1952   Pictou
        39 miners killed   1956   Springhill 
        76 miners killed   1958   Springhill
        26 miners killed   1958   Trenton
[Letter in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 15 February 2000]

1900 January 31

Stone Crosswalks to be Installed in Bridgetown

The town will have stone street crossings next spring.
[The Bridgetown Weekly Monitor, 31 January 1900]
[100 Years Ago in the Bridgetown Monitor, 1 February 2000]

1900 February 14

Poor Ice Harvest

The weather has been so mild that little has been done towards filling the local ice houses. The ice harvest in the Annapolis Valley will probably be a poor one, but there is said to be good thick ice on some of the North Mountain lakes.
[The Bridgetown Weekly Monitor, 14 February 1900]
[100 Years Ago in the Bridgetown Monitor, 15 February 2000]

1900 February 21

Firewood in Short Supply

Bridgetown is suffering from a firewood famine. Dry cordwood is almost unobtainable and the price jumped last week from $3.00 to $3.75 per cord.
[The Bridgetown Weekly Monitor, 21 February 1900]
[100 Years Ago in the Bridgetown Monitor, 22 February 2000]

In Nova Scotia at this time, and continuing into the 1990s and beyond, the universal measure for quantities of firewood was the cord. The legal definition of the cord was (and still is)
one cord   =   128 cubic feet
of wood, as stacked in the normal manner. This measurement was usually performed by using a wooden frame enclosing a rectangular space four feet wide by eight feet high. When this frame was filled with four-foot lengths of firewood piled in the usual way – all lengths parallel to each other – the overall volume was 128 cubic feet, or one cord. This volume consisted partly of wood and partly of air between the stacked logs. The cord was not a highly precise measure of wood volume, but had two big advantages – it was easy to understand and easy to use.
one cord   =   128 cubic feet   =   3.62 cubic metres

1900 February 21

Highway Traffic on the Sidewalks

The property owners on the South Street in Bridgetown, having frequently remonstrated with those who drive teams on the sidewalk to the destruction of their property, before taking active measure to prevent further destruction, again request that the road be used for the purpose for which it was constructed, thereby making it safe for people on foot on the sidewalk. For what work is a road master appointed unless it is to keep the roads in a passable condition; and why, when there is snow on the road, is snow on the sidewalk preferred?
[The Bridgetown Weekly Monitor, 21 February 1900]
[100 Years Ago in the Bridgetown Monitor, 22 February 2000]

1900 March 30

Cape Breton Electric Tramway & Power Company

The Cape Breton Electric Tramway & Power Company was incorporated on this day. It operated a local street railway service in Sydney, and a separate (not physically connected) 6 mile 10 km line from North Sydney to Sydney Mines. CBET&P; Co. also operated a ferry service between Sydney and North Sydney. For most of its existence the company was a direct subsidiary of the Stone & Webster traction empire. The company's name was later changed to Cape Breton Electric Company.

1900 May

Horse Shipped from New York to Bridgetown

Mr. C.H. Dewitt is sending his horse, Dash, from New York to Bridgetown, in the schooner Helen Shafner, which is expected to arrive here today. Mr. and Mrs. Dewitt and family will probably arrive this month on their annual visit.
[The Bridgetown Weekly Monitor, 2 May 1900]
[100 Years Ago in the Bridgetown Monitor, 2 May 2000]

1900 May

Traffic Hazards in Bridgetown

"And now the boys play ball in the streets and cycles are ridden on the sidewalks, to the annoyance of those who drive teams (of horses) and those who walk."
[The Bridgetown Weekly Monitor, 2 May 1900]
[100 Years Ago in the Bridgetown Monitor, 2 May 2000]

1900 October 20

New Steam Pumps Begin Operation

The pumps of the Yarmouth Water Company's system were driven at first by DC electric motors supplied with power by the Yarmouth Street Railway Company. The positive feed was from the Main Street trolley wire, and the negative return wire was strung along Brunswick Street. The Street Railway supply was used until 1900, when the Town decided to install its own steam-driven pumps. A new boiler house was built, and the new steam pumps started working this day.
[Excerpted from Yarmouth Reminiscences, by J. Murray Lawson, 1902.]

1901 December 11

North Sydney Should be on Alert

Nova Scotia Steel & Coal Works
May Go to Sydney Mines

North Sydney's Concessions Not Sufficient,
No Free Site Having Been Offered by the Town

Special despatch to The Herald

Sydney Mines, December 11 – The Herald's correspondent is in a position to say tonight that the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company may possibly establish their steel works at Sydney Mines in conjunction with the coke plant, the concessions offered by North Sydney not being as favourable as expected. The company was expecting a free site for their works. The town council here are ready to exempt the company from taxation for a long term of years, and as the company own the property here a site would not cost them anything. Should Sydney Mines be selected no doubt the plant will be erected near the Princess pit.
[The Halifax Herald, 12 December 1901, page 1]

1901 December 12

I&RR; Main Line Connected to ICR Main Line

Lines of Steel Now Are Joined

The first through car from Broad Cove, Inverness County, went out over the Inverness and Richmond Railway today, this being MacKenzie and Mann's private car Atikokan. In the morning it was shunted from Point Tupper to Point Tupper Junction, where the car was attached to a special engine of the Inverness and Richmond Railway and run to Broad Cove. On board this car were Messrs. William MacKenzie and Donald Mann; Mr. Sinclair, the general manager of the road; Charles Fergie, of Westville, Pictou County; Mr. Wallace, a Toronto capitalist; and Mr. Bristol, solicitor for the company. Heretofore the cars going over this road were transferred between Mulgrave and Hastings by ferry. Now they will be taken across from Mulgrave to Point Tupper on the ferry service which carries the ICR main line traffic. Completion of the track between Hastings and Tupper gives the through train service from Sydney to Broad Cove. The ferry service between Hastings and Mulgrave will be discontinued permanently. The object of the present visit of Messrs. MacKenzie and Mann is to examine the progress of the work at Broad Cove. Mr. MacKenzie feels confident that with the introduction of improved methods of mining and shipping facilities which they propose introducing they will be prepared for an output of a quarter of a million tons by the close of next season.
[The Halifax Herald, 13 December 1901, page 1]
[Note: In 1901, Point Tupper Junction, about 1km east of Point Tupper, was the junction of the Inverness & Richmond Railway's main line with the ICR main line between Sydney and Truro. Now, in 1997, this same railway junction still exists, and is the location of a small yard beside the main line of the Cape Breton & Central Nova Scotia Railway. Rail cars coming from Truro to the Stora mill at Point Tupper are dropped off the daily CB&CNSR; Truro to Sydney freight train at this yard, and are then taken by a switch engine to the Stora mill. Cars from the Stora mill, destined for Truro and beyond, are brought to this yard, to be picked up by the Sydney to Truro freight train.]

1901 December 26

Marconi Arrives at North Sydney

On this day, Guglielmo Marconi first set foot on Nova Scotia territory. "Signor Marconi arrived in North Sydney this morning from Newfoundland." Fourteen days earlier, on 12 December, he had received the first transatlantic radio signal, consisting of the letter "s" repeated over and over, at Signal Hill in St. John's Newfoundland. Four days Guglielmo Marconi after that, on 16 December, the Anglo-American Telegraph Company had officially notified Marconi that it would take legal action against him unless he immediately ceased his wireless experiments and removed his equipment from Newfoundland. (Anglo-American had a fifty-year monopoly on electrical communications in Newfoundland, which had begun in 1858 and had only a few more years remaining, but it was determined to do everything it could to hinder the development of radio telegraphy, which it correctly believed was a serious threat to the lucrative transatlantic electric telegraph business operated by submarine cables.) Marconi preferred to set up his wireless equipment in eastern Newfoundland, because that location was closer to Ireland than any other in North America, but he did not want to spend months and, probably, years in legal wrangling. He quickly decided to move his base of operations to Cape Breton Island, which was the next best choice of site, and where there were no legal hindrances to impede his work. On 26 December, Marconi arrived at North Sydney. He conferred with Nova Scotia Premier George Murray, William Smith of the Canadian Post Office, Mayor Mckenzie of North Sydney, and the Honourable J.N. Armstrong, a prominent local politician and member of the Nova Scotia cabinet of the day. "Signor Marconi said that the selection of a site here would be for the erection of a permanent station for the receiving and transmission of messages across the Atlantic. The station would involve four masts about a hundred and fifty feet about 45 metres high with wire netting between. An altitude of from one hundred to two hundred feet about 30m to 60m is necessary, but not over three hundred feet 90m. Signor Marconi, in an interview with The Mail, said he was quite satisfied with tests made in Newfoundland as far as they went. He says he will not return there to conduct any more experiments. Marconi says it would take from three to four months to complete the erection of a permanent station such as he may establish in Cape Breton ... He will leave for Ottawa in a day or two."
[The quotes are from "Marconi At North Sydney", dated 26 December, printed in The Halifax Herald of 28 December 1901.]
Historical Notes about the Marconi Wireless Telegraph in Nova Scotia

1901 December 27

Marconi Continues Site Explorations

On this day, Marconi sailed along the coast of Cape Breton from Glace Bay to Louisbourg on the Dominion Coal Company tug Douglas H. Thomas, inspecting sites for a wireless station. He returned from Louisbourg to Sydney on a special S&LR; train. Banquet that night in Sydney. There were now four sites under active consideration, Table Head in Glace Bay, North and South Heads in Port Morien, and Burying Point, Louisbourg.

1901 December 28

Marconi Departs for Ottawa

On this day, Marconi departed Nova Scotia, going to Ottawa to confer with government officials.

1901 December 29

Dartmouth Locomotive Shed Burns

The engine house of the Intercolonial Railway in Dartmouth was destroyed by fire about midnight, 29-30 December. The high wind made it look dangerous for other buildings for a time, but fortunately it did not spread. One locomotive was in the place, which was considerably damaged. The building was erected some two years ago.
[The Halifax Herald, 30 December 1901]

1902

Mackenzie, Mann & Company

Mackenzie & Mann had been doing business for several years as a private partnership, but as time went by there was increasing pressure to alter the legal structure of the organization. Mackenzie, Mann & Company Limited was incorporated as a joint stock company in 1902, to engage in the business of railway contracting and financing. There were three shareholders: Donald Mann held 50% of the shares, William Mackenzie 45%, and his son Roderick 5%. There were five directors: the three shareholders, Zebulon A. Lash, and David Blythe Hanna. Most of the business transactions of Mackenzie, Mann & Company dealt with railways elsewhere, but this firm was the owner, and the driving force behind, the Halifax & South Western Railway Company, which built and operated 404 miles 650 km of railway in southwestern Nova Scotia.
Portrait of William MacKenzie
Portrait of Donald Mann

1902 January 1

DAR Ferry Services on Bay of Fundy

Beginning on Wednesday, 1 January 1902, there was a seasonal change in the ferry services operated across the Bay of Fundy by the Dominion Atlantic Railway. From this day, S.S. Prince Rupert performed a tri-weekly ferry service across the Bay of Fundy, leaving Saint John for Digby at 7:00am on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays; returning, leaving Digby at 1:00pm on the same days. On the same day, the S.S. Evangeline, running between Kingsport and Parrsboro, was withdrawn for the remainder of the winter. ["S.S." means steam ship.]
[The Halifax Herald, 30 December 1901]

1902 January 2

Streetcar Company Profitable,
Pays Dividend

On 18 December 1901, the Halifax Electric Tramway Company Limited declared that "Quarterly Dividend No. 20, at the rate of 5 per cent per annum on the Capital Stock of this Company", will be paid to each stockholder on 2 January 1902.
[From a paid notice on page 10, The Halifax Herald, 20 December 1901]

1902 March 20

Marconi Back in Cape Breton

On this day, Marconi arrived back in Cape Breton, intending to make the decision about the site for his transatlantic wireless station.

