Strait of Canso

Last updated May 02, 2024

Strait of Canso in Nova Scotia

The Strait of Canso^[1] (also Gut of Canso or Canso Strait, also called Straits of Canceau or Canseaux until the early 20th century) is a strait located in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It divides the Nova Scotia peninsula from Cape Breton Island.

It is a long thin channel approximately 27 kilometres long and averaging 3 kilometres wide (1 km at its narrowest). The strait connects Chedabucto Bay on the Atlantic Ocean to St. George's Bay on the Northumberland Strait, a sub basin of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

The strait is extremely deep (200+ feet) with two major communities at Port Hawkesbury on the eastern side facing Mulgrave on the western side, both ports. The strait is crossed by the Canso Causeway for vehicular and rail traffic, opened in 1955. The Canso Canal allows ships to pass through the causeway, and this can accommodate any vessel capable of transiting the St. Lawrence Seaway.

An account of early settlement in the area is given in the letters of local resident Henry Nicholas Paint (1830–1921), Member of Parliament for Richmond county and merchant, whose father Nicholas secured valuable land grants and settled in a stone-built house at Belle Vue in 1817.^[2] Port Hawkesbury, at first known as Ship Harbour, emerged as a shipbuilding and boatbuilding port on the Strait in the 19th century with firms such as H.W. Embree and Sons producing distinctive fishing boats that came to be known as "Canso Boats" after the Strait.

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Cape Breton Island is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada.

The Gulf of St. Lawrence fringes the shores of the provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, in Canada, plus the islands Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, possessions of France, in North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canso Causeway</span> Causeway connecting Cape Breton Island with mainland Nova Scotia

The Canso Causeway is a 1,385 m (4,544 ft) rock-fill causeway crossing the Strait of Canso, connecting Cape Breton Island by road to the Nova Scotia peninsula. Its crest thickness is 40 m (130 ft), carrying the two vehicle traffic lanes of the Trans-Canada Highway, Nova Scotia Highway 104 on the mainland side, and Nova Scotia Highway 105 on the Cape Breton side, as well as the single track mainline of the Cape Breton and Central Nova Scotia Railway.

Port Hawkesbury is a municipality in southern Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. While within the historical county of Inverness, it is not part of the Municipality of Inverness County.

Havre Boucher is a community in Antigonish County, Nova Scotia, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canso, Nova Scotia</span> Community in Nova Scotia, Canada

Canso is a community in Guysborough County, on the north-eastern tip of mainland Nova Scotia, Canada, next to Chedabucto Bay. In January 2012, it ceased to be a separate town and as of July 2012 was amalgamated into the Municipality of the District of Guysborough.

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.

The Canso Canal is a short canal located in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Highway 104 in Nova Scotia, Canada, runs from Fort Lawrence at the New Brunswick border near Amherst to River Tillard near St. Peter's. Except for the portion on Cape Breton Island between Port Hawkesbury and St. Peter's, it forms the main route of the Trans-Canada Highway across the province.

Mulgrave is a town on the Strait of Canso in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Located along the Marine Drive, Route 344 traverses the community. The town's current name was adopted in 1859 to honour the colonial Lieutenant Governor, the Earl of Mulgrave. Lying opposite to the town of Port Hawkesbury, the community is located along the western shore of the Canso Strait. It was established as McNair's Cove in the early 19th century, and the name Port Mulgrave was adopted in 1859, later shortening to its current form. The early industry of the community relied on ferry service between the Nova Scotia mainland and Cape Breton Island. Ferry service began in the 1810s and rail service reached the area in the 1880s. The ferry services lasted until the opening of the Canso Causeway in 1955, dealing a major blow to the local economy. As of 2016, Mulgrave has a population of 722 and a population density of 40.5/km² (104.9/sq mi), within an area of 17.83 km² (6.88 sq mi).

Trunk 4 is part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia's system of Trunk Highways. The route runs from Highway 104 exit 7 near Thomson Station to Glace Bay. Until the construction of the Trans-Canada Highway, Trunk 4 was a major traffic link in northern Nova Scotia and Cape Breton, and is still used on Cape Breton as an alternative to Highway 105. The highway was originally called the King's Highway, however, this name is no longer applied to the entire road. The only remaining historic section of the highway that maintains the name "King" is King's Road in Sydney.

Point Tupper is a rural community in Richmond County, Nova Scotia, on the Strait of Canso, in western Cape Breton Island.

The Nova Scotia peninsula is a peninsula on the Atlantic coast of North America. It is called Enmigtaqamu'g in the Mi'kmaw language.

Port Hastings is an unincorporated settlement on Cape Breton Island, within the Municipality of the County of Inverness, Canada. The population in 2021 was 90.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Nicholas Paint</span> Canadian politician

Henry Nicholas Paint was a Canadian politician, shipowner and merchant.

Aulds Cove is a community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in both Antigonish County and Guysborough County.

Steep Creek is a small community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in the Municipality of the District of Guysborough in Guysborough County. Located along the Strait of Canso which is the body of water separating mainland Nova Scotia from Cape Breton Island. The Canso Strait is the deepest ice free port in North America. Steep Creek borders on the communities of Pitate Harbour on one side and Melford on the other.

St. Georges Bay is a bay with shore on the Nova Scotia peninsula and Cape Breton Island, Canada, thus comprising a sub-basin of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Lennox Passage is a navigable waterway between Cape Breton Island and Isle Madame in Nova Scotia, Canada. Small craft use the relatively protected Passage traveling to and from St. Peters Canal at the village of St. Peter's and the Strait of Canso to avoid sailing around the east coast of Cape Breton in the open Atlantic Ocean.

References

↑ "Strait of Canso". Geographical Names Board of Canada. Archived from the original on August 17, 2011.
↑ Mander, Nicholas (2005). Varnished Leaves: a biography of the Mander family of Wolverhampton. Owlpen: Owlpen Press. ISBN 0-9546056-0-8.

External links

Media related to Strait of Canso at Wikimedia Commons
Strait of Canso - Economic Development Studies (online collection of studies of the Strait of Canso area)

45°35′50″N61°22′38″W / 45.59722°N 61.37722°W / 45.59722; -61.37722

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[1] "Strait of Canso". Geographical Names Board of Canada. Archived from the original on August 17, 2011.

[Mander-2] Mander, Nicholas (2005). Varnished Leaves: a biography of the Mander family of Wolverhampton. Owlpen: Owlpen Press. ISBN 0-9546056-0-8.

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