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Married men had their own dwelling units, and all buildings were tar-papered except for the kiln building; it had a corrugated steel covering.
A two storey cookhouse and bunkhouse accommodated some 30-40 men. Ann Flanagan was the cook for a number of years. Wood was used as fuel, cut by Charles Turner. He also housed and fed workers in his own cook/bunkhouse on Farm Lake Road.
16-20 horses were used in winter and they too had to be housed and fed.

Refined silica left the kiln as powder and was automatically sorted into containers according to quality. From there it was sent to a gasoline fired mill near the train station at Tatamagouche. Here it was crushed, bagged, and shipped to the United States, United Kingdom, or other parts of Canada.
Working conditions were dreadful. A working day could be 1-13 hours long, often 6 days a week, with some 24 hour work days. Pay was 7-11 cents an hour, with food and board, but often the owner claimed he had no money available and the men did not get paid.


Silica had many uses: in polish, glassmaking, ceramics, and filters. It was cast into bricks and slabs, and used as an insulator in high temperature applications. The principal owner, Charles McNeil, lived on Pine Street in Tatamagouche and insulated his house with silica.

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Coal Mining
Throughout the area, scattered outcrops of coal were found. In Millbrook, on a farm owned by Jack Aitcheson, a thin seam of coal was visible in the river bank. It was said that when Walter Swan owned it he was able to extract enough coal to supply his farm forge. Later, a well being drilled penetrated a seam of coal 100ft (30m) away.

Wesley Byers of West New Annan found small amounts of coal in Johnson Brook and the Mattatall Lake brook. Harvey Caruthers, early in the1900's, also found coal on land on the Brule Shore, enough to supply his farm forge.

There appeared to be some workable coal between River John and New Glasgow, that could be used for both steam and domestic purposes. Often mines supplied the local blacksmiths. The main coalfields were outside our area of the North Shore.