Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #Pictou
Most recents (18)
@joan_baxter is one of 140 journalists from 39 media outlets across 27 countries working collaboratively on ‘Deforestation Inc.’ a project of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (@ICIJorg). #SinarMass #PaperExcellence @sinarmas_land
halifaxexaminer.ca/morning-file/d…
halifaxexaminer.ca/morning-file/d…
2) @scilla_alecci Oct. 2022: Four environmental watchdogs allege Paper Excellence and Asia Pulp & Paper used shell co.'s to conceal corporate control by the same Indonesian tycoons accused of clearing more than 2 million hectares of Indonesian rainforest. icij.org/inside-icij/20…
3) Nov. 2017: They show how the Bermuda-based law firm Appleby and brand-name banks such as @CreditSuisse and Netherlands’ @ABNAMRO have continued to help April structure its operations despite questions about the co.’s environmental record. #Deforestation icij.org/investigations…
The East Gore Slate Quarry in #EastHants likely started operating in the mid-1800s and operated into the early 1900s.
Here's the story of the quarry and how it's connected to Courthouse Hill and the Rawdon #gold mines!
#nspoli #novascotia @EastHantsNS #hants
Here's the story of the quarry and how it's connected to Courthouse Hill and the Rawdon #gold mines!
#nspoli #novascotia @EastHantsNS #hants
The historical quarry is on turn-of-the-century geological maps but there are no official records of its production, so precise dates aren’t available.
A mill was built nearby to turns its slate into roof shingles.
#nspoli #novascotia #easthants #hants
A mill was built nearby to turns its slate into roof shingles.
#nspoli #novascotia #easthants #hants
Today there is a modern slate quarry directly across Slate Quarry Road from the historical quarry.
One of the many old buildings that used East Gore slate for its roof was the courthouse on what we now call Courthouse Hill, but which was once known as Judgement Hill.
#nspoli
One of the many old buildings that used East Gore slate for its roof was the courthouse on what we now call Courthouse Hill, but which was once known as Judgement Hill.
#nspoli
McKeens Quarry in #Pictou County is one of the oldest quarries in #NovaScotia. It began producing sandstone in the mid-1800s under the name Fogo Quarry and was worked continuously until the 1940s.
#nspoli @TimHoustonNS @karla_macf_pc @SeanFraserMP @TOWNofPICTOU @PictouCounty_NS
#nspoli @TimHoustonNS @karla_macf_pc @SeanFraserMP @TOWNofPICTOU @PictouCounty_NS
It was later quarried to produce rock fill and armour stone.
McKeens stone was used in many heritage buildings, including the Charlottetown legislature and @NewGlasgowNS Town Hall which was built 1884-1887…at a cost of $43,285.61!
#nspoli @TimHoustonNS @karla_macf_pc
McKeens stone was used in many heritage buildings, including the Charlottetown legislature and @NewGlasgowNS Town Hall which was built 1884-1887…at a cost of $43,285.61!
#nspoli @TimHoustonNS @karla_macf_pc
It was commissioned by Prime Minister Sir John A. MacDonald, one of 78 Post Offices/Custom Houses he built across Canada. It was also briefly the town's courthouse. The Town of #NewGlasgow bought the building after the old Town Hall was severely damaged by fire in 1957.
#nspoli
#nspoli
We love getting questions about mining, minerals and geology!
We were asked about these unusual-looking rocks at Roy Island, just west of #MelmerbyBeach in #Pictou County.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton
@TimHoustonNS @karla_macf_pc @SeanFraserMP
We were asked about these unusual-looking rocks at Roy Island, just west of #MelmerbyBeach in #Pictou County.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton
@TimHoustonNS @karla_macf_pc @SeanFraserMP
Coincidentally, Ron van Dommellen, who has a great web site about #NovaScotia minerals (nsminerals.atspace.com), visited the same site recently and reports that the rocks at Roy Island have many plant fossils in them, including sections of branches and trunks.
#nspoli #cbpoli
#nspoli #cbpoli
The darker rocks in the centre are a plant fossil that has become a mixture of stone and coal.
The Geological Survey of Canada suggests the yellow material in the picture is likely jarosite, a mineral that contains iron, sulfate and potassium.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia
The Geological Survey of Canada suggests the yellow material in the picture is likely jarosite, a mineral that contains iron, sulfate and potassium.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia
Mining built #NovaScotia!
