Celebrating Our Heritage / G. E. Dawson's History
History: Celebrating Our Heritage
The Following article on the early days in Westville was written by Westville historian Andrew Roy. The article was written in 1956 and published in “The Evening News” in 1956 and 1962. So many people provided our researchers with copies of the article that we felt it should be published in our commemorative book without editing. Mr. Roy died in 1961 at the age of 83. His family has given permission for us to include this valuable account of Westville’s history.
The main seam of coal was discovered in the Westville area about 1865. Previous to that a small shaft was operated on the old Middle River road, on the Westville side of Bear Brook, by a Captain MacKenzie, who took some hundred tons from a seven-foot seam. Finding he was on the lease of the General Mining Association he had to give up operation and the mine was closed down.
When the late James Roy, Sr., came to this area and settled, in the middle of August 1866, the Black Diamond Mine was hoisting one box of coal at a time with a horse and windlass. They had two houses on the plant. One was the house now owned by Alex R. MacLeod which was situated in the mine yard and was occupied by my uncle, John Roy, who was at that time manager. The other was the Company Office, now owned by Harry Crockett.
On the main street, then called the Gairloch Road, there were only two houses. One was owned by Roderick MacLeod, where the late W.S. Munsie lived in later times. This was next to the residence of Joseph Wright. It was destroyed by a fire a good many years ago. The other house was owned by a Mr. Tingley, and stood on the spot where Mrs. H.A. McQuarrie now lives. It was also destroyed by fire.
My father and the late William Henderson, Sr., bought a block of land from Robert Oliver of Middle River. The land belonged to his son, James Oliver, who was at that time in California. The Roy lot extended from the line between H.E. Munro’s store and the Mrs. L.G. Ferguson’s store to College Street, along the Main Street and to Water Street in depth, and contained one acre. It cost $80.
My father also bought the lower side of Water Street from College Street to what is now the Mrs. John Livingstone property. William Henderson bought the two adjoining lots.
As other families moved in, James Roy sold most of his property. He built the house, now a store, and until recently occupied by MacGrath’s Hardware. This was in 1866 and he moved into it in 1867. This was the third house on what is now Main Street.
My grandmother, Mrs. John Roy, Sr., had a small store built on the lot now occupied by the store of Mrs. L.G. Ferguson and opened the first store in Westville. She handled groceries. Previous to that the women, my mother included, carried all their groceries from New Glasgow.
The lot where Fraser’s Drug Store now stands was sold to a Malcolm G. Macleod. On College Street lots were sold to Donald Hayman, Robert Gray, and Andrew MacNeil. On Water Street lots were sold to William Markland, Mrs. Folley and Dougald MacIntosh.
In 1866 the Acadia Mine was just through the clay, and the Drummond had a small shaft in the center of where the Drummond Square was later built. It was called the Campbell Pit. Construction was started on four lines of railway into Westville. The Black Diamond Company was building a line from the mine to Granton where they built a shipping pier. They built a pitch pine bridge 100 feet high almost on the spot where the present Horne’s bridge stands. This line from the Westville Station to a point near the Sylvester Bridge was taken over by the I.C.R., when the Pictou Branch was built.
The Black Diamond used two locomotives. No. 19 was their road engine, and the Magnet used as a shunter in the yard. They also had a large number of coal cars. These were built on the English model, with two bumpers and a chain coupling, with side brakes.
When the Company ceased operations in the 70s, about 1875, having struck the downthrow which the Acadia and Drummond successfully overcame years later; this was about Number 5 lift.
After the Black Diamond was closed, coal was shipped over their rail line in the summer months from the Acadia mine. This line was wide gauge and a third rail was necessary in the Acadia yard. The engine used was driven by Michael O’Neil with his son as fireman.
Water was selling at a cent a bucket in Westville. The O’Neil’s used to fill their tender at a spring just beyond Horne’s Bridge. The line ceased operations when the I.C.R. took over a portion of it and started to build the Pictou Branch. About 1890 the Nova Scotia Steel Company bought the Black Diamond mine and used engine No. 19 as a hoisting engine. They moved the Magnet away and used it as a shunter around the Iron Works at Ferrona. This Company had about ten double houses, some of which are still standing, also a large house for the manager, the house now occupied by Mrs. William Roy. In my boyhood the manager was a Mr. Angel who lived there like a feudal baron and did not mix in any way with the people of the town. After the sale of the property he moved back to the United States, as he was an American citizen. This Company must have spent a fortune for not very much return.
