Weather Report

1871

by

From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

On January 29th, the fifth Sunday of the month in 1871, St. James’ Presbyterian Church was opened for the first services, and the new edifice was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. On the next evening, the ladies of the congregation held their annual tea-meeting and salon in the basement hall where a large number of members and guests met in a “most successful housewarming,” according to the Presbyterian Witness.

At the capitulation of Paris towards the close of the Franco-Prussian War in February, William Garvie lectured on the beauties of that City to a crowded audience at the Mechanics’ Institute. George Webber 36, an oiler on the Steam Boat, was fatally injured when the Captain started the engine, unaware that Webber was inside the paddle-box chopping out the clogging chunks of ice. A large flag used to be hoisted at the end of the ferry wharf in Dartmouth to notify Haligonians there was good skating at the lakes.

That spring William Heffler commenced a north-end ferry service with row-boats running from Stairs’ wharf near the Brewery across the Narrows to Richmond. Fare five cents. Ebenezer Moseley completed a small steam-ferry for Cape Breton parties. Colonel George Dawson, now back in England, sold to John F. Stairs a large part of “Fairfield” property on the southern side of Dawson Street, where houses were to be erected for employees through a financial arrangement with the new Ropeworks. The remainder of Fairfield” estate which took in Pelzant Street and extended easterly towards Wyse Road was sold off in building lots from time to time. Gatherings at rural auction sales usually came a long distance; consequently it was the practice for the auctioneer to serve lunches on such occasions.

In the Provincial elections of 1871 the secret ballot was used for the first time. Instead of announcing candidates of his choice, the voter wrote the names on a paper, and deposited a sealed envelope into the ballot box. Again Dartmouth went Liberal. So did Preston.

The decennial census of 1871 gave the population of Dartmouth as 2,191. Weather records show we had 42 successive rainless days.

That summer there died Colonel William Chearnley (Charnley) retired military officer of Halifax, and native of Ireland, whose enthusiasm for fishing and hunting greatly popularized the countryside to the eastward of Dartmouth. He knew thoroughly the woods, streams and lakes of that district, and for years practised and promoted the protection of salmon streams and of wild life in general. It was Colonel Chearnley who once composed the lines on the large swinging signboard of the “Stag Hotel”, favorite hostel for sportsmen of last century, the ruins of which may still be seen at the northeast corner of No. 7 Highway and Frog Lake Road (now BRIAN STREET) in Preston, and locally known as Brooks’ Corner.

At the Aquatic Carnival, all the events including the four-oared scull race for the championship of the world, were rowed in August over a six-mile course from the Yacht Club at Richmond to stake boats moored off Fort Clarence. Sadler of England also won the world’s single scull championship over a straightaway course from Fort Clarence. The oarsmen must have passed quite close to Dartmouth shore, because the referee tugboat “Henry Hoover” fouled her propeller in a hawser off the Marine Slip. Hundreds of spectators crowded our wharves.

About this time the Octagon House or “Ink Bottle House” was completed for Gavin Holliday, Production Manager at The Starr Company. John Keating (father of Mrs. J. Howe Austen) was the Contractor, and Henry Elliot the Architect. There is a tradition that Mr. Holliday vied with his business associate John Forbes at “Lakeside”, in the erection of this modern mansion. The place contains 14 large rooms adjoining which are anterooms. Fixed washbasins were installed in the bedrooms, and stoves set up for heating. The walls of the house were double-plastered, and the whole building was surrounded with a two-tiered verandah. Earth from the rear of the property was hauled to the front to lay out the beautiful octagon-shaped terraces. According to G. C. Holliday, a son now living in Florida, the Octagon House cost over $25,000.

What has often been erroneously referred to as the “Saxby gale” occurred on the evening of October 12th when one of the worst hurricanes in history lashed the harbor into a foam, buffeted shipping against inundated wharves and strewed the shore with wrecks from Eastern Passage to Tufts’ Cove. The rain was torrential. Nearly every wharf and private boathouse suffered, but the greatest damage was at Symonds’ Foundry where the undermining of the stone wharf toppled the pattern shop with its contents, and most of the moulding shop into the harbor. The loss was $10,000.

1870

by

From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

The decade of the 1870s commenced with a boom in real estate which petered out after a few years of prosperity. One project attempted was the subdividing of about 100 acres of the virgin land of Mount Amelia where streets were laid out, and building lots surveyed. The promoters were Hon. James W. Johnston, Dr. Parker, John Esdaile, B. H. Hornsby, and others who became a corporate body in 1870 known as the proprietors of Prince Arthur Park. In that year, Mr. Esdaile built the first house. Except for the Harvey house at “Locust Knoll” and the France house at “Mapledene” (“Fairmont”), there was little or no development there for the next thirty years.

As the 50-year charter of the Steam Boat Company had expired in 1867, there was no longer any legal obstacle in the way of a competitive ferry. A new Company with a capital of $200,000 was incorporated in 1870 by George W. Corbett, a Dartmouth druggist, and others. Nothing seems to have come out of this project.