Government House – the residence and workplace of Nova Scotia’s Lieutenant Governor – features stone quarried from across #NS.
Here's the story of that beautiful building!
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton #Halifax @LtGovNS
@CPMcCreery @HistoricNS @TourismNS
Government House – the residence and workplace of Nova Scotia’s Lieutenant Governor – features stone quarried from across #NS.
Here's the story of that beautiful building!
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton #Halifax @LtGovNS
@CPMcCreery @HistoricNS @TourismNS
When he arrived in #Halifax in 1792, Sir John Wentworth (1737-1820) objected to the dank, less-than-luxurious Governor’s residence. In letters he wrote back to England, he described it as being of “green wood and rotten timbers” and “in danger of falling into the cellar.”
#nspoli
#nspoli
So he set about arranging to build a proper country manor for the lieutenant governor’s residence. The site he chose, just off what is now the corner of Spring Garden Road and Barrington St. in #Halifax, had actually been purchased by the government to be...
#nspoli #novascotia
#nspoli #novascotia
One of the first roller coasters was built to haul #coal, not people!
The Mauch Chunk Switchback gravity #railway, built in 1827, hauled Pennsylvania coal in the am and customers paying 75¢ in the pm. It went as fast as 50 miles/hour. Mules pulled it back to the top.
#nspoli
The Mauch Chunk Switchback gravity #railway, built in 1827, hauled Pennsylvania coal in the am and customers paying 75¢ in the pm. It went as fast as 50 miles/hour. Mules pulled it back to the top.
#nspoli
The Mauch Chunk Switchback railway became a significant tourist attraction. At its peak in 1873 it carried over 30,000 passengers.
#nspoli #cbpoli
#nspoli #cbpoli
#NovaScotia's first railways were built to haul coal: the Albion Mines Railway was built in 1839 to haul coal from the #Stellarton mines to docks in #Pictou Harbour.
They weren't roller coasters but rails also carried many NS miners in and out of historical mines.
#nspoli #cbpoli
They weren't roller coasters but rails also carried many NS miners in and out of historical mines.
#nspoli #cbpoli
The #Pictou Coalfield played an important role in #NovaScotia’s industrial history.
Check out this history of #coal mining in Pictou!
#nspoli #cdnpoli #nshistory @ns_moi @NS_Museum
@karla_macf_pc @TimHoustonNS @SeanFraserMP
Check out this history of #coal mining in Pictou!
#nspoli #cdnpoli #nshistory @ns_moi @NS_Museum
@karla_macf_pc @TimHoustonNS @SeanFraserMP
The #Pictou Coalfield's 15 major coal seams in the #Westville, #Stellarton, and #Thorburn-Greenwood areas hosted many mines that created jobs and provided fuel for #NovaScotians.
#nspoli #cdnpoli #NovaScotia
#nspoli #cdnpoli #NovaScotia
Nova Scotia #salt saved lives this winter – all our road salt comes from the #Pugwash salt mine. With snowstorms now over (we hope!), here’s a history of salt mining in #NovaScotia!
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton
@MLAElizabethNS @ZannLenore
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton
@MLAElizabethNS @ZannLenore
327-342 million years ago, global sea levels rose and fell many times. This repeatedly flooded #NovaScotia with what we call the Windsor Sea. #NS was near the equator at the time so the sea also evaporated repeatedly in the heat.
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton
The evaporation of sea water left deposits of successive layers of salt. This process was repeated for millions of years until the original salt beds were far below earth’s surface. Subterranean pressures and heat compressed the salt into #NovaScotia’s huge rock #salt deposits.
It's not hard to guess how Quarry Island got its name!
It was one of a number of sites in #PictouCounty that were quarried for grindstones in the 1800s and 1900s.
Here's the history of quarrying on the island!
#nspoli #novascotia #cbpoli
@TimHoustonNS @karla_macf_pc @SeanFraserMP
It was one of a number of sites in #PictouCounty that were quarried for grindstones in the 1800s and 1900s.
Here's the history of quarrying on the island!
#nspoli #novascotia #cbpoli
@TimHoustonNS @karla_macf_pc @SeanFraserMP
Nova Scotia grindstones – round pieces of sandstone used for sharpening tools – were first extracted by Acadians starting around 1750 in #LowerCove and other sites on #ChignectoBay. They were the first grindstones extracted in #Canada.
