Page 32 - Brown's 'Early History of the Coal Trade'

ISSUE : Issue 35

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1983/12/1

pedition sent to reduce Quebec in 1711. Several ships and nearly a thousand men having been lost at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, owing, as it was alleged, to the ignorance of the pilots, it was decided at a Council of War to give up the enterprise and proceed to Spanish Bay (Sydney), which had been selected as the most convenient rendezvous in case of the fleet being dis? persed. Admiral Walker says, "The island had always, in time of peace, been used in common both by the English and the French for loading coals, which are extraordinar? ily good here, and taken out of the cliffs with iron crow-bars only, and no other la? bour." The English, who took coal in com? mon with the French, were most likely New England colonists, who fished on the coast in summer and carried away a few tons of coal on their homeward voyage; the same, probably; that helped themselves some years before without permission from M. Denys. The first attempt at mining, in any thing like a regular form, was made upon the ten- feet seam on the north side of Cow Bay in 1720, when it was found necessary to ob? tain a supply of fuel for the host of of? ficers, soldiers, mechanics, traders, and labourers, who went out to lay the founda? tions of the celebrated fortress of Louis? bourg. Some relics have been found recent? ly in the old workings, but they may have belonged to a later period. Cargoes of coal were, about this time, exported from Cow Bay to Boston; for, although direct trade between the French and English colo? nists was.forbidden by the treaty of neu? trality, the New England traders, notwith? standing, carried on an active clandestine trade with Louisbourg, receiving French pro? ducts in exchange for bricks, lumber and provisions. When Messrs. Bradstreet and Newton visited Louisbourg, by order of the Governor of Nova Scotia, to demand redress for the depredations committed by the Cape Breton Indians at Canceau, in 1724, they found fourteen English trading vessels in that port, exclusive of one which had left to load coal at Cow Bay for Boston. This small beginning was, perhaps, the inaugura? tion of the foreign coal trade at Cape Breton. In 1728 the French shipped some few cargoes to Martinique for boiling sug? ar, but from that time until the fall of Louisbourg, in 1745, there are no records of any further exportations. The value of the coal-fields of Cape Breton had, at this time, become well-known in France, as Charlevoix states, in his History of New France*, published in 1744, that the "is? land abounded in coal pits, which were in the mountains; consequently, the trouble and expense of digging deep and making drains to carry off the water were greatly saved." Three places, in the map appended to his work, bear names indicative of the known existence of coal in their vicinity, namely, Ance du Charbon, Cap Charbon, and Bale du Charbon, now called Big Pond, North Head of Indian Bay, and Schooner Pond Cove respectively. Whilst England held possession of Cape Breton, from its conquest in 1745 to its restoration to France in 1749, the garri? son of Louisbourg was supplied with coal from mines opened at the Burnt Head and Little Entrance of the Bras d'Or. It is Education bi Nova Scotia The Department of Education is continually involved in improving the quality of the educational services provided to all Nova Scotians, including native people, francophones, newcomers to Nova Scotia and immigrants who have come to Canada. We believe that by encouraging multicultural learning experiences in Nova Scotia we will also develop multinational perspectives that will deepen our international understanding. Le ministere de I'Education continue a faire son possible pour am'liorer la quality des services 'ducationnels a tous les N6o-'cossais, y-inclus les autochtones, les Acadiens' les nouveaux-arriv6s dans notre Province et les immigrants au Canada. Nous croyons que c'est en encourageant I'Education multiculturelle en Nouvelle-Ecosse que nous developperons aussi une perspective multinationale qui fera croitre nos ententes Internationales. Tha Roinn an Fhoghlum daonnan a s' ann a bhi a leasachadh stait nan Seirbhisean Foghlumach do mhuinntir Albainn Nuadh; nam measg Innseannaich, Franngaich, feadhainn a tha air iar thighinn a dh'Albainn Nuadh agus daoine o dhuthchannan eile a tha air an dachaidhean a dheanamh ann an Canada. Tha sinn a' creidsinn gun iiraichear seallaidhean iomadh-naiseantach le bhi a brosnachadh foghlum iomadh- culturach, agus gun doimhnich seo 'ur tuigse eadar-naiseanta. Education departmentaq me'pemi kwinul'walsijik kisi naji klulka'tunew kina'matnewey wjitmstNova Scotiaewaq ma'w Inu'k, wenujk, natel pejita'te'wk aqq qame'kewaq naji wikultijik Canada. Ketlamsimek kisi apoqnmatmek kina'nasin wen pilu'tlqamiksutil Nova Scotia, naji wli nsiatultitesnu qame'kewaq. Nova Scotia Department of Education Hon. Terence R.B. Donahoe Gerald J. McCarthy Minister Deputy Minister

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