After the purchase of this mine by the Nova Scotia Coal and Steel Company it was worked for a number of years by that Company to supply coal to the blast furnace at Ferrona. It was managed by the late John William Sutherland, with the late James Reid of Ferrona as the surface superintendent. Upon the transfer of the blast furnace to Sydney Mines the old Black Diamond Mine was closed down.
ANDREW
ROY
Historian
The Acadia Mine started to hoist coal late in the 1866 or early in 1867. It was first owned by a New York company, with James W. Glendenning as president and Jesse Hoyt as manager. Mr. James Maxwell was mine manager for most of its operating time and due to his management and careful supervision the mine was considered one of the best and safest in the province. The employees numbered about three hundred of which a good number lived at the Asphalt and traveled to and from work by train. The Company was fortunate that it had only three miles of standard gauge railway to build from the mine to Stellarton Station; from there their coal was shipped from Pictou Landing. This was prior to 1887 when the Company sold the road to the I.C.R. to be incorporated in the Pictou line.
The Company had its own locomotive, driven by Sandy Fraser, but they used I.C.R. cars to handle the coal. Before the I.C.R. took over the line, the Acadia Yard extended to College Street on both sides of Main. The Company owned three double Company houses of which two are sill standing on Main Street.
This mine never had a fire or an explosion in the mine. However on November 20, 1894, at 8 p.m., the fire alarm sounded for a fire which broke out on the bankhead. This along with the boiler shed and engine house were burned to the ground.
The
Acadia Mine
A new bankhead was erected and the mine continued operations on a scale larger than before. About 1914 the mine was closed for a short time until the lease was given to the Intercolonial Coal Company, operators of the Drummond Mine, who continued operations on a smaller scale until the 1940s. This was removing coal mostly from the Number 6 lift and the under coal. In its last days the mine was worked on a small scale by H.W. Wadden, who was formerly mine manager under the Intercolonial. The buildings were torn down and the land on Main Street sold for building lots. The rest of the yard was bought by Gooding Brothers who now operate a saw mill on the site.
Many of the employees at the Acadia were there for a great number of years. When I worked there in 1893-94, F.H.S. Canes and Jim Gregory ran the office. William Arnold was engineer; John Cumming, Blacksmith; and William MacKenzie, Dan MacIntosh, and Roderick MacLeod, carpenters.
H.S. Poole was manager of the three collieries, Acadia, Albion and Vale. It is believed that the mine was only down to No. 11 and in splendid coal when the operation ceased in 1914.
The Drummond started with the small shaft in the middle of what was later the Square in 1867. The slope on the main seam was started and a seven-mile standard gauge railway was built to Abercrombie where the next 25 years large amounts of coal were shipped from the Company pier in the summer season. As well as large schooner trade with Prince Edward Island, as many as three or four steamers of 3,000 tons were employed in moving the coal to Montreal.
The Company had its own railway cars, and had at least eight locomotives at various times. I believe the oldest is now at the old Scott pit shaft. The others were the donkey which hauled six loaded hoppers; No. 3 driven by a Mr. Pero; No. 4, an old Grand Trunk engine with a coal hopper for tender; the Henry Budden which was involved in a collision with a CNR engine at the cross-over and which was taken over by the CNR; the James P. Cleghorn, No. 2; and the Georgia Peach which is still running.
To handle coal in the winter the Company built a line from the mine down over Bear Brook and joined the I.C.R. near the County Home at Riverton. This line was torn up in 1887 when the present Drummond sidings were built, and the old road bed was used for many years as a rifle range.
The Drummond pithead
On May 13, 1873, a terrific explosion took place in the mine, killing about sixty men. The mine was flooded and remained so for a year when the Company brought out a mining engineer from Scotland, Robert Simpson. A large house was erected for the manager, now vacant and known as Clare Park. About 1890 Mr. Simpson moved to British Columbia and was succeeded by Charles Fergie who afterwards became the president of the Company. About 1896 the railway was extended to Abercrombie and a $200,000 pier built. Mr. James Floyd was mechanical superintendent under Fergie and succeeded him as general manager. About this time coke ovens were built and an excellent quality coke was produced. A large coal washer and a brick plant for the manufacture of fire brick from local fire clay was running full blast. I worked at the Drummond in 1893 and I believe there were between 700 and 800 men working there then.