#nspoli #novascotia #cbpoli #capebreton
#nspoli #novascotia #cbpoli #capebreton
Lower Cove became the province’s biggest exporter of grindstones in the 1800s but between 1840-1865 Read, Seaman and Company operated numerous sandstone quarries in the vicinity of Pictou and Merigomish harbours.
#nspoli #novascotia #cbpoli #capebreton
#nspoli #novascotia #cbpoli #capebreton
A #NovaScotian co-discovered the Klondike's #gold...but it wasn't the happy occasion you'd think!
Robert Henderson was born in #Pictou County in 1857. He became obsessed with finding gold after reading Alaskan histories as a child.
#nspoli #cbpoli
@TimHoustonNS @karla_macf_pc
Robert Henderson was born in #Pictou County in 1857. He became obsessed with finding gold after reading Alaskan histories as a child.
#nspoli #cbpoli
@TimHoustonNS @karla_macf_pc
He left home at the age of 14, prospecting for #gold in Australia, New Zealand, and Colorado, before heading to the Canadian north. He arrived in the Yukon in 1894 and prospected several areas before Joe Ladue convinced him to try Indian River.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia
Ladue, a miner and sawmill operator, believed the unexplored Indian River had great potential and he grubstaked Henderson to explore the area in exchange for a share of any profits.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia
Mining built #NovaScotia!
The term building stone refers, not surprisingly, to stone used in construction. It can be structural/load-bearing or for decorative purposes such as cladding, floor pavers and carvings.
Read this for the history of building stone in #NS!
#nspoli #cbpoli
The term building stone refers, not surprisingly, to stone used in construction. It can be structural/load-bearing or for decorative purposes such as cladding, floor pavers and carvings.
Read this for the history of building stone in #NS!
#nspoli #cbpoli
Virtually any type of stone can be building stone but in Nova Scotia, sandstone and granite have historically been most common.
Most building stone in the 1600s and 1700s was either:
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton
Most building stone in the 1600s and 1700s was either:
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton
Ship ballast - rock or other heavy material placed low in a ship to improve its stability. Ballast in the days of sailing ships gave easy access to building material.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton
Why was #Yukon Gold Rush town #DawsonCity named after a #NovaScotian? Read this thread to find out!
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia @karla_macf_pc @TimHoustonNS #nshistory @SeanFraserMP @PictouAdvocate @TOWNofPICTOU @GSC_CGC
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia @karla_macf_pc @TimHoustonNS #nshistory @SeanFraserMP @PictouAdvocate @TOWNofPICTOU @GSC_CGC
#Pictou’s George Mercer Dawson led the expedition that surveyed the intern'l boundary between Alaska and Yukon. The expedition left Ottawa on April 22, 1887 and traveled into the Yukon’s wild, remote country to record its geography, geology, botany, native languages and legends.
#NovaScotia has been mining coal commercially for 300 years, since the French established a mine at #PortMorien in 1720 to supply coal for #FortressLouisbourg. But how did our world-class coal deposits form?
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton
@GeoffMacLellan @TimHoustonNS @HomeMattersCB
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton
@GeoffMacLellan @TimHoustonNS @HomeMattersCB
#NovaScotia’s coal deposits starting forming 300 million years ago when #NS had a tropical climate – tectonic plate movement had us in the middle of supercontinent #Pangea, down around the equator.
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton
#nspoli #cbpoli #capebreton
Swamps contained dense vegetation that died, drifted to the bottom of the swamps and gradually formed peat—a soggy, sponge-like material. As the peat accumulated, the weight of the top layers compacted the lower layers by squeezing out water.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #coal
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #coal
We are proud of our heritage as an industry but we are also proud of how different #mining is today from the past. The Drummond #coal mine in #Westville, #Pictou County, is an example of how mining has changed over the years.
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton @TimHoustonNS
#nspoli #cbpoli #novascotia #capebreton @TimHoustonNS
Drummond was mined from 1868-1984 when underground mining ended. A surface mine operated in the 1980s and 1990s to complete extraction of the #coal and reclaim the site. It also recovered coal from the historical mine’s waste dumps as part of the environmental clean up.
#nspoli
#nspoli
Today the former mine is acres of greenspace and parkland which includes a playground, pond, gazebo, baseball field and heritage signage. The reclamation also fixed subsidence issues so land left unusable by historical mining could be developed.
