The Port Morien French Mine
CANADA'S COAL INDUSTRY

TWO THOUSAND FEET SOUTH EASTERLY FROM THIS PLACE ARE THE REMAINS OF THE FIRST REGULAR COAL MINING OPERATIONS IN AMERICA, ESTABLISHED BY THE FRENCH IN 1720. FROM THE MODEST BEGINNINGS OF THOSE EARLY DAYS THIS INDUSTRY HAS BECOME ONE OF NATIONAL AND IMPERIAL IMPORTANCE.

The above quote is from a plaque erected in the Cape Breton town of Port Morien in 1930. The "Port Morien French Mine Site", the first commercial coal mine in North America, is a designated Special Place under Nova Scotia's Special Places Protection Act.

Early History, Coal, and Louisbourg

As with much of Cape Breton, Port Morien has a long history. It was first shown on a map dated 1580, where it was called "Baie de Mordienne". The presence of coal in Cape Breton was first noted by Intendant Jean Talon in 1671. It was the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, and the subsequent founding of Louisbourg, which really focused French attention on Cape Breton coal as a valuable and necessary resource. The Fortress of Louisbourg and its inhabitants were in need of a local coal supply, and the closest source was the outcrop at the Baie de Mordienne.

The first commercial coal mine in North America began production at Port Morien (Baie de Mordienne) in 1720. By at least 1724, coal from Port Morien was being traded to Boston in the first officially recorded export of minerals in Canada. In 1725, a blockhouse was built by the French to protect the valuable coal reserves.

The English, the French, the English, again

France declared war on the England on March 18, 1745. An invasion force from New England captured Canso and began a siege on Louisbourg on March 30. By June 17, the siege was over and the British flag flew over the Fortress. The capture of Louisbourg by the New England forces brought the mine at Port Morien under English control. The whole of Cape Breton, however, reverted back to French control under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748.

Peace was short-lived and, on May 18, 1756, England declared war on France. On June 8, 1757, the British, under General Wolfe, landed at Kennington Cove and the second siege of Louisbourg began. The Fortress capitulated on July 26, 1758, for the final time. The British ran the Port Morien mine for about a decade more, producing up to 3,000 tons of coal in a year.

Lt.-Gov. Francklyn leaves us with a good description of the mine at Port Morien, then known as Cow Bay, in a letter to the British Lords of Trade in 1766:

There is at Cow Bay a picketed fort 100 ft. square, with a blockhouse, barracks, and stores for lodging the workmen, tools, and provisions. Also, a wharf convenient for loading at the mine. That the mine is in good order and well-propped. That the vein appears to be good and large. That twenty men may be employed daily. That vessels of 100 tons can load at the wharf between June 1 and October 15, when the wharf must be taken down and rebuilt in the spring, the bay being so open and the drift ice so violent as to carry it away in the winter season.

Into the 19th Century.

Pit pony underground in the No.11 Colliery, near Glace Bay In the post-Louisbourg period, very little commercial coal mining took place at Cow Bay. When mining came under British government regulation in 1766, it became a center for illegal mining. The area saw a moderate influx of immigrants at this time, first the Loyalists, and then the Scottish emmigrants. By 1837, Cow Bay had a population of 187 people.

In the mid-19th century, the "old French workings" captured the attention of some would-be miners. Hugh McDonald and his brother-in-law were granted the property in 1852 and proceeded to sink shafts through the French workings. They were not successful, however, and, in 1859, Marshall Bourinot was given a lease on the property. Bourinot was subsequently bought out by the Blockhouse Mining Company in 1863 and they also dug their shafts through the French mine.

Miners and foremen at No.3 Colliery, Passchendale, Glace Bay, at the turn of the century The 'Blockhouse Mine' was the scene of the first coal miner's strike in Canada in 1868, which lasted for a total of three months. The strike was followed by a series of setbacks from which the mine was never to recover. In 1888, the mine closed for the final time, throwing its 18 men out of work.



Further Reading

This page has relied heavily on Ken MacDonald's 1995 book, Port Morien: pages from the past, which is published by the University College of Cape Breton Press (ISBN.0-920336-60-4).

The photos on this page have been used with the permission of the Beaton Institute, University College of Cape Breton.



A Final Note

The Port Morien French Mine is a designated Special Place and, as such, is protected by the Special Places Protection Act. It is illegal to dig or otherwise disturb any of the heritage resources at the site without a Heritage Research Permit.

For more information contact:

Bob Ogilvie
Manager, Special Places
Stewardship Programs and Promotion
Tourism, Culture and Heritage
1747 Summer Street
Halifax, NS B3H 3A6
Phone:(902) 424-6475
Fax:(902) 424-0560

© 1996 Nova Scotia Museum

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