The Company had a large number of miners’ houses rented at a low rental. They were laid out in a form of a square with four rows near the mine, furnishing homes for seventy-five or eighty families. I think the rent was $2.50 a month. They were all torn down a number of years ago.
Clare Park, resident of the
manager, circa 1900
(Photograph Collection, Public Archives of Nova Scotia)
In April 1914, a boiler
exploded at the main boiler shed, killing five for six men
and about the same time an explosion occurred at night in
the main seam, causing all the lower workings to be flooded.
About this time William Maxwell became manager and during
his time made many improvements. He built a new air shaft to
No. 2 mine in 1920 and a new slope into No. 2 in 1921. The
Drummond continued to be the mainstay of the town until
about two years ago when the Company decided to close the
mine or sell out.
The picture looked pretty bad until an ex-local boy, Henry R. Thompson, like the writer, had worked for a number of years for the Company and much credit is due to him for investing his money so his former fellow workers might continue in employment. I understand just over a hundred men are employed from three to five days a week. I hope the day will come when the old seam can be recovered and Westville come back to prosperity better than ever.
The writer was born in Westville, October 23, 1877, and spent all his life there, except from March 1917, to March 1919, when on service in France. What is mentioned prior to 1882 is just hearsay and what I learned from my father who was one of the first settlers. The first thing I remember was when the Royal Oak was burned in 1882. This was a small hotel on the vacant lot between properties now owned by Henry Stoneystreet and Tony Weatherbee. It was owned by Jack Smith and stood close to the present Weatherbee building. The only water available was from the town well nearly opposite the Roxy Theatre. The Weatherbee building was saved mainly through the efforts of James Mills, mechanical superintendent at the Acadia Mine, who came along with the Company’s latest fire extinguishers.
The first citizens were mostly Lowland Scots from around Coatbridge. These people came out in the early 1850s and settled at Albion mines and Cow Bay, now Port Morien. They consisted of Roys, Johnstones, Wilsons, Grays, Hendersons, MacNeils, Morrisons, MacPherson's, and Paterson. Later arrivals were Wrights, MacEwans, Hales, and others.
I believe Westville’s first school was a four-room Chelsea where the present Chelsea School stands. The first teacher was a man named Fraser and one of the first women teachers was a Miss Fraser, who afterward married Ed Harris at Union Center. Among the early teachers were Janet Johnstone, Annie MacLeod, Cassie MacLean of New Glasgow, Margaret Cameron, also of New Glasgow, Fanny, Olive, and Lena Hamilton, A.P. Douglas, A.S. MacKenzie, Michael Muir, Tom Grant, W.O. Creighton, and many others.
A two-room school later to have another room added was built where the H.A. MacQuarrie Monument on Drummond Road now stands. A two-room school was built on Church Street, on the grounds of the present high school. These were all the schools until after incorporation.
As the town grew there was a great and urgent need for water, and while nearly ever family had a well, still the water supply was poor. Water sold for a cent a bucket and was measured very carefully. Old timers will remember the old water vendors: Tom Craig, Hugh Matheson, Charles Stewart, Malcolm MacNeil and others. The need for water was in a large part responsible for the citizens taking a vote for incorporation. The vote was taken in the fall of 1893 and passed and in 1894 the town was incorporated. George E. Munro was first mayor, and $60,000 was passed for the purpose of installing a water system. This was completed about the end on 1895 and has been enlarged since.
South
Main Street, the Acadia Mine in the background, in the late
1800s before electricity was installed.
Transportation
Prior to 1887 when the first passenger trains ran on the Pictou Branch, the only way to leave town was by horse and buggy or on foot. As a result many livery stables flourished. Stables were run by Danny Robertson, John Dan Fraser, Robert Muirhead, Arch MacQuarrie, Jim McCoull, Tom Roy and Jack Stewart. Freight from Stellarton was hauled by James Andrew Marshall and the mails by Dougald MacIntosh. A parcel and passenger express was run every week day to New Glasgow by John Cameron, Irving Street, father of D.W. Cameron.
