Immigration      With the boom in coal and steel development and the investment of large amounts of capital into these island resources, the small villages here became bustling industrial towns.      Sydney, in 1889, was a small marketing and administrative centre for surrounding rural areas and, in 1891, it was the 74th largest population centre in Canada. Just ten years later in 1901, Sydney ranked 28th and Glace Bay 46th in relation to other population centres in Canada. Just ten years later, Sydney ranked 21st and Glace Bay, 22nd. Within two years of that 20-year span, the population in Sydney and surrounding towns rose by over 40 percent.      The area experienced exceptionally high growth rates between 1891 and 1911, with the immigrant population reaching 60 percent in some towns. In 1910, 52.5 percent of Glace Bay population and 51.6 percent of Sydney Mines people had arrived in the last ten years.      In 1911, if a person in Cape Breton was not a Nova Scotian, then s/he was most likely from Newfoundland, Scotland, Russia or Italy. By 1921, data indicates that the ethnic origin of Cape Bretoners was mainly Scottish, followed by English, Irish and then Acadian or French. There were smaller numbers of Jewish, Austro-Hungarian, Belgian, Polish and Blacks.      Before the 20th century, coal mining was still fairly small-scale and inefficient. Even the General Mining Association (G.M.A.) which held a 30-year monopoly on the industry (1827-1857), hampered the development of the mines to their fuel potential.      Still, coal was one of the chief necessities for the development of modern industry. Coal mining and its related industries, in addition to the construction and erection of a Sydney Steel Pant, were catalysts in the development of the island's culture and increase in population.      As industry became more organized with the formation of the Dominion Coal Company (1893) and the Dominion Iron and Steel Corporation (1909), we can see a parallel wave of immigration and growth in the area.      Throughout the first three quarters of the 19th century, coal was a seasonal industry drawing men from Newfoundland and rural Cape Breton in the spring, only to return home in winter. As early as 1820, the G.M.A. imported experienced colliers from Scotland and Ireland.      Population figures show significant rural depopulation in Cape Breton between 1891-1901, as many people were drawn to coal mines or the steel plants at Sydney and Sydney Mines.      By the late 1890s and early 1900s, Canada's Minister of Interior, Sir Clifford Sifton, had implemented a vigorous campaign to attract immigrants to meet the country's employment needs. Many were attracted by a recruitment campaign in foreign nations initiated by the Dominion Coal Company and the Dominion Iron and Steel Company. Company agents were often at the landing points for the Dominion Coal Company and the ad that likely was seen in many foreign countries read like this:      The Dominion Coal Company of Sidney [sic] Canada North America undertakes to furnish employment which will pay you $2.00 to $5.00 per day. Emigrants would have to go via Thieste (Austria) and there sign contracts concerning their future employment and wages. The steamship fare is $50.00 paid in advance.....      Construction workers were brought from Pittsburgh, as were Italian contract labourers from Boston, to build the new steel plant at Sydney. However, the nature of underground work made it necessary for a worker to know even rudimentary English for safety's sake. This and the fact that the Dominion Coal Company started operations 7 years prior to Dominion Iron and Steel Company, helps to explain the lower proportion of non-Anglo-Saxons within the mining populations.      The company also brought in extra labour during times of strike. They would use immigrants to cross picket lines to maintain mining operations. In 1909-1910, the Dominion Coal Company would not recognize the U.M.W. and workers were imported from rural Cape Breton, the British Isles and Eastern Europe to bolster P.W.A. supporters and operations. NEXT PAGE

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