#nspoli
#nspoli
We love getting questions about mining, minerals and geology! We were asked where the stone was quarried for the old #Bridgewater post office on King St. Here’s our answer:
#nspoli #cbpoli #NovaScotia #capebreton #NS #CB @BernJordanMP @MarkFurey1 @TownBridgewater @DesBrisayMuseum
#nspoli #cbpoli #NovaScotia #capebreton #NS #CB @BernJordanMP @MarkFurey1 @TownBridgewater @DesBrisayMuseum
The old #Bridgewater post office was designed by David Ewart and built in 1909 by builders Faulkner and MacDonald. It was built in the federal style, with the ground level windows featuring rounded tops and stone arches.
#nspoli #cbpoli #NovaScotia @BernJordanMP @MarkFurey1
#nspoli #cbpoli #NovaScotia @BernJordanMP @MarkFurey1
It also has a Dentilled Cornice, which is the small tooth like decorative block design that crowns the building. ("Dentil" comes from the Latin word for tooth.)
#nspoli #cbpoli #NovaScotia #capebreton #NS #CB @BernJordanMP @MarkFurey1 @TownBridgewater @DesBrisayMuseum
#nspoli #cbpoli #NovaScotia #capebreton #NS #CB @BernJordanMP @MarkFurey1 @TownBridgewater @DesBrisayMuseum
We love getting questions about #mining, #minerals and #geology!
We were recently asked about historical #coal mining in #Thorburn, #NovaScotia. Here’s our answer:
#nspoli #NS #Pictou #PictouCounty @ns_moi @NS_Museum
We were recently asked about historical #coal mining in #Thorburn, #NovaScotia. Here’s our answer:
#nspoli #NS #Pictou #PictouCounty @ns_moi @NS_Museum
@ns_moi @NS_Museum The #Pictou coalfield is roughly 18x6 km and comprises 15 major coal seams in the #Westville, #Stellarton, and #Thorburn-Greenwood areas. Although small, the coalfield has produced about 55 million tonnes in the last two centuries.
#nspoli #NovaScotia #NS
#nspoli #NovaScotia #NS
@ns_moi @NS_Museum #Coal was discovered in the #Pictou coalfield around 1790 by Scottish settlers. The first substantive #mining operation was Collier John MacKay’s mine, sunk in 1809 on the west side of #EastRiver.
#nspoli #NovaScotia #NS
#nspoli #NovaScotia #NS
We love getting questions about #mining, #minerals and #geology! We were recently asked about historical #copper mining in the #CaribouRiver area of #PictouCounty. Here’s our answer:
#nspoli #novascotia #ns #pictou @TimHoustonNS @karla_macf_pc
#nspoli #novascotia #ns #pictou @TimHoustonNS @karla_macf_pc
@TimHoustonNS @karla_macf_pc Several pits were dug at the #CaribouRiver #copper occurrence in 1828 by the General #Mining Association, an #English company that was granted a monopoly on #NovaScotian #coal reserves from 1827-1857.
#nspoli #novascotia #ns #mining #minerals #geology
#nspoli #novascotia #ns #mining #minerals #geology
@TimHoustonNS @karla_macf_pc GMA spent 271 pounds but did not find enough copper to justify continuing exploration.
In 1916 a few shallow shafts were sunk at the site. In 1977 the prospect was field checked by the Nova Scotia Department of Mines and Energy, but no mineralization was found in outcrop.
#nspoli
In 1916 a few shallow shafts were sunk at the site. In 1977 the prospect was field checked by the Nova Scotia Department of Mines and Energy, but no mineralization was found in outcrop.
#nspoli
Many #NovaScotia #mines/#quarries in the 1800s used tramways (horse-drawn wagons on rails) to transport rock. They were ancestors to our first railways because they showed the advantage of steel rails (instead of wood) and gave a platform for early locomotive experiments.
#nspoli
#nspoli
#NovaScotia's first railway (meaning it was powered by steam, not horses) was the Albion Mines Railway in Stellarton, built in 1839 to haul coal from the #Stellarton mines to docks in #Pictou Harbour. It was only the second steam railway in Canada. It operated until 1961.
#nspoli
#nspoli
Samson, the oldest locomotive in Canada, was 1 of the iron horses imported from England in 1839 to haul Albion Mines trains. Retired in 1883, it was displayed at Chicago's World Fair, in Baltimore, #Halifax and #NewGlasgow. Today it's at the Stellarton Museum of Industry.
#nspoli
#nspoli