1902 March 23

Marconi Announces Table Head Decision

On 21 March, Marconi was taken by special train to Glace Bay and Louisbourg, looking at prospective sites. On 22 March he made his final inspections of sites being considered. On 23 March he announced the choice of Table Head, within the Town of Glace Bay, as the site for his transatlantic wireless station. The Glace Bay Town Council agreed not to build any electric railway within a third of a mile half a kilometre of the station (to minimise electrical interference with the receiving station's operations).
Historical Notes about the Marconi Wireless Telegraph in Nova Scotia

1902 March 27

Egerton Tramway Company

A New Electric Streetcar Company

On this day, the Legislature passed an Act (chapter 137, 1902, 2 Edward VII) to incorporate the Egerton Tramway Company Limited, head office in New Glasgow, with capital of $500,000 divided among 5,000 shares of $100 each, to construct, acquire, own, operate, and maintain "an electric tramway, or railway, in New Glasgow, Stellarton, Westville, Trenton, Ferrona, and Thorburn, in the county of Pictou" and between any two or more of these places; and to operate a public electric utility for "manufacturing, distributing or supplying electricity for lighting, heating, power and other purposes". The founding shareholders were William P. McNeil and G.A. Grant of New Glasgow, and Charles Fergie of Westville. While running along streets and highways the Company's streetcars had the right of way over all other traffic – "The cars shall have a right to the tracks as against any persons, carriage, or vehicle ... put, driven, or being thereon." At that time in Nova Scotia, the rule of the road was to drive on the left hand side – "All switches and turnouts shall be arranged so that cars shall pass on the left" and passengers were to be allowed to enter and leave the streetcars only "on the left side".
Historical Notes about the Egerton Tramway Company

1902 May

Federal Government Support for Marconi Station

The Federal Government approved $80,000 to support Marconi's experimental work at Table Head. This sum was split in two parts, with $70,000 to be paid in one fiscal year and $10,000 in the next.

1902 July 1

Halifax & South Western Railway Company
Buys the Nova Scotia Central Railway

On this day, the Nova Scotia Central Railway, which owned and operated the railway from Middleton through Springfield, New Germany, Bridgewater, and Mahone Bay, to Lunenburg, was bought by the Halifax & South Western Railway for $525,000. The Mahone Bay to Bridgewater section of the NSCR main line became a link in the Halifax to Yarmouth main line of the H&SWR.;

1902 October

Sydney and Glace Bay Railway Company

The Sydney and Glace Bay Railway Company was a joint ownership venture of the Cape Breton Electric Company and the Dominion Coal Company. The S&GBR; operated from Sydney via Reserve Junction and Dominion to Glace Bay. Beginning on 7 January 1908 it operated local streetcar service in Glace Bay which continued under successive operators until 1938. The S&GBR; Co. merged with Cape Breton Electric in 1911, Dominion Coal taking CBE stock in exchange for its share of the S&GBR.;
[Source: All Time List of Canadian Transit Systems (Nova Scotia section) by David A. Wyatt]

1902 November 1

Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company

The Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of Canada was registered this day as an Ontario company with head office in Toronto. The name was later (1920s?) changed to the Canadian Marconi Company. Also on this day, Marconi arrived in Glace Bay with Luigi Solari and George Kemp and 14 boxes of specially-designed wireless equipment.

1902 December 15

First TransAtlantic Radio Message

On this day, Gugleilmo Marconi transmitted the first radio (wireless telegraph) message across the Atlantic Ocean, from Table Head in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, to Guglielmo Marconi Poldhu, Cornwall, England. A year earlier, on 12 December 1901, Marconi had been on Signal Hill in St. John's, Newfoundland, and had received a transatlantic test signal consisting of the letter "s" repeated over and over. There is a distinction between a "test signal" and a "message" – in both cases a radio wave has travelled from one location to another, but a "message" contains meaningful information while a "test signal" does not. The difference is important; people would pay only for the transmission of messages, not for test signals.

On 15 December 1902, an official message carried greetings from Gilbert John Elliot, Earl of Minto, and Governor-General of Canada, to King Edward VII using Marconi's radio system at Table Head in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia; this was the first transatlantic radio message (other than test transmissions).
[The National Post, 15 December 1999]

1903 April 11

Halifax & South Western Railway Company
Buys the Nova Scotia Southern Railway

On this day, the Nova Scotia Southern Railway was bought by the Halifax & South Western Railway. The NSSR had no track built, but it did have a charter under which 22.1 miles 35.6 km of track were built in 1903 by the H&SWR; to Caledonia in Queens County from New Germany in Lunenburg County.

1904 March 21, 2:04am

Earthquake, Magnitude 5.9

A strong earthquake was felt throughout the Maritime provinces, the St Lawrence Lowlands and the New England states, at 2:04am local time on March 21st, 1904. This event, centered in the Passamaquoddy Bay region, is the largest historically reported event in the area. The total felt area covered most of New England, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, approximately 400,000 square kilometres. There were several light shocks near the origin a few hours after the main earthquake.
1904 earthquake map
This map shows the estimated intensity values, the epicentre of the earthquake and the IV isoseismal. Minor damage to buildings was reported from several communities along the coasts of New Brunswick and Maine and chimneys were thrown down at St. Stephen in southwestern New Brunswick, and Calais and Eastport in southeastern Maine. Using the area within the IV isoseismal, Leblanc and Burke (1985) estimated a felt area IV magnitude of 5.9, although there is a lack of intensity information from the Atlantic Ocean to the south. However, the earthquake has been given a magnitude of mN = 5.9 in the Canadian National Seismological Database.
Sources:
The Halifax Daily News, 21 March 2000
Historical earthquake activity in New Brunswick
    http://www.seismo.nrcan.gc.ca/nbrunswick/nbrunswick_e.html
Earthquake History of Maine
    http://wwwneic.cr.usgs.gov/neis/states/maine/maine_history.html

References:
Earthquakes in Eastern Canada
    http://www.seismo.nrcan.gc.ca/historic_eq/eastcan_e.html
Seismicity Map of Nova Scotia and vicinity, 1568 to 1988
    http://www.seismo.nrcan.gc.ca/damage/damage_e.html
Seismic Zoning Map of Canada
peak horizontal ground acceleration contours
    http://www.seismo.nrcan.gc.ca/zoning/seismiczonea_e.html
Determining Magnitudes of Historical Earthquakes
    http://lasker.princeton.edu/ScienceProjects/ri/histeq/histeq.htm

1904 July 1

First Train to Caledonia

On this day, the Nova Scotia Central Railway opened its new branch line railway from New Germany, Lunenburg County, through Hemford, Pleasant River, Brookfield Mines, and South Brookfield, to Caledonia, Queens County, 22.1 miles 35.6 km by running its first passenger train to Caledonia and return. The NSCR was controlled by the Halifax & South Western Railway Company, which in turn was controlled by Mackenzie & Mann. At the time of construction in 1903, Mackenzie & Mann were making plans for the completion of the H&SW; railway from Halifax to Yarmouth, and the route from Bridgewater to Shelburne was under discussion. For a time, it was proposed that the route from Bridgewater to Shelburne should go via New Germany and Caledonia, which would use the LaHave River Bridge on the Caledonia Branch and thus avoid the considerable expense of a second large bridge across the LaHave River at Bridgewater; this route had been located by the Nova Scotia Southern Railway, passing through South Brookfield and near New Elm, and a detailed survey had been completed, including elevations of the track at all crossings of significant rivers and streams, and then-existing roads; the distance along the centre line of the track, from New Germany to Clement Street in Shelburne, was 70.5 miles 113.5 km. The route that was finally selected, for the Halifax to Yarmouth main line, crossed the LaHave River at Bridgewater. The Caledonia branch line continued operating into the 1970s.

1904 July 3

New Passenger Train Put Into Operation
Halifax to/from Montreal

On this day, The Ocean Limited, the Intercolonial Railway's new Montreal - Halifax passenger train began regular service. Limited meant this train did not stop at all the small stations along the route; it stopped only at selected stations which generated most of the passenger traffic. This train remained in operation for many decades – Canadian National continued this service after the ICR became part of CNR. In February 2000 The Ocean, now operated by VIA Rail and no longer Limited, still runs six days a week between Halifax and Montreal. Known named passenger trains operated by CN or its predecessors to/from Nova Scotia are: 
     Date of
    first run          

    1 Mar 1898    The Maritime Express   Montreal - Halifax
    3 Jul 1904    Ocean Limited          Montreal - Halifax
   26 Jun 1927    The Acadian            Montreal - Halifax
   28 Jun 1929    Down Easter            New York - Halifax
   28 Jun 1929    Pine Tree Acadian      Boston - Halifax
    2 Mar 1930    The Gull               Boston - Maritime Provinces
   16 Mar 1941    The Scotian            Montreal - Halifax
   14 Jul 1956    The Bluenose           Edmonton - Halifax
    1 Jun 1967    The Cabot              Montreal - Sydney

[Source: Canadian National in the East, Volume Three (book) by J. Norman Lowe, ISBN 0919487149, October 1985. Published by the Calgary Group of the British Railway Modellers of North America, 5124 33rd Street NW, Calgary, Alberta T2L 1V4.]

1904 August 15-17

Vitagraph Motion Pictures

Curlers' Theatre, New Glasgow
N.W. Mason, Manager

Three Nights, August 15, 16, 17

Return Engagement of
American Vitagraph Popular Concerts

First Appearance of the
HALIFAX PICTURES
Also – World's Fair
and 10,000 feet of New Subjects

Halifax Pictures will be shown at every concert.
Entire change of programme otherwise.

Prices, 25, 35 and 50 cents

[Display advertisement in The Eastern Chronicle, New Glasgow, 12 August 1904]

The American Vitagraph Company gave three excellent performances of moving pictures in the Curlers' Theatre this week. The audiences were not large, but the entertainment was of a good sort. The moving pictures recently taken in Halifax were particularly interesting.
[The Eastern Chronicle, 19 August 1904, page 1]
[The American Vitagraph Company eventually became Warner Brothers.]

1904 August 17

New Glasgow's Dark Ages

(Letter to the Editor) Dear Chronicle: I have just returned home from a walk along Provost Street, up McLean Street, across Temperance Street and down the Kirk Hill, and except for the last mentioned thoroughfare I could imagine myself in the dark ages of New Glasgow, when we had to adopt the "heather step" over the old wooden sidewalks to save ourselves in the dark from some fell disaster. And this is progressive New Glasgow, aspiring to a tramway and with sufficient taxation to equip us with first-class streets and certainly with some illumination. Two philanthropic citizens on Temperance Street turned on their private lights for the benefit of the public, otherwise it would have been total darkness. Can't you do something to encourage the city fathers to remedy this state of affairs? Can we not have new sidewalks on Provost Street – not patched ones, they are so rough, and won't you use good influence for electric light on dark nights...
Taxpayer
August 17

[The Eastern Chronicle, New Glasgow, 19 August 1904, page 5]

1904 August 19

Excursions to Mulgrave

Two large excursion trains carried picnic parties to Mulgrave from New Glasgow this week.
[The Eastern Chronicle, New Glasgow, 19 August 1904, page 1]

1904 August 19

Bank of Montreal Private Car

Mr. Clousten, President of the Bank of Montreal, went through New Glasgow yesterday evening on his way to Sydney Mines, on his private railway car Eva. He was joined here by Senator McGregor and Messrs. Thomas Cantley and Harvey Graham.
[The Eastern Chronicle, New Glasgow, 19 August 1904, page 1]

1904 August 25

Maccan Railway Station Tender

(Paid advertisement) "Sealed tenders, addressed to the undersigned, and marked on the outside 'Tender for Maccan Station' will be received up to and including Thursday, the 25th day of August, 1904, for the construction of a Station building at Maccan, Nova Scotia. Plans and specification may be seen at the Station Master's Office, Maccan, N.S., and at the office of the Chief Engineer, Moncton, N.B., where forms of tender may be obtained. All the conditions of the specification must be complied with.
D. Pottinger,
General Manager
Railway Office, Moncton, N.B.
August 12, 1904
[The Eastern Chronicle, New Glasgow, 19 August 1904, page 5]

1904 August 31

Harvest Excursion

The Canadian Pacific Railway advise that the Harvest Excursion to the Northwest will be on August 31, 1904, from stations east of New Glasgow, and on September 1 from New Glasgow and stations west. Judging from the number of enquiries to date there will be a larger number than ever from this section of the country. There was something like 100 from this section alone last August and the C.P.R. was severely taxed to provide accomodation for the whole contingent. A large number were held over at Saint John and found and fed at the expense of the C.P.R. It is hoped that the railway management will be better prepared for a large number this time than they were last year. It is also hoped that the weird tales from along the route of fighting, stealing, blood, and carnage will be lacking this year.
[The Eastern Chronicle, New Glasgow, 12 August 1904, page 8]

1904 September 15

Unloading Rails at Bridgewater

Unloading rails, Bridgewater, 1904
Click image for full size view
Shipment of rails unloading at Bridgewater

Steamer Nether Holme 1285 tons hailing from Maryport, Great Britain, Captain Gorley, arrived at Bridgewater with a cargo of rails, on September 15, 1904. The rails were for the construction of the Halifax & Southwestern Railway in Nova Scotia. This photo was taken as the rails were being unloaded at the Railway Wharf on the east side of the LaHave River, at Bridgewater.

