History of Nova Scotia
with special attention given to
Communications and Transportation
Chapter 10
1 January 1860 to 31 December 1869
Index with links to the other chapters
Special Topic:
(This link works properly after this page has downloaded completely.)
From the early days of our being a species conscious of its own history, some part of society has had the role of preserving this history: priests, learned scholars, archivists. Information was valued, valued enough to be denied to some members of society, and to possess information was to be part of the ritual of belonging to an elite.
So, I find it particularly puzzling that, as we move into this new "information age," our efforts are focused on the machinery of the information system, while the electronic information itself is being treated like just so much more flotsam and jetsam. This is not a democratization of information, but a devaluation of information.
On the Internet, many electronic information sources that we are declaring worthy of "universal access" are administered by part-time volunteers, graduate students who do eventually graduate, or network hobbyists. Resources come and go without notice, or languish after an initial effort and rapidly become out of date. Few network information resources have specific and reliable funding for the future. As a telecommunications system the Internet is both modern and mature; as an information system the Internet is an amateur operation.
Commercial information resources, of course, are only interested in information that provides revenue. This immediately eliminates the entire cultural heritage of poetry, playwriting, and theological thought, among others.
If we value our intellectual heritage, and if we truly believe that access to information (and that broader concept, knowledge) is a valid social goal, we have to take our information resources seriously...
Growing Our Communications Future: Access, Not Just Wires by Karen Coyle, 1995
Progressive Librarian, issue number 14, Spring 1998
http://www.libr.org/PL/14_Coyle.html
1860 January 1
Decimalization of the Currency
...In Nova Scotia, decimalization occurred on 1 January 1860. Nevertheless, because that province rated the sovereign at $5 instead of $4.8667, its currency remained incompatible with that of Canada and New Brunswick. New Brunswick officially decimalized on 1 November 1860, and Newfoundland followed in 1863. Like Nova Scotia, Newfoundland's currency was not compatible with that of Canada or New Brunswick. The colony of Vancouver Island also decimalized in 1863, followed by British Columbia in 1865. Manitoba decimalized in 1870, upon its entry into Confederation, and Prince Edward Island followed in 1871...
Source: Introduction of Decimal Currency
http://www.bank-banque-canada.ca/english/dollar_book/full_text-e.htm#6
Reference:
A History of the Canadian dollar
http://www.bank-banque-canada.ca/english/dollar_book/full_text-e.htm
The Halifax and York ratings
One currency rating that became particularly important in British North America was the Halifax rating. Named after the city of Halifax, where it was first used, this rating was given legal standing by an act of the first Nova Scotia House of Assembly in 1758. This rating used pounds, shillings, and pence (£, s. and d.) as the unit of account and valued one Spanish (or colonial Spanish) silver dollar weighing 420 grains (385 grains of pure silver) at 5 shillings, local currency. This valuation of the Spanish dollar, the most common coin in circulation at that time, was to be used in settling debts. In effect, the Spanish dollar became legal tender in Nova Scotia. Although the British imperial authorities overturned the legislation in 1762, since it did not conform to the 1707 Imperial Act, the rating remained in common use and was later adopted in Quebec...
Source:
http://www.bank-banque-canada.ca/english/dollar_book/full_text-e.htm#3
Paper currency outside the Province of Canada
...Following the incorporation of the Halifax Banking Company in 1825 and the Bank of Nova Scotia in 1832, bank notes (denominated in pounds) were issued and circulated widely in Nova Scotia and throughout the Maritimes...
Source:
http://www.bank-banque-canada.ca/english/dollar_book/full_text-e.htm#8
Sweeping Changes in Currency after Confederation
...Confederation on 1 July 1867 brought sweeping changes to banking and currency legislation in the provinces of Canada, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. Under the British North America Act, the government of the new Dominion was given jurisdiction over currency and banking. The Dominion Notes Act came into effect in 1868. Under this legislation, the Dominion took over the various provincial note issues. Provincial notes issued in the Province of Canada were renamed "dominion notes" and were made redeemable in Halifax and Saint John in addition to Montreal and Toronto. The Dominion Notes Act was subsequently extended to cover Prince Edward Island, Manitoba, and British Columbia in 1876 and the Northwest Territories in 1886.
Like earlier provincial notes, dominion notes were partly backed by gold. The first $5,000,000 issued were 20% backed and the next $3,000,000, 25% backed. Over time, the size of the authorized note issue was increased. There were also some changes to the percentage of notes backed by gold. By 1913, the first $30,000,000 had a 25% gold backing. Issues in excess of $30,000,000 had to be fully backed with gold.
Interestingly, although dominion notes became redeemable in Halifax in 1868, Nova Scotia retained its own currency until April 1871, when the dominion government passed the Uniform Currency Act. At that time, Nova Scotian currency was converted into Canadian currency at a rate of 75 Nova Scotian cents to 73 Canadian cents.
The Uniform Currency Act also established that denominations of Canadian currency would be "dollars, cents and mills" (a mill equalled one-tenth of a cent). Moreover, the Canadian dollar's value was fixed in terms of the British sovereign at a rate of $4.8667 and the U.S. gold eagle at a rate of $10 — the same rates established in the 1853 Currency Act.
The Dominion government also passed the Bank Act in 1871, which repealed all provincial acts that were in conflict with federal jurisdiction over currency and banking. Consequently, chartered banks in the four provinces eventually came under common regulation. Chartered banks were allowed to issue notes with a minimum denomination of $4 (raised to $5 in 1880). Although banks, as a matter of course, held substantial reserves of dominion notes and gold, they were not required to secure their note issues either by gold or by specific collateral. Note issues could not, however, exceed a bank's paid-in capital. The notes that a bank had in circulation represented a first lien on that bank's assets in the event of failure. The government preserved the issuance of smaller notes for itself. It also issued notes in larger denominations to be used mainly for transactions between banks...
Source:
http://www.bank-banque-canada.ca/english/dollar_book/full_text-e.htm#9
Chronology of Money
For an absolutely first-class history of currencies, including decimalization, see
A Comparative Chronology of Money from Ancient Times to the Present Day
http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/amser/chrono.html
A Comparative Chronology of Money, 1830 - 1859
http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/amser/chrono11.html
http://www.scripophily.com/chrono11.html
A Comparative Chronology of Money, 1860 - 1879
http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/amser/chrono12.html
http://www.scripophily.com/chrono12.html
Commentary on Resistance to Decimalization
in the United States
July 1999
In a recent, informal Business Week poll, 87 15/16% of those surveyed said they are glad that the U.S. securities industry must switch to decimalization of stock prices by July 2000. It's about time. France switched from fractions to decimals way back in 1795. Spain switched in 1848. At the beginning of 1974, only the U.S. and Canadian stock markets and Yemen's currency were still fraction-based. Yemen, however, wised up and joined the ultra-hip decimalization ranks later that year. The Canadian stock markets capitulated in 1996. (In July 1999) the United States securities industry clings to the arcane fraction system...
Source: Business Week 5 July 1999
http://www.businessweek.com/1999/99_27/b3636093.htm
Decimalization of the Currency Completed
1 July 1871
The introduction of the decimal system of currency into the Dominion of Canada was pretty much completed by 34 Victoria chapter 5, the Uniform Currency Act, which received royal assent on 14 April 1871 and became legally effective on 1 July 1871. It is ordered by the Act that the unit of account shall be the dollar of 100 cents, the value of which dollar shall be on the basis of 486 2/3 cents to the pound of British Sterling money. The value of the money of the United Kingdom is fixed by law as follows:
The soverign of the weight and fineness now established, four dollars and eighty-six and two-third cents;
the crown piece, one dollar and twenty cents;
the half-crown piece, sixty cents;
the florin, forty-eight cents;
the shilling, twenty four cents;
the sixpence, twelve cents.
