Gowrie and North Atlantic Collieries

Gowrie and North Atlantic Collieries. . In 1861, Archibald and Company, a family-run business from North Sydney, opened the Gowrie Mine in Cow Bay. It was the most successful mining operation in Cape Breton in the 19th Century. Preliminary mining commenced at an old pit near the shore. Soon after, an eighty foot pit was sunk as a continuation of the earlier level. Later, shafts were sunk at locations towards Back Pit Road. , Because of the Reciprocity Treaty, the company enjoyed a great deal of financial success, unlike the financial distress endured by the Blockhouse Colliery. By 1891, the mine employed 342 men and boys and sustained production of 100,000 tons over a number of years. , As in many mining ventures, disaster was always close at hand. There were a number of deaths and injuries among Gowrie miners. , Charles Archibald, the mine manager at the time was the son of Senator T.D. Archibald. His wife, Edith, was a local writer and heavily involved in the Temperance Movement. , In 1894, the Gowrie mine was sold to the Dominion Coal Company. While being part of a large corporation may have inspired confidence and prosperity, it did little else but create three years of uncertainty. The Gowrie Mine closed in 1897. Charles and Edith Archibald and their Family moved to Halifax where Charles became president of the Bank of Nova Scotia. , Another mine was opened on the old Gowrie site overlooking Morien Bay in 1899 and it was named the Gowrie Blockhouse Mining Company in 1901. This venture was spearheaded by Colin Ochiltree MacDonald, who arrived in Cape Breton in the early 1890s. In 1903, a new company was formed to operate the mine called North Atlantic Colliery Ltd. Unlike Gowrie and Blockhouse, the mining took place under the ocean. The optimism was such that the possibility of a steel plant being constructed in the area was discussed. By 1912, water problems and the difficulty in shipping lead to the closure of the mine., (photo captions) , 1. A picture of the north Atlantic coal buildings. , 2. North Atlantic Colliery loading terminal. , 3. Surface Buildings of the North Atlantic Colliery. , 4. Miners at Pit Head. , 5. The Archibald estate. , 6. Coal would be carried out in large buckets and dumped into the holds of waiting ships. , 7. Archibald’s Wharf , Coal was shunted down to the wharf on rails and dumped onto coal scows.