The photo was donated by Reid Whynot and scanned for the Internet by Joe Mailman.

Source
    http://www.tallships.istar.ca/shipping/holme.jpg

Reference: Shipping in the LaHave River, 1899-1925
    http://www.tallships.istar.ca/shipping/pictures.htm

1904 September 23

Plank Sidewalks

Main Street, Stellarton, is being rapidly put into shape, trees have been cut down and the street widened. We might suggest that now street commissioners turn their attention to plank sidewalks on McKay Street and south end streets...
[The Eastern Chronicle, New Glasgow, 23 September 1904, page 8]

1904 October 1

Price of Oil

"I paid 36 cents per gallon for oil in 1896 and today, Oct. 1st, I got oil for 26 cents per gallon."
[Letter to the editor of the New Glasgow Eastern Chronicle, 14 October 1904, page 8. This probably refers to the price of kerosene oil for lamps. One Imperial gallon (the legal gallon in Canada in 1904) was equal to 4.545 litres. Expressed in modern measure, these oil prices would have been 7.92 cents per litre in 1896, and 5.72 cents per litre in 1904.]

1904 October 7

Early Telephone Scam

Five of the Family Now Under Arrest

Halifax, N.S. Oct. 3 For the past three months Halifax merchants have been victimized by two young girls, Hazel and Irene Gray, aged 18 and 16 respectively, whose home is at Prince's Lodge, by a very ruse. They would telephone into the city from Bedford or Rockingham to various stores using names of residents of repute in the vicinity and have goods sent out on the suburban train and dropped off by the on-train baggage master at Birch Cove or some other small unstaffed station. Residents of Bedford and vicinity have received bills which were repudiated and the merchants commenced to think something was wrong.

Today Mahon Bros. and G.M. Smith, leading dry goods stores, received orders for goods to be sent to Birch Cove station, the name of Mrs. Kerr and Mrs. Gorham being used. The firms had heard rumours of what had happened to other city firms and before sending the goods consulted the chief of police, who put Detective Power on the case and he in company with two other officers went out on the train, bogus parcels being sent along and put off at the station as directed.

The police then laid in wait and in a short time two girls came and took the parcels. The police then jumped out, but the girls ran screaming into the woods and were finally captured, but not without a desperate fight. The prisoners were brought to the city and locked up. Both are handsome girls and come of most respectable families.



The arrest on Monday of the two young Gray girls on the charge of victimizing City merchants, caused a mild sensation yesterday, Oct. 6th, when it became known who the parties were. Several of the merchants who lost goods held another conference with the police yesterday and as a result warrants were issued and three more arrests were made. Those who were taken into custody yesterday were Alfred Gray aged 19, Daisy Gray aged 22 and Mabel Gray. This makes five members of the one family arrested for complicity in the affair.

In addition to the firms previously mentioned as having been victimized, several other business men called on the police yesterday and reported that they had lost goods. E. Wright, grocer on Campbell Road recently received a rush order by telephone for a case of baked beans, the person stating that a lady intended giving a bean supper to some friends. The goods were sent, but no money was paid. Maling & Co. on Barrington Street also sent out roast beef and beefsteak on a telephone order. J.J. O'Brien, hair dresser sent out two costly pairs of switches. They were taken to the party at Bedford by one of Mr. O'Brien's staff only to find that the person did not order them and in consequence they were not delivered. It is thought that a lot of the goods has been sent out of the City, to another relative of the family.

From information obtained by the police it is alleged that Alfred carried on operations with the aid of a boat on Bedford Basin, taking delivery of the goods from his sisters after they removed them from the station platform, and then taking them to a place of safety. All five persons were arraigned in Court yesterday afternoon and remanded until Friday morning for trial before Stipendary Fielding. The prisoners have been released on bail.

[The Eastern Chronicle, Friday, 7 October 1904, page 8]

ICS Comment:
In the original newspaper article, the store names were spelled Mahone Bros. and Mailing & Co. On 1 September 1998, I was told by Mr. W.J. Phillips, of Halifax, that his recollection is that the correct spellings are Mahon Bros. and Maling & Co. Bill Phillips grew up in Halifax, and he has personal memories extending back to the 1930s. The Eastern Chronicle's typesetters and proofreaders lived in or near New Glasgow, and likely were not familiar with these Halifax store names; errors in spelling could easily have occurred. In the above, I have used the spellings suggested by Bill Phillips.

1904 October 7

Stage Driver

The home of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Reid, Point 44, Little Harbour, was the scene of a most happy event on Tuesday evening, Oct. 4th, when nearly one hundred friends and neighbours assembled to celebrate the 50th marriage anniversary of the worthy couple ... By our older readers, Mr. Andrew Reid will be remembered as one of the old stage drivers who drove out of Pictou.
[The Eastern Chronicle, 7 October 1904, page 8]

1904 October 11

1200 Passengers

The electric cars carried twelve hundred passengers on Tuesday (11 October 1904) between Stellarton and Trenton...
[The Eastern Chronicle, 14 October 1904]

1904 October 14, Friday

Egerton Tramway Official Opening

The formal opening ceremony of Egerton Tramway Company's streetcar line in Pictou County was held this day. Regular operations, carrying passengers, began three days earlier, on Tuesday, 11 October 1904. Streetcars continued operating until 7 May 1931.
[In the early 1900s, this type of public transit, using electric-powered passenger vehicles running on rails, was known as "trams" or "tramways" or "tram cars". Later, in the 1930s and 1940s, it was generally called "streetcars" for a system that operated mainly within an urban district, and "interurbans" (or, in Ontario, "radials") for lines between two or more urban districts. In the 1980s and 1990s, the term "light rail" is widely used. All these names apply to the same technology.]
Historical Notes about the Egerton Tramway Company

1904 October 14

New Glasgow Telephone Building

Mr. William McKenzie, contractor, is rushing up the new Telephone building at a great rate. There are only eight or ten days since he began the contract and the walls are being run up with fine speed.
[The Eastern Chronicle, New Glasgow, 14 October 1904]

1904 October 25

Windsor Railway Station Tender

Intercolonial Railway

(Paid advertisement) "Sealed tenders, addressed to the undersigned, and marked on the outside 'Tender for Windsor Station' will be received up to and including Tuesday, the 25th day of October, 1904, for the construction of a Passenger Station at Windsor, Nova Scotia. Plans and specification may be seen at the office of the Station Master, Windsor, N.S., and at the Chief Engineer's office, Moncton, N.B., where forms of tender may be obtained. All the requirements of the specification must be complied with."
D. Pottinger,
General Manager
Railway Office, Moncton, N.B.
11th October, 1904
[The Eastern Chronicle, New Glasgow, 18 October 1904, page 4]

1904 October 27

Double-Tracking Tender

Intercolonial Railway

(Paid advertisement) "Sealed tenders, addressed to the undersigned, and marked on the outside 'Tender for Double Tracking' will be received up to and including Thursday, the 27th day of October, 1904, for the Grading, etc., to Widen the Present Roadbed for a Double Track between Stellarton and New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Plans and specification may be seen at the Station Master's office, at New Glasgow, N.S., and at the Chief Engineer's office, Moncton, N.B., where forms of tender may be obtained. All the conditions of the specification must be complied with."
D. Pottinger,
General Manager
Railway Office, Moncton, N.B.
12th October, 1904
[The Eastern Chronicle, New Glasgow, 18 October 1904, page 4]

1905

Commercial Cable Company's
Fifth Trans-Atlantic Telegraph Cable

In 1905, the Commercial Cable Company laid its fifth submarine cable between Hazel Hill, Nova Scotia, and Waterville, Ireland. This was one of the heaviest submarine cables up to this time. Its speed was remarkable for its day, and it quickly took a heavy traffic load.

1905

Hantsport Water Supply

In 1905, a water supply system was installed in Hantsport with the water being brought in from Davison Lake, 11 miles 18 km away. Hantsport is located on the boundary between Kings and Hants Counties.
[Source: The Windsor Hants Journal, 22 September 1999, contained excerpts from Hantsport on Avon, 1968, by Hattie Chittick.]

1905 January 30

Halifax & South Western Railway Opened

On this day, the Halifax to Yarmouth main line of the Halifax & South Western Railway Company was officially opened for traffic.

1905 April 7

Gold River Mines & Power Company Limited

The Gold River Mines & Power Co. was incorporated under chapter 136, passed by the Nova Scotia Legislature on 7 April 1905. This company was interested in the area around Gold River, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia.

1905 April 11

Telephone Companies in Nova Scotia

List of telephone companies in Nova Scotia, spring 1905: Note: The Queen's County Telephone Company is listed twice, with different locations. It appears this way in the original.

[Source: Pages 243-244, Report No. 9, April 11, 1905, of the Select Committee Appointed to Inquire into the Various Telephone Systems in Operation in Canada and Elsewhere, Ottawa. "The chairman submitted for the information of the Committee a list of telephone companies in Canada, compiled from the latest available information." Above is the Nova Scotia portion of that list.]

1905 May 15

Halifax & South Western Railway Company
Buys the Halifax & Yarmouth Railway Company
and the Middleton & Victoria Beach Railway Company

On this day, the purchase became official, by the Halifax & South Western Railway, of the Halifax & Yarmouth Railway for $675,000, and the Middleton & Victoria Beach Railway for $325,000. The H&YR; had fifty miles 80 km of narrow-gauge track in operation between Yarmouth and Barrington Passage. The M&VBR; had no track in operation, but it had a charter under which 39 miles 63 km were built by the H&SWR; from Middleton through Bridgetown to Port Wade, which opened for traffic in 1907.

1906 November 3

International Wireless Telegraph Convention

The International Wireless Telegraph Convention was signed in Berlin on this day, by representatives of Argentina, Austria, Hungary, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Denmark, Spain, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Monaco, Norway, the Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Sweden, Turkey, the United States of America, and Uruguay. [Canada was included by association with Great Britain.]

The Contracting Parties bind themselves to apply the provisions of the present Convention to all wireless telegraph stations open to public service between the coast and vessels at sea – both coastal stations and stations on shipboard – which are established or worked by the Contracting Parties. They further bind themselves to make the observance of these provisions obligatory upon private enterprises authorized either to establish or work coastal stations for wireless telegraphy open to public service between the coast and vessels at sea, or to establish or work wireless telegraph stations, whether open to general public service or not, on board of vessels flying their flag...

Text of the Treaty and Regulations

1907 March 19

Building a Benzine Buggy

"The automobile habit promises to be prevalent here next summer. Already we are informed Mr. Fanjoy has booked his order for one and is having a garage built, while two other young men of a mechanical turn of mind have decided not to go abroad for their benzine buggy but are manufacturing one in Fraser Brothers foundry."
[The New Glasgow Eastern Chronicle, 19 March 1907]
Notes about the Early Days of Automobiles

1907 March 19

Egerton Tramway Ceases
Sunday Streetcar Service
in Pictou County

On this day, in The Eastern Chronicle, a twice-a-week newspaper published in New Glasgow, the Egerton Tramway Company inserted a Notice to the Public: "Owing to the fact that another case has been brought by the Lord's Day Alliance against one of the men employed by this Company, under the Act forbidding the performance of servile labour on the Lord's Day, and decided against him, after the original test case had been decided in favour of our employees, both before Stipendary Magistrate and also the County Judge, before whom it was taken on appeal, we have decided to discontinue the operation of any cars on the Sabbath day until we are convinced that the people of the Municipality through which we operate desire to have them run.