One gathers from fragmentary sources that there were the usual outdoor activities that winter. A Halifax newspaper of January 22nd reported 12 inches of ice in Maynard’s Lake at Dartmouth, and “hundreds went over from Halifax on Saturday afternoon to enjoy the skating. The splendid band of the 78th Regiment went over also and discoursed sweet music at the lake. The wealth and beauty of Halifax were fully represented, and the scene was one of the rarest and most exhilarating description”.

The only known duel in the annals of Dartmouth took place that winter when two jealous suitors quarrelled on the ice over a young lady. These flaming youths determined to settle the affair on the morrow morning with pistols. Accordingly they met at the appointed place. Both fired. Both missed. Then they shook hands.

The steamer “City of Boston” lost on a voyage to England in 1870, had among its passengers Mr. Edward Billing prominent drygoods merchant of Halifax, who lived in the stone house at the corner of North and Edward Streets. The Starr Manufacturing Company’s report for the year ending April 30th, showed a profit of nearly $9,000. John Greene, who had learned his trade with McCullouch at Halifax, set up a jewelry store in the shop next south from Skerry’s old corner which was now occupied by the Greene family. About that time Robert Moyes, well-known foundryman, committed suicide in a mood of despondency.

In the spring of 1870 work was commenced on the building of St. James’ Church situated on a commanding knoll at the junction of the Eastern Passage and the Preston Roads, where there was once an old graveyard. Earth from this excavation was at first hauled to the foot of Portland Street and used as fill in the hollow near the present railway tracks. This procedure was halted when it was noticed that the debris contained numerous pieces of human bones. Some specimens of these bones, one of which was an adult skull, were presented to the Provincial Museum. They are now in the Museum at Halifax Citadel.

A branch of the YMCA was formed in Dartmouth at least by 1870, because during that summer the organization held a picnic on the grounds of Judge James at “Evergreen”, the proceeds were in aid of funds for their Reading Room. They held meetings at “Lawlor’s new Hall”. (This was over the present Harbor Cafe.) At First Lake, John Forbes built “Lakeside” now ‘‘Beechmount Apartments.”

At his Dartmouth shipyard Ebenezer Moseley built the 10-ton steamer “Whisper” for Robert Chetwynd of Halifax; the 22-foot sailing yacht “Marie” for George J. Troop, and another yacht for S. A. White of Halifax. The Steam Boat Co. donated the services of the “MicMac” to take Mount Hope patients on an afternoon excursion. The Italian Harpers furnished string music. (This practice kept up every summer and was discontinued about 20 years later when a patient took a notion to swim ashore from mid-harbour.)

At Halifax a new waiting-room was built for ferry patrons. This was an oblong-shaped one-storey structure on the south side of the gates, and contained a separate compartment for women. (The building remained in use until 1913.) At the Town offices in Dartmouth, the Clerk was relieved of his duties after auditors had discovered certain irregularities in the finances. At Coleman’s Cove in August (north of the foot of Ochterloney Street) the Plymouth Brethren held a baptizing ceremony when two males and four females were immersed before a large crowd.

Besides having a member in the first House of Commons, Dartmouth also had one of her residents in the first Canadian Senate. He was Jeremiah Northup, prominent Halifax merchant, who lived at “Fairfield” for a time after Howe’s departure. Senator Northup had been a member of the Liberal House of Assembly, but received an appointment to the Senate when he became a Conservative.

The Shubenacadie Canal, now owned by Lewis Fairbanks, ceased operations that summer. The last book entry, dated June 30th, debits Dennis Ring with $2.50 being tolls on 13 tons of timber. The books show that the Inclined-Plane was used to haul up yachts for painting. Fees were also received from vessels docking at Mill Cove wharf, and from icemen for ice-cutting privileges in the lakes.

The Way Office at Dartmouth was advanced to the status of a Post Office that autumn. Among the prized possessions of Mrs. Marion Moore is the following letter of notification written in the hand of Joseph Howe to her grandfather, and dated at Ottawa, September 13th, 1870:

Dartmouth is to be made a regular Post Office, and you are to have 40% commission on the business of the Office, with $52 per annum for taking the mails across. I will try to get some allowance for a delivery of letters in the town. Write me what this would cost. Yours truly, Joseph Howe, Mr. Luther Sterns, Dartmouth, N. S.

1866

by

From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

The year 1866 opened with a sharp spell of weather. On January 8th the thermometer at Citadel Hill registered 20 below zero. On February 2nd, Henry Y. Mott, former political partner of Joseph Howe, died in his 69th year at his residence near the brickyard. William Condran, born in 1859, well remembered the funeral procession passing his home, and often told me that it was the longest ever seen in Dartmouth up to that time.

The Starr Manufacturing Co. were now exporting their newly invented Acme spring skates and outselling American and European competitors in this field. This information was gathered from a report in the Halifax Morning Chronicle of 1866, which stated:

A few days since Messrs. Starr shipped 40 packages of skates to Montreal, which were manufactured at Dartmouth. They have upwards of 20 men employed and turn out weekly large numbers of skates and hundreds of kegs of nails. The firm can manufacture skates cheaper than the article can be imported from England. Much of the apparatus used in the manufacture of the skates was invented by Mr. Forbes who is foreman of the works.

The simplicity of the spring skates must have made it possible for local ladies to take up the pastime of skating which they evidently had not practised very extensively up to that time.

