Mining Association of Nova Scotia Profile picture
Feb 18, 2020 17 tweets 19 min read Read on X
The first commercial coal mine in N. America started 300 years ago in #PortMorien when, in 1720, the French started it to supply #FortressLouisbourg.
Here is part 2 of the history of mining around Port Morien:
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton #novascotia @Port_Morien @GeoffMacLellan ImageImage
1886 - The Blockhouse site was seized by the sheriff and sold due to the company being in arrears in royalty payments. The mine was almost lost in March to due a break at surface near Hugh MacDonald brook.
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton #novascotia Image
In August 1886 the mine was sold to Mr. C. Belloni and production continued but the lower workings were permitted to flood.
1888 – Production ceased at the Blockhouse Colliery.
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton #novascotia Image
1893 – The Gowrie Mine, main shaft at Morien Junction, was taken over by the Dominion Coal Company, which built a coal wash plant along the Sydney-Louisbourg railway, approximately 2-kilometres south of Morien Junction.
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton #novascotia Image
1897 – The Gowrie Mine was closed and it is believed the wash plant was as well.
1899 – A new sub-sea colliery was started by the Gowrie & Blockhouse Mining Company in the Gowrie Seam with the main shafts adjacent to the site of the present-day Port Morien Legion.
#nspoli #cbpoli Image
1907 - North Atlantic Collieries Ltd., took over the sub-sea Gowrie Mine and started sinking a shaft on the shore at Long Beach with the intention of working both the Blockhouse and Gowrie seams offshore.
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton #novascotia Image
1910 – The Dominion Coal Company opened the No. 21 Colliery by driving two slopes to the South from the outcrop at Tower Road. Ultimately the slopes extended to the outcrop on the road to John Allen Lake.
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton #novascotia Image
1912 – The sub-sea Gowrie seam workings extended almost 3 kilometres out under Morien Bay when production ceased.

The Dominion Coal Company initiated construction of the Dominion No. 22 Slopes at the East end of Birch Grove.
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton #novascotia Image
1920 – The Hiawatha Coal Company re-opened the Mira Bay Colliery at Waddens Cove, but it closes after only 6-months.
1922 – Dominion Coal’s No. 22 Colliery and the No. 21 continued mining but both had water issues associated with ground water seepage due to surface subsidence. Image
1925 – Dominion Coal’s No. 21 Colliery was closed.

1926 – The easterly extent of the No. 21 Colliery was connected to the old Gowrie Colliery by a level driven through a fault. Again, water problems due to surface subsidence plagued operations.
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton Image
1928 – A slope was sunk just north of the Gowrie mine dump on the Spencer Seam. The slope reached a depth of 200 feet before being abandoned due to what was considered inferior coal.
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton #novascotia Image
Also in 1928, a test shaft was sunk on the same seam, approximately 2 kilometres to the West, near the present-day sewage treatment facility, but no development was initiated due to what was deemed inferior coal.
1930 – The No. 22 Colliery was closed.
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton Image
1956 – 800 tons was reclaimed from coal fines along the shoreline about 1 kilometre south of Port Morien Beach.
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton #novascotia Image
The work is conducted by the Crystal Coal Company and the fines were conveyed, via a sluice and stream, to the shore during the operation of the old Gowrie wash plant dump, approximately 1 kilometre to the west.
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton #novascotia Image
1962 – Operations of the Crystal Coal Company ceased. Over the course of the 7-year reclamation project, 16,000+ tons of coal were recovered.
1967 – The Wadden Cove Coal Company re-opened the old Mira Bay Colliery but abandoned the operation in the same year.
#nspoli #cbpoli Image
Coal still provides over half of Nova Scotia's power. Mining it here creates jobs, government revenues to help pay for health and education, and keeps power bills down because local coal is cheaper than imported.
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton #novascotia Image
Thanks to the excellent staff @NS_Energy_Mines for their help with this history.
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton #novascotia Image