[Source: 1882 ColliersCyclopedia of Social and Commercial Information, page 704]
Subject: [LL] Re: Pounds to Dollars
To: LUNEN-LINKS-L@rootsweb.com
Date: Mon, 25 Oct 1999 21:28:46 -0300
References
Money and Coinage in Victorian Britain
explains how Nova Scotia's money system worked in the £sd days
http://www.wilkiecollins.demon.co.uk/coinage/coins.htm
Chronology of Events in the History of Canadian Coins
(excludes pre-Confederation Nova Scotia and New Brunswick)
http://www.islandnet.com/~kpolsson/cancoin/
Perspectives in Numismatics
http://www.ece.iit.edu/~prh/coins/PiN/pin.html
English Coinage Denominations
http://www.ece.iit.edu/~prh/coins/PiN/eod.html
The Earliest Money Using the Dollar as a Unit of Value
http://www.ece.iit.edu/~prh/coins/PiN/ted.html
Internet Coin Links
http://www.wasatch.com/~rumour/sean/mylinks.phtml
Internet Coin Links (now archived in the Wayback Machine)
http://web.archive.org/web/20000229043947/http://www.wasatch.com/~rumour/sean/mylinks.phtml
1860 April 2
Two Round Trips Each Day
On and after April 2nd, 1860, passengers could travel between Windsor and Halifax, on the Nova Scotia Railway, twice a day. The morning westbound train departed Richmond (Halifax) at 8:00am and arrived in Windsor at 11:00am; the morning eastbound train departed Windsor at 8:20am and arrived in Richmond at 11:15am. These two trains crossed (passed each other) at Mount Uniacke; this was (and is) a single-track line, and trains going in opposite directions could (and can) pass each other only where a siding is available. The afternoon westbound train departed Richmond (Halifax) at 2:30pm and arrived in Windsor at 5:30pm; the afternoon eastbound train departed Windsor at 3:00pm and arrived in Richmond at 6:00pm; these two trains also crossed at Mount Uniacke. The end-to-end fare, one way, was $1.35 first class, and 87½ cents second class. A resident of Windsor could now go to Halifax in the morning, have a clear three hours in the city to conduct business or fulfill appointments, and return to Windsor the same day. A resident of Halifax could travel to Windsor in the morning, have nearly four hours to conduct business there, and return to the city the same day.
1860 May
American Telegraph Company Arrives
In May, 1860, the American Telegraph Company leased the telegraph lines and equipment owned and operated by the Nova Scotia Electric Telegraph Company, that is, all telegraph lines in Nova Scotia. ATC now controlled all telegraph operations from Newfoundland to Louisiana.
1860 August 2
Special Royal Train on the Nova Scotia Railway
The Prince of Wales travelled to Windsor on a special train from Halifax. Windsor was, at that time, the end of the railway track westward from Halifax, there being no bridge across the Avon River that could sustain the weight of a locomotive. Prince Albert Edward, son of Queen Victoria and later King Edward VII, was travelling to Windsor to make a speech at Kings College. The royal party left Government House on Hollis Street, and rode in carriages to Richmond, where at 7:00am the special train departed for Windsor. At Windsor they were met by a guard of honour made up of two Halifax regiments who had been brought to Windsor in a train that departed the city at 3:00am, four hours ahead of the royal train. During the period of the royal visit, there were no second class passengers on the Nova Scotia Railway — everyone was carried first class at half fare.
1861
Nova Scotia's Great Roads
1861
The high roads of Nova Scotia are very numerous, and generally they are good. Legislative grants are made yearly to aid in opening new roads, and repairing the great post-roads. The grant for this purpose in 1850 was $96,800; in 1860 it was $103,855; and in 1861 $100,341.
The great roads of the province are:
From Halifax westward to Yarmouth, by the Atlantic coast, as follows: Halifax to Lunenburg, seventy miles; thence to Liverpool, thirty-six miles; thence to Shelburne, forty miles; thence to Yarmouth, fifty-six miles — making in all 203 miles from Halifax to Yarmouth. A stage-coach runs this route three times a week.
Another line of highway is from Halifax to Yarmouth via Windsor, Kentville, Annapolis Royal, Digby and Clare. The distance from Halifax to Yarmouth by this route is 214 miles. A stage-coach runs this route three times a week.
Eastward from Halifax we travel sixty miles to Truro by railway; from Truro to Amherst (within three miles of the New Brunswick border) the distance is sixty miles; from Truro to Pictou the distance is forty miles. An excellent line of stage-coaches run this road daily.
From Pictou to Antigonish, fifty miles; thence to the Strait of Canseau ferry, thirty-three miles. Total from Halifax to Canseau Strait, 188 miles.
On the Cape Breton side, from Plaister Cove (now known as Port Hastings) to Canseau, to Sydney town via south of Bras d'Or, seventy-six miles; from Sydney via Sydney Mines to Margaree, sixty-four miles; from Plaister Cove to Port Hood, thirty miles; thence to Margaree, forty miles.
Another great road runs from Halifax through Musquodoboit via Guysborough to the Strait of Canseau.
Another from Halifax to Tangier, Sheet Harbor, &c., by the Atlantic coast.
Another important road runs from Pictou via River John, Tatamagouche, Pugwash, &c., to Amherst.
The cross-roads and by-roads are too numerous to mention.
All those mentioned are run either by daily, tri-weekly, bi-weekly, or weekly stage-coaches
Source: Pages 699-700 Eighty Years' Progress of British North America...
Eighty Years' Progress of British North America... (book) by Henry Youle Hind, published in Toronto by L. Stebbins and in London, England, by Sampson Low, Son & Marston, 1863. Henry Youle Hind (1823-1908) F.R.G.S. (Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society) was Professor of Chemistry and Geology in Trinity College, Toronto. He was the editor of this book and wrote much of the section that dealt with Upper and Lower Canada. The 74-page section on Nova Scotia is credited to Rev. William Murray. The book's publication date is 1863, but it contains little or no information later than 1861 — the remaining time was used in setting type, printing, collating and binding.
Early Canadiana Online (ECO) project
http://www.canadiana.org/eco/english/index.html
Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions CIHM 64288
http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/cihm/
If you want to convert these distances in miles to kilometres,
multiply the number of miles by 1.61 and round off the result
to the nearest whole number.
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Postal Services
1861
Nova Scotia has regular mail from Great Britain only once a fortnight; with the United States we have weekly, and sometimes bi-weekly (twice-a-week) postal communication; with Newfoundland, in summer we have fortnightly communication, in winter, monthly; with Prince Edward island, bi-weekly during seven months in summer, and weekly, and sometimes only monthly, in mid-winter; with New Brunswick, bi-weekly in summer and weekly in mid-winter.
The number of offices under the control of the postmaster-general, in 1860, was: one general post-office in Halifax, 72 central offices, and 344 branch or way offices. In 1861, the number of way offices increased to 380.
The number of newspapers posted at, and delivered at the Halifax office during the year 1860 was 2,080,520; in 1861 2,358,824 — showing an increase of 278,304.
The number of letters of all kinds sent, received, and delivered in 1860 was 534,922; in 1861 705,696 — increase 170,774.
The number of parcels received at and sent from Halifax and county post-offices in 1860 was 627; in 1861 717 — increase 90.
The amount of money paid through the money-order department of the post-office during the last year was $67,081.90. This department has been in existence only two years in this province.
The net income for 1861 was $47,115.76. The total expenditure for the same period, $69,444.35½.
In 1860, the length of mail route in existence in the province was 4,115¼ miles; and the actual distance travelled was 751,346 miles. In 1861, the length of route was 4,151¾ miles; distance travelled, 809,032 miles.
There are 289 mail contracts made by the postmaster-general, at an annual cost of $38,604.60
There is a uniform rate of postage — five cents for letters weighing half an ounce — now established between all the British North American provinces, with the exception of Newfoundland.
Source: Pages 700-701 Eighty Years' Progress of British North America...
The British North American provinces were:
Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick,
Prince Edward Island, Lower Canada (Quebec),
and Upper Canada (Ontario).
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Steam Ship Services
1861
The line of steamers from which Nova Scotia derives the greatest advantage is that of the Cunard Company. These call at Halifax to land and receive passengers and freight, both westbound from Liverpool and to Boston, and on the return voyage from Boston and to Liverpool, England. The freight carried by these steamships to Halifax is increasing every year. The finer description of merchandise, which was wont to be conveyed in sailing ships, is now almost without exception brough to Halifax in these steamers. When the great Intercolonial Railway is finished, Halifax will undoubtedly have her weekly line of steamers from England, instead of fortnightly as at present.
The Cunard Company have also a line of screw steamers, which ply regularly between Halifax and St. John's, Newfoundland; and between Halifax and Bermuda. The steamers to Newfoundland receive a subsidy from the colonial government.
There is a steamer also which plies between Halifax, Yarmouth, and Boston.
There is a steamer that makes tri-weekly trips between Windsor and St. John, New Brunswick; also between Annapolis Royal and St. John, and connecting at St. John with steamers to and from Boston.
There is also a line that connects Pictou with Charlotte Town, Prince Edward Island, Shediac, New Brunswick, and Quebec.
There is one also on the Bras d'Or Lake, and one that plies between Halifax and the principal gold-fields on the Atlantic coast.
Two little steamboats ply between Pictou town and New Glasgow, and two others between the city of Halifax and the town of Dartmouth. The legislature granted the sum of $7,700 in aid of steamers, packets, &c., in 1860, and $7,240 in 1861.