The Condran house was built about 1859 by John Condran, and was the first dwelling erected in North Woodside. It stood on the spot of the now Marvin house opposite North Woodside School. For some years it was the only human habitation between “Sunnyside” and McMinn’s. Both sides of what is now the busy thoroughfare of Pleasant Street were then bordered by thick forests teeming with rabbits, partridge and other wild life. Soldiers regularly travelled the lonely road back and forth to Fort Clarence, but traffic to the Passage was mostly by water except for an occasional ox cart load of hay, bound for Halifax market. The old Condran house was burned down in 1940. William Condran died In 1947, having lived In the neighborhood for 88 years. James Condran, another son of John, lived there over 92 years. He died In 1954.

Severe weather came early in February to freeze the harbor for five days, and thus tie up the ferries. The story continued:

Yesterday the tug “Neptune” cut a channel and ferried people over at 3 cents a head. The enterprise was well rewarded. The last time the harbor was frozen over, was some six years ago. Then there was not a young lady to be seen skating on the surface, as this amusement had not yet become fashionable among the fair sex. Yesterday afternoon, however, there were perhaps as many as a hundred lady skaters on the harbor, and the gay dresses rendered the scene quite a colorful one.

From Halifax on Friday night, parties could be seen walking across the ice to Dartmouth holding torchlights which reflected the light a great distance. Landing on the Dartmouth side, they appeared as if coming up out of the sea.

The first public school building in Dartmouth, for which money had been voted in 1864, was ready for occupancy in the early part of 1866. This was Central School, on the site of the Quaker Meeting House at the northeast corner of King and Quarrell Streets. At the time it was considered one of the finest of its kind in the Province. John Hollies was Principal and he had three female assistants. Four large well-lighted rooms provided accommodation for about 270 pupils, but these classes soon became so overcrowded that in November the Town trustees were obliged to apply for a lease of the room in the Mechanics’ Institute which had been used in the past for school purposes. The November minutes of the Institute noted that the trustees were already paying rent for three rooms in other buildings. This information enables us to form an estimate of the total Dartmouth school attendance in 1866. Allowing 60 pupils to a teacher, the figures would be approximately 450.

In 1866, there came to live at “The Grove” in Dartmouth, Commodore Josiah Tattnall who had been head of the Confederate Navy in the American Civil War. This is the man who originated the saying, “Blood is thicker than water”, uttered in 1859 when he sent American sailors to aid the British then being slaughtered in Chinese waters.

Feeling throughout Nova Scotia was so strong against Confederation of Canada in 1866 that an anti-Confederate League was formed. Dartmouth had many members. In order to protest the passing of the B.N.A. Act, this group sent a strong delegation to London that autumn. Among the number was Hon. Joseph Howe of “Fairfield”.

1849

by

From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

The year 1849 was long remembered by residents hereabouts. For one thing, the winter was very severe, and the summer unusually dry. Halifax celebrated its 100th anniversary in June, and by the end of the year was enjoying its first street lighting and water system, and also the first telegraph connection with the United States, via Amherst and Saint John, N.B.

Cold weather seems to have prevailed through most of January and February, without any sign of a thaw. Sub-zero temperatures gradually froze the harbor until the ice extended to Mauger’s Beach on McNab’s Island. Only by keeping a channel open at night, was the ferry able to maintain communication.

The ill-wind of that winter blew somebody good in Dartmouth, because pedestrians and market people no doubt took advantage of the ice-bridge to make uninterrupted journeys to the City. Usually the upper part of the harbor-ice was safer, and according to old residents, the popular landing place at Halifax was on the soft beach near the foot of Cornwallis Street.

On February 11th, the heaviest snowfall in 51 years so completely buried houses in hollow places that inmates had to shovel themselves out through tunnels. All street traffic was at a complete standstill for a full day afterward. Old residents recalled that there was a similar fall of snow and drifts in 1798, and that no mild spell came until April of that year.

Animals inhabiting Dartmouth forests must have been starved out by the storm, for in the deep snow one morning were seen tracks of a large wildcat that had evidently crossed the harbor. A day or two afterward, the ferocious feline was discovered and killed in the cellar of William Grant, Water Street, Halifax.

James Wilson, the Dartmouth distiller, petitioned the Assembly asking that the excise tax on home manufactured spirits be either abolished or collected more systematically. The petition stated, that the heavy tax levied by Nova Scotia was oppressive and caused a great deal of illicit traffic in liquor, much of which was .smuggled here from the United States, He pointed out that the Provinces of Canada, New Brunswick and Newfoundland did not impose an excise tax on such articles.

Here in Dartmouth, the enterprising townspeople were taking advantage of every opportunity to obtain the proposed railway terminus for our side of the harbor. A public meeting, with Andrew Shiels as Chairman and Dr. DesBrisay as Secretary, was held at the Mechanics’ Institute early in February when resolutions were passed pledging the breadth of way required for a railroad to extend through the township of Dartmouth, and making provision for compensating the several landowners.

The Halifax Sun reported that the meeting was “very spirited and numerously attended. Those present pledged themselves as being ready to raise by voluntary tax, their proportion of the amount the Province is required to guarantee”.

