One of the greatest factors to make New Glasgow and the towns surrounding it, the important centres they have become, is Pictou County's supply of coal, as well as iron, limestone and other mineral products. The coal measures are located largely along the whole front of the county, divided by the Great Conglomerate, south of which in the basin of the East River, and its extensions both eastward and westward, all the valuable coal deposits so far have been found. Of these the most important is the one known as the "Big seam" or main seam which has a vertical thickness forty seven feet eight inches. The cage seam is located about 150 feet below the main seam. The McGregor seam lies 165 feet below the third seam; 240 feet under the McGregor seam is found the Stellar seam. Below the McGregor also, was found lately a seam 21 feet, and below it another some five feet in thickness. The coal district embracing an area of twenty square miles, has other seams all of them productive, which with those mentioned have an almost inexhaustible supply of coal and mined at the rate of 1,000,000 tons annually, will be active for hundreds of years to come.

Coal was discovered in the county in 1798, by Dr. McGregor. In 1807 John McKay obtained a license to dig it for export as well as to sell locally. He with his father began mining a three foot seam on the farm of the latter. It becoming exhausted, they searched further and discovered what has since become known as the "Big Seam." As the demand for coal grew, the business expanded. During 1815 some 650 Caldrons, (975 tons) were exported and in 1818, 2820 Caldrons or about 4230 tons were raised. In 1825, the Home Government leased all the reserved mines of Nova Scotia for a period of sixty years to the Duke of York, from whom it passed to Messrs. Rundell Bridge and Rundell, and who in turn with others organized the General Mining Association, which for a period of 47 years played a very active part in the industrial development of the Province.

With the acquisition of the mines by the General Mining Association, coal mining operations began on a much larger scale. In 1827 the company began sinking new shafts, and equipped them with more modern machinery, On Sept.6th they raised their first coal, and by December they had a steam engine in operation, the first erected in the Province.

In order to market the coal more advantageously, the company constructed a railway from the mines to a point a little below New Glasgow, on which the cars were drawn by horses. From this point the coal was conveyed by lighters to the Loading Ground at the mouth of the river, where the ocean vessels were loaded. In the meantime railroad locomotion having proved successful in England, the company decided to build a steam road from the mines to the Loading Ground. Construction work was begun in 1839. It was six miles long and was the first steam railroad in Canada, the cost of construction being about $160,000.

With the completion of the railroad the company greatly extended its operations. A pit was sunk to a depth of 400 feet, the mining operations covering about 40 acres. Farther towards the dip, the "Old Bye" and Dalhousie Pits" were sunk, to be followed by the "Foster," "Cage" and "Foord" pits, all of which with the exception of the two latter were abandoned before 1872, the year in which the General Mining Association sold all its rights in Pictou County to the Halifax Company, ( the Monopoly of the Association having been abolished as early as 1856,) the former retaining only about four square miles located on both sides of the East River, from the Albion Mines to New Glasgow.

About this time too, the late James D. B. Fraser of Pictou began explorations to the West and South of the areas retained by the General Mining Association. He discovered the famous Stellar Coal which he began mining at once. He also organized the Acadia Coal Company, which commenced working the original McGregor seam, as well as the Acadia seam which in the meantime had been discovered about two miles to the south west of the Albion seam. The discovery gave a new impetus to coal mining in the district. The Acadia Coal Company extended its operations. Companies such as the Intercolonial, Nova Scotia, Vale and some eight more others were formed, all of which with the exception of the Intercolonial have since been abandoned or merged with the Acadia Coal Company, Ltd. whose operations are the largest in Pictou County.

The Acadia Coal Co., Ltd. controls at present the Allan mine embracing the Foord and Cage seams, the Acadia mine with the main seam, the Albion mine, comprising the Foord, Four Feet, Cage, Third and McGregor seams and the Vale mine with a six feet seam.

In 1909 the Societe Miniere du Canada. a Belgian Syndicate, became largely interested in the company, and its mining operations were more widely extended. At present the company employs about 1350 people and pays out in wages yearly close to $900,000. During 1914 its total coal output amounted to 456,480 tons, of the 703,583 mined in the county, and the 7,203,912 1/4 mined in Nova Scotia, giving it a place among the largest coal mining companies in the Province, and one of the most important factors in the industrial development of Pictou County.

The Intercolonial Coal Company, the only other coal company operating in Pictou County, was organized in 1868. The property has four seams of coal, the two upper seams of which are being worked, and they produced in 1914, 220,929 tons of coal giving employment to 760 men and boys, and distributing in wages more than $480,000 yearly.

The colliery also has a coke-making plant as well as a clay-working plant. It has two branch railroads, one connecting it with the Canadian Government Railway in the town limits of Westville, and another with a pier at Pictou Harbor, giving the Company abundant outlet for their product both by land and sea, the greater part of which is sold throughout Quebec and Maritime Provinces.

Explorations made under competent scientific men, have shown the existence in Pictou County of iron deposits of large extent and superior quality. At Sutherland river is a valuable deposit of Spathic iron ore varying in thickness from six to ten feet. In the East river valley near Springville is a vein of Lemonite from five to twenty feet.in width, about 65 per cent of which is metallic iron. From New Lairg near Glengarry eastward a vein of Specular iron ore has been traced which is nearly all pure peroxide of iron, containing from 64 to 69 per cent. of metal.

The County also has large deposits of limestone, and an abundance of fire clay, for the manufacture of brick, pottery, and terra cotta products. It has quantities of silica sands, suitable for the production of glass of all kinds. Moulding sand of the finest quality is plentiful along the East river and its tributaries. Deposits of copper, antimony, silver and gold, abound in the adjoining counties, Guysboro having produced 1604 ounces of the 3158 ounces of gold mined by the Province during 1914.

The country round about still has large tracts of pine spruce and hardwood forests, the timber of which is suitable for the manufacture of a great variety of wood products. As it is, nearly one half million dollars worth of logs and lumber are cut annually. The county has well tilled farms. No district in the Province is better suited for dairying or sheep raising. The hillsides furnish an excellent pasture land, yielding a rich herbage, upon which cattle and sheep thrive to great advantage.

The Strait of Northumberland among the finest fishing fields of Eastern Canada, are less than ten miles distant. The strait shore has clams, and oysters of the finest quality, which with cod, mackeral and other deep sea fish, find not only a ready market in towns of Northern Nova Scotia, but are also shipped to Western Canada, and exported to other countries in increasing quantities.