Source: Pages 698-699 Eighty Years' Progress of British North America...
1861 July 16,17
Special Royal Trains on the Albion Rail Road
In 1861, HRH Prince Alfred, fourth child and second son of Queen Victoria, visited Albion Mines (Stellarton). On July 16th, the royal party arrived on the warship St. George, which anchored off Pictou Light because she had too much draft to cross the sandbar at the entrance to Pictou harbour. The GMA steamship Pluto carried the entourage to Dunbar's Point, Abercrombie. A special train pulled by Samson carried the royal party from the coal pier at Dunbar's Point to Stellarton. The next day, when it was time to depart, the process was reversed, beginning with a special train carrying the royal party from Stellarton to Dunbar's Point, and Pluto from there to the warship.
1861 November 12
Cape Sable Lighthouse Begins Operation
On this day, lightkeeper John Hervey Doane lit the lamps for the first time at the top of the first Cape Sable Lighthouse, a 20-metre 65-foot octagonal wooden structure. A fog alarm building and steam whistle were added to the light station in 1876.
Cape Sable should not be confused with Cape Sable Island.
The lighthouse is on Cape Sable, a low sandy islet about five kilometres long
located a couple of kilometres south from Hawk Point, Cape Sable Island.
At latitude 43°23'N, Cape Sable is the most southerly point in Nova Scotia,
and the second most southerly point in Canada.
Cape Sable was mapped by Portugese cartographers as early as 1554. They
named it Beusablom, "a sandy bay". French explorer Samuel Champlain
used the French version of that name, Cap de Sable, and when New England
settlers occupied the land in 1761, it became known as Cape Sable.
With ledges and shoals running seaward for seven kilometres south and west
from Cape Sable, the area has been a major hazard for ships for centuries.
The S.S. Hungarian from Liverpool, England, ran aground here on
20 November 1860; all 205 passengers and crew perished. This disaster
impelled the government of Nova Scotia (then in charge of lighthouses and
other navigational aids along our coast) to build a lighthouse on Cape Sable
immediately. The new light began operation just 51 weeks after Hungarian
was wrecked.
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The original lighthouse tower was replaced in 1923-24 with a 31-metre 101-foot of reinforced concrete, the tallest lighthouse in Nova Scotia. The light was automated and de-staffed in 1986.
[The Shelburne Coast Guard, 15 July 2003]
Reference:
Cape Sable Light by the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society
http://www.ednet.ns.ca/educ/heritage/nslps/cape_sable1.htm
Reference (book):
The Wreck of the Steamship Hungarian on the Ledges of Cape Sable Nova Scotia, by Arthur Thurston (1991) ISBN 0921596057
1862
Tour Tickets Available
Beginning in 1862, travellers could buy a long ticket strip allowing them to go from Halifax to Windsor on the Nova Scotia Railway, from Windsor by steam boat to Saint John, then on the European and North American Railway from Saint John through Norton, Sussex, Petitcodiac, Moncton, and Shediac to Point de Chene, thence to Charlottetown by boat, on another boat to Pictou, from Pictou to Truro on Hiram Hyde's Royal Mail Stage Line, and back to Halifax on the Nova Scotia Railway. In her History of the Dominion Atlantic Railway, Marguerite Woodworth reports that sixty-six of these tickets were sold in 1862.
1862
Wiscasset Mining Company
Mining gold in Nova Scotia
In 1862 Captain Richard Holbrook Tucker, an adventurer, was attracted to the suddenly announced report of the presence of gold in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Captain Tucker was one of the first persons to rush to the gold diggings at Wine Harbor. In May of 1862, he set up a limited partnership, the Wiscasset Mining Company, for the purpose of promoting the business of gold mining in the Province of Nova Scotia. An agreement was signed by the following men from the town of Wiscasset: Henry Clark, A.L. Barret, Sullivan Wright, Alfred Lennox, Lorenzo Taylor, Joseph Laiton Jr., and Joseph Tucker, Captain Tucker's brother.
Captain Tucker arranged for an engine, boiler, mill, amalgamator and a Howard crusher to be obtained from W.D. Richards of Boston. His supplies included quicksilver, a pump, retorts and other fittings for the sum of $2,755, which were transported on his schooner Emblem to the work site in Nova Scotia. The partners, except Joseph Tucker who did it for his health, hired other laborers to do the actual work in the gold fields. In addition to working the Wiscasset mine, the company, as well as individuals, purchased portions of the claims worked by other companies, leased claims and bought gold for speculation.
Captain Tucker was born in Wiscasset, Maine, on May 13, 1816, and was an indispensable part of the town of Wiscasset for a many years. He was politically active in town, county and state government. In 1861 he served as Chairman of the Board of Selectmen and in the same year was elected State Senator for Lincoln County. In 1870 he was appointed to the school committee and in 1885 represented Wiscasset in the State Legislature. He was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Wiscasset Savings Bank and for several years was the Director of the First National Bank of Wiscasset.
Captain Tucker was a person of rare wit who would freely express his opinions on public issues of the day with other people including writing letters to the editor of both the Sheepscot Echo and the Seaside Oracle newspapers.
The Sheepscot Echo newspaper of April 6, 1895 reported the death of Captain Richard H. Tucker on April 2, 1895, at Wiscasset.
[The Wiscasset Newspaper, Wiscasset, Maine, 30 September 1999]
Reference:
The Wiscasset Newspaper website
http://WiscassetNewspaper.Maine.Com/
1862 March
The New Cunard Steamer Scotia
Second largest mercantile steamer in the world
Cunard's last paddle-wheel steam ship
This vessel, the second largest mercantile steamer in the world, was built by Messrs. Napier and Sons, of Glasgow (under the orders of Messrs. Burns, of that city), for the Cunard or British and North American Royal Mail Steam-packet Company. She was launched in June last; and on the 5th inst. She made her trial-trip on the Clyde — a highly satisfactory one, notwithstanding the unpropitious state of the weather. The distances were performed under the following conditions: — Against a strong flood tide, and also against a double-reefed topsail breeze of wind, from the Cloch to Cumbrae Light in 59 minutes; after passing the Little Cumbrae, the Scotia was brought round with great ease, and performed the upward run between the Cumbrae and Cloch Lights, but on this occasion with wind and tide in her favour, in 49 minutes...
...Messrs. Robert Napier and Sons, of Glasgow, to whose eminence as marine architects and engineers it is quite unnecessary to advert, are, as before stated, the builders of the Scotia's hull and engines. The dimensions are:-Keel and fore-rake, 867 ft.; beam, moulded, 47 ft. 6 in.; depth for tonnage, 31 ft.; gross tonnage, 3871 tons; allowance for propelling power, 1509 tons; registered tonnage, 2362 tons.
The Scotia is propelled by two side lever engines of the nominal power of 1000 horses, with 100-inch cylinders, and a twelve-feet stroke of piston. She has accommodation for 573 first-class passengers, and can be altered or fitted up at a day's notice to accommodate with ease 1500 troops...
...The paddles measure 40ft. 8in. in diameter over the rings. She has four large tubular boilers, and two funnels; and we need only speak of her machinery in general as being first-class...
[Illustrated London News, 22 March 1862]
Source:
The complete text is available at The Ships List website
http://www.theshipslist.com/1862/scotia1862.html
1862 April
The New Cunard Steamer China
The China, which is the first screw-steamer built by the Cunard Company expressly for the postal service between this country [England] and America, is an exceedingly handsome and large vessel ... The China, like the Scotia and the Persia, is an iron-built ship, very strongly framed, and amply secured by strong water-tight bulkheads ... She is propelled by two engines on the oscillating principle, with an aggregate of 560-horse power. She was built and engined by Messrs. Robert Napier and Sons, of Glasgow, in a manner worthy of their high reputation as marine architects, builders, and engineers ... The China started from Liverpool with the New York mails on the 15th ult.,
[Illustrated London News, 12 April 1862]
Source:
The complete text is available at The Ships List website
http://www.theshipslist.com/1862/china1862.html
Why did the paddle-wheel propulsion system
for ships last such a long time?
On comparing the screw steamer of the late 1870s with the best examples of steamers propelled by paddlewheels, the superiority of the former is so marked that it may cause some surprise that the transition from side-wheel steamships to screw-propelled should have progressed no more rapidly.
The reason of this slow progress, however, was probably that the introduction of the rapidly-revolving screw, in place of the slow-moving paddle wheel, necessitated a complete revolution in the design of their steam engines; and the unavoidable change from the heavy, long-stroke, low-speed engines previously in use, to the light engines, with small cylinders and high piston speed, called for by the new system of propulsion, was one that necessarily occurred slowly, and was accompanied by its share of those engineering blunders and accidents that invariably take place during such periods of transition.