The weather that season was the hottest and most oppressive within the memory of the oldest inhabitant. For nearly four months there was scarcely any rain, so that grain and hay scorched on the stalk. On September 2nd, the thermometer rose to 96 at noon, and according to the Nova Scotian, “a dense smoky haze produced by the surrounding fires filled the atmosphere and seemed to belt the horizon. The sun peered with a bloodshot eye through the misty stifling vapor, and beneath its scorching beams everything drooped and withered”.

1847

by

From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

The year 1847 opened with a severe spell of weather. Newspaper items early in January inform us that “there was superior skating on the Dartmouth Lakes”. The thermometer at Citadel Hill registered 15 below on the 20th. The Axe Firemen of Halifax made merry on an exhilarating sleigh drive to Schultz’s Inn at Grand Lake, and returned through Dartmouth in Hiram Hyde’s Mammoth Tea Party Sleigh with six-in-hand and colors flying”. Another newspaper report that month mentions a misfortune of the Mailboat brig Margaret, which had been driven up on shore at Black Rock on the Dartmouth side of the harbor.

Distress and disease prevailed among the Mi’kmaq tribes at Shubenacadie and Dartmouth where several deaths had resulted from an outbreak of fever that winter. Forthwith the Provincial Government directed that an [indigenous] Hospital be prepared in the vicinity of the encampment, with Dr. Jennings as the Superintendent.

As the latter was a Conservative, and a comparative stranger on our side of the harbor, the Liberal newspaper Nova Scotian indignantly asked why he received the appointment over the head of Dr. DesBrisay, a Dartmouth physician, who had long ministered to the [Mi’kmaq] gratuitously.

A few weeks later when Dr. Jennings’ accounts for attending these [Mi’kmaq] were up for discussion in the Assembly, a Committee of the House recommended that a sum of money be also set apart for the remuneration of Dr. DesBrisay “whose humane disposition has urged him to supply the numerous [Mi’kmaq], who annually resort to the neighborhood of Dartmouth, with advice and medicine during a period of 14 years”.

Another Legislative Committee headed by Hon. Hugh Bell reported on possible sites for a Provincial Insane Asylum. One property owned jointly by G. A. S. Crichton and the heirs of Michael Wallace, comprising about 100 acres on the western side of First Lake, was available for £500. Another at Birch Cove in Bedford Basin, had 900 acres and would cost £1200. A third was at Prince’s Lodge, and contained 470 acres with a price of £1500.

The Birch Cove land was recommended because it was conveniently situated for a supply of fresh water from a higher elevation. The Dartmouth site was strongly urged by Hon. J. E. Fairbanks on account of its commanding situation and beautiful view; but the objection was that the water supply would have to be forced up the slope from the lake by artificial means.

The Simultaneous Polling Act, by which elections were to be held on a single day, became law in that session of 1847. This important Bill was introduced by Attorney General Johnston, a summer resident of our town. Provision was made for polling places at numerous centres, one of which was to be in the township of Dartmouth. No longer would freeholders hereabouts be obliged to travel to the Halifax polling booth where disorder and heckling generally prevailed during the long-drawn-out elections under the old arrangement. (In the enactment of this piece of legislation, Nova Scotia led all other British colonies.)

Dartmouthians evidently were continuing in their efforts that winter to obtain a water supply from neighboring lakes. In February, a meeting was announced to be held in the Mechanics’ Institute on a Monday afternoon, when a report from a Committee on that subject would be submitted.

Mrs. Gould’s account of early Dartmouth mentions an entertainment held in the old schoolhouse by General Tom Thumb and his manager P. T. Barnum. This may have been in February of 1847, because the famous midget spent a few days in this port while waiting for the steamer to proceed to Boston. Tom and Mr. Barnum were returning from a four-year tour of Europe.

On this occasion, the Halifax Morning Post published a lengthy account of Tom’s talents and his enormous earnings while abroad, noting that “he speaks French fluently, plays the piano and has taken part in French plays in the principal French cities. He has received valuable presents from the principal sovereigns of Europe, and has kissed more than a million and a half of ladies”. (Mrs. Gould does not mention any such osculations in Dartmouth.)

About this time, there was much misery and privation being suffered in Scotland and in Ireland where hundreds were actually dying from starvation. On this Continent, campaigns for famine funds were carried out in almost every large centre.

At Halifax, the Secretary of the Relief Committee was the well-known Alexander James. By March, they had collected £1,317. The contribution from Dartmouth amounted to £325, and the number of persons subscribing in this town was 86. Their names are preserved in the columns of the Halifax Sun, and constitute a valuable record of prominent citizens resident in Dartmouth at that period of our history.

Many on the Halifax and Dartmouth lists gave only a few shillings, indicating that our people were also feeling the pinch of poverty, for at that time the whole Province was in the doldrums of another depression. One newspaper reported that the price of flour and bread was the highest in 30 years.

This was partly caused by a sudden depletion of provisions, particularly meat and vegetables, resulting from an influx of over 1,000 immigrants suffering from typhus fever. Local bakers took advantage of the panic to double the price of bread.

