Pictou Harbour is a natural harbour in Nova Scotia on the Northumberland Strait. [1]
Pictou Harbour is a natural harbour in Nova Scotia on the Northumberland Strait. [1]
The distance between the town of Pictou on the north shore, and the community of Pictou Landing to the south is about 1 km (0.62 mi). The south side of the harbour opens into the broad mouth of the East River of Pictou which flows inland through the towns of Trenton and New Glasgow. The south-west end of the harbour is bisected by the Harvey Veniot causeway that carries Nova Scotia Highway 106. The causeway has limited the navigable portion of the harbour to approximately 5 km (3.1 mi) in length. Prior to the opening of the causeway in 1968, [2] the harbour continued into the confluence of the West River of Pictou and Middle River of Pictou, both of which were navigable.
The body of water immediately outside the harbour is known as the Pictou Road. [3] [4] The entrance to the harbour is protected by two sandbars and is about 400m wide. A lighthouse was installed on this bar in 1834 and lost to fire in 1903. Its replacement, a 55-foot octagonal tower was also destroyed by fire on July 5, 2004. [5]
The first settlers arrived in Pictou Harbour in 1767 on the Betsey from Philadelphia. The Hector arrived in 1773, bringing the first Scottish settlers to arrive in the province directly from Scotland. Timber was being exported to Britain from Pictou harbour as early as 1777 and the first ship was built there in 1788 by Thomas Copeland. By 1803, fifty vessels loaded squared timber for Britain. [6] The Harriet was launched in 1798 with a registered tonnage of 422 tons and is believed to be the largest built in Nova Scotia at the time. [7]
By 1830 coal was being brought from the inland towns by steamboat for transshipment and soon coal and iron were the chief exports through the harbour. [6] The Pictou coalfield may not have developed prior to the building of the mainline railways in the 1860s and 1870s if it weren't for its proximity to Pictou harbour, and coal shipments continued until shortly after World War II. [8] Pictou thrived as a port, and the United States government recognized its importance and operated a consulate from 1837 to 1897 to look after its interests in Pictou County coal and fish from the Gulf of St. Lawrence. [9] Pictou opened as a port of registry in 1840 and at that time was registering between 20 and 40 ships a year. [10] In 1874 the Customs House was built by the Dominion Government to collect tariffs and duties, and control goods and people flowing through the port, which was a significant port of entry at the time, and the main passenger connection with Upper Canada. [6]
The first railway to reach Pictou Harbour was in 1867 when the Pictou extension of the Nova Scotia Railway reached Pictou Landing on the south shore of the harbour. [11] From there the railway company operated a steam-powered ferry to take passengers across the harbour where they could connect with ships leaving for Prince Edward Island and Montreal. [6] There was also a coal pier there for loading ships. [12] The Intercolonial Railway opened a line into Pictou town in 1887, [13] crossing the harbour at the mouth of the West River. The bridge, known as Mile Bridge, was destroyed by fire in 1993. [14] Ferry service from the upriver towns declined with the introduction of rail service and ceased in the 1920s due to the increasing use of cars, but the ferry between Pictou, Pictou Landing and Abercrombie continued until after World War II. [15]
On August 24, 1873, a hurricane caused extensive damage throughout the harbour. The water rose above the wharves, causing goods and lumber to be washed away. Wharves and coal piers on both sides of the harbour were extensively damaged and ships at anchor were driven ashore. The brigantine Willow Brae was driven up the Middle River and 300 tons of coal had to be unloaded before she could be salvaged. The schooner Guiding Star carrying 140 tons of coal went so far up the Middle River that she had to be abandoned. [16]
In 1879 the chief imports were flour, meal, beef, pork, sugar, tea and general merchandise, while exports were coal and lumber. At that time the minimum depth of water over the bar was reported as 24 feet, in the harbour 5 to 6 fathoms, and 21 feet at the wharves. The harbour was ice free until mid-December. There were two marine railways, one being able to handle ships of 1000 tons. [17]
The Canadian Trade Review reported in 1900 that Pictou harbour was also handling produce and dairy products from Prince Edward Island, as well as most of the lobster from the eastern end of the Gulf. It was also importing iron ore from the mine at Belle Isle, Newfoundland, for the Nova Scotia Iron Company smelters at Ferrona, and copper ore for the Copper Crown Company in Pictou. [18] A pier at Granton on the Middle River, 3 miles upstream from the harbour, was loading steamships of 3,000 ton capacity with coal from the Drummond colliery in Westville. [19]
On September 25, 1925, the cargo steamer Dieuze caught fire and sank outside the shipping lane. The captain was the only person aboard at the time and he survived. The wreck was rediscovered in 2015 during surveying work by the Canadian Hydrographic Service sitting upright on the bottom in 13.5 metre deep water, but it wasn't until divers explored the wreck that it could be identified. [20] [21] [22]
Pictou Shipyard was established during World War II, causing the population of the town to triple, [23] and is notable for its construction of 24 Park ships over a two-year period during World War II, [24] and continues in business today.
