Gut of Canso Museum and Archives
Port Hastings , Nova Scotia
Home
Gallery
Thumbnails
Stories
Contact Us
Search
The Canso Causeway's History and Impact
03 History of the Canso Crossings
Start of 03 History of the Canso Crossings
Auld's Cove on mainland Nova Scotia on opposite shore from Balhache Point lighthouse, Port Hastings on Cape Breton Island. The Canso Causeway would be constructed between these two communities from 1952 till its completion in 1955.
1905 (?)
Auld's Cove, Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, Canada
EARLY FERRY SERVICE IN THE GUT OF CANSO - The Strait of Canso, separating Cape Breton Island from the mainland of Nova Scotia was always an obstacle for travellers and mail.
Hugh MacMillan of Port Hastings was one of the prominent early ferry operators who operated as early as 1819 between Auld's Cove on the western side of the Strait of Canso and Port Hastings on the Cape Breton side. In 1829, he sent a letter of petition to the Provincial Legislature asking for his yearly operating grant to be increased, for the reason that "he has for these ten years kept a regular ferry operating in the Gut of Canso" but that he felt the need to expand was necessary. MacMillan wrote that "[in] these few years past, horses and other cattle to be ferried require boats suitable for such purposes" and after having purchased such boats, and keeping them in repair, the "yearly sum of six pounds... (is) inadequate to answer the expenses."
Strait of Canso showing the communities of Auld's Cove and Mulgrave on the left and Port Hastings, Port Hawkesbury and Point Tupper on the Cape Breton Island side on the right.
22 August 2004
Strait of Canso, Nova Scotia, Canada
FERRYMEN IN THE STRAIT OF CANSO - By 1847, there were three ferry services crossing the Strait. They ran between Auld's Cove and Plaister Cove, Mulgrave and Port Hawkesbury, and Steep Creek and McPherson's Ferry. Each of the services had a small barge that would carry a horse and a wagon. That same year, Richard Carter of Steep Creek, Guysborough County, and David MacPherson of McPherson's Ferry, both received a grant of 10 pounds to operate their ferries.
A 10 pound grant was awarded Isaiah Embree in 1857 to operate a ferry between Port Mulgrave and Ship Harbour (Port Hawkesbury).
SS EXPERIMENT & SS NORWEIGAN - The first steam ferry was the S.S. Experiment in 1860. It was Albert McBean who received a provincial grant of 750 pounds to start this service. It operated twice daily between Ship Harbour (Port Hawkesbury), Port Mulgrave, Plaister Cove (Port Hastings) and Auld's Cove.
In 1880, the Cape Breton Railway Co. began operating the SS Norwegian between Wyld's Wharf in Mulgrave and Grant's Wharf in Port Hawkesbury. Five years later, the company built a winter dock at Point Tupper and picked up the contract for delivery of mail.
In the years leading up to 20th century, private ferry service continued to thrive, with the services being fine tuned to serve the area.
S.S. Mulgrave moving a barge which was secured alongside on which railway cars were loaded to cross the Strait of Canso passing Point Mulgrave.
1895 (?)
Mulgrave, Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, Canada
THE EVOLUTION OF TRAIN FERRIES - The era of the sailing ships was declining as the railway development progressed coming as far as Mulgrave on mainland Nova Scotia in 1880. Ten years later, the railway would be completed on Cape Breton Island between Point Tupper and Sydney. By 1893, the rail connection between mainland Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island was made by the S.S. Mulgrave, a steam ship powerful enough to move a nine car passenger train on a scow.
Mulgrave resident and rail ferry employee Hiram Crittenden spoke of the Mulgrave in a 1979 interview with Cape Breton's Magazine."She looked just like a passenger boat. She used to tow a scow. The train cars would go aboard tracks on the scow. I think she carried 3 passenger cars and probably 3 or 4 small freight cars. The load would only be small. Then the Mulgrave would hook onto the side of that scow, and she'd weather that thing over through the ice nearly all the winter".
Scotia I railway ferry on its inaugural run
1902
Mulgrave, Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, Canada
FIRST SELF PROPELLED TRAIN FERRY - The Scotia, the first self propelled train ferry to operate in the Strait of Canso, is seen here in 1902 leaving Port Mulgrave. Built in England, it was a coal-fired vessel.
Hiram Crittenden told Cape Breton's Magazine about the different types of coal used to drive the Scotia."Those boats, when they came here, had Welsh coal aboard of her. Well, you couldn't get anything better for steaming. It was lovely coal. Then they got using the Cape Breton coal. The Old Sydney coal was the best coal that ever Canada put out. Old Sydney coal, that was the name of the mine. And then they got around to the Bras d'Or coal and the Inverness coal. Well, Inverness coal was lovely steaming coal because I know it, I've used lots of it and know what it is. But it was bad for ashes. But no trouble to steam with the Inverness coal".
Ice in Strait of Canso.. ferry approaching Port Hawkesbury.
1950
Strait of Canso, Nova Scotia, Canada
Earle Embree, son of ferryman James Embree, explained problems with crossing in winter in an interview with Cape Breton's Magazine.
".....There was just a stream of ice in the centre of the Strait going to the southward for four hours, and when the tide would turn, it would run to the north for four hours. .....
Although the train ferries were heavier and able to absorb the impact of the ice and continued to cross in the winter, there were many times when they had problems with the ice".
Hiram Crittenden discussed these problems in an interview with Cape Breton's Magazine.
