No section of Nova Scotia, or for that matter of the Eastern Provinces, is so distinctively industrial as that part of the province the center of which are New Glasgow, Stellarton, Westville and Trenton, towns which stand as symbols of an industrial development and expansion, during the past forty years as great as that of any section of the Dominion.

The early history of these towns is closely interwoven with that of Pictou County, of which they form such an important part. Born of its early coal and iron discoveries long after Pictou, the first town in the County, with its magnificent harbor had already become a thriving center of trade and commerce, these towns have forged ahead in industry and population, so that to-day they form an important factor in the coal and iron product producing wealth of the Province, making them known wherever coal and steel products are utilized.

The first French settlers in what is now known as Pictou County, found the country inhabited by the Micmacs, a powerful tribe of Indians whose possessions extended from the Strait of Northumberland to the Bay of Fundy. For a period of some 150 years the territory was under the control of France. When however the English took possession in 1749, followed by the final treaty of peace, at Paris in 1763, the French settlements made in the country were abandoned, to be followed by English speaking immigrants. The first body of these consisted of six families of about thirty persons from Philadelphia, who made the voyage in the brig "Hope" landing in Pictou Harbor June 10th, 1767, where in the district surrounding it they had obtained a government grant of 180,000 acres of land. By 1769 the settlement had eighty-four white inhabitants. On Sept. 15th, 1773, thirty-three families and twenty-five unmarried men, in all 189 souls, arrived in the ship "Hector" from Scotland. In 1775 thirteen more Scottish families, mostly farmers, joined their countrymen, whose numbers were augmented in 1783 by disbanded British soldiers, mostly Scottish, to whom had been allotted large tracts of land in the country and elsewhere in the Province, by the British government, following the close of the revolutionary war, with the result that the country became dominantly Scotch in character; impressing it with those qualities of intelligence, persistence and thrift, such marked characteristics of the Scottish race, and which continues to characterize in the same emminent degree, their decendants who comprise more that 26,000 of the 36,000 population the county had in 1911, and from among whom have come some of the brightest minds of the Province and the Dominion, in the profession, industry and commerce.

The new settlers gradually took up land along the East, Middle and West rivers. By 1809 when the land on which New Glasgow is now located was taken up, the county had a population of 5000 people. A Mr. Chisholm and his wife were the first settlers of the future town, but to James Carmichael, who a few years later opened the first store on a lot near that of Chisholm's, must be given the credit of selecting New Glasgow as a business centre. In 1820 two other stores were opened, and following the repeal of the trade restriction, which had hitherto been imposed by the mother country on its colonies, the business of the town rapidly grew. For a period of 45 years, following 1831, until iron ships replaced wooden ones, shipbuilding flourished, and in its yards, ships of 1400 tons burden were constructed.

About this time too, coal mining assumed large proportions. Coal had been discovered in 1798 near where the Albion mines are now located in Stellarton. About 1827 the General Mining Association acquired the lease of all the reserve mines in the Province, and about 1831 operations on a large scale were begun. In 1836 the Company constructed a six mile railroad from the mines to a point a little below New Glasgow - the first railway, built of steel rails, in Canada. With the coal mines only a few miles distant and the shipyards busy, the town rapidly grew in population and wealth. In 1872 the Hope Iron Works were established with a $4000 capital and ten employees, destined to become in the next forty-three years the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company with $16, 000, 000 capital and 7, 000 employees, whose steel forging and railway car axle plant (employing more than 2300 people) is located in Trenton adjoining the town limits. The growing industry not only absorbed the surplus labor, thrown out of employment by the decline of wooden ship construction, but also attracted men anxious for work from all parts of the Province. Other industries followed. I. Matheson and Company. already in existence, began to expand. The Standard Clay Products Limited of St. Johns, Que., established a large branch industry near the town. A few years later the Maritime Bridge Company Ltd. was incorporated. It has other industries such as the Canada Tool and Specialty Co., J. W. Cumming & Son, the McNeil Machine & Motor Company, together with wood working factories, jewelry manufacturers, earated water plants, flour and feed mills and printing shops, which combined with the other industries like the Eastern Steel Company and Humphrey's Glass Works located in Trenton, and the coal mines at Stellarton and Westville, has made it not only a factory center, but also the largest retail centre of the district. As an indication of its growth it may be mentioned that the stamps sold from the post office increased from $7000 to $27, 000 from 1900 to 1915. The town is surrounded by a prosperous farming community. Situated on the main line of the government railways, it has fine railway transportation facilities. It has an interurban electric car service, which directly connects with the three towns of Stellarton, Westville and Trenton and surrounding country, embracing more than 20,000 people. It has an excellent water service and is well lighted by electricity. It has beautiful streets some of which have permanent pavements, and sidewalks.  It has splendid schools, many fine and attractive homes, which, together with its large stores, theatres, park, sporting clubs, and other social organizations, make it not only one of the most attractive and progressive business centres, but also one of the most attractive residence towns in the Maritime Provinces.

