1

The cable office during the war years.

2

Tents used by the 24th Regiment to guard the cable office in World War I and II.
1915
North Sydney, NS Canada

3

During the first and second World Wars, North Sydney, Nova Scotia played a decisive roll. Confidential information for the governments at Ottawa and Washington passed regularly through the Western Union Office. The 94th Regiment was stationed in North Sydney and among their main duties was the protection of the cable office.

4

Morse code side of the cable office
1924
North Sydney, NS Canada

5

At the outbreak of World War One operators received special messages in secret code. During the next four years all the news of the war including casualty lists and top-secret government memos from both Ottawa and Washington were relayed through the North Sydney Western Union Cable Office. By 1918 over 300 people worked around the clock at the cable office.

6

Workers in 1915
1915
North Sydney, NS Canada

7

Workers in 1920 at the cable office.
1920
North Sydney, NS Canada

8

Army base at Kelly's Beach in 1918.
1918
North Sydney, NS Canada

9

During the World Wars, trained homing pigeons were kept at the army base at Kelly's beach in case all communications were lost at the cable office.

10

Annie Butler Smith
1918
North Sydney, NS Canada

11

Mrs. Annie Butler Smith on the morning of November 10, 1918 received this top-secret coded message from the war department in Europe. It stated that effective 11 am, November 11, 1918, all fighting would cease on land, sea and in the air. Thus the workers at the Western Union Cable Office and the people of North Sydney, Nova Scotia were the first in North America to have received the great news that the war to end all wars was over.

12

Keyless, used by Mrs. Annie Butler Smith to receive the message that World War I was over.
1918
North Sydney, NS Canada

13

Residents of North Sydney were among the first to hear of the cease-fire that ended the Great War in 1918. All overseas news was delivered via the Western Union Cable Office in North Sydney, Nova Scotia. On November 10, 1918 over 200 servicemen marched down Commercial Street. The whole town came out and a huge bonfire was set on the harbour's ballast ground that night. On November 10, 1918, North Sydney, Nova Scotia celebrated the news which was to make world history the next day.

14

Ballast Grounds, North Sydney
1918
North Sydney, NS Canada