Engineers had first to learn to design such engines as should he reliable under the then novel conditions of screw propulsion, and their experience could only be gained through the occurrence of many mishaps and costly failures.
The best proportions of engines and screws, for a given ship, were determined only by long experience... It also became necessary to train up a body of engine-drivers who should be capable of managing these new engines, for they required the exercise of a then unprecedented amount of care and skill.
Finally, with the accomplishment of these two requisites to success must simultaneously occur the enlightenment of the public, professional as well as non-professional, in regard to their advantages.
Thus it happens that it is only after a considerable time that the screw attained its proper place as an instrument of propulsion, and finally drove the paddle-wheel quite out of use, except in shoal water.
Advances in marine steam technology
in the 1850s to 1870s
Now [1878] our large screw steamers are of higher speed than any paddle steamers on the ocean, and develop their power at far less cost. This increased economy is due not only to the use of a more efficient propelling instrument, and to changes already described, but also, in a great degree, to the economy which has followed as a consequence of other changes in the steam engine driving it.
The earliest days of screw propulsion witnessed the use of steam of from 5 to l5 pounds per square inch pressure, in a geared engine using jet condensation, and consuming fuel at a rate of perhaps 7 to 10, or even more, pounds of coal per horsepower per hour.
A little later came direct-acting engines with jet condensation and steam at 20 pounds per square inch pressure, with a fuel consumption of about 5 or 6 pounds per horsepower per hour.
The steam pressure rose a little higher with the use of greater expansion, and the economy of fuel was further improved. The introduction of the surface condenser, which began to be generally adopted some ten years ago, brought down the fuel consumption to about 3 to 4 pounds in the better class of engines.
At about the same time, this change to surface condensation helping greatly to overcome those troubles arising from boiler incrustation which had prevented the rise of steam pressure above about 25 pounds per square inch, and as, at the same time, it was learned by engineers that the deposit of limescale in the marine boiler was determined by temperature rather than by the degree of concentration, and that all the lime entering the boiler was deposited at the pressure just mentioned, a sudden advance took place.
Careful design, good workmanship, and skillful management, made the surface condenser an efficient apparatus; and, the dangers of incrustation being thus lessened, the movement toward higher pressures recommenced, and progressed so rapidly that now 75 pounds per square inch is very usual, and more than 125 pounds has since been attained...
Excerpted from
A History of the Growth of the Steam Engine by Robert H. Thurston, D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1878
Chapter 5, The Modern (1878) Steam Engine Applied to Ship Propulsion
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1862-1864
Valuable Materials Came to Bermuda
from Nova Scotia During the American Civil War
Much has been written and televised about Bermuda's role during the American Civil War. It depended greatly on Canadian shipping support and supplies, principally from Nova Scotia. Bluenose windjammers sailed from Halifax and were never subjected to blockade by the Union Navy en route to Bermuda or the Bahamas. One reason was that other Nova Scotians were on the Northern side — and very helpful in supplying goods for the Northerners and volunteers for Northern armies, in complete contrast to the strongly pro-South attitudes in Bermuda . Most of what Nova Scotia ships brought to Bermuda and the Bahamas was supercargo, trans-shipped in Bermuda by the blockade runners for the run to Southern ports.
Source:
http://bermuda-online.org/canada.htm
1862 July 28
Serious Train Wreck on the Albion Rail Road
In a head-on collision between two trains on the Albion Rail Road near New Glasgow, three well-known young women were killed — one of them was Miss Jane Smith, of Truro, a niece of stagecoach tycoon Hiram Hyde, MPP.
H.B. Jefferson wrote: This wreck "caused a tremendous hubbub in the course of which, for the first time since 1827 GMA (General Mining Association) officials were publicly criticized and censured severely by a jury of the local proletariat.
The inquest brought out many titillating details of railroading in those good old days. The free and easy ... manner in which the Albion was run would make the blood of a modern Transport Commissioner run cold ... There were no brakes at all on the engines, and only primitive hand lever stage coach type sledge brakes on tenders and some coal cars ... There were no cabs or cabooses, and train and engine men worked out in the open rain or shine ...
There was no time table, no train dispatcher and no written train orders. Conductors and engineers were expected to make their own "meets" (two trains going in opposite directions on the single-track line could pass each other only where there was a siding, and there were only two sidings along the line) ... Even on the day of the wreck, when both train crews except one man were green at the work, the superintendent said: 'You conductors arrange your own meets.' ...
There were three so-called passenger trains at 8:30am, 12:00 noon, and 3:30pm, in which a small stagecoach type car was pushed ahead of the locomotive of a regular coal train, connecting with the company steamer Pluto which ran a ferry service at those hours between Dunbar's and Pictou. Such was the organization that was transporting an average of 200 passengers a week ... The passenger coach normally held six people in comfort, but on the day of the wreck there were fifteen crammed into it — eight men and seven women..."
1864
Church Maps
In 1864, Ambrose F. Church was commissioned by the Nova Scotia legislature to make a series of maps, one for each of Nova Scotia's eighteen counties, showing the locations of towns and villages, basic topographic features and names of residents. Mr. Church completed this series in 1888. Are they available? Yes. In 1998, the cost for reproductions is $15.00 per county. Additional fees include sales taxes of 15% if ordered from within Nova Scotia or 7% from outside the province plus $3.50 for shipping each map. Where to order (1998):
- In person:
Natural Resources NS
1701 Hollis Street (Founders Square)
Library, Suite 301
Halifax NS
- By Mail:
Natural Resources NS
Library
PO Box 698
Halifax NS B3J 2T9
- By Phone:
902-424-3179
They "gladly accept VISA orders"
[Source: Message posted by Chris Young on the LUNEN-LINKS-L@rootsweb.com discussion list 23 Aug 1998]
1864 May 2
Merchants Bank of Halifax
On this day, the Merchants Bank of Halifax (later the Royal Bank of Canada) opened for business in Halifax.
[Halifax Daily News, 2 May 2000]
1864 August
Confederate Warship Tallahassee on Rampage
United States Navy blockades Halifax Harbour
The Civil War was almost over when in the summer months of 1864 the Confederate warship Tallahassee, a twin-screw, 700-ton, 200-foot armed cruiser wreaked havoc on Maine shipping.
Using the former blockade-runner as an armed cruiser, the Confederates planned to carry the war directly to the Union's coast. Tallahassee was a first-class, extremely fast and well-built vessel. Her two engines could be worked either together or separately. Colonel John Taylor Wood was the Captain.
Tallahassee in one month's time accounted for the destruction of three ships, three barks, one brig, and twenty schooners. On August 15th 1864 the Tallahassee seized the fishing vessel Archer out of Southport under the command of Captain Decker of Indian Town. Captain Decker was placed under restraint.
A short while later on the same day, the schooner Restless of Boothbay, skippered by Captain Levi Blake just returning from the Grand Banks with a cargo of 450 quintals of cod, was also seized, her crew paroled, the vessel plundered and sunk. Other neighboring fishing vessels were taken by force and destroyed. In many cases parole saved civilian seamen from being sent to the horrible prisons of the south, and, of course the Confederacy did not have to transport, feed or clothe their prisoners in such situations. Both sides benefited from the parole system. It served well when crew members were civilians.
Word spread fast along the coast of Maine, including Wiscasset, that the Confederate armed cruiser was on a rampage attack just off Boothbay Harbor and a short distance from the mouth of the Sheepscot River.
Tallahassee, after raiding shipping off the coastal area, headed to Portland and captured the ship John Brooks and several other small ships. She then steamed her way to the neutral port of Halifax, Nova Scotia, where Captain John Taylor Wood was able to secure 120 tons of needed coal and later make a daring night escape from a Union blockade of the harbor. Captain Wood later became a hero of Nova Scotia for his brilliant war time seamanship.
Colonel Erastus Foote, then collector for the port of Wiscasset, received a warning that the cruiser's captain was planning to return to the Maine coast and invade the Wiscasset harbor and sack the town. A citizen's meeting was immediately called. The Honorable Wilmot Wood presided. An enrollment of Volunteer Home Guard Artillery Company men was raised and the town cannon and ammunition plus supplies were transported to Fort Edgecomb.
The home guard unit was placed under the command of Foote, a well known and respected patriotic citizen who had served his town well on numerous prior occasions. The guns at Fort Edgecomb were duly fixed at the parapet of the old fort and ranged for effective service. Daily guards were set and relief for night watch made for about a month until it was known that Tallahassee had been chased away from the Maine coast.