Governor Harvey issued a proclamation that Friday, May 14th, be observed as a day of fasting and humiliation “that people may unite in supplication to Almighty God for pardon for their sins and for the removal of those heavy judgments under which we are suffering”. On that day, church services were held, and the closed shops along silent streets cast an appearance of solemnity over downtown Halifax and, we trust, over industrial Dartmouth.

If our industries in those days were down, they were not completely out, for there was at least one ship constructed at Lyle’s that year. She was the 270-ton “Mercy”, launched at flood-tide on the last Saturday morning of April.

At a foundry in Dartmouth, a set of cast-iron steps was moulded, and placed in front of the store of J. Wallace & Co., at Halifax, during the summer of 1847. These steps, novel in design, were highly praised for their utility, being tastefully perforated so as to admit light into the cellar. From the favorable comment in newspapers, one gathers that such a type of steps had hitherto been unknown. Thus is scored another mark in the record of Dartmouth’s “first things”.

A transatlantic “first” was made by the Dartmouth-built “Barbara” which arrived in this port after a record run from Ireland. The Halifax Morning Post of May 20th noted this remarkable achievement:

The barque Barbara with 296 passengers on board, arrived yesterday in 12 days from Galway—the shortest passage yet ever made by a Nova Scotia built vessel. The Barbara was built at the Ship Yard of our well-known builder, Mr. Lyle at Dartmouth.

1837

by

From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

In March of 1837 the harbor was encumbered with ice, and the rural roads were completely blocked with snow. For a time this cut off Halifax and Dartmouth from their source of provisions. The dwindling supplies in the shops were sold at excessively high prices.

Allan McDonald was manufacturing flour at Russell’s Lake, and some of it had been sold in New York. Reports from that city stated that the flour had passed inspection and had been graded as “superfine”.

1831

by

From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

Regattas on the harbor were resumed the summer of 1831. In June, the four-mile whaler race was won by four Dartmouth men rowing the “Edward Cunard”. The second boat was the “Pucelle”. Both had been built by Mr. Coleman at Dartmouth. At a second regatta in August, the “Edward Cunard” was defeated by the “Riflemen” rowed by four fishermen from the eastern side of the harbor with Philip Brown, steersman. This whaler was owned by the Volunteer Rifles Dartmouth militia.

The dog days came early that summer. On the first Sunday of July, the heat was intense. On Monday, it was intolerable. Although the thermometer stood at 99 in the shade, there was a difference of 50 degrees between that and the waters of the harbor.

What Dartmouth looked like from the Halifax side is included in the following description by a writer in the “Halifax Monthly Magazine” for May 1831:

The town forms a pretty balanced picture. An abrupt woody hill, unsoftened by any trace of art, rises to the right. To the left, a gentler ascent has brushwood on its front, and spruce and pine alongside the rising outline, but on the summit, some green patches and white farmhouses.

In the center foreground, the brilliant surface of the harbor conducts the eve for a short mile to the sloping banks on which the village lies. Wharves and houses and gardens and pebbly beaches, and abrupt cliffs meet the water; and behind seemingly scattered in pleasing irregularity, the party colored town rises up a gentle ascent.

The churches are easily discerned. The Scotch Church appears dark and grave-looking under the hill to the left. The Catholic Chapel, white and clean as an Old Country parsonage, stands more central; and the English Church between, sends its spire proudly, but not tauntingly, above all.

The eye moves along the undulated ground until it rests on a clump of trees and the snug-looking dwelling at the Lower Ferry. Findlay’s is delightfully situated, but no advantage is taken of its beauties. A little bay which terminates in the Mill Cove, sweeps within thirty or forty yards of the House; a soft and verdant hillock rises in the rear, and in front a fresh water stream comes babbling under the trees. A marquee or summer-house should be erected on the summit of the little hill, its side would afford lovely situations for pleasure gardens and rural seats. A shade-walk might conduct to the pebbly beach, along which arbors easily formed, would be a delightful resting place for visitors from the City.

In the autumn of that year, the same writer evidently crossed over in the Old Ferry and made a tour of the town. The ascent from the Cove up King Street and the Hartshorne house on “Poplar Hill’ are described. At that time only Christ Church possessed a steeple. Note also that the recreations of the Canal people included hurley, or ground hockey. This game no doubt was also played by them on our ponds and lakes, as it was perhaps played in the land of their ancestors. Hockey might be as old as Adam.

Findlay’s 40-passenger boat sits gracefully on the water, yet appears, alongside the [indigenous person’s] birch canoe, spacious enough for a Boston packet. The tide lies limpid on the ferry slip, and beneath a pellucid flood are exhibited many colored marine plants on its bed, at the very places where it supports the traffic of a populous city. Soon the sonorous conch has ceased sounding, and the boat is out on the calm stream bearing its motley freight to the rural shore opposite.

There sits the Chief Engineer, and the Solicitor of the Canal Company; and there appear a pair of colored lasses from the Black settlement at Preston. There is Shiels, the Poet, with his plaid cloak laid beside him, holding rather cold conversation with one of his Lawrencetown neighbors. There are two grayheaded black people] “sir-ing” and “mister-ing” each other with infinite politeness.