The Carmel Church was probably the first real church in town. It was, however, burned to the ground on the Sunday it was opened. It was immediately rebuilt. They had a settled minister, Rev. John Lees. St. Philip’s Church was erected soon after but was part of St. John’s under Rev. Mr. Dunn until 1888 when Rev. T.D. Stewart was called. The Methodists built a church on College Street, which was afterwards moved to South Main Street, and is now the Legion Hall. This church was served by a Stellarton minister until the first of the century. St. Bees’ Anglican was also on College Street, until the new St. Bees’ on Church Street was erected. The old church is now a dwelling house. St. Bees’ was also under Christ Church for a good number of years.
The first Catholic Church was built next to the house of Mrs. William Hayman. The present church was built under Rev. Father Alex MacKenzie about 1920 and has been greatly renovated in the past two years.
Businessmen
Old-time merchants were: George E. Munro, James MacLeod, Thomas J. Gray, John A. MacDonald, Norman Gunn, Duncan Balfour, James Roy & Son, James Johnstone, Alex MacKenzie, J.H. Oliver, A.R. Munro, Robert MacDonald, Crockett Bros., Hugh MacGregor, Duncan MacGregor, A.V. Sutherland, MacDonald and Matheson, R.A. MacDonald, D. Rod MacDonald, Murdoch MacKay, Dan W. MacDonald, Alex Graham, Andrew Murray, James D. Munro, H.A. McQuarrie, James Sutherland, Hugh MacLean, Fred Cameron, Brown & Sangster, Michael Muir, W.A. Reid and R. Fraser.
Doctors were: Jones, Sutherland, Moore, Linton, J.C. MacDonald, Robert MacDonald, Irwin, Bruce, and others in later years.
Old-time barbers were: Charles Sullivan, Sr., Charles Sullivan, Jr., Charles Allen, William Morgan, Andrew Brown, Jesse Harris, D.J. Murray, Robert A. Murray, Jeff Thompson, Isaac MacIntosh, Angus Ross, Gordon Marshall, Mert Fraser, Charles Murray, J.L. Johnson, A. MacEachern and John Muir.
About 1894 “The Westville Press” was published by Thomas O’Brien. The plant was destroyed by fire about 1898. “The Free Lance” was founded by Robbie Albert MacDonald and was sold by him to John R. Duff. He in turn sold it to Dan McQuaig and he sold to the late J.W.H. Sutherland who ran it for many years as well as attending to his duties in the Drummond Office. This plant was later closed and the machinery moved to the New Glasgow Evening News offices. It was a distinct loss to the Town of Westville but was dictated by economic conditions.
In 1904 the Egerton Tramway was built and eventually ran from the Westville rink to the lower end of Trenton. The fare was 15˘, Westville to Trenton. This ran until 1920 when the system changed over to buses.
In 1899 Simon Murray, Pictou Landing, built a large skating rink in Westville. It was at that time the largest rink east of Montreal. The rink was burned in the 1920’s and was never rebuilt.
Societies
The Oddfellows organized early in Westville and by 1870 built a small hall. In 1897 they built a much larger hall on the land used as a parking lot for St. Paul’s Church. It was destroyed by fire in the early 1920’s. The site of their present hall at the corner of Main and College streets was formerly a bowling alley.
The Masons organized in December 1868, and erected their hall in 1885. The Orange lodge organized early and built their hall about 1889. The Knights of Pythias did not organize until 1900 and purchased their building in 1908.
The Rebekahs and Eastern Star lodges are of long standing and were all doing well.
Before 1885 the Intercolonial Coal Company sold a large block of land in the Highfield District. The sale was in building lots and many lovely homes were erected in this district. Similarly in the lower end, the Acadia Company sold lots all the way to Bear Brook so that upon incorporation the town took in 42 miles of street.
In my opinion the year 1910 was the peak of prosperity in the Town of Westville. Noted always for sport, some will remember the old-time cricketers, John Johnstone, Cookie Johnstone, James Thompson, Sandy Wilson, William Maxwell, Michael Muir, William Gray, Murdoch Gray, Jim MacNeil, D. Roy, R. Wright, R.S. Steele and many others.