The Company has been running its Sunday cars at a loss ever since it began operating, and this coupled with the cost of defending actions against our men, involved too great a loss for the Company to stand. We have therefore decided on the above to avoid further prosecution. We regret, for the sake of our Sunday patrons, that we are obliged to take this step.

Egerton Tramway Company Limited
Charles A. Flaherty, Manager

Historical Notes about the Egerton Tramway Company

1907 March 26

Vale Railroad Petition

Mr. Robert Malcolm McGregor, MLA for Pictou County, presented petitions to the Legislature "from the citizens of New Glasgow, Thorburn, and McLellan's Brook, asking that the Vale Railroad should be made part of the Guysboro system when the same is built or else that it should be taken over by the Intercolonial Railway. Mr. McGregor spoke at some length in presenting the petitions stating fully the circumstances of the case and urging the necessity of action to relieve the people in the district affected and to promote the opening up of the coal areas nearby."
[The New Glasgow Eastern Chronicle, 2 April 1907]

1907 March 28

Subsidy Refund Refused

The Nova Scotia Legislature spent much of this day "discussing the claims of Inverness County for a refund of subsidies paid to the Mackenzie and Mann Railway. The Government did not see its way clear to recoup the County for a bargain which they voluntarily went into, as to do this would open the door to similar claims in all directions."
[The New Glasgow Eastern Chronicle, 2 April 1907]

1907 April 2

Automobile Craze Taking Hold

"The automobile craze is taking hold. Now, Mr. A.R. Munro tells us that he has purchased one, a Russell ... The machine will carry five and is of the very best make."
[The New Glasgow Eastern Chronicle, 2 April 1907]

1907 April 3

Moving Pictures Well Attended

"There was a large attendance at the moving pictures in the Y.M.C.A. hall" on Wednesday evening, April 3, 1907.
[The New Glasgow Eastern Chronicle, 9 April 1907]

1907 April 9

Large Propeller Casting

The moulders at Matheson's Foundry are at work at the largest and most difficult cast ever made in New Glasgow. It is a propeller for a British steamship now in dry dock at Halifax. The outside diameter of the casting will be 15 feet 6 inches 4.72 metres and it will weigh about 6 tons 6 tonnes.
[The New Glasgow Eastern Chronicle, 9 April 1907]

1907 April 19

Automobile Fever

The automobile fever is catching. Messrs. Fanjoy have theirs in the garage awaiting better roads and others are en route here. By the time the mud disappears the chug-chug noise will be quite common. One prominent horseman is so attacked with the disease that he is said to be quietly disposing of his stable outfit and spends his spare moments studying auto catalogues. The horsemen need not get alarmed that the motor car will injure their business in our country.
[The New Glasgow Eastern Chronicle, 19 April 1907]

1907 April 25

Halifax & South Western Railway Company
Buys the Liverpool & Milton Railway Company

On this day, the Liverpool & Milton Railway was bought by the Halifax & South Western Railway for $71,550. The L&MR; owned and operated a 4.63 mile 7.45 km railway along the west side of the Mersey River, between Liverpool and Rapid Falls, near Milton, in Queens County. Most of the L&MRCo; line was abandoned in 1936, but a short section of the old L&MR; main line track was used until the late 1980s for the H&SWR; main line between Halifax and Yarmouth. Much of the old L&MR; roadbed has since been obliterated by highway construction, but parts of it were still visible in the 1990s.

1907 May

Quebec Steamship Company, Limited
1907 Summer Schedule

Scheduled Sailings of
S.S. CAMPANA
from
Montreal and Quebec
Calling at Father Point, Gaspe, Mal Bay, Perce,
Cape Cove, Grand River, Summerside,
Charlottetown, and Pictou
Quebec Steamship Company
Passenger Service between Montreal and Pictou
Summer Schedule
1907
From
Montreal
at 4pm		 From
Quebec
at noon
  Monday, 6th May   Tuesday, 7th May
  Monday, 20th May   Tuesday, 21st May
  Monday, 3rd June   Tuesday, 4th June
  Monday, 17th June   Tuesday, 18th June
  Monday, 1st July   Tuesday, 2nd July
  Monday, 15th July   Tuesday, 16th July
  Monday, 29th July   Tuesday, 30th July
  Monday, 12th August   Tuesday, 13th August
  Monday, 26th August   Tuesday, 27th August
  Monday, 9th September   Tuesday, 10th September
  Monday, 23rd September   Tuesday, 24th September
  Monday, 7th October   Tuesday, 8th October
  Monday, 21st October   Tuesday, 22nd October
  Monday, 4th November   Tuesday, 5th November

Returning will leave Pictou, Nova Scotia, every alternate Monday, at Midday, up to 16th September, on arrival of trains from Halifax and Saint John. Commencing 28th September, leave Pictou Saturdays as soon as cargo is landed. Subject to change should circumstance require.
Arthur Ahern, Secretary, Quebec, Canada
Dodd Dwyer, Agent, Pictou, Nova Scotia
(7-5-07 6mos.)
[Display advertisement in The Eastern Chronicle, 10 May 1907, page 4]

1907 May 8

Automobile Licence Plate Number One

Nova Scotia plate #1 was issued on 8 May 1907, to Mr. William Black, Wolfville, for an Oldsmobile. Plate #2 was issued 18 May 1907 to Mr. W.L. Kane, Halifax. #62 was the last plate issued in 1907 (#13 was not issued).
Source: A History of Nova Scotia Licence Plates, by David Fraser
    http://www.gov.ns.ca/bacs/rmv/historic.stm
A History of Nova Scotia Licence Plates, 1907-1919
    http://www.gov.ns.ca/bacs/rmv/plt07-19.stm

1907 May 10

Call for Tenders, Miners' Houses

TENDERS

Tenders will shortly be asked for the construction of 60 blocks semi-detached miners' tenement houses. All builders desirous of tendering will communicate with the undersigned.
The Acadia Coal Comapny, Ltd.,
Stellarton, Nova Scotia
3i 3-5-07
[Display advertisement in The Eastern Chronicle, 10 May 1907, page 4]

1907 June 14

Special Mail Train

Dateline: Montreal, Friday June 14 – The Intercolonial Railway's special train for the mail from Great Britain, which left North Sydney at 5:25 last evening with the mail from the steamship Victorian, arrived here at 7:45 tonight, having made the run, allowing for the difference of one hour in time, in twenty six hours twenty minutes. All the mail was delivered at the post office here by 9:20, just in time to allow the Western mail to be sent off by tonight' s express train. All the mail by last Friday's steamer which was landed at Rimouski was not delivered at the post office until after midnight, or four hours later than tonight's mail which came via North Sydney.
[The New Glasgow Eastern Chronicle, 25 June 1907, page 2]
[Note: The 26 hours 20 minutes running time, from North Sydney to Montreal, included the time required to ferry the train across the Strait of Canso, from Port Tupper to Mulgrave.]

1907 June 18

Yarmouth Electric Company

On this day, the Yarmouth Electric Company Limited was incorporated under the Nova Scotia Joint Stock Companies Act with an authorized capital of $100,000.00, divided among one thousand shares of a par value of one hundred dollars each. Briefly the principal objects of this Company, as set out in the incorporation papers, were to acquire stock or securities of other companies for the purpose of managing or operating them, or of consolidating them; also to engage in any other business which might seem to work in well with the Company's enterprise. It is not clear just how extensive this Company's operations were.

Reference:
Historical Notes about the Yarmouth Electric Company
    http://alts.net/ns1625/electr05.html

1907 June 21

East Pictou Telephone Company

The East Pictou Telephone Company, which is planning to construct a telephone line to Little Harbour and points on the coast of East Pictou, is now fully organized and will start construction at once. The President of the Company is Mr. Charles P. Stewart, Little Harbour, and the Secretary is Councillor Frank McNeil, New Glasgow. Mr. James McKay, of East River, St. Mary's, is engaged to superintend the erection of the poles. There will be a call station at Fisher's Grant or some other place just below Trenton that will be "called" by the Nova Scotia Telephone Company and that station will call up subscribers beyond.
[The New Glasgow Eastern Chronicle, 21 June 1907, page 8]

1907, Summer

Restrictions on the Operation of Automobiles

In Marguerite Woodworth's book, History of the Dominion Atlantic Railway, published in October 1936, on pages 131-132 she quotes the following from a contemporary letter: "The use of automobiles is allowed in the undermentioned counties as follows:

1907 July 2

Paving Contract

The Barber Asphalt Company of New York, represented in Nova Scotia by Robert Low, have secured the contract for paving the Halifax streets. It is a $75,000 job.
[The New Glasgow Eastern Chronicle, 2 July 1907]

1907 July 31

Edison Telegram

"Trenton, N.J. July 31 1907
H.J. Logan MP
Chairman Board of Trade Committee Amherst, Nova Scotia
Permit me to congratulate your board of trade and Senator Mitchell on the inauguration of the first power plant on the American continent for the generation of electricity at the mouth of a coal mine and the distribution of the same to distant commercial centres. It is a bold attempt and I never thought it would be first accomplished in Nova Scotia where my father was born over one hundred years ago.
Thomas A. Edison
4 pm"

Reproduction of the telegram as received in Amherst From First Things in Acadia (book) by John Quinpool, published in Halifax, 1936.
    http://alts.net/ns1625/electr12.gif

Letter to Editor
The Halifax Daily News

Making Electricity in Nova Scotia

To the editor:

It is encouraging to see the increasing attention The Daily News is giving to the history of Nova Scotia.

On July 31, 1998, in the inside front page, "This day in ..." drew my attention: "1907: North America's first plant to develop electric power from coal opens in Amherst, N.S."

This refers to the electric generating plant built by the Canada Electric Co. at Maccan, near Amherst, which began commercial operation on July 31, 1907, and which was still in operation decades later, with modernized machinery but on the same site. The 1990 annual report of the Nova Scotia Power Corp. contains a list of the company's electric generating plants as of March 31, 1990. This list includes the Maccan plant at a rated capacity of 15 megawatts. By the 1980s, the Maccan plant had become a low-efficiency, high-cost plant, and in recent years has been run only occasionally. I do not know when it last generated electricity, but I understand it has been used for commercial generation in the 1990s.

The Canada Electric Co. continued operations as an electric utility, running the Maccan plant and supplying electric power to Amherst and vicinity, until it was taken over in 1961 by the Nova Scotia Power Commission. In 1973, the commission was reorganized and renamed the Nova Scotia Power Corp., a provincial Crown corporation. On Aug. 12, 1992, the N.S. Power Corp. was privatized – it was sold to Nova Scotia Power Inc. Ownership of the Maccan generating plant followed these corporate developments.

There's just one little detail about that item, as printed.

It isn't true.

The Canada Electric Co.'s electric generating plant at Maccan was not "North America's first plant to develop electric power from coal."

It wasn't even the first in Nova Scotia. Not by a long shot.

There were numerous earlier coal-fired, electric-generating plants in Nova Scotia. I'll name three, but there were several others.

1888 – The first electric arc street lights in Yarmouth, comprising several street lamps on Main Street, one on Water Street, and one on Parade Street, were put into operation on the evening of Jan. 8, 1888. The electric power to operate these lights came from a coal-fired, electric generating plant in downtown Yarmouth, owned by the Yarmouth Electric Light Co.