The landscape of the harbour changed considerably in the late 1960s with the construction of a kraft pulp mill at Abercrombie Point, between the East and Middle rivers. At the same time the Middle river was dammed to supply fresh water to the mill, and a causeway was constructed to carry Highway 106 across the harbour from Abercrombie Point to Pictou. [25]
In Pictou town, the Pictou Marine Terminals offer three berths for ships up to 150m, [26] and a 17 berth marina for small pleasure craft and a Canadian Coast Guard Inshore Search and Rescue Service boat. [27] The Hector Heritage Quay Visitor's Marina has moorings for 40 pleasure craft. [28] On the outskirts of town is the private Pictou Marina, home of the Pictou Yacht Club. [28] Directly across the harbour from there is a fishing wharf at Pictou Landing. Cruise ships began visiting Pictou in 2014. [29]
Being an estuary, the water is considered brackish, with a density of about 1019 kg/m3 that varies seasonally. [26] The sand bar on the southside of the harbour entrance is an 8ha Provincial Nature Reserve, comprising beaches and dunes that provide habitat for the endangered piping plover. [30] Human settlement and industrial activity have impacted Pictou harbour since the 18th century through pollution, impacts on wilderness habitat and harvesting of renewable resources. [3] It is still a highly productive fish habitat which supports a variety of fish species, including oysters, clams, mackerel, herring, Atlantic salmon, striped bass, and brown trout. [31]
Pictou County is a county in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It was established in 1835, and was formerly a part of Halifax County from 1759 to 1835. It had a population of 43,657 people in 2021, a decline of 0.2 percent from 2016. Furthermore, its 2016 population is only 88.11% of the census population in 1991. It is the sixth most populous county in Nova Scotia.
New Glasgow is a town in Pictou County, in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated on the banks of the East River of Pictou, which flows into Pictou Harbour, a sub-basin of the Northumberland Strait.
West River may refer to:
Pictou is a town in Pictou County, in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Located on the north shore of Pictou Harbour, the town is approximately 10 km north of the larger town of New Glasgow.
Stellarton is a town located in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is adjacent and to the south of the larger town of New Glasgow. In pioneer times the area was called Coal Mines Station, and from 1833 until 1889, it was known as Albion Mines. The town was incorporated as Stellarton in 1889 and owes its name to a specific type of torbanite which came to be known as "stellarite" because of the "stars of fire" given off by its sparky flame.
The Intercolonial Railway of Canada, also referred to as the Intercolonial Railway (ICR), was a historic Canadian railway that operated from 1872 to 1918, when it became part of Canadian National Railways. As the railway was also completely owned and controlled by the Government of Canada, the Intercolonial was also one of Canada's first Crown corporations.
Central Nova is a federal electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1968 until 1996. In 1996, Antigonish County and part of Guysborough County were placed with Pictou County in a new electoral boundaries configuration to form the electoral district of Pictou-Antigonish-Guysborough. A new version of Central Nova was established in 2003 and — in conjunction with the Pictou-Antigonish-Guysborough iteration — represented a significant electoral boundaries change with specific reference to Antigonish County. Between 1867 and 1997, Antigonish County was not in a riding that included Pictou County; rather, it comprised either its own electoral district (Antigonish), or part of other districts shared with Eastern Nova Scotia (Antigonish-Guysborough) and Cape Breton Island communities. In 2013, part of Antigonish County was "placed back" with communities in the electoral district of Cape Breton Canso, a riding which had emerged in part from the former Cape Breton Highlands Canso riding in 1996. The current version of Central Nova includes Pictou County, parts of Antigonish and Guysborough Counties and extends into Halifax Regional Municipality.
The Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway is a short line railway that operates in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. CBNS operates of main line and associated spurs between Truro in the central part of the province to Point Tupper on Cape Breton Island.
Highway 106 is a 19 km (12 mi) 2-lane limited-access highway located within Pictou County, in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. The provincial government named the highway the Jubilee Highway on December 21, 2012 in honour of Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee.
Inverness is a Canadian rural community in Inverness County, Nova Scotia. It is about an hour's drive north from the Canso Causeway and about an hour south from Cape Breton Highlands National Park. In 2021, its population was 1,228, down 1.6% from 2016.
The Sunrise Trail is a scenic roadway in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It is located along the province's North Shore on the Northumberland Strait for 333 km (207 mi) from Amherst to the Canso Causeway.
The CSS Tallahassee was a twin-screw steamer and cruiser in the Confederate States Navy, purchased in 1864, and used for commerce raiding off the Atlantic coast. She later operated under the names CSS Olustee and CSS Chameleon.
Pictou Landing First Nations is a Mi'kmaq First Nation band government in Nova Scotia, Canada. Their territory spans five reserves that have a combined area of 527.6 hectares. As of September 2017, the Mi'kmaq population is 485 on their own reserve, 23 on other reserves and 157 living off-reserve.
Harvey Alfred Veniot, was a lawyer, judge and political figure in Nova Scotia, Canada. He represented Pictou West in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1956 to 1974 as a Progressive Conservative member.
Pictou Landing is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Pictou County.
Boat Harbour is a body of water on the Northumberland Strait in Pictou County, Nova Scotia. Originally a tidal estuary, construction of a pulp and paper waste effluent treatment facility in the 1960s led to the pollution of the harbour and the source of ongoing environmental concern. Treated water takes about 30 days to reach the Northumberland Strait. Since the treatment system began operation in 1967, Boat Harbour has become polluted with dioxins, furans, chloride, mercury and other toxic heavy metals. It is considered to be one of Nova Scotia's worst cases of environmental racism. In 2015, the Boat Harbour Act wrote into law that the pulp and paper mill cease effluent treatment no later than January 31, 2020; soon after this took effect, the mill closed indefinitely. The Boat Harbour Remediation Project aims to return Boat Harbour to its original state as a tidal estuary. Pilot scale testing has been completed and the project is undergoing a federal environmental assessment and cleanup is expected to begin in 2021.
The Pictou Shipyard is a Canadian shipbuilding site located in Pictou County, Nova Scotia, and made famous by its use as an emergency shipbuilding facility in World War II, during which it constructed twenty-four 4,700-ton Scandinavian class freighters.
The East River of Pictou is a Canadian river located in Pictou County, Nova Scotia.
The Middle River of Pictou is a Canadian river located in Pictou County, Nova Scotia.
The Canadian province of Nova Scotia is divided into 49 municipalities, of which there are three types: regional (4), town (25), and county or district municipality (20).