Here are a group of cigar-loving dandies, bent on a game of skittles at Warren’s; and there some half-dozen sunburnt and weather-beaten laborers repairing to the public works. Scattered amid the company, a beautiful sprinkling of ladies appear, passing over to their residences, or only intent on enjoying the benefits of a sail and a walk; while a nearly equal number of less fine females are returning home with sundry household conveniences purchased with the product of their gardens which they conveyed to town early this morning.

An [indigenous man] and his [wife] sit silently in the bow of the boat, or only return answers to the ferrymen, who takes advantage of the gentle breeze by shipping their oars, and resting their sinewy arms. At last we are ashore.

We commence our walk from Findlay’s snug farmhouse Inn, p. 29 and soon leave the cackling and quacking of its numerous poultry behind. The landscape appears diversified and picturesque with its hills and vales. A few years ago, this bold hill to the right was a wilderness, and the ground at its base a stony swamp. Cultivated fields now sweep over its breezy top and its declivity. A cottage stands on the slope delightfully situated in a little garden. Squashes and watermelons are ripening luxuriantly on the sunny slopes.

We pass along, and again pause as an opening to the left exhibits a lovely situation for a cottage. A rural gorge-formed by a flat which meets the harbor, and a small eminence on each side. The flat in the centre runs imperceptibly into the tide, and the bright sparkling waters seem secluded in a little romantic cove.

The next pause in our tour, shall be on this soft-shaped hill, the property of Lawrence Hartshorne, Esq. And what a noble site might this be for a mansion! Equal doubtless to any other in America. See photo on p. 536

If you look westward, Halifax appears climbing its hill. Northward, the town of Dartmouth is spread before you.

The increase in population which the Canal work produced in Dartmouth, has occasioned a new settlement about a quarter of a mile from the water. This consists of about 40 huts and houses, raised for the greater part, by the laborers employed at the Canal; and called by some “Canal Town”, and by others “Irish Town”, because the majority of persons who own the little buildings are natives of Ireland.

Irish Town affords a curious specimen of the first steps of civilization in a new country. The log houses and little enclosures are very rude, the stumps of the trees which form them stand all around, and in small openings in the brush, scraps of gardens appear.

The settlement also exhibits many primitive features of Irish rural life. On summer evenings, the groups reclining about the doors, show their proper quota of flaxen-haired chubby-cheeked youngsters, while from one or two taverns of the village, the scrapings of a fiddle, the squealings of a bagpipe and the shuffling of feet announce that the labors of the day were not sufficient to bow the everlasting mind, or to prevent zeal for the evening’s exercise and pleasure.

A hurley match, a game at balls or bowls, throwing the sledge, leaping, or a jog, are commonly resorted to, as amusements after the work of the weekday, or the devotions of the Sabbath.

The last houses of Irish Town are within about a stone’s throw of the “Church with the steeple”; and the first houses of Dartmouth are within a stone’s throw at the other side of the Church, so that a junction may be formed, and Irish Town becomes a suburb of its older neighbor.

The town of Dartmouth has a loose scattered appearance and consists of about 100 houses, many of them of respectable dimensions. Besides those, a number of houses are in course of erection, and considerable promise is exhibited of a rapid increase and improvement.

The water lots of Dartmouth are lessened in value by the shelving nature of its shore. The water is shoaly in most places at considerable distance from the beach, which of course renders it unfit as a harbor for vessels of large burden.

1827

by

From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

In the summer of 1827, Engineer Hall reported that “800 tons of granite stone have been removed from the Quarry to Dartmouth Lake. A commodious line of road is now completed from the head of Dartmouth Lake parallel with the Canal. By this road, the Lock Stone will be conveyed”.

This must also mean the laying out of Maitland Street, because the terminus of the Canal was at first intended to be located on the shore there.

In July 1827, a fine ship of 344 tons named the “Halifax” was launched at Lowden’s in Mill Cove. The newspaper account stated that “a numerous concourse of people collected on the high ground near the shipyard, and a great many small boats filled with spectators gave the scene a very animated and pleasing effect”.

The gaiety that morning suddenly changed to gloom because of a fatal accident to Joseph Moreland, prominent townsman whose activities have been recorded in this book. He was a ship carpenter. As was customary, the launching was celebrated with a discharge of cannon. One shot had been set off when Mr. Moreland commenced ramming down the second charge. By accident the gun was fired. The unfortunate man had both his arms blown off to the elbows. Within a few hours, he died.

On the very spot where this ship was launched, a Halifax resident had a narrow escape from death a few evenings afterwards. He had just emerged from a dip off the shore, when a huge shark shot violently in on the beach where the bather had just lately stood. The monster was about 12 feet long.

In August, the second annual regatta took place on the harbor. Dartmouth won the 5-oared rowing race, and a $45 prize, in a boat called “Britannia”, built by Mr. Coleman. The crew were Philip Brown, Daniel Cogill, George Bowse, Philip Shears and William Fultz, steersman. (They look like Eastern Passage names).

In September, the Canal colony was increased by about 100 persons when the brig “Corsair” arrived from Greenock with 44 masons and stonecutters. Some brought their families.

On September 25, the Rev. James Morrison landed in Dartmouth. He was a missionary sent out by a Society established in Glasgow to further the interests of the Kirk of Scotland.

