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First uploaded to the WWW: 2003 March 15
Script upgraded to HTML 4.01: 2006 June 15
Latest update: 2006 October 24
The Act of Incorporation for the Cape Breton Electric Tramway & Power Company was passed by the Nova Scotia legislature on 30 March 1900.
In 1901, the company's name was changed to Cape Breton Electric Company.
From 1919 to 1924, Cape Breton Electric Company was under the management of Stone & Webster Inc., Boston.
[Date not known] The Cape Breton Electric Company was taken over by the Nova Scotia Power Commission, an agency of the Nova Scotia Government.
In 1973, the Nova Scotia Power Commission was legally and financially reorganized as the Nova Scotia Power Corporation, a provincial crown corporation.
On 12 August 1992, all the electric utility assets of the Nova Scotia Power Corporation were sold to Nova Scotia Power Inc., a private (non-government) corporation.
On 1 January 1999, ownership of Nova Scotia Power Inc. (NSPI) was transferred to NS Power Holdings Inc. (NSPH). On that date, all NSPI common shares were transferred from the previous owners (individuals, pension funds, etc.) to NSPH — which issued to the former NSPI shareholders, one NSPH share for each NSPI share. Thus Nova Scotia Power Inc. became a wholly-owned subsidiary of NS Power Holdings Inc.
On 17 July 2000, the company name was changed to Emera Inc. from NS Power Holdings Inc. After this name change, Nova Scotia Power Inc. continued as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Emera Inc.
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In 1887, Frank J. Sprague demonstrated the first electric streetcar in Richmond, Virginia. His invention, known as electric traction, offered a new, much cleaner, and more efficient way to move people which, combined with the safety elevator, would permit much denser urban development.
Electric traction — from the 1890s to the 1950s usually called 'electric streetcars' or 'electric street railways', and since the 1970s generally known as 'light rail' (all these names refer to the same technology) — created one of the first commercially profitable uses for electric power, preceding the spread of electric lighting, industrial machinery, and domestic appliances. In the six decades 1870-1930 (approximately), there were two basic approaches — urban transit and interurban transit — to providing public transit services by railway. An urban transit system operated within the boundaries of a single city or town, or within the metropolitan area formed by adjacent cities or towns. Urban and interurban electric railways played a major part in defining early twentieth century transportation routes and growth patterns throughout North America, at a time when highways were primitive. In Nova Scotia, urban transit systems were built and operated in Halifax, Sydney, and Yarmouth. Two interurban electric railways were built in Nova Scotia in the early 1900s — the Cape Breton Electric Tramway & Power Company, incorporated 30 March 1900, built a high-speed electric interurban line between Sydney and Glace Bay, and the Egerton Tramway Company, incorporated 27 March 1902, built an electric streetcar line in Pictou County, Trenton - New Glasgow - Stellarton - Westville. There were serious plans made to build other electric railways in Nova Scotia, including a line between Halifax and Bedford along the west side of Bedford Basin, and a line between Halifax and Lunenburg. The Yarmouth & Digby Electric Railway Company was active enough to get legislation passed by the Nova Scotia Legislature in 1902 and 1903, and again in 1909. The Blomidon Railway Company Limited planned a line in Kings County, from Wolfville through Canning to Scots Bay. Financing problems, and then World War One, caused delays which ultimately defeated these proposals. These electric railways required large amounts of reliable electric power. The power generation machinery needed to operate them was able to supply electric power at reasonable prices for other purposes such as printing presses, elevators and other industrial machinery, and lighting. What began as an electric railway often turned into an electric utility company. At this time, streetcar services and most other utilities were privately financed and owned although their performance was subject to charters or franchises granted by cities and other local governments. The rapid multiplication of uncoordinated streetcar and interurban lines in the 1890s and early 1900s begged for consolidation, a process in which the giant Stone & Webster Management Company became prominent throughout North America, including Nova Scotia. |
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