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More from @MiningNS

Feb 25, 2021
@nsgov announced new rebates for electric vehicles yesterday. Mining makes #greentech like electric cars possible because they are mostly made of minerals and metals.
#nspoli @KeithIrvingNS @IainTRankin @NS_Energy_Mines @ns_environment @ChenderMLA @AllanMacMaster @MLAChuckPorter Image
For example, an e-car has 183 pounds of copper wiring in it because copper is used in every major component from the motor to the inverter and the electrical wiring. There is about four times more copper in an e-car than in a car with an internal combustion engine.
There are about 400 electric cars on Nova Scotia roads - a total of over 73,000 pounds of copper!
An electric car uses 25-50 grams of silver, so Nova Scotia’s 400 e-cars contain about 15,000 grams of it.
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The Morris Street Engine House has been declared a municipal heritage property!
#Halifax’s Fire Station #2, as it is also called, was built 1907-08 of reinforced concrete.
Here's the story!
#nspoli @HFXFireHistory @HRMFireNews @hfxfire @HFXFirefighters @hfxgov @MikeSavageHFX
Concrete is a mixture of aggregates and paste. The aggregates are sand and gravel or crushed stone; the paste is water and portland cement. (The terms cement and concrete are often used interchangeably, but cement is actually an ingredient of concrete...
#nspoli
...Cement is the glue that holds concrete together.)
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#nspoli
Read 12 tweets
Sep 21, 2020
We love getting questions about mining, minerals and geology! We were asked about sinkholes and whether they are a risk when walking in the woods.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton @oxfordsinkhole ImageImage
The short answer is yes, sinkholes are real but no, they are not a major risk and should not prevent you from enjoying outdoor activities.
Most natural sinkholes are caused by groundwater naturally eroding rocks like gypsum, salt and limestone which are water-soluble.
#nspoli Image
The water erodes the rock, leaving an underground cavern. Eventually, the weight of the rock and earth above the cavern causes the sinkhole to form. Sinkholes can form either gradually (i.e. a small depression appears and perhaps grows larger over time) or by sudden collapse. Image
Read 18 tweets
Sep 20, 2020
We love getting questions about mining, minerals and geology! We were asked about the historic #NewCampbellton coal mine in #VictoriaCounty.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton #nshistory
@JaimeBattiste ImageImage
The New Campbellton coal mine was opened in 1862 by Charles J. Campbell, a former Member of Parliament, Member of the Legislative Assembly and executive council member. The community had been named Kelly’s Cove but was changed to New Campbellton in 1862 in honour of Mr. Campbell. Image
A sample of New Campbellton’s coal was sent to the 1865 Dublin Exhibition and “was very favorably noticed by the Judges,” according to a report.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton #nshistory Image
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Sep 19, 2020
Mining built #NovaScotia!
#Halifax was founded in 1749 and its first court house is reported to have been built by 1754 on the northeastern corner of Buckingham + Argyle streets. After the building burned in 1789, the courts were temporarily housed in various buildings.
#nspoli ImageImage
In April 1851 a bill to provide Halifax with a county court house was passed. Mr. H.G. Hill, a prominent #Halifax architect, prepared a plan for a wooden building.
However, since the records of the county, wills, deeds and other papers of public office were...
#nspoli #novascotia Image
...to be stored in the court house, it was important that the building be fire-proof. Also, a number of serious fires in #Halifax in 1857 led to the passage of a bylaw that required large buildings be made of stone or brick, so Hill's plans for a wooden building were abandoned. Image
Read 10 tweets
Sep 18, 2020
The Sullivan Creek #coal mine, before and after!
It's one of several mines reclaimed around #AlderPoint #CapeBreton in the late 1900s/early 2000s - examples of how mining makes temporary use of land and then land can be used other ways.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia @JaimeBattiste ImageImage
The first mine in the area was the Scotia Mine, or #NovaScotia Steel & Coal Company No. 4 Colliery, on Toronto Road, which operated on the Sydney Main (Harbour) Seam from 1915 to 1921.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia @JaimeBattiste ImageImage
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#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia ImageImage
Read 19 tweets

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