Tallahassee lived out the rest of the Civil War, which had only a few months to run before the surrender of the Confederate army. She captured and destroyed six more ships off the Capes of Delaware. Later she was seized at Liverpool, England and returned to American authorities.
Captain Wood retired in Nova Scotia and established a very successful ship merchant trade business.
[The Wiscasset Newspaper, Wiscasset, Maine, 20 April 2000]
Reference:
The Wiscasset Newspaper website
http://WiscassetNewspaper.Maine.Com/
Considered to be Impossible
In August 1864, after a successful career attacking Union shipping (as many as 35 vessels sunk or captured as far north as Maine), Tallahassee was damaged with a broken mainmast and put in to Halifax for repairs. Despite official British neutrality, many loyalist Maritimers were sympathetic to the Confederate cause, and when Union cruisers closed in on Tallahassee, a local pilot named Jock Flemming led the ship out through supposedly impassable channels late at night to make an escape. Tallahassee returned to North Carolina, successfully running the Union naval blockade, and the daring escape made the ship the subject of local legends around Eastern Passage, Halifax County, Nova Scotia. The aura of mystery surrounding the escape is heightened by the fact that it was locally considered an impossible feat to manoeuvre a 500 tonne steam ship through this narrow channel in the dead of night.
Source:
http://www.clydehenneberry.com/tallahassee.htm
Forty-Eight Hours
In 1864, during the American Civil War, McNabs and Lawlor islands in Halifax Harbour played a small but important role in an incident involving several ships from the Confederate and Union navies. In the summer of 1864 the confederate raider Tallahassee sailed from Wilmington, South Carolina, and over the next several months attacked many ships destined for northern ports.
On August 17th Tallahassee entered Halifax Harbour to stock up on coal for the return trip to the Confederate port of Wilmington, Delaware. Under British neutrality laws, the Tallahassee had forty-eight hours to replenish her supplies and repair any damage before leaving harbour. With two Union ships thought to be guarding the main harbour channel, it seemed inevitable that Tallahassee would be captured or destroyed soon after leaving the sanctuary of Halifax Harbour.
Neither the captain of Tallahassee, John T. Wood, or his crew, though, were willing to admit defeat so easily. In the dead of night Tallahassee prepared to escape from the harbour by passing through the shallow and dangerous Eastern Passage. Hidden from the awaiting Union vessels by McNabs and Lawlor Islands, Tallahassee managed to slip out of Halifax Harbour unnoticed. In fact, Tallahassee need not have worried about slipping out unnoticed as logs show the nearest Union ship was eight hours behind Tallahassee arriving in Halifax.
Perhaps the most famous blockade runner of the war, Tallahassee destroyed 35 ships during the war. Her captain, a grandson of Zachary Taylor, 12th president of the United States, settled in Halifax after the war and became a member of the city's business establishment. Interestingly, Captain Wood's son, Charles, was one of the first Canadians killed in South Africa during the Boer War. The community of Chaswood, Halifax County, is named in his honour.
Source:
History of McNab's Island
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Environment/FOMIS/hist-s11.html
Confederate cruiser Tallahassee
In 1864, during the American Civil War, the Confederate cruiser Tallahassee made its daring and successful dash for freedom through the Eastern Passage, to the east of McNab's Island in Halifax Harbour. Tallahassee had slipped out of Wilmington, North Carolina, harried shipping into New York Harbor and sank fifty northern merchant vessels along the coast. She was chased into Halifax Harbour by the Union cruisers Huron and Nansemond. Under British neutrality laws, Tallahassee had but 48 hours to take on coal and repair any damage before departing.
The lighted Union warships guarded the mouth of Halifax Harbour, waiting for Tallahassee to attempt an escape. Tallahassee's captain, John Taylor Wood, risked his darkened ship through the narrow, winding and shallow Eastern Passage under the guidance of a local pilot, Jock Fleming. British Admiral Sir James Hope must have been relieved to see his friend Wood escape destruction by the two Union ships sitting easily within reach of his fleet and fortress guns.
After the Civil War's end in 1865, a number of Confederate officers, the "un-Reconstructed Rebels," settled in Halifax. Among them were John Taylor Wood and Commodore Josiah "Blood Is Thicker Than Water" Tatnall. John Taylor Wood, by the way, was the grandson of 12th U.S. President, Zachary Taylor, and a nephew of Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederacy. Wood's son Charles graduated from Canada's Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, and was the first Canadian officer to fall in South Africa during the Boer War. Charles' own son, S.T. Wood, became one of the most notable commissioners of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Source:
http://www.mikecampbell.net/harbourvisitors.htm
Captain John Taylor Wood
Confederate Lt. John T. Wood was already considered a distinguished navy man early in the Civil War, but with his midnight raids on Union ships he truly won distinction and earned a reputation as a swashbuckling coastal raider. His first strike, on the Union schooner Frances Elmore on October 7, 1862, marked the beginning of Wood's escapades
Most often, Wood used cutting-out expeditions, in which cutters were hauled overland by wagons and then launched in streams in the middle of the night. Fifteen to twenty men in each cutter would row up to an enemy boat, overpower her crew "with blazing revolvers and slashing cutlasses," then sail away in the vessel. Eventually even the mention of Wood's name was enough to strike terror into the hearts of Union boat commanders.
In July 1863, with Union gunboats in the Chesapeake Bay prohibiting blockade running, Wood ambitiously decided to capture two gunboats with his four cutters. On August 22nd, under a stormy night sky, Wood led his eighty men down the Rappahannock to the bay, where their prey lay waiting.
Wearing white armbands to help them distinguish friend from foe, Wood's men rowed to within fifty yards of the first ship before being sighted. At that point, one of Wood's men recalled, "Every man put his whole strength to the oars. Our boat nearly sprang out of the water at every stroke, and shot over the waves with the velocity of an arrow. In a few seconds the dark hull rose before us ... and, as quick as thought, twenty of us were climbing over the nettings upon her decks." In less than ten minutes, Wood and his men had secured the first ship; soon thereafter, they had the second gunboat. Wood's prowl continued, and in two days he netted three more vessels.
In February 1864, during a raid on New Bern, North Carolina, Wood captured the gunboat Underwriter. In August of that year, Wood was given command of the CSS Tallahassee, on which he terrorized the North, from New York to Maine, capturing or destroying 31 Union vessels before his raiding career was through.
In his Chesapeake bay raids, Wood shocked the North, embarrassed the Union flotilla, and seized valuable equipment for the ailing Confederate navy — all without losing a single Rebel.
Source:
http://www.angelfire.com/ca/easylife/jwood.html
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CSS — Confederate Steam Ship
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In 1810, Zachary Taylor married Margaret Mackall Smith, the daughter of a Maryland planter. The Taylors had five daughters and a son. In 1835, his eldest daughter Sarah married Jefferson Davis, later president of the Confederacy.
Source:
http://www.zacharytaylor.org/
John Taylor Wood's uncle, Richard Taylor (1826-1879), only son of President Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), served as a general in the Confederate Army.
Source:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/zt12.html
Reference (book): Tallahassee Skipper: The Biography of John Taylor Wood, Merrimac Gunner, Soldier At Sea, Guardian of the Confederate Treasury, Adopted Nova Scotian by Arthur Thurston, 434 pages, published in 1981 by Lescarbot Press, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia
Wood Family Closely Linked to RCMP
Herschel Taylor Wood, great-grandson of Captain John Taylor Wood, died on July 17, 1950 as a result of severe injuries received the previous day in an automobile accident in northern Montana. Herschel Taylor Wood had a rich heritage with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. His brother John Taylor Wood, was a member of the Force. They were the third generation of the Wood family to serve with the Mounties. Their father was RCMP and their grandfather, Zachary Taylor Wood, served in the NWMP and the RNWMP from 1885 to 1915 and rose to the rank of Acting Commissioner of the RCMP. This same Zachary Taylor Wood, was the great-grandson of Zachary Taylor, the twelfth President of the United States, as well as a grand-nephew of Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederacy.
At the time of Herschel Taylor Wood's death, his father, Stuart Taylor Wood, was serving Commissioner of the RCMP. Herschel's brother, John, retired from the Force in 1988 with rank of Superintendent.
Source:
RCMP Veteran's Association — Edmonton Division
K Division Honour Roll website
http://www.straightfacts.com/memorial/wood.htm
NWMP — North-West Mounted Police (forerunner of the RCMP)
RNWMP — Royal North-West Mounted Police
RCMP — Royal Canadian Mounted Police
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The Mount Wood Expedition
1998
Cpl. Pat Egan was one of the two leaders of the RCMP's Mount Wood Expedition in April 1998. When he reached the summit of that Yukon mountain on Wednesday, April 29th, the first thing he noticed was a euphoric Dave Olson. "When I got up, he was sitting there with a grin from ear to ear? He looked like he had just won the lottery."