In later years Westville produced many baseball greats, including John and Burns Dunbar, Bill and Andy Richardson, Cubby Oliver, Dan MacMillan, Jack Darroch and a host of others. In its time Westville also had lacrosse, football and hockey teams. Today the only sport in the town is carried on by a few schoolboy players.
Railway service has declined from four trains a day each way and several workmen’s locals, to one mixed train a day.
From 1899 onward, we had a company of the Pictou Highlanders, the old 78th Regiment, in Westville. This company was first commanded by Captain G.S. Robertson. At the time I served as a private. In 1910 when they became The Pictou Highlanders. Westville provided Nos. 3 and 4 companies commanded by Captains Carthew and J.A. MacKenzie. In the first World War, Westville sent 600 officers and men into the service of their Country. Today there is no Militia Company and there are no armouries. This can only be attributed to apathy on the part of the citizens of Westville.
Nowhere in Canada can you find a more patient, friendly, or home-loving people than in the Town of Westville. It has always been unfortunate that so many boys and girls have had to leave Westville to seek opportunity abroad. One can travel from Atlantic to Pacific and will always run across former Westville boys and girls.
Having so many people with the same family names, mainly MacDonald’s and the other Macs, Westville was always noted for its nicknames.
At one time the town had two large and prosperous hotels: The Dufferin later called the Arlington, run by Billy MacDonald and Cookie Johnstone, and the Westville House, run for years by William Johnstone and his son Jim. Today the site of the Dufferin is occupied by Wright’s Garage, the Westville house by Harris’ store.
The Westville Board of Trade has recently been revived, after twenty years. It is hoped they may be successful in getting back some of the prosperity Westville has lost.
C.
Company 78th Highlanders taken at Westville Station April
8th 1915, while waiting to entrain for Halifax
A few old timers will remember the old bicycles with a front wheel about five feet in diameter, and a very small wheel behind. One was owned by F.H.S. Calnek of the Acadia office and the other two by clerks in the Union Store. One of them was in use for many years after the safety bike came into use, and was driven by George E. Munro, John Lloyd and Dr. Moore. They had solid tires but after a year or two the three gentlemen named bought the first pneumatic tired bikes and for a decade bikes were very popular. In fact, two bicycle liveries did a thriving business.
In 1912 James F. Johnstone bought a Ford car and Norrie Grant bought a small roadster with a chain drive.
The Westville House was built by Dan Munro and run by him for a number of years, when it was taken over by the Johnstone’s who ran it for many years.
The Dufferin was built about 1887 by William MacDonald and operated by him until his death. It was patronized largely by the commercial trade and the many concert companies on the road. Many will remember Zero Lemon, Price Webber, Wilmot Young, Humpty Dumpty show, Uncle Tom’s Cabin and dozens of other shows that played in the Orange Hall. The hotel was taken over by James (Cookie) Johnstone until his death in 1911. It was later operated by Tom Gorman and others, and after a fire in the ‘20’s was torn down. Westville has not had a hotel since.
How did Westville get its name? As the village grew, it was decided by the citizens that it should have a name other than Gairloch Road or Acadia Mines, so a meeting was held to select a name. Some wanted to call it Ayr, some Airdrie, and other Scottish names were proposed. The meeting was a deadlock until one man proposed the name Westville, explaining that it was west of the Albion Mines, as Stellarton was then known. This seemed to strike most of the people as a suitable name and it was adopted.
The first town clerk was Alex W. MacBean, who served until 1920. He was succeeded by Thomas W. Murray, and at his death he was succeeded by his daughter, Lydia. She held office until her death in recent years. She was succeeded by J.A. MacGregor.
The first postmaster was Duncan Balfour. At his death his son John held a temporary appointment for a short time until the new post office was finished when James Goode was given the appointment. At his death he was succeeded by his son Ira.
When moving pictures first came out, James F. Johnstone and H.A. McQuarrie started the Comet in the George E. Munro building. They also ran a bowling alley. The Orange Hall ran the Empire Theatre, and the Cresent was built where the Roxy now stands.
In the early days the silent pictures they had vaudeville for a 5˘ and 10˘ admission. After the Comet and Empire was closed, the Crescent continued until the ‘20’s, when it was destroyed by fire.