The Acadian Recorder has a long account of a banquet held in September at Warren’s Inn by Officers of the 3rd Regiment Halifax Militia, with the dinner “being handsomely provided and the wines excellent”. The bugles of the Rifle Brigade were present and their music “swelled proudly” at the entertainment.

On the morning of September 16, a vivid lightning storm passed over this district. At Port Wallace, Timothy Kennedy was instantly killed when a bolt struck the hut where the victim lay in his bunk alongside two others. Everyone in the encampment was more or less affected by the shock. A woman was knocked senseless as she stood on the floor. Two children in the same hut were likewise struck and somewhat scorched about the chest.

Many customs of bygone days, taken for granted at the time, would never be preserved for this generation but for that trait of human nature which urges a person to register complaints against what he regards as public nuisances. On the slow-going team-boat, for instance, it seems to have been the practice of some passengers during trips, to catch and gut the odd mess of mackerel from the thousands of such fish that came schooling into the harbor in spring and autumn.

This aroused the indignation of other commuters who protested to the Magistrates—the only governing body at that time. Or else, they wrote the newspapers, as did the undersigned in a letter to the “Acadian Recorder” on October 20, 1827:

“Sir, It has fallen to my lot to cross the ferry from Dartmouth to Halifax in the Team Boat during the fall run of mackerel. I have frequently seen the deck covered with fish, and splitting and salting carried on with as much facility as at any fishing establishments along the shore. From the “delicate” manner this complaint was canvassed by the Magistrates last Spring, I am disposed to think the public will be compelled at last to take other steps to regain their rights on the above ferry. Yours etc., A. F.”

In the next issue, another writer defended the practice, and praised Captain Findlay who “always renders the voyage as commodious as possible. If he has sometimes permitted passengers to amuse and exercise themselves with hauling in a mackerel, it is more proof of his desire to accommodate”.

In a Provincial census taken in the year 1827, returns showed that the Township of Dartmouth had 150 families, containing 405 males, 411 females, 93 male servants, and 51 female servants. Total population of Township 960.

Some households were large. Youths learning trades were apprenticed to their masters and lived with them. Robert Lowden, the shipbuilder, was listed as having 11 hired laborers under his roof. John Skerry had 13 in his household, six of whom were probably employed as ferrymen.

Also in the Township were 58 horses, 195 horned cattle, 162 sheep and 130 swine. On 504 acres of land under cultivation, there were raised that year 74 bushels of wheat, 921 bushels of other grain, 301 tons of hay and 8,480 bushels of potatoes. (There was no separate census for the town-plot.)

1821

by

From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

The teacher at Dartmouth in 1820-1821 was Daniel Sutherland, who taught at least from November until May. The trustees then were John Skerry, William Allen and Joseph Moreland.

Canon Vernon’s History of Christ Church states that the reports of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, contain the name of Mrs. Mary Munn, who was paid £5 per annum as schoolmistress at Dartmouth commencing from 1821. This lady, who was familiarly referred to as “Ma Munn”, is thought to have been the widow of James Munn, builder of the windmill and of Quaker houses. The £5 would be the contribution of the S. P. G. except for indigent cases, school expenses were collected from Inhabitants, according to their means.

In March 1821, Team-Boat directors made another move to get John Skerry out of the ferry business by inviting him to join their organization. Mr. Skerry’s reply was that he would agree on condition that the team-boat run to his wharf, and that he be permitted to continue his own boats. Negotiations then deadlocked.

In the summer of 1821, the much respected Seth Coleman, then about 77 years of age, evidently decided to leave Dartmouth, and return to his native Nantucket. Perhaps he had become disheartened by the recent deaths of his two daughters.

Several of his properties were put up for sale. The dwelling with its large garden and good well of water, on the present location of Belmont Hotel, was described as being “favorably situated for a house of entertainment, being only a few rods from the ferry”. It was purchased by Captain John Stairs for £400. John Skerry bought the water-lot and boathouse on the shore below.

Maroon Hall at Preston was sold for £800 that autumn by Mrs. Prescott to Christian Conrad Katzman, a retired officer of the 60th Regiment. To finance the deal he borrowed £400 from John Skerry. Lieutenant Katzman was then about 40 years of age and a widower. He had recently been living at Annapolis, N. S.

The once extensive possessions of James Creighton, which had taken him years to acquire, were periodically being sold by James, junior, ever since the father’s death. By this time, much of the real estate was mortgaged or otherwise encumbered.

In 1821, more Creighton properties were up for sale. One was the stretch of hillside fronting the Cove, from Cuisack Street to Maitland Street. The lot included Old Ferry wharf and Inn.

Canon Vernon’s History also states that the Hon. Michael Wallace was a parishioner of Christ Church about this time. He was credited with £5 for pew rent in 1820, and later presented a bell to the Church. As has already been mentioned, Mr. Wallace owned the house at 59 Queen Street. The depression in the sidewalk, still seen at the northwest corner of Queen and Dundas Sts., marks the site of an old well on that property behind a curtilage of hawsey trees bordering the former Wallace field on Queen Street.

Louisa Collins’ diary, already quoted, did not make mention of her sister Charlotte having a beau at the Brinley ball; but evidently she did, either then or at later house-parties. There was another wedding celebrated by Rev. Charles Ingles at Colin Grove on a Saturday evening in November 1821, when Miss Charlotte Collins was united in marriage to Mr. Jonathan Elliot.