"One morning, I saw the ice grab the Scotia and take her way down the Strait and she didn't get back till 3 o'clock in the afternoon. That's from early morning. You could never plan on getting across [on schedule]."
Scotia 1 train ferry crossing the Strait of Canso.
1908 (?)
Strait of Canso, Nova Scotia, Canada
WORKING ON THE FERRIES - Working in the depths of the coal-powered train ferries, the Scotia and later,Scotia II, Mulgrave's Hiram Crittenden recalled the tough working conditions he and the other men on the crew faced in an interview with Ron Caplan of the Cape Breton's Magazine.
"The heat down there - oh my God, she was cruel. I've come home here in the morning, about 6 o'clock, and wearing something heavy on your feet you know, and my boots would be white with the salt out of my body. I used to tell the boys, people would wonder if we had our right senses, to work down there. And you couldn't see anything. Someone would come down now and then, tell us where we were. Say, for instance, We'll just get by this ice pan and we'll be all right."
Coastal boat S.S. Cann
1905 (?)
Strait of Canso, Nova Scotia, Canada
WE TRAVELLED BY PASSENGER BOATS -
Many made regular scheduled stops. In 1894, it was the S.S. Eldon that did the loop from Port Hawkesbury to Port Hastings to Mulgrave to Point Tupper. The Eldon left Point Tupper after the express train from Sydney had arrived. Other boats ran from Port Hawkesbury to Arichat and Sydney. The SS Cann made the Guysborough to Mulgrave trip.
There were cruise ships in the Strait of Canso during the summer and many travelled on the Boston Boats to visit or work in the New England States areas.
Ship passing between Balhache Point in Port Hastings on the Cape Breton Island side of the Strait of Canso on the right and Auld's Cove on the mainland side before the construction of the Canso Causeway between 1952 and 1955.
1940 (?)
Strait of Canso, Nova Scotia, Canada
Many ships traveled back and forth from New England. The arrival of such vessels in Port Hawkesbury is discussed in "Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia - A Glimpse of the Past."
"Everyone looked forward to the arrival of the ships from Boston - 'The Boston States', as it was often called. On the day of arrival scores of people went down to the docks to catch a glimpse of the latest fashions and to meet long lost relatives. Most of these relatives had left Cape Breton in their early teens to work as maids and carpenters' helpers, and returned - often sporting fancy clothes and a Boston accent - still homesick many years later."
Mulgrave train ferry wharf looking south west onto Main Street . Mulgrave was a thriving business district for residents and all the travelling public passing through on their way to and from Cape Breton Island.
1930 (?)
Mulgrave, Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, Canada
SCOTIA ll TRAIN FERRY - Following the outbreak of World War I, the need for materials from the industries of eastern Cape Breton, especially the coal and steel, put a strain on the ferry system at the Strait of Canso. A new ferry, the Scotia II, was put into service in 1915. At over 300 feet long and a capacity of 18 45-foot rail cars - 6 each on 3 tracks - the Scotia II - operating with the first Scotia - helped ease the bottleneck of freight crossing the Strait of Canso. Like the Scotia, the Scotia II was a coal-powered ship.
During WW II, there was a fear that German submarines might try to sink the train ferries to prevent the coal and steel supply reaching its destination.
Point Tupper rail yard and ferry terminal looking towards Mulgrave on the mainland Nova Scotia side of the Strait of Canso
1935 (?)
Point Tupper Rail Yard
POINT TUPPER RAIL YARD - Point Tupper began to grow and more men were needed to keep tracks clear and the trains going. Locomotives or engines were not transported across the Strait of Canso on the ferries. When a train arrived in Mulgrave or Point Tupper, whether passenger or freight, the locomotive would detach and the cars would enter a queue to cross the Strait. The process of loading was explained in Cape Breton's Magazine by Hiram Crittenden.
"Where the boat came to the wharf, there was an apron that would go up or down about 5 or 6 feet, to correspond with the tide and the boat. The apron had rails on it, and had to come right down aboard the boat - they'd couple it up with what they called latches. That would link the boat to the wharf, and the three sets of tracks on the Scotia would be linked up to the tracks in the railway yard... They'd make the trains right there, push them on and haul them off the boats with the yard engine. It took a lot of man power to keep these rails clear all winter".
Scotia Train Ferry Dock looking south east from Hadley's Hill area.
1910 (?)
Mulgrave, Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, Canada
WORKING CONDITIONS ON THE SCOTIA - Sitting blind in the bowels of the ship, the work crews would encounter problems with little idea about what was happening on deck, or around the ship. Hiram Crittenden explained in an interview in the Cape Breton's Magazine.
"We'd get so far to the docks, we'd be almost ready to couple her up - and something would happen down below - shut everything off. Now that would be ice clogging the condenser. Normally the salt water came up through the bottom of the boat and into the condenser, and you, and you could see the stream of water flowing out again, out the side of the boat. And when the ice would clog the water it would kill the dynamo, lights went out and we'd have to shut our engines down".
Scotia II train ferry
1950 (?)
Strait of Canso, Nova Scotia, Canada
FERRY RAILWAY TRAFFIC - According to a Department of Mines and Technical Surveys done in 1953, the volume of railway traffic transported by ferry boats had been 40,000 in 1920 and was up to 115,000 by 1946.
The heavier traffic of commodities was always westward rather than eastward across the Strait to Mulgrave and the rest of Canada - coal and later steel from Industrial Cape Breton being the main products. The largest tonnage going east to Cape Breton was composed of general freight and food.
Page:
1
2
3
Print Story
Important Notices
© 2010 All Rights Reserved