Egan was specially happy for his fellow Mountie, because Olson had been with him on the Mount Steele climb back in 1995. The eight-member team had been too large for the final race to Steele's summit, so the entire group could not join in on the final push. Olson had missed out.
Things were different on Wood. For one thing the weather was better. All six members of the expedition reached the summit. Olson, Blake Leminski and Chris Pratte arrived there at 3:10 p.m. Egan, Paul Randall and Andrew Lawrence joined them five minutes later. Olson says he will long-remember the moment when they all reconnoitered on the summit. "All you could see was teeth," he said. Each of the exhausted climbers was wearing a huge smile.
They didn't have long to savor their euphoria, though. As Leminski noted, he was immediately struck by the "realization that we shouldn't spend too much time up there, and should get back down before the weather changed."
And it was changing. Fast. Off to the South, in the direction of Mount Logan, clouds were building up rapidly, and no one wanted to chance being caught in a storm on top of Canada's sixth tallest mountain. "Had we left an hour later, we would have been caught in a big lens cloud," says Egan.
"By the time we got back to camp, both Mount Steele and Mount Wood were totally enveloped in these huge lens clouds. "Lens clouds form when high winds arc over the crests of peaks. They can be a precursor of moisture."
No one wanted to take the descent for granted either. It seems like going down should be easier than going up. However, "statistically more deaths occur on descent," says Egan. "People become sloppy. "Anyone will tell you, it's easy for a cat to get up a tree, but very difficult to get down. And it's the same for climbers."
Back at High Camp, the nearest camp to the summit, Egan made a very special radio-phone call to Bruce Campbell of White Rock, B.C.
Campbell is the grandson of Zachary Taylor Wood, the RCMP assistant commissioner who played such a large role in taming the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush.
Campbell was "absolutely thrilled," says Egan, adding he will long remember "the joy in his voice on hearing from these people who were climbing the mountain in his grandfather's honor."
Paul Randall, the Alaska State Trooper on the team, stressed that memorial aspect of the climb.
The re-dedication of the peak to Zachary Taylor Wood for the 125th anniversary of the RCMP was an especially moving aspect of the ascent for Randall and his Canadian pals.
"People in those days were tougher than people today," the Alaskan said about Wood and Wood's contemporaries,
"Guys like Steele and Wood and Walsh, those guys were tough as nails and it is the least thing we can do, climb to honor their commitment to law enforcement in the north country."
It is obvious from talking to the climbers that little of the mountain-peak euphoria has dissipated. Big smiles repeatedly expose teeth which contrast with deeply tanned faces. Egan says he was "gobbing on" a total sun block called Everest Cream throughout the climb, but the intense solar radiation beating down on the glacier created "a big reflector oven." The climbers have wind-burn and frost-bite patches as well.
Talk to any of the climbers and two things are inevitably mentioned.
The first is the good fortune they enjoyed with the weather throughout their twelve days on the 4,842-metre-high mountain. They encountered one brief blizzard. Even that was serendipitous. When it hit, they had just hauled their gear up to Camp Three and were exhausted. According to Egan, the blizzard's timing was perfect because the climbers needed a two-day rest. They burrowed in and waited out the storm.
RCMP Const. Blake Leminsky of Ottawa takes
one last look up as he and the other members
of the Mount Wood expedition return to their
base camp. It took them twelve days to climb
and descend the 4,842-metre-high summit
in the St. Elias Range.
As well as getting to the summit ahead of the lens cloud, the team got back to Base Camp just in time to be flown out ahead of bad weather. "Had we taken three days instead of two to reach Base Camp, we probably would have had to sit there for three or four days, so the timing was great," says Egan. The other aspect of the climb all the members will long recall is the solidarity, the friendship, the team spirit of their group. Leminsky calls theirs "the smoothest, most cohesive team."
Randall says he realized the people who shared the experience with him were the most important aspect of the climb, more important than the peak itself. The other co-leader of the expedition, Const. Chris Pratte, sums it all up — the accomplishment and the ordeal — with one image he will carry in his mind for a very long time: "six team-members hugging on the summit."
Egan and Pratte hope to make a two-man ascent of Mount Constantine, a somewhat more accessible peak, later in the summer. And they are already working on plans for an expedition up Mount Walsh in the year 2,000. Walsh is the next-highest peak of the six named after Mounties in the St. Elias Range. "It will be quite a challenge," says Egan, "and the expedition will be a major event."
Already, the mountaineers are contacting sponsors. Hyperborean Productions, which created the attractive active website for the Mount Wood expedition, has enthusiastically agreed to maintain the site through all future climbs. Photos, a map and more details about this year's climb, as well as any new details about forthcoming ascents, can be found at http://www.hyperborean-web.com/rcmpclimb
Everyone will have their work cut out for them — climbers and website designers — as Egan hopes to climb all six peaks in the Kluane region named after members of the RCMP.
Source:
Yukon News, 6 May 1998
http://yukonweb.com/community/yukon-news/1998/may6.htmld/
Reference:
RCMP 125th Anniversary Mt. Wood Expedition website
http://www.hyperborean-web.com/rcmpclimb/
Zachary Taylor Wood
Zachary Taylor Wood, great-grandson of U.S. President, General Zachary Taylor, was born at Annapolis Naval Academy, Maryland. His life reflected his military heritage. After graduation from the Royal Military College at Kingston, Ontario, he served with the 90th Regiment of Infantry during the Riel Rebellion. In 1885, he was appointed an inspector with the North-West Mounted Police and held various commands throughout the west.
In September 1897, Wood left Calgary, leading ten members, 84 dogs, nine dog handlers and stores-all en route to the Yukon via Skagway. Wood had expected to return after the safe delivery of his party, but the Yukon's commissioner, Major Walsh, decided he was urgently needed in the north. The Yukon was to be Wood's home for the next fifteen years. For most of the frantic winter of 1897-98, he ran an office out of Skagway. There he acted as the Force Paymaster, arranged to forward men and supplies into the Yukon, and provided information to the steady stream of travellers. Of course, the force had no legal authority in Skagway during its lawless heyday, and members wore plainclothes while stationed in the Alaskan town. On one occasion, Wood's Skagway office was caught in the midst of a gunfight. The staff hit the floor as bullets whizzed through the walls.
According to another oft-recounted tale, Wood and a small force of men successfully eluded Soapy Smith and his outlaw forces while transporting $150,000 in Canadian customs dues and license fees through Skagway en route to Victoria.
In the summer of 1898, Wood was appointed Superintendent of H Division, in charge of all detachments in the southern Yukon. Wood became commanding officer for the entire Yukon in 1900, a post he held for 2 years. From 1902, he held the rank of assistant commissioner.
His son, Stuart Taylor Wood, grew up in the Yukon and later served as the RCMP Commissioner from 1938 to 1951.
Source:
Law of the Yukon (book) by Helene Dobrowolsky, Lost Moose Publishing, 1995
http://www.hyperborean-web.com/rcmpclimb/history.htm
1865 April 28
Death of Sir Samuel Cunard
Sir Samuel Cunard died in England at age 78. His estate was valued at £350,000 which was a fairly substantial sum in those days. His last visit to Nova Scotia was in 1864; he returned to England on Scotia, the last paddle-wheel steamer in his fleet.
1866
Western Union Takes Over
The Western Union Telegraph Company took over the leases held in Nova Scotia by the American Telegraph Company, which included all electric telegraph lines and equipment in the province.
1866
The C.G. Swann
In 1866, the men of the General Mining Association's foundry and shops at Sydney Mines were given a special assignment. They were asked to build a locomotive. Chief Engineer John Elliot and his crew of pattern makers, moulders, blacksmiths, machinists and fitters replicated a machine already in service with the company. They named it the C.G. Swann after an official of the Association. A unique achievement, it is thought to be the only steam locomotive ever built on the island. After a trial run, it was floated on a barge across Sydney Harbour to South Bar and used on the Victoria Mines Railroad for many years.
— Fred Calder, 7 July 1974
Source:
Sydney & Louisburg Railway museum website
http://fortress.uccb.ns.ca/historic/train4.html
1866 June 11
Official Opening of Halifax City Railroad
On this day the Halifax City Railroad Company opened its line of horse-drawn street cars for regular traffic. The north end of the line was on Barrington Street at Richmond Depot, the Intercolonial Railway station. From Richmond, the track ran southward along Barrington and Hollis, and ended near Morris Street.