Westville was then for some time without a theatre until the Roxy was built with local capital to fill a gap in the entertainment life of the town.
At one time there were more than 1,000 miners in the Westville mines where today there are scarcely 100. In those times Westville was a bustling community with ten or twelve trains a day, a skating rink, a bowling alley, a YMCA, and a gymnasium, two thriving and busy hotels, traveling concert companies, baseball and football and hockey. Today there is little community life except card parties and bingo.
Street Names
Many of the town streets are named after the families who settled there first, such as Cowan, MacKay, Irving, Duff, Clish, Oliver, Grant, Picken, and Foley, also MacQuarrie and Purvis avenues. Office Street was so named because the office of the Black diamond company was on that street, Ballarat, Bendigo and Castlemain streets were named after famous gold diggings in Australia; Sodom Street after the famous city of Bible times; College Street, which ran from about the property of Mrs. Jessie Wright, around past the front of the property of Mrs. William Rundle and the Simonite property to a Mr. Munro’s, who lived in the rear of the Simonized property at one time.
Hoyt Street was named after Jesse Hoyt, one-time manger of the Acadia Company.
Westville has had many natives sons of whom she can be proud of. These are men who have reached the top in their chosen professions. Among them are one Supreme Court judge, many lawyers, doctors, clergymen, accountants, engineers, mining experts of all kinds, soldiers, and last but not least, newspaper editors.
The late J.W.H. Sutherland was a close personal friend of the writer in our young days and we were out walking every fine Sunday afternoon to keep our weight down. One Sunday on passing a beautiful garden owned by Joe Leese, we were struck by its beauty and went in to have a closer look. I introduced Mr. Sutherland to the two gardeners, who were brothers by the name of Humphreyson. Mr. Sutherland promised to give them a write-up in the next “Free Lance” which was printed in Westville then. On the day of issue, John Humphreyson bought six copies to send to his friends in England. He was amazed to see a very nice article, headed in bold type, that John and Aaron Humphreyson were great-grandfathers. This was quite a joke on J.W.H. for the next week, as both of these elderly gentlemen were confirmed bachelors. “Will” explained the next issue that he meant great gardeners and blamed it on the type-setters.
Another incident that I remember concerned a Mr. Donald MacDonald, who, as there were so many MacDonald's, was known as Donald Slash. He lived on South Main Street. Donald has been working in Glace Bay and decided to come back to Westville where his family had remained. He had money enough to take him overland as far as the Straight of Canso, which was in those days called the Gut of Canso. It was before the days of railway or telephone but there was a telegraph service and Donald, being Scottish, sent the following telegram to his wife: “STUCK AT THE GUT. SEND $10.”
Another story was told about Donald. He was a great horse lover and generally kept a horse although he had little or no work for one, and often, rather than harness up after he went home from the mine, he would toss a bundle of hay or oats on his shoulders and carry it home, “ Donald, why don’t you make the horse do that?”
Donald replied, “I’m the horse; Donald is at the stable.”
A final incident worthy of note is that in the RCMP Church in Regina there is a memorial window which is a picture of a Mountie. The choice of a Mountie for model of the picture fell upon a Westville boy, Sergeant Roy Fraser, son of Mr. and Mrs. John W. Fraser, Purvis Avenue.
Bands
As sons of the early settlers had played in the Albion Mines band, Westville had a Brass Band almost from the start and in 1883 at the Brigade Camp at Brown Point, they played for the 78th Regiment. They continued active until 1910 when they joined with Stellarton as the 78th Highlanders Regiment Band. At the start of the 1914-1918 war they enlisted as a unit and went overseas in 1915 as the 85th Regiment Band under Captain Dan Mooney. In 1924 they again joined as Pictou Highlanders Regiment Band, until the outbreak of the Second World War, when they formed the nucleus of the Aldershot Camp Band under Charles B. Wilson’s leadership, and who has recently reorganized it. We also had a Boys’ Pipe Band for a few years, and now have the Dunvegan Girls’ Pipe Band, who furnish the music for our parades.
This is
believed to be one of the earliest photos of a residence.
It occupied the south,
corner lot at the intersection of North Main and West Streets.