1890 – The first electric incandescent street lights in Nova Scotia were turned on in Windsor on the evening of Sept. 22, 1890. This was an initial demonstration, for the public, with 27 lights installed along the streets. They were supplied with direct current generated by a dynamo driven by a reciprocating steam engine, located in the new coal-fired generating station at the corner of Victoria and Stannus streets. The system went into regular operation a few weeks later, with 55 street lights connected. The system was built by the Windsor Electric Light & Power Company Ltd, under a contract with the Town of Windsor (The Windsor Electric Light & Power Co. was sold in 1921 to the Avon River Power Co., which was merged in 1929 with the Nova Scotia Light & Power Co., which in 1972 was taken over by the Nova Scotia Power Commission, which in 1973 became Nova Scotia Power Corp., which in 1992 was sold to Nova Scotia Power Inc.)

1896 – Electric streetcars began operating in Halifax, powered by a coal-fired generating plant located on Lower Water Street. "The first trolley car started out on Feb. 13, 1896," according to a technical paper Halifax Electric Tramway Plant and Steam Engineering read on May 7, 1907, by Philip A. Freeman, chief engineer of the Halifax Electric Tram Co., before the Nova Scotia Society of Engineers.

There were other early coal-fired, electric-generating plants in Truro, New Glasgow, Sydney, Glace Bay, Antigonish, and Dartmouth, among others. All of these were running well before 1900.

So, what about the item that appeared in The Daily News? It would have been correct if it had included a vital detail. It should have read: "1907: North America's first coal-fired electric generating plant located at the mouth of a coal mine, began operation in Amherst, N.S."

The crucial point, omitted in the item as printed, is the location of the generating plant at the mine mouth, in contrast to all the earlier generating plants which were located in the towns served by the plants.

This essential point is brought out clearly in the famous telegram (reproduction attached) sent by Thomas Alva Edison on July 31, 1907, to Senator Hance J. Logan, in Amherst. Logan was a director of Maritime Coal, Railway & Power Co., owned by the same holding company that controlled the Canada Electric Co. Edison's telegram explicitly refers to "the first power plant on the American continent for the generation of electricity at the mouth of a coal mine."

What is the difference? All earlier generating plants were located near the centre of the towns they supplied.

For example, the 1890 generating plant in Windsor was built at the corner of Victoria and Stannus streets, then and now within a couple of blocks of Windsor's main downtown area.

The 1888 generating plant in Yarmouth was within three blocks of the downtown core.

The 1896 generating plant in Halifax was on Lower Water Street (the site now occupied by the Electropolis sound stage).

The 1880s generating plant in Truro was located within a few blocks of the downtown core.

Before 1907, this was the universal practice for steam generating plants, in Nova Scotia and everywhere else in North America. (That's true for steam generating plants, but not for hydro-electric generating plants, which had to be built where the water was available.)

Before 1907, they dug the coal and transported it to the downtown generating plant. The energy was carried to the town by hauling coal on a railway.

The Maccan plant was built close to the coal mine, and the energy was carried to the town by wire – an electric transmission line. This was often called coal by wire.

If you look at some of John Buchanan's speeches when he was premier, you will find that phrase – coal by wire – more than once.

That's how it is done today in Nova Scotia; burn the coal in a generating plant located close to the mine – Lingan, Aconi – and carry the energy in electrical form by wire to the consumers.

It is less costly to carry energy by wire than on wheels. It was done first in 1907, in Cumberland County.

[The Halifax Daily News, 15 August 1998]

1907 August 30

McKenzie and Mann

The private railway car of Messrs. McKenzie and Mann passed through New Glasgow on Friday, August 30th, returning from Cape Breton. One of the principals of the firm and Mr. Spencer, the general manager, were on board.
[The New Glasgow Eastern Chronicle, 3 September 1907]

1907 September 25 to October 3

Baldwin's Air Ship

Thrilling Flights from the Grounds
in This Wonder of Modern Times

Take a Holiday and Visit the Exhibition
at Halifax, Sept. 25th to Oct. 3rd.

A feature of thrilling interest at the forthcoming Exhibition will be the daily flights of Baldwin's Air Ship. The air ship will rise from the exhibition grounds and after about twenty minutes spent in circumnavigation of the city it will return to the starting place. A great cigar shaped bag, 52 feet 15.8 metres long and 17 feet 5.2 metres in diameter, constitutes the bouyancy-giving part of the machine. Beneath this is the wooden car, 42 feet 12.8 metres long in which sits captain Baldwin, and in which is the motor that drives the twin screw propellors at a rate of 1,000 revolutions a minute. In this car also is the steering gear. The air ship contains 9,000 cubic feet 255 cubic metres of hydrogen gas, to produce which 4,000 lbs. (pounds) 1,800kg of sulphuric acid and 4,000 lbs. 1,800kg of iron turnings have been ordered to be in readiness for the arrival of the air ship from New York. The exhibition itself gives every indication of being a tremendous success ... The horses on exhibition will number 200. The horse races will attract a splendid field and the racing will continue for seven days. The Vaudeville Show which will consist of eight acts, as well as the races, will be seen from the splendid new Grand Stand which is now about complete. The new Horse Barns are being rapidly erected.
[The New Glasgow Eastern Chronicle, 6 September 1907, pages 6 and 7]

1907 October

First Commercial TransAtlantic Radio Service

The first service for sending radio (telegraph without wires) messages across the Atlantic Ocean, began commercial operation between Marconi Towers near Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, and Clifden, Ireland. The system was owned and operated by the Marconi Company, which had carried out the design, construction, installation, and testing of all equipment at both ends. This was a simplex system, meaning that messages could be sent both ways, eastbound and westbound, across the Atlantic, but not at the same time. While sending eastbound, from Marconi Towers to Clifden, messages could not be received at Marconi Towers, because the very powerful transmitter emission swamped the feeble incoming signal. The same problem occurred in Ireland, that signals could not be received at Clifden while the Clifden transmitter was in operation. The simplex system was replaced by a duplex service in 1913.

1907 October 17

Official Opening of
Marconi's TransAtlantic Radio Service

An elaborate formal opening ceremony was staged on this day for the Marconi Wireless Telegraph station at Marconi Towers, near Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. Official congratulatory messages were sent (using no wire across the Atlantic) to the King of England, the King of Italy, Lord Kelvin, and other notables. The Marconi Company entertained several hundred guests at a banquet. This was a genuine radio operation, using electromagnetic waves travelling without wires across the North Atlantic Ocean between Nova Scotia and Great Britain. But, while it was operated by radio, it could not transmit voice messages. It was unable to reproduce at the receiving end, any sound made at the sending end.

It worked by using a telegraph key to "key" a high-power spark transmitter. When the transmitter was "keyed" it was simply turned on and off – "on" meaning a spark carrying several thousand amperes of electric current was turned on, and "off" meaning the spark was turned off. A spark transmitter is basically an exceedingly simple device. If you make an electric circuit of wire (any wire that is handy), with a short gap somewhere – a short section with no wire, just air – and then you apply a high voltage to the circuit, you get a spark across the gap. A good example is the spark plug used in gasoline engines in automobiles; if you have ever watched a spark plug tested in your local garage, you have a general idea of what it looks like.

Any electrical spark generates a spectrum of electromagnetic disturbances, or waves, of various frequencies, depending strongly on the electrical characteristics of the circuit it is connected in. That is, any electrical spark generates and radiates radio waves. (If you want to observe this, take any ordinary AM radio receiver to your local garage and turn it on while the spark plug tester is operating. It does not matter where the tuning dial is turned, the spark produces many frequencies and the receiver will "hear" it no matter what frequency you select.) The more powerful the spark is – the more current that flows across the gap – the greater the distance the radiated waves will travel. If you use enough power, the radiated waves will travel thousands of kilometres. There was some technical sophistication in the apparatus, but Marconi's system also relied on brute force – use enough power and your spark-generated wave will get through. When the Cape Breton spark was running, there was a buzz in the headphones in Ireland; when the spark stopped, the headphones were silent. Thus, the letter "v", represented in Morse code as dot-dot-dot-dash, would be heard in Ireland as buzz-buzz-buzz-buzzzzzz. This buzzing in the headphones in Ireland was an audible sound, but it was not a reproduction af a sound made in Nova Scotia; the headphone buzz was produced by an electrical disturbance in the atmosphere which was the result of an electric spark running in Cape Breton. Marconi's spark transmitter was essentially a gigantic spark plug tester.

This was a brute force system, but it worked nonetheless. When it became obvious that Marconi's wireless telegraph would work across the Atlantic Ocean, the price of Commercial Cable, Western Union, and other cable company shares fell sharply on European and North American stock markets.

1907 November 26

First Dial Telephone

On this day, the first dial telephone in Canada went into regular use in Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia.
[The Halifax Daily News, 26 November 1999]



1907 November 28

First Dial Telephone

Dial telephones first used at Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia. Believed to be the first dial telephones in Canada.
[The National Post, 28 November 2000]

1907 December 14

Hiram Hyde Dies

Hiram Hyde, the "stage coach tycoon" of Nova Scotia, died at Truro. He had been born in New York State on 25 September 1817, but moved to Nova Scotia as a young man. When Samuel Cunard obtained his contract to carry the Royal Mail from Great Britain to Halifax and Quebec in 1839, Hyde contracted with Cunard to provide a stage coach service between Halifax and Pictou, which was an essential link in Cunard's route between London and Quebec. Hyde's contract specified a Halifax to Pictou time of thirteen hours, which was tight scheduling in those days. Hyde's bitter letter of 1844 gives us a rare and detailed view of road conditions of that time, as experienced by travellers. Hyde had other interests; he worked with Fred Gisborne in developing telegraph lines, and he had a hand in the pony express of 1849. He entered politics, and was elected MPP (Member of the Provincial Parliament) for Truro Township 1855-59 (in the days before Confederation when Nova Scotia's Assembly was referred to as a 'Parliament' instead of a 'Legislature'). Later, Hyde became a contractor in supplying locomotive fuel, after his stage lines had been forced out of business by the building of competing railway lines.

1908 June

Transportation Schedules at Canso

CANN LINE

Strait of Canso Summer Service
for 1908

MALCOLM CANN
(steamship)

Mulgrave and Guysboro daily (Sunday excepted), calling at Queensport every morning from Guysboro. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday trips extended to Boylston.

JOHN L. CANN
(steamship)

Mulgrave and Canso daily (Sunday excepted).

PERCY CANN
(steamship)

Mulgrave, Arichat, West Arichat, and Petit de Grat daily (Sunday excepted).

Connecting with ICR Halifax Express morning and afternoon.

A.N. Whitman & Son, Ltd., Agents

HALIFAX & CANSO
STEAMSHIP CO. LTD.

The S.S. Scotia

Will leave Campbell's Wharf every Thursday at 8 p.m., calling at Port Hilford, Port Bickerton, Country Harbour, Isaac's Harbour, Goldboro, Drum Head, White Head, Canso, Queensport, Guysboro, and Boylston.

Excellent passenger accomodation.
Freight will not be received after 1 p.m. Thursday.
On return trip leaves Canso on Monday mornings.

A.N. Whitman & Son, Ltd., Agents

PLANT LINE

Tickets sold to all points via this popular route.

A.N. Whitman & Son, Ltd., Agents

S. S. CITY of GHENT

Leaves Halifax every Tuesday at 7 a.m., calling at Sheet Harbour, Isaac's Harbour, Canso, Arichat, Port Hawkesbury, Charlottetown, and Summerside. On return trip leaves Canso on Saturdays.

A.N. Whitman & Son, Ltd., Agents

INTERCOLONIAL RAILWAY

All trains are run by Atlantic Standard Time.
Times according to 24-hour clock.
Twenty-four o'clock is midnight.

Leave Mulgrave

6:45 Train 56: Accomodation for New Glasgow and Truro
11:45 Train 20: Express for Halifax, Quebec, and Montreal

Leave Point Tupper

5:50 Train 105: Mixed for North Sydney and Sydney
15:45 Train 19: Express for North Sydney and Sydney

Dining and Sleeping Cars between Halifax and Sydney on Trains 19 and 20.

A.N. Whitman & Son, Ltd., Ticket Agents

[The above items have been adapted from five display advertisements in the 20 June 1908 issue of The Canso News, published monthly at Canso by A.N. Whitman & Son Limited. The information in the Plant Line ad is sparse – the text above is all there was in the original advertisement.]