In her book History of the Dominion Atlantic Railway, published in
October 1936, Marguerite Woodworth gives the date of official opening
of the Halifax City Railroad as May 11, 1866, but this is an error.
Original documents included in Murille Schofield's collection,
now (1997) in the Public Archives of Nova Scotia,
definitively establish the correct date as June 11, 1866.
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1866 July
Schooner Escape
When fire swept Canning's main street in July 1866, a small schooner was under construction on the stocks in the Bigelow shipyard. The wooden ship was ready for launching except for her spars, rigging, and sails. As the fire drew near, Ebenezer Bigelow saw the tide was high, and made a snap decision to launch immediately. Quickly, a crowd of people clambered on the vessel's deck, seeking to escape the flames. Later, the vessel would be named Escape. In 1874 Escape's luck ran out. She was lost with all on board near Digby Gut, Nova Scotia.
[Source: Stanley Spicer, in The Canning Gazette, Issue #127, July 1998]
Canning is a village in Kings County, Nova Scotia,
about 9km north of Wolfville.
1866 July 2
The Annexation of Nova Scotia, etc.
On this day a bill was introduced in the United States Congress, calling for the admission or annexation of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Lower and Upper Canada.
[Halifax Daily News, 2 July 2001]
Bills and Resolutions, House of Representatives, 39th Congress, 1st Session, Read twice, referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and ordered to be printed. Mr. Banks, on leave, introduced the following bill: A Bill For the admission of the States of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Canada East, and Canada West, and for the organization of the Territories of Selkirk, Saskatchewan, and Columbia.
Source:
U.S. Library of Congress
Historical Collections for the U.S. National Digital Library
http://memory.loc.gov/ll/llhb/039/4300/43090000.gif
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On 1 July 1867, these four previously independent British colonies were joined together into a single country named Canada. The close timing of these two events — Canadian Confederation coming into effect only 364 days after the introduction of this Bill into the U.S. Congress — is more than mere coincidence. The fact that this Bill was being given serious consideration by the United States Government brought home forcefully to all Canadians that they meant business, that there was a real danger that British North America could be nibbled away by the powerful forces south of the border. This brought a sense of urgency into the Confederation negotiations, and was an important factor in bringing them to a speedy completion.
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For the purpose of representation in the U.S. Congress
Prince Edward Island shall be part of Nova Scotia
Newfoundland will be part of Canada East (Quebec)
United States Congress, July 2nd, 1866
Source: Bill HR 754, page 1
Historical Collections for the U.S. National Digital Library
http://memory.loc.gov/ll/llhb/039/4300/43090000.gif
United States Congress, July 2nd, 1866
Source: Bill HR 754, page 2
Historical Collections for the U.S. National Digital Library
http://memory.loc.gov/ll/llhb/039/4300/43100002.gif
United States Congress, July 2nd, 1866
Source: Bill HR 754, page 3
Historical Collections for the U.S. National Digital Library
http://memory.loc.gov/ll/llhb/039/4300/43110003.gif
United States Congress, July 2nd, 1866
Source: Bill HR 754, page 4
Historical Collections for the U.S. National Digital Library
http://memory.loc.gov/ll/llhb/039/4300/43120004.gif
United States Congress, July 2nd, 1866
Source: Bill HR 754, page 5
Historical Collections for the U.S. National Digital Library
http://memory.loc.gov/ll/llhb/039/4300/43130005.gif
United States Congress, July 2nd, 1866
Source: Bill HR 754, page 6
Historical Collections for the U.S. National Digital Library
http://memory.loc.gov/ll/llhb/039/4300/43140006.gif
United States Congress, July 2nd, 1866
Source: Bill HR 754, page 7
Historical Collections for the U.S. National Digital Library
http://memory.loc.gov/ll/llhb/039/4300/43150007.gif
United States Congress, July 2nd, 1866
Source: Bill HR 754, page 8
Historical Collections for the U.S. National Digital Library
http://memory.loc.gov/ll/llhb/039/4300/43160008.gif
United States Congress, July 2nd, 1866
Source: Congressional Globe, page 3548
Historical Collections for the U.S. National Digital Library
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/amlaw/lwcg.html
http://memory.loc.gov/ll/llcg/073/0600/06703548.tif
Annexation of British America
Mr. Banks, by unanimous consent, submitted a bill (H. R. 754) establishing conditions for the admission of the States of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Canada East and Canada West, and for the organization of territorial governments; which was read a first and second time, ordered to be printed, and referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Source:
The Congressional Globe, page 3548, Monday, July 2, 1866
Historical Collections for the U.S. National Digital Library
http://memory.loc.gov/ll/llcg/073/0600/06703548.tif
Nathaniel Prentiss Banks (1816-1894), a Representative from Massachusetts
References:
http://clerkweb.house.gov/105/histrecs/history/members/banks/bio.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USACWbanks.htm
http://www.aboutfamouspeople.com/article1153.html
http://www2.netdoor.com/~jgh/banks/pretense.html
http://www.civilwarinteractive.com/hosbanksmain.htm
http://www.civilwarhome.com/banksbio.htm
http://www.civilwarindex.homestead.com/NathnielBanks.html
http://hometown.aol.com/conn26/myhomepage/generals.html
1866 July 27
Transatlantic Telegraph Cable Completed
On this day, after two failures (in 1858 and 1865) Cyrus W. Field finally succeeded in laying the last section of the first underwater telegraph cable 2,700 kilometres across the Atlantic Ocean, between North America and Europe.
[National Post, 27 July 1999]
History of Telegraph and Telephone Companies in Nova Scotia
http://epe.lac-bac.gc.ca/100/205/300/nova_scotias_electronic_attic/07-04-09/www.littletechshoppe.com/ns1625telephone.html
1866 July 27
Transatlantic Telegraph Cable Completed
The 27th of July 1866 will long be remembered by the inhabitants of Newfoundland as a red-letter day in its history, for on that morning the S.S. Great Eastern, with the living end of the Atlantic cable on board, accompanied by the steamships Medway and Albany, could be seen from the settlement of Heart's Content, two or three miles in the offing; the hopes and fears which had been entertained in reference to this undertaking were then within an ace of being successfully determined.
It is true that some years previously (1858) an attempt had been made to unite Ireland and Newfoundland by a submarine [underwater] cable, which had been landed in Bay Bull's Arm, at the head of Trinity Bay, but its life had been short and at best precarious; the instruments used in its manipulation were cumbrous, while the signals recorded were sluggish, and the working painfully slow. About mid-day on the date above mentioned [27 July 1866] the shore end of the cable was successfully landed, and from that moment until the present [1895], if we except a few months between November 1870 and May 1871, the communication between Valentia in Ireland, and Heart's Content in Newfoundland, has never for an instant been interrupted.
To connect Heart's Content with the United States, Canada, and the continent of America, lines [electric circuits] had been erected between Newfoundland and Cape Breton — where the wires belonging to the Western Union Company of America had their terminus — the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company had been incorporated. This latter company owed its creation to the almost superhuman efforts of Mr. Cyrus Field, a prominent citizen of the United States, to whose energy and perseverence also the formation of the companies in the United Kingdom, primarily the Atlantic Telegraph Company, and subsequently the Anglo-American Telegraph Company, was at the same time mainly attributable.
The lines of the New York, Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company consisted of an airline [overhead wire] suspended on poles along the southern shore of the island of Newfoundland terminating at Port-aux-Basques, at its south-western corner; from this point to Aspey Bay, in the island of Cape Breton, a distance of some seventy miles [about 115 kilometres], a submarine cable had previously been submerged, although at the time of the completion of the ocean cable to Heart's Content this short cable was unfortunately interrupted, fast steamers being employed for the time in conveying batches of messages at frequent intervals. Towards the autumn, however, this short section [across Cabot Strait] was repaired by A.M. Mackay, the General Superintendent in Newfoundland of the New York Company, thus completing telegraph communication between the two great continents, Europe and America...
Source:
The Atlantic Cable and Heart's Content
by F. Perry, Superintendent of the Anglo-American Cable Office at Liverpool
as quoted in History of Newfoundland, (published 1895 in London)
by D.W. Prowse:
page 642
page 643
For several months in the summer and early fall of 1866, the intercontinental
telecommunications system between Europe and North America was working
across the North Atlantic Ocean to Newfoundland, but was not working
between Cape Breton Island and Newfoundland.
The underwater telegraph cable across Cabot Strait was inoperable.
To get messages across this telegraph gap, fast steamships were operated
by the telegraph company, across the Cabot Strait between Newfoundland
and Cape Breton, "conveying batches of messages at frequent intervals."