Stellarton, attractively situated on the banks of the East river, about three miles from New Glasgow, with which it has both railway and street car connections, was born of the country's coal mining industry, which has played, and still plays and important part in its growth and development.

Following the coal discovery near where the Albion Mines are located, in 1798, and the beginning of coal mining, a village began to grow up, which rapidly expanded with the development of the mining industry (especially after 1831) when the General Mining Association began to mine coal in this district on an extensive scale.

The first houses in the village, as well as its general store, was owned by the coal company. Until 1889 the community was known as Albion Mines, when it was incorporated as a town and called Stellarton, to commemorate the discovery of the well-known Stellar Coal which lies under the town and which is so rich in oil that during combustion it emits short bright flames, resembling stars.

The population of Stellarton is at present about 4,600. It is not only the greatest coal mining centre in Pictou County, but also its most important railway centre. The pits and offices of the Acadia Coal Company are located in the town. It is one of the Divisional headquarters of the Government Railway system, with large railway yards, roundhouse and machine shops. At Stellarton connections are made for Pictou from where boat transportation is made to and from Prince Edward Island. The plant, car barns, and offices of the Pictou County Electric Company are located in the town, connecting with Westville, New Glasgow and Trenton. It is the headquarters for the Province of International Harvester Co. It is a fine manufacturing and business center. Lynchs' Limited of Sydney has a branch factory in the town, while Porter's wood working factory the Pictou County Dairy Co., and the Albion Machine Co., are growing industries.

The town has a splendid water service, and good fire protection. It has fine schools and churches. It has a tuberculosis hospital and the County Infirmary is located just beyond its limits. It has a number of attractive streets, a large park, a band with a Provincial reputation; theatre, social and other organizations, making it a pleasant place of residence. It has a large number of fine houses, and offers rare opportunities for moderate priced homes, the efficient railway and street car service, enabling dwellers to reach the large factories at Trenton and New Glasgow easily and at small expense.

Like Stellarton the town of Westville is a child of the coal mining industry in which the greater number of its male inhabitants are employed and on which its population of between 4000 and 5000 are directly and indirectly dependent.

It dates its inception from the coal discoveries in the district about 1864.About this time the Acadia Coal Company began its operations, followed in 1868 by the organization of the Intercolonial which at present is the only mining company in operation near or in the town.

In 1894 it was incorporated. Since then the town has been steadily progressing. Sidewalks and streets have been improved; electric lights have been installed; waterworks constructed, school buildings erected, and other improvements promoted. It has exceptionally good railway transportation facilities, and electric rail connections with the towns of Stellarton, New Glasgow and Trenton. It has a low rate of taxation. It has good churches, well supported fraternal societies, and other organizations, which, added to its picturesque location, surrounded by a well to do farming community, and unsurpassed natural resources, gives it exceptional advantages as a manufacturing and residential centre.

The reorganization of the Hope Iron Works as the Nova Scotia Forge Company in 1878, and its consequent removal to a point about two miles below New Glasgow, formed the nucleus of the future town of Trenton. The Company's growth and its decision to manufacture its own steel in 1882, not only increased the town's importance as a centre of industry, but also gave Trenton the proud title of being "the birthplace of steel in Canada. The further expansion of the industry, with addition of new ones, brought a constantly increasing number of employees and their families, so that by 1911, the year of its incorporation, it had a population of 1400 which has since been increased to over 3000.

Besides the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Co. Ltd., and the Eastern Car Co., - two industries which employ some 4000 persons - Trenton is the home of the Eastern Steel Co. Ltd. and the Humphreys Glass Works, Ltd. which with the new ship building plant soon to be constructed makes it the most important manufacturing section in the district.

Although incorporated only for a period of four years, it has and is working hard to take its place among the well-governed towns of the Province. It has an attractive town hall and commodious school buildings. It had sunk artesian wells, giving it not only water as pure and clear as may be found anywhere, but a supply sufficient for a town three times its present size. It has constructed a large reservoir and is increasing the length of its water mains and sewers from year to year. The town is lighted by electricity. It has a volunteer fire brigade consisting of thirty-nine men and efficient fire protection. New houses are constantly being built to meet the increasing needs of its expanding population. In fact there is no town in Nova Scotia, where there is more building in proportion to its inhabitants, nor where the demand for houses is as insistant.

Still more far reaching on the future growth of the town will be the completion of the river improvement now under way, connecting it by deep water navigation with Pictou Harbor, and so making it one of the important ocean ports on the Northumberland Strait. The East river channel has been deepened. A turning basin 450 feet wide and twenty one feet at low tide is being dredged, and locks and dam are under construction; improvements costing some $800,000, and which when completed will make it the head of deep water navigation for all vessels entering Pictou Harbor, to which all the territory extending southward to New Glastow, Stellarton, Westville and further on with its large output of coal, lumber and other products, will be tributary.