Other members of the family were little Mary Ann, Eliza and Phoebe. When the last named was 11 years of age, an entry in the diary recorded that “poor Phoebe has met with a sad misfortune, a crow having taken away one of her favorite chickens”.

At Dartmouth in 1821, Rev. Mr. Ingles also married Andrew Malcom, blacksmith, to Miss Eleanor Jackson, daughter of Robert Jackson. The latter’s property extended from Queen Street to the southern end of the present Simmonds building where he at one time conducted one of the town’s several inns, or taverns.

The month of January 1821, was the coldest for 40 years. The harbor was a bridge of ice, at one period extending down to Meagher’s Beach Lighthouse. On fine afternoons crowds on foot, on skates, in double and in tandem sleighs, ranged over the whole surface. Lt- Gov. Kempt and the aristocracy of Halifax, accompanied by their ladies, were out in large numbers with their sleek horses and liveried coachmen. On market days there was a continual procession of loaded sleds crossing between Halifax and Dartmouth.

On Saturday evening February 3, a man named William Crowe returning to the Dockyard from a hunting expedition in Dartmouth, fell through the ice in mid-harbor, and was drowned. A lad named Gibb, who held out his stick to the doomed man, lost his foothold and also perished. Shipping was at a standstill until the middle of February, when the ice broke up and drifted to sea.

Government road appropriations for 1821 included £15 for the cross-road from Brook House northward; and an additional £40 for the road from Kennedy’s towards the Cobequid Road. This was the last time that money was voted for the Kennedy section.

The Steam Boat Company got a subsidy of £250 that year. It was the first of many. Repulsed in previous attempts, the Directors finally convinced the Government of the valuable public service rendered by their team-boat, and also of the desperate state of the finances shown on their account books.

At St. Paul’s Church that December, James W. Johnston, barrister, was married to Miss Amelia Almon, daughter of the late Dr. W. J. Almon.

Deaths in 1821 included Mark Jones, blacksmith, who was instantly killed while blasting rock. He had resided in Dartmouth for several years, no doubt in the Cole Harbor district. Mark Jones and Moses Pitcher, it will be remembered, were two of the Jurymen at the Mary Russell inquest of 1798.

1816

by

From The Story of Dartmouth, by John P. Martin:

During the summer of 1816, the construction of the new team-boat, or horse-boat, continued in progress. The machinery necessary to revolve the propeller seems to have been imported from New York firms experienced in rigging similar such boats. The launching took place on Monday, September 30, and the place was somewhere in Dartmouth Cove. The only previous record of a ship being built in Dartmouth was that of the “Maid of the Mill”, launched in August 1801.

Among the gay crowd at high-tide that September day, there were evidently many brightly dressed ladies mingled with their companions along the shore, and others who came over from Halifax in small boating-parties. Perhaps a military band also enlivened the air.

One enthusiastic spectator has left us his impression of the scene in a letter to the “Acadian Recorder” the following week:

Sir,—I have been present at many Launches but never witnessed one, take it “all in all”, with so much pleasure as that on Monday last. Dartmouth Cove is in itself picturesque, the assemblage of beauty on the shore, the boats plying in the Cwe and the novelty of the team-boat, formed a scene worthy of the pencil of the first masters in painting; the public spirit and disinterestedness of the gentlemen who have so promptly come forward—the pen of the poet—that both may be found is the earnest wish of … K. I. „

The 25 shareholders of the Company included the enterprising Samuel Cunard. The President was Hon. H. H. Cogswell and the Secretary was Charles R. Fairbanks, a rising young barrister.

The first trip of the team-boat was made on the 8th of November. Dr. Akins’ History says that it was considered an immense improvement, and the additional accommodation for cattle, carriages and horses was a great boon to country people traveling to market at Halifax.

This is the 70-foot ferry “Sherbrooke” launched at Dartmouth in 1816. Inside the housing on the deck, a team of eight horses harnessed to iron stanchions traveled around a cogwheel which turned a crank. The crank then moved the single propeller located under the middle of the boat. As auxiliary power, sails were hoisted whenever the wind was favorable. This type of ferry was common at the time.

The road from Dartmouth to Bedford apparently was made available for vehicular traffic about 1816. Up to that time there existed only a trail or pathway over which cattle evidently were driven around the Basin to be sold in the market at Halifax by farmers from the eastern sections and Tufts’ Cove area.

This is inferred from a request signed by 33 rural residents presented to the House of Assembly that spring asking for financial assistance. The petition stated that the footpath, which had been brought into the shape of a road by small sums previously granted, was found to be very useful. In consequence they had subscribed irnong themselves the sum of £124 for the further progress of the road during the ensuing summer.

The Legislature responded favorably to the request, and agreed- to an appropriation of £130 for this work.

The winter of 1816-1817 was exceptionally cold. Teams crossed over Bedford Basin all winter and the Eastern Passage was closed in with ice until April. Much distress prevailed among the laboring classes. Inmates at the Halifax Poor House numbered nearly 200. Potatoes were scarce, and in some parts of the Province flour was not available at any price.

Page 3 of 4
1 2 3 4