"Towards the autumn, however, this short section was repaired by
A.M. Mackay, the General Superintendent in Newfoundland" of the New York,
Newfoundland, and London Telegraph Company.
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History of the New York, Newfoundland, & London Telegraph Company
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1866 August 4
TransAtlantic Telegraph Rates
Printed Circular No. 6
The American Telegraph Company
Halifax, N.S., 4th Aug. 1866
To Managers Offices N.S. District: The following rules will be observed regarding all messages passing over the Atlantic Cable.
Tariff from all parts of Nova Scotia is fixed as follows:
| COUNTRIES |
First
20 words
or less |
Each
additional
word |
To Great Britain
and Ireland |
$100 |
$5.00 |
To other parts
of Europe |
$105 |
$5.25 |
To Africa, Asia,
and India |
$125 |
$6.25 |
|
The first 20 words to include address of sender and receiver, but not to exceed 100 letters, and if the number of letters exceed 100, the excess will be divided by five and each 5 letters or fractional remainder be charged as an additional word. The letters in all words after the first 20 will be counted and divided by five, each five or fractional remainder will be charged as a word. Messages in cipher will be charged double the foregoing rates. All figures intended for transmission must be written in full length, and will be charged as words. Messages destined for places beyond the telegraphic system will be forwarded by mail. All messages must be prepaid.
You will keep a totally distinct and separate record of all Atlantic Cable business, forward an accurate statement of receipts and checks, together with all money received on this account, to the Cashier and Auditor at Halifax, by mail at the end of each week. This business is not to be put in the regular monthly accounts.
In preparing weekly accounts state in detail date, address, signature and number of words in each message.
Alex. E. Hoyt
Asst. Superintendent
[Above is quoted whole, from the original document.]
1867
Four Dollar Bill
Merchants' Bank of Halifax
At the time of Confederation in 1867, the Canadian government allowed banks to continue issuing their own notes (paper money), except for $1 and $2 notes which were reserved for government issue only. The Bank Act of 1934 began the process of restricting the powers of banks to
circulate their own money, and by 1944 Canadian banks were no longer allowed to issue their own currency.
The ship engraved on this $4 bill appears on all the early bank notes of the Merchants' Bank of Halifax and forms the centrepiece of its corporate seal. This ship is believed to be a representation of a Cunard ship — partly because William Cunard was one of the Bank's original directors. The Merchants' Bank of Halifax was organized as a private partnership in 1864 and began lending money to finance business ventures. It was incorporated in 1869; in 1901 the name was changed to Royal Bank of Canada.
Source:
http://www.rbc.com/history/quicktofrontier/index.html
1867 January 1
Construction Begins, Westward from Hantsport
On this day the official sod-turning, marking the beginning of construction of the Windsor & Annapolis Railway westward from Hantsport, was performed. At this time there was no bridge across the Avon River at Windsor, that could carry a railway train. This meant that, even when the railway began running trains westward from Hantsport, there would be a gap in the railway between Windsor and Hantsport. Travellers would have proceed by stage coach across this gap. "Everything about the W&AR was unconventional. Construction started in defiance of the Provincial Engineer and the Nova Scotia statute four months before the company was even incorporated. It had two 'first sod' turnings; one at Hantsport on January 1, 1867, and another at Annapolis Royal on July 20 of that same year to mollify Commissioner Avard Longley of the Nova Scotia Railway, whose wife performed the ceremony."
[The quote is from 99 Years of Dominion Atlantic, by J.B. King, in the December 1968 issue of The Maritime Express, a newsletter published by The Scotian Railroad Society.]
1867 May 7
Windsor and Annapolis Railway Company
On this day the Act (chapter 36, 1867, 30 Victoria) to incorporate the Windsor and Annapolis Railway Company was passed by the Nova Scotia Legislature.
1867 November 2
Construction Begins, Avon River Bridge
On this day, the first pile was driven, for the foundations of the first railway bridge over the Avon River at Windsor.
1868
Nova Scotia Carriage Co. Ltd.
The Nova Scotia Carriage Company was established in Kentville in 1868, to manufacture horse-drawn carriages and sleighs. The company did well until about 1908, when automobiles began to arrive in the province in some numbers. In 1911, the company was reorganized by the McKay brothers as the Nova Scotia Carriage and Motor Car Company Limited.
1868
Nova Scotia Railway
Nova Scotia Railway advertisement, 1868
Source: McAlpine's Nova Scotia Directory for 1868-69
1868 February 25
Westville Named
On this day, the name of Acadia Village was changed to Westville.
[Halifax Daily News, 25 February 2000]
1868 April 1
3¢ Postage
On this day, the Canadian government set a uniform postage rate of 3¢ for a first-class letter.
[National Post, 1 April 2000]
1868 July 31
First Locomotives Arrive for W&A Railway
The first two locomotives on the Windsor & Annapolis Railway were Joseph Howe and Sir Gaspard le Marchant, which were bought second hand from the Nova Scotia government for $7,000. They were delivered to the W&AR by ship. Joseph Howe was landed at Bridgetown on 31 July 1868, and Sir Gaspard le Marchant at Elderkin Creek, one mile east of Kentville, on 8 August 1868. A little later another second hand locomotive, St. Lawrence, was brought to Bridgetown on the sailing vessel Prince of Wales. These three engines were put to work on the construction of the railway between Grand Pre and Annapolis.
1869 August 13
St. Peter's Canal
Official Opening
On this day, after sixteen years of construction work, the St. Peter's canal was officially opened. The first operating season closed on 31 December 1869, with the canal having passed 150 large vessels, 111 open boats, 3 rafts, and 2 spars (floated through to their recipient vessels). In 1876, authorities closed the canal, to enlarge it, and it reopened in October 1880. It was closed for repairs from 15 December 1894 to 8 November 1895. The canal is 2,400 feet 730 m in length, and connects the south-western end of Bras d'Or Lake with the Atlantic Ocean. In 1998, it remains in operation — although its commercial traffic has pretty much disappeared it continues to pass significant pleasure boat traffic.
[Excerpted from the Halifax Sunday Herald, 7 June 1998]
1869 August 18
First Train Annapolis to Horton
The official opening ceremony for the Windsor & Annapolis Railway between Annapolis and Grand Pre was held this day. The first passenger train left Annapolis about 6:00am, Conductor James Kaye, Driver Billie Boyd, Fireman John Phelan, Engine St. Lawrence. The train arrived at Kentville about 3:00pm, and a big banquet was held in what later (1923) was the machine shop. Then proceeded to Horton Landing. Thomas Legge drove the engine from Kentville to Horton Landing, with George Donsten, then traffic superintendent, acting as conductor. For the next few months, passengers travelling between Annapolis and Halifax were carried between Horton Landing and Windsor by stage coach, while railway bridges were being built across the Gaspereaux and Avon Rivers.
The W&AR's "official opening took place at Grand Pre on August 18, 1869, and it began regular train service between that point and Annapolis Royal four months before the line was completed between Horton and Windsor. Meanwhile, it transported passengers over this missing link in stage coaches it bought and operated until the Avon River railway bridge was ready for service."
[The quote is from 99 Years of Dominion Atlantic, by J.B. King, in the December 1968 issue of The Maritime Express, a newsletter published by The Scotian Railroad Society.]
"J.B. King" was the pseudonym of Mr. H.B. Jefferson (1893-1970), who began his career as a journalist for the Moncton Times & Transcript, and then moved to Halifax in 1917. He was news editor of the Sydney Record during the Cape Breton labour wars of the 1920s. After the Post-Record merger as the Cape Breton Post, he ran two weeklies in western Nova Scotia for three years, then worked in Halifax as editorial writer and columnist for the Halifax Daily Star. In 1939, he was appointed the wartime Atlantic Regional Censor of Publications (press and radio). In 1954 he was appointed editor of Hansard, the printed record of debates in the Nova Scotia Legislature. Mr. Jefferson was a well-known writer on the history of railways in the Maritimes; he wrote a series of 191 articles on railway history that ran in the Chronicle-Herald from 1957 to 1961.
Source: Mostly from Mr. Jefferson's obituary
in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, 21 May 1970
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Index with links to the other chapters
Go To: History of Railway Companies in Nova Scotia
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Go To: History of Telegraph and Telephone Companies in Nova Scotia
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Go To: History of Automobiles in Nova Scotia
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Go To: History of Electric Power Companies in Nova Scotia
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Go To: Photographs of War Memorials and Historic Monuments in Nova Scotia
http://ns1763.ca/remem/plaques.html
Go To: Index to other online Nova Scotia History
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