1908 September

New Acetylene Lighting Systems Installed

"The Roman Catholic and Methodist churches here have recently installed new lighting plants, which are proving very satisfactory and a great improvement over the old oil lamps. The machines are said to be the very latest in acetylene lighting."
[Quoted whole from the 19 September 1908 issue of The Canso News, Canso, Guysborough County.]

1908 December

Capable Lamp Lighters Hard to Find

"The problem of street lighting for the town seems a rather difficult one, at least it would seem so as the absence of any lights so often indicates. We believe the style of lamps provided are capable of doing the work and require only careful management to get good results. The parts of the lamps are very fragile and not easy of adjustment, and because of this the town has had difficulty in securing capable lamp lighters. The season of the year is now approaching when there is greatest need of street lights, and it is to be hoped that every effort will be made to provide a satisfactory service."
[Quoted whole from the 18 December 1908 issue of The Canso News, Canso, Guysborough County.]

1909

First Radio Broadcast of Music

Leonard Rosser Johnstone, living in Dartmouth in the mid-1930s, recalled the first radio broadcast of music to be heard in Nova Scotia. On 17 October 1907, Johnstone was a telegraph operator working for the Marconi Company at Marconi Towers, Glace Bay, and he had "personally handled most of the sending of numerous official telegrams ... addressed to rulers, statesmen, scientists and publishers'" during Marconi's official opening ceremonies. As Johnstone recalled, in 1909 the "steam yacht Hirondelle with the owner aboard, the Prince of Monaco, passing Halifax, though out of sight, treated operators at Camperdown Wireless Station to four musical selections, including the Merry Widow... The operator on the yacht explained a piano was hooked to a wireless transmitter and the Prince wished to know if the scheme was a success."
[The quotes are from the book First Things in Acadia by John Quinpool, published in Halifax in 1936.]

1909 February

Reduced Steamship Service,
Canso - Mulgrave

"On the first day of this month the steamer Malcolm Cann left for Yarmouth to undergo her annual overhauling. This necessitates the John L. Cann performing the double service of Canso - Mulgrave and Mulgrave - Guysboro routes. On the return of the Malcolm Cann the John L. leaves the route, the former performing the double service. When the John L. returns, the Percy Cann is sent off the Arichat - Mulgrave route for one month and the John L. does her work. Thus for a period of three months these three regular daily services are interrupted. The present contractors for these steamboat lines claim that the subsidy voted is not sufficient to permit of their putting on an extra steamer for the three months to give the continued daily service the year round. No doubt the travelling public and fresh fish shippers would appreciate the year round daily service, and we hope the day is not far distant when the volume of trade and travel will open the way towards that end."
[Quoted whole from the 25 February 1909 issue of The Canso News, Canso, Guysborough County.]

1909 February 23

First Flight

On this day, members of the Aerial Experiment Association accomplished the first manned airplane flight in the British Empire, by flying the Silver Dart over the Bras d'Or Lake, near Baddeck, Nova Scotia. The A.E.A. was officially formed in October 1907 on Mrs. Alexander Graham Bell's suggestion, and she contributed money to pay for most of the expenses. It was headed by the great inventor himself (who had a home at Baddeck) and had as its members, four young men eager to make their mark during the heady days of early flight: American Glenn H. Curtiss, a motorcycle manufacturer who would later be awarded the Scientific American Trophy for the first official one-kilometre flight in the Western hemisphere and later be world-renowned as an airplane manufacturer; F.W. (Casey) Baldwin, the first Canadian and first British subject to pilot a public flight – in Hammondsport, New York; J.A.D. McCurdy; and Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, an official observer of the U.S. government.
More about the flight of the Silver Dart
Canadian Aviation Historical Society, Silver Dart Chapter

1909 March

Canso's New Town Clock

1908 July 20: "The promised clock for the tower of the Public Building has not yet been installed... The placing of the clock in the tower will add greatly to the appearance of the building. It will also be a great convenience to the public..."

1908 December 18: "Owing to an accident when installing the clock in the Public Building in which one of the dials was broken, the work has not yet been completed and the clock has not yet been taken over by the department. When the work is completed the dials will be illuminated at night so that the time can be seen as well as heard."

1909 February 25: "It is to be regretted that the new clock in the tower of the Public Building has not been completely installed. Only three dials are in place and although the absence of the fourth dial does not affect the running of the clock, it is not kept going. There seems some hitch about the care of the clock, the caretaker of the building having received no instructions in the matter."

1909 March 25: "Caretaker Sutherland has received instructions re the care of the clock in the tower of the Public Building, and its musical strike can now be heard day and night, 'marking time'."

[Above items are quoted from issues, dates as given, of The Canso News, published monthly by A.N. Whitman & Son Limited, Canso, Guysborough County.]

1909 April 1

New Glasgow Electric Company Sold
to Egerton Tramway Company

On 23 April 1909 the Legislature passed an Act (chapter 142, 1909, 9 Edward VII) to confirm the sale, on 1 April 1909, of the New Glasgow Electric Company Limited to the Egerton Tramway Company Limited.

1909 April 23

Egerton Tramway Company Changes Name
to Pictou County Electric Company

On 23 April 1909 the Legislature passed an Act (chapter 143, 1909, 9 Edward VII) to change the name of the Egerton Tramway Company Limited to Pictou County Electric Company Limited.

1909 July

New Acetylene Lights
in the Canso Post Office Building

1909 May 27: "B.L. Redding has the contract for building a brick outhouse on the Post Office property to house an acetylene machine to light the public building. P. Campbell & Son, of Saint John, are installing the plant, which is the same as they put in the Roman Catholic and Methodist churches in this town. The installation of this light will add greatly to the appearance, convenience, and comfort of both the Customs and Post Office departments in the Public Building."

1909 July 29: "Contractor Campbell has been busy the last month installing the acetylene lighting plant for the public building and has completed the work. The new light adds greatly to the appearance and convenience of the building."

[Both items are quoted whole, from issues, dates as above, of The Canso News, published monthly by A.N. Whitman & Son Limited, Canso, Guysborough County.]

1909 November 26

The directors of the Nova Scotia Steel Corporation, meeting in Montreal, declared a stock bonus of 20 per cent, and a dividend of 1 per cent to holders of common stock, thus putting the common shares on a 4 per cent basis.
[Quoted whole from the Toronto Globe, 27 November 1909]

"A stock bonus of 20 per cent" means each owner of common shares was given one additional share for each five shares he held. This "bonus" is pretty much like a stock split, a procedure well-known and widely-used in the 1990s. A stock split of two-for-one (such as done by IBM and Microsoft and many other companies in the 1990s) means each owner of common shares was given one additional share for each share he held. A stock bonus of 20 per cent is a stock split of six-for-five.

A quarterly dividend of 1 per cent means the shares were paying 4 per cent annually.

To a Nova Scotian, the most significant part of this item is the fact that the directors of the Nova Scotia Steel Corporation were meeting in Montreal.

1910 April 22

Maritime Telegraph & Telephone Company Limited

On this day, the Legislature passed an Act (chapter 156, 1910, 10 Edward VII) to incorporate the Maritime Telegraph & Telephone Company Limited, head office in Halifax, with capital of $500,000 divided among 50,000 shares of $10 each, with legal authority to "construct, buy, lease, or otherwise acquire telegraph and telephone lines and cables, conduits, and plant, and to maintain and operate same ... To amalgamate with any telegraph or telephone company...". The Act named the founding shareholders as: Samuel M. Brookfield, of the City of Halifax, Contractor; Walter H. Covert, of the City of Halifax, Barrister-at-law; and A. Ernest Ings, of the City of Charlottetown, Barrister-at-law. Section 21 specified that MT&T; "shall on or before the first day of May in each and every year, deliver to the Clerk of each County," or where a County is divided into two or more municipalities then to the Clerk of each Municipality, "a sworn statement of the number of miles of pole lines owned by the Company in such County or Municipality, together with a sum of money equal to one dollar" for each mile of pole line in the district, "and such sum of one dollar per mile shall be payment in full by the Company" of all county and municipal property taxes. Section 28 prohibited the tapping of telephone lines, and section 29 specified that the penalty for illegally tapping a telephone line was $100 plus $40 per day during the time the tap remained in place. Section 32 enabled MT&T; to set up and operate its own electric generating equipment "in any city or town" where no electric utility system was available.

1910 June 27

Contract Signed for Railway from Dartmouth to Guysboro

Company backed by London capitalists
agree to operate road from Dartmouth to Guysboro
with branches to Country Harbor and Pictou County

Receiving a government subsidy of $6,400 per mile
Putting up a forfeit deposit of $50,000

Construction to start by September 1, 1910
and to be completed by September 1, 1913

In the afternoon of Monday, June 27th, 1910, the contract for the construction of the Nova Scotia Eastern Railway from Dartmouth to Guysboro via Dean's Settlement, Musquodoboit, was signed by Hon. Christopher P. Chisholm, commissioner of Public Works and Mines, representing the Provincial Government, and by John B. Bartram, Barrister, of Toronto, President, and George E. Boak of Halifax, Secretary pro tem, representing the Halifax and Eastern Railway Company.

At a meeting of the Executive Council the contract was approved of and Hon. Mr. Chisholm was authorized to sign the document. The work of building the railway will be commenced before September 1st, 1910, and the road is to be completed by September 1st, 1913.

The contract provides that the company shall at once proceed with the necessary surveys and the preparation of the plans of construction which are to be submitted to the Governor in Council for approval and the work of construction to be commenced by the first day of September of this year. The road is to be a single track line of the standard gauge and the construction work is to be regularly inspected by the provincial engineer. The total length of the road will be 216 miles 347km made up as follows: [The Halifax Chronicle, 28 June 1910]
[Reprinted in the Guysborough County Journal, 12 July 2000]

Map showing the surveyed route from Deans to Eden Lake (130k)
This is a portion of a "Map of the Province of Nova Scotia to illustrate the report 'Gold Fields of Nova Scotia' by E.R. Faribault" complied and published by the Geological Survey of Canada, 1906. This map was primarily a geological map, but it also showed all existing railways in Nova Scotia and several that were in the planning stage. (In the upper left corner of this map, we can see a part of the planned route of the Stewiacke Valley & Lansdowne Railway, which got as far as constructing part of the roadbed – cuts and embankments – but never laid any rail.)

1910 June 28

MT&T; Buys PEI Telco

On this day the Maritime Telegraph & Telephone Company bought the Prince Edward Island Telephone Company, which had been operating a public telephone service on the Island since 10 April 1885.

1910 September 1

First Run of Rotundus

Certified for 250 passengers

August 31st 1910, on a Wednesday morning, the whistle of the ferryboat Rotundus was heard on her second and final trial run. September 1st 1910 was the day, with Captain Terfry at the helm, Rotundus steamed out of the harbour to succeed the old Avon, she remained in service until 1935.

She made her daily runs according to tide times in the Minas Basin. Her home was in Summerville, Hants County, Nova Scotia. People waited for her to steam by and pick them up at Hantsport, Centre Burlington (Card Beach), Windsor and Avondale (Newport Landing). This way people could go to town to do their shopping at a round trip which cost 50 cents for adults and children over twelve travelling to Summerville and Windsor. People would have an hour and a half to two hours to do their shopping before the reverse tide would start and the Rotundus would have to make her return trip.

The Rotundus was a steam powered ferryboat, owned by over 120 different shareholders. The term "Ferryboat" was lightly used because the Rotundus was also used to deliver supplies back from town to local merchants and homeowners.

She was a comfortable, sturdily built and commodious rivercraft. The cabin seats were upholstered with crimson plush and she had every modern convenience and safety feature available, including 250 life belts.

Sizewise, she measured in length 92 feet, in breadth 20.6 feet, and in depth 6.8 feet. Her gross tonnage was 122.68, her registered tonnage was 66.24 and she was certified to carry 250 excursion passengers.

The Rotundus cruised steadily against the tides at a speed of 10 knots. She always returned on the same tide, hence the name "Rotundus."

