Gold Mining and Milling in the Sherbrooke Gold District 1861-1906

Kathy Moggridge Kussisto (1978)
Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia

Digitized and Edited by: Matthew Pye and Adam J. Baker for Sherbrooke Village Restoration (2001)

Nova Scotia Museum Complex Curatorial Reports

Curatorial reports contain information on the collections and the preliminary results of research projects carried out under the program of the museum. The reports may be cited in publication but their manuscript status should be clearly indicated.

Background of this report

This illustrated report is the result of a twelve