When the Rotundus sadly left the Avon River in 1935 she went to work in Newfoundland only to be called back to Halifax during the second World War. She had the important task of taking water to the thousands of naval and merchant vessels massed in convoy off the coast.

In late November 1946, the Rotundus made her last run. She left Halifax on her way to Sydney with a load of supplies. She got caught up in a big storm off the coast of Cape Breton. The constant fight with the high winds and heavy flow of water proved too much for her crew to handle. They abandoned ship and down she went, never to be seen again.

The Rotundus is a small but very significant part of the Hants Shore history. Many people do not realize the important role the Hants Shore played in our local history. I hope in having people read this article and future articles, it will help them see the Hants Shore not as just a place where people live, but a place which always had an abundance of history to offer and always will.

Source:
The Forgotten History of the Hants Shore: The Rotundus by Jody Lunn, Centre Burlington
    http://fox.nstn.ca/~hantsrda/rotundus.html

1910 October 5

First Canadian Pilot's License

On this day, J.A.D. McCurdy became the first Canadian to obtain an aircraft pilot's license.
[The Halifax Daily News, 5 October 1999]
J.A.D. McCurdy
    http://www.exn.ca/FlightDeck/Aviators/mccurdy.cfm

1911

N.S. Carriage and Motor Car Co. Ltd.

The Nova Scotia Carriage Company, established in Kentville in 1868, was reorganized by the McKay brothers as the Nova Scotia Carriage and Motor Car Company Limited. Over the next year or so, this company produced 25 automobiles in Kentville. The company built a large building in Amherst, and installed machinery there during the winter of 1912-13. It produced another one hundred cars in Amherst, but closed in 1914, having produced about 125 cars in all.

1911 March 31

Blomidon Railway

On March 31, 1911, an act to incorporate the Blomidon Railway Company Limited was passed by the Nova Scotia Legislature. The act indicates that the new railway would connect with the existing main line track of the Dominion Atlantic Railway at Wolfville, cross the Cornwallis River at Port Williams, and continue generally northward to Canning via Starr's Point and Canard. At or near Canning there would be a connection with and crossing of the existing Cornwallis Valley Railway. The new Blomidon Railway would run northward from Canning, through Woodside, North Corner, Upper Pereau, and Delhaven. The plan was to build the track to the top of Cape Blomidon to the site of the National Park, and from there continue to Scott's Bay and then to Cape Split. Mr. Coleman comments: "Today, an old trail of unclear origin runs from the park site straight through the woods to Scott's Bay; perhaps it is the right of way hewed out of the forest by the fledgling Blomidon Railway Company." A number of prominent professional men and merchants were named in the act as the officers of the proposed line and "it's obvious from this list that the Blomidon Railway was a serious undertaking." One of the officers, Kentville lawyer Harry H. Wickwire, came from a pioneer family that had long played a prominent role in Kings County. Another officer, Leslie S. Macoun of Ottawa, was the son-in-law of Sir Frederick Borden. Rumoured to have the blessing of Sir Frederick and with initial capital of a quarter million dollars, the plan to build the Blomidon Railway was far from a fanciful scheme. The act gave the Company two years from the date of incorporation to start work on the railway, but there is no known record of any significant construction work having been done. The Blomidon Railway was never built.
[Excerpted from Ed Coleman's column Looking Back: The Blomidon Railway in the Kentville Advertiser, 9 April 1999.]

1911 September 15

Deadline for Tenders for Construction of
Guysboro Railway

Department of Railways and Canals

Branch line of Railway from Guysboro to Sunny Brae
through Country Harbor Cross Roads with an extension from
Country Harbor Cross Roads to Deep Water of Country Harbor

Sealed Tenders addressed to the undersigned and endorsed "Tender for Guysboro - Country Harbor line" will be received at this office until 16 o'clock, on Friday, September 15th, 1911, for section No. 1 of the above line of railway, comprising that portion extending from Guysboro to Country Harbor Cross Roads and from the latter point to Deep Water, Country Harbor.

Plans, profiles, specifications and form of contract to be entered into can be seen on or after the 15th instant [August 15] at the office of the Chief Engineer of the Department of Railways and Canals, Ottawa; at the office of the Chief Engineer of the Intercolonial Railway, Moncton; and at the office of the Board of Trade, Halifax. Forms of tender may be procured from the Chief Engineer of the Intercolonial Railway. Parties tendering will be required to accept the fair wages schedule prepared or to be prepared by the Department of Labor, which schedule will form part of the contract.

Contractors are requested to bear in mind that tenders will not be considered unless made strictly in accordance with the printed forms, and in the case of firms, unless there are attached the actual signature, the nature of the occupation, and the place of residence of each member of the firm.

An accepted bank cheque for the sum of $100,000, made payable to the order of the Minister of Railways and Canals must accompany each tender, which sum will be forfeited if the party tendering declines entering into contract for the work, at the rates stated in the offer submitted. The cheque thus sent in will be returned to the respective contractors whose tenders are not accepted. The cheque of the successful tenderer will be held as security, or part security, for the due fulfilment of the contract to be entered into. The lowest or any tender will not necessarily be accepted.

By order, L.K. Jones,
Secretary
Department of Railways and Canals,
Ottawa, August 25th, 1911

[The Halifax Morning Chronicle, 22 August 1911]
and reprinted in Addresses delivered by Hon. James Cranswick Tory, LL.D. (book) published by The Mortimer Company limited, Ottawa, 1932. Mr. J.C. Tory was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia 1911-1923, and Lieutenant-Governor of Nova Scotia 1925-1930.

1911 September 15

Deadline for Tenders for Construction of
Musquodoboit Railway

Department of Railways and Canals

Branch line of Railway from Dartmouth to Deans

Sealed Tenders addressed to the undersigned and endorsed "Tender for Branch Line, Dartmouth to Deans" will be received at this office until sixteen o'clock, on Friday, September 15th, 1911.

Plans, profiles, specifications and form of contract to be entered into can be seen on and after the 15th instant [August 15] at the office of the Chief Engineer of the Department of Railways and Canals, Ottawa; at the office of the Chief Engineer of the Intercolonial Railway, Moncton; and at the office of the Board of Trade, Halifax. Forms of tender may be procured from the Chief Engineer of the Department of Railways and Canals, or from the Chief Engineer of the Intercolonial Railway.

Parties tendering will be required to accept the fair wages schedule prepared or to be prepared by the Department of Labor, which schedule will form part of the contract.

Contractors are requested to bear in mind that tenders will not be considered unless made strictly in accordance with the printed forms, and in the case of firms, unless there are attached the actual signature, the nature of the occupation, and the place of residence of each member of the firm.

An accepted bank cheque for the sum of $150,000, made payable to the order of the Minister of Railways and Canals must accompany each tender, which sum will be forfeited if the party tendering declines entering into contract for the work, at the rates stated in the offer submitted. The cheque thus sent in will be returned to the respective contractors whose tenders are not accepted. The cheque of the successful tenderer will be held as security, or part security, for the due fulfilment of the contract to be entered into.

The lowest or any tender not necessarily accepted.

By order, L.K. Jones,
Secretary
Department of Railways and Canals,
Ottawa, August 25th, 1911

[The Halifax Morning Chronicle, 14 August 1911]
and reprinted in Addresses delivered by Hon. James Cranswick Tory, LL.D. (book) published by The Mortimer Company limited, Ottawa, 1932.

1911 October 5

Tenders Accepted for Construction of
Guysboro Railway
and
Musquodoboit Railway

On October 5th, 1911, an announcement appeared in the two daily Halifax newspapers, as follows: [The Halifax Morning Chronicle, 5 October 1911]
[The Halifax Herald, 5 October 1911]
and reprinted in Addresses delivered by Hon. James Cranswick Tory, LL.D. (book) published by The Mortimer Company limited, Ottawa, 1932.

The Dartmouth to Deans railway was built as planned, and was officially opened for regular operation on 1 January 1916. This railway line was formally named the Dartmouth Branch Extension of the Intercolonial Railway, but is usually known as the Musquodoboit Railway. It ran 69.3 miles 111.6 km from Dartmouth, through Eastern Passage, Lawrencetown, Three-Fathom Harbour, Seaforth, West Chezzetcook, Head of Chezzetcook, East Chezzetcook, Meagher Grant, and Middle Musquodoboit, to Upper Musquodoboit. It continued to carry trains into the 1980s.

Construction of the Guysboro Railway was halted when the work was more than half completed, and this line was never finished.

1912 April 17

Mackay-Bennett Departs from Halifax

The cable ship Mackay-Bennett, usually assigned to the laying and repair of undersea telegraph cables, steamed out of Halifax Harbour on this day on the voyage for which this ship will always be remembered – to search the surface of the North Atlantic 600 kilometres off Newfoundland for bodies of victims of the Titanic disaster. Titanic had gone to the bottom shortly after 2am on 15 April. Carpathia had picked up most of the survivors on 15 April, but had retrieved only a very few bodies.

Under the command of captain Frederick Larnder [this is the correct spelling], Mackay-Bennett departed from what is now (1998) Karlsen's Wharf, north of the site of the new Halifax Casino. Before the ship sailed, tons of ice had been placed in the holds, and a hundred wooden coffins and embalming supplies taken on board. Several undertakers and Canon Kenneth Hind of All Saints Cathedral were on the ship. At daylight on 21 April, Mackay-Bennett lowered boats amid large waves and dangerous ice floes, and began retrieving bodies floating on the water. A crew member reported that "as far as the eye could see the ocean was strewn with wreckage and debris with bodies bobbing up and down in the cold sea." The undertakers on board started embalming procedures while the search continued.

On 22 April, a crewman on Mackay-Bennett wrote: "This day we picked up 27 bodies, Col. John Jacob Astor among them. Everybody had on a lifebelt and bodies floated very high in the water in spite of sodden clothes and things in pockets." On Astor, the 47-year old New York multimillionaire, they found a belt with a gold buckle, a gold watch, gold-and-diamond cufflinks, a diamond ring, $2440 in US money, and £225 in British money.

Mackay-Bennett recovered 306 bodies but ran out of supplies and 116 bodies were buried at sea, weighted with iron which had been brought for that purpose. Mackay-Bennett returned to Halifax with 190 bodies. A few days later Minia found another 17 bodies.

Sources:
Volume 1 Number 2 of The Sunday Herald, Halifax, 26 April 1998
Embalmers from Across Maritimes Called in for Titanic by Shirley Hill,
      in The Chronicle-Herald, 10 April 1998
Halifax Daily News, 10 August 1999
The Globe and Mail, 9 October 1999

1912 April 30

Mackay-Bennett Returns to Halifax

On this day, the cable ship Mackay-Bennett steamed into Halifax Harbour with the bodies of 190 Titanic victims. Crewmen lined the rails, and a tarpaulin covered a pile of bodies on deck. The ship had run out of coffins. Mackay-Bennett tied up at the Halifax Dockyard on the east side of Barrington Street, now (1998) under the Angus L. Macdonald Bridge. Horse-drawn hearses awaited the ship's arrival. Shirley Hill wrote: "Even in death the class distinctions were maintained as the unloading began with the bodies of first-class passengers in coffins, second and third class in canvas bags, and bodies of crewmembers on stretchers." Some families came to claim bodies of their loved ones and made their own funeral arrangements. The rest, unclaimed or unidentified, were buried in local cemeteries – 19 in Mount Olivet, 10 in Baron de Hirsch, and 121 in Fairview. The White Star Line paid for gravestones with the victim's number, and name if known. The 121 graves in Fairview Lawn Cemetery on Windsor Street in Halifax, constitute the largest concentration in the world of Titanic victims; including John Law Hume, the ship's violinist, and Ernest Edward Samuel Freeman, personal secretary to Bruce Ismay, President of the White Star Line. Ismay paid for the special headstone at Freeman's grave.
[Excerpted from Embalmers from Across Maritimes Called in for Titanic by Shirley Hill, in The Chronicle-Herald, 10 April 1998]

1912 June 24

Yarmouth Light and Power Company

On this day, the Yarmouth Light and Power Company Limited was incorporated under the provisions of the Nova Scotia Companies Act, with an authorized capital of $250,000.00. Subsequently it acquired the property and rights of the Yarmouth Street Railway Company Limited, and the Yarmouth Electric Company Limited. These purchases were confirmed and the objects and powers of the Company added to under Chapter 162 of the Acts of Nova Scotia, 1919. The Company generated and distributed electric power in the Town of Yarmouth and immediate vicinity, and operated an electric streetcar system in the Town of Yarmouth.

Reference:
Historical Notes about the Yarmouth Light and Power Company
    http://alts.net/ns1625/electr05.html

1912 August 27

The First Trans-Canada Auto Trip

Departed Halifax 27 August 1912
Arrived Victoria 17 October 1912

In 1912, Thomas Wilby and Jack Haney drove a 1912 REO automobile across Canada. It was the first Trans-Canada automobile trip. In 1997, Lorne, Irene, and Peter Findlay will re-trace Wilby and Haney's historic route in their own 1912 REO. Accompanying them will be Ontario writer John Nicol.
Source:
http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:stargate.vsb.bc.ca/autotour/+first+trans-canada+trip&hl;=en

The first cross-Canada road trip was in 1912, when Thomas Wilby and Jack Haney drove their four-cylinder REO from Halifax to Victoria in just under two months. "Roads were bad," Mr. Haney wrote in his diary on just the second day of the expedition. By the time they reached Ontario, the roads were "rotted, full of deep holes. Had to ford two creeks today, bridges out." The trip coincided with public calls for a national highway, but it was 1949 before the Trans-Canada Highway Act was passed by the House of Commons, committing the federal government to paying half the estimated $300,000,000 cost. Construction was to end by December, 1956, but proved more difficult than anticipated, particularly in the B.C. avalanche zone between Golden and Revelstoke, and on the tunnel beneath the St. Lawrence River at Boucherville, Quebec...
[The National Post, 29 June 1999]

1912 November 1

MT&T; Begins 24-Hour Service in Kentville

In response to an Order issued by the Public Utilities Board, on this day MT&T; began continuous (24-hour) service at the Kentville Exchange, "excepting on Sundays and statutory holidays, on which days the Exchange may be closed from 7:00am to 9:00am, 10:00am to 1:30pm, and 2:30pm to 10:00pm". This meant MT&T; had to keep at least one switchboard operator on duty in the Kentville Exchange building at all times except during the specified closure hours. The PUB Order was issued after the Nova Scotia Carriage and Motor Car Company Limited [the McKay company] of Kentville, made a formal request for all-night service because their business needed it. Before this, there was no service from 9:00pm to 7:30am on any day; "no service" meant that it was impossible to make a call to or from any telephone connected to the Kentville Exchange because there was nobody on duty to make the switchboard connections.

1913

Marconi's Duplex TransAtlantic Radio Service

Since 1907, the Marconi Company had been operating equipment for sending radio (wireless telegraph) messages between Marconi Towers near Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, and Clifden, Ireland. This was a simplex system, which could carry messages across the Atlantic Ocean both eastbound and westbound, but only one way at a time. In 1913, this was converted to a duplex system, which could carry messages both ways at the same time. This important improvement was accomplished by moving the receiving antennas and associated equipment several miles away from the transmitter locations. In Nova Scotia, the transmitter remained at Marconi Towers, near Glace Bay, and a new receiving site was installed near Louisbourg. On the other side of the Atlantic, the transmitter remained at Clifden, in Cornwall, England, and a new receiving site was built at Letterfrack, Ireland. Beginning in 1913, eastbound messages were sent continuously from Marconi Towers to Letterfrack, and westbound messages were sent continuously from Clifden to Louisbourg. Marconi now had full-time staff employed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at Marconi Towers and Louisbourg in Nova Scotia, and at Clifden and Letterfrack.

1916

Radio Direction Finding Stations

Radio direction-finding stations were operated by the Dominion Government, at Chebucto Head, at the mouth of Halifax Harbour, and at Canso, Guysborough County. These stations could determine the direction of incoming radio signals. "The bearings given by these stations were reliable within two degrees." By triangulation of two of these bearings, such as those reported by the Canso and Chebucto stations, the location of a ship's radio transmitter could be mapped to a close approximation.
[The quote is from Radio Communication in Canada: An Historical and Technological Survey, by Sharon A. Babaian, National Museum of Science and Technology, 1992.]

1916 January 1

Musquodoboit Railway Opening Ceremony

On this day was held the official ceremony marking the opening for regular traffic of the Musquodoboit Railway, formally known as the Dartmouth Branch Extension of the Intercolonial Railway. This line ran 69.3 miles 111.6 km from Dartmouth, through Eastern Passage, Lawrencetown, Three-Fathom Harbour, Seaforth, West Chezzetcook, Head of Chezzetcook, East Chezzetcook, Meagher Grant, and Middle Musquodoboit, to Upper Musquodoboit. The plan was to continue building track through to Country Harbour, but this was never done.

1916 August 1

Chambers Electric Light & Power Company

The electric plant and equipment owned and operated by Chambers Electric Light & Power Company, was acquired by the Town of Truro on this day.

1916 October - November

Mauretania at Halifax

On 29 September 1916 Mauretania was requisitioned again to carry Canadian troops. In October-November 1916 it made two voyages from Halifax to Liverpool carrying Canadian troops bound for France. After this Mauretania was laid up on the Clyde until 1918. In March 1918 it was again used as a troopship carrying over 30,000 American troops before the Armstice in November. After the end of the war the ship was used in the repatriation of American and Canadian troops. From 12 December it was decided that Mauretania would now sail from Southampton and call at Cherbourg on its way to New York. It made its final trooping voyage on 28 June 1919 and was then refitted at Southampton.
[Source: http://www.aic.co.uk/~mburland/Ships/mauritania/mauretan.htm]

1917 December 6, 9:04:35am

The Halifax Explosion

The precise time of the Halifax explosion was unclear for decades. There was general agreement that the explosion occurred a few minutes after nine o'clock, but that was the best that could be done. The time was recorded only by the position of the hands of various clocks and watches stopped by the explosion, and these varied by several minutes. In the late 1980s, Halifax historian Alan Ruffman found surviving records from the seismograph at Dalhousie University, which recorded the time of the explosion as 9:04:35am. In seismology, it is very important to have precise times for various recorded seismic events; these times, as recorded by seismographs at various geographic locations, are used in conjunction with the known speed of seismic waves through the Earth to determine the location of the epicenter. Because of the importance of precise timing in this scientific field, it is accepted that the Dalhousie seismograph trace is the definitive record of the time of the Halifax explosion.
[The Halifax Daily News, 10 August 1999]

Reference:
Stories of Courage During the Halifax Explosion
    http://www.navy.dnd.ca/halifax_e.htm

1917 December 31

138 Rural Telephone Companies

On this day, there were 138 telephone companies in operation, which had been organized under the Nova Scotia Rural Telephone Act, according to the annual report of the provincial Inspector of Rural Telephones, which was placed before the Legislature on March 25, 1918. "Of these companies, 127 had their lines in operation, and of the remaining eleven, four were preparing to start operations in the spring (of 1918), while seven probably were waiting a more favourable time to start operations." These 127 companies had 1712 miles 2754 km of pole lines in operation, carrying 1801 miles 2898 km of "metallic" (two-wire) circuit, and 3602 miles 5796 km of single-wire circuit, an increase during the year 1917 of 157 miles 253 km in pole line and 192 miles 309 km of wire circuits. 2413 telephones had been installed on the subsidized lines, making an increase of 310 for the year. "It is stated in the report that the majority of the companies report an increase in the number of their subscribers during the year (1917), thus proving that the people appreciate the service and disposes of the oft repeated suggestion that lines should be allowed to take care of themselves and eventually be allowed to go down altogether."
[The quotations are from the 26 March 1918, issue of the Halifax Chronicle, emphasis added.]

1918 February 18

Imperial Oil Refinery
Begins Operating in Dartmouth

"...Imperial Oil has a long history in common with Nova Scotians. One week from today [11 February 1998], our Dartmouth refinery will mark 80 years of continuous operation. And Imperial was part of Nova Scotia for more than 20 years before the refinery was built. It's an association that started with Sid and Frank Shatford's fuel business in the bustling city of Halifax – population 31,000 – just about 100 years ago..."
[Source: http://www.soep.com/nr/pr887315098.html Long History in Nova Scotia Speech by Roy Millar, Project Executive,Imperial Oil Resources Limited, at the official launch of Sable Offshore Energy Incorporated in Halifax, 11 February 1998.]

1918 October 31

Ravages of Influenza in Lunenburg

Lunenburg, Oct. 31
During the past week Philip Morris died at the home of his father.

Francis Mason of Eastern Points, the second in the family to succumb to the influenza in a week.

Rosadelle, wife of Captain Albert Himmelman also passed away from the same disease, leaving her husband, 4 sons and 3 daughters.

At Centre, Mrs Harris Naas, a young woman who was a former resident of Halifax, died after a very few days illness. This family has been sadly affected, this being the eighth death to occur from various causes in the past three months.

At First South, Jervois Warren Lohnes, son of Joseph Lohnes, died of influenza, aged 16.

Hector Mossman died at Rose Bay, after a short attack of influenza.

Harry Baker, a well known resident of Bridgewater succumed to influenza after a very short illness. He went to a friend's house on Sunday and died on Monday. He was 30 years of age and conducted an ice business in Bridgewater for many years.

[The Halifax Evening Mail, Friday, 1 November 1918]
      Message-ID: 37F01892.8AD96EDB@supercity.ns.ca
      Date: Mon, 27 Sep 1999 22:23:30 -0300
      Subject: [LL] Ravages of Influenza in Lunenburg
      To: LUNEN-LINKS-L@rootsweb.com

1918 November 19

On this day, the federal cabinet passed an Order In Council to amalgamate all government-owned railways. This was the origin of CNR, Canadian National Railways.
[The National Post, 19 November 1999]

1919 June 6

Canadian National Railways Incorporated

As Canada's Leader of the Opposition in the early years of the 20th century, Robert L. Borden had argued that what Canada needed was a truly national transportation system, owned by the Canadian people, through Canadian territory, and serving Canadian ports. He pointed out that 90 percent of the Grand Trunk's transcontinental ambitions were already publicly funded through government loans. For only 10 percent more, he said, the country could own and control the system.

After he became prime minister, Borden took action. In 1917, the government took over the Canadian Northern Railway, combining it the following year with a group of 15 other railroads already owned by government. This group was known as the Canadian Government Railways and included the National Transcontinental and the Intercolonial. At the same time, the government authorized use of the term "Canadian National Railways" as a descriptive name for its holdings.

On June 6, 1919, Parliament passed an act to incorporate the Canadian National Railway Company Limited, appointing David B. Hanna, a Canadian Northern vice-president, as its first chairman and president. The new company took over the Grand Trunk Pacific in 1920, and with the acquisition of the Grand Trunk Railway itself early in 1923, CN was fully formed.

Source:
    http://www.cn.ca/cnwebsite/cnwebsite.nsf/public/en_AbouttheCNandICStory

CNR locomotive of the 1920s
CNR locomotive of the 1920s

1919 November

Kentville Soon To Have
All-Day Electric Service

"Negotiations which have been going on between the Kentville Electric Light Commission and the Provincial Government have at last been satisfactorily arranged. As a result, in a few weeks, or early in December, the Town of Kentville will be supplied with electricity from the thoroughly efficient plant now being operated at the Nova Scotia Sanatorium. This will give the town of Kentville a continuous service day and night and will save the town from the expense of purchasing a new engine in the present power house, which was a matter of immediate necessity if the town was to continue the use of its present plant.

A change is being made in the wiring in the town. The street lights will all be placed on the same wires so that lights out of doors need not be operated as early as is required in stores, offices, dwellings, etc.

This will be another step in advance for the town and will be one of many things to bring to Kentville in 1920 more business, growth and prosperity than in any year of its history. If our prosperity in 1920 will increase over that of the last three years, it will be going some."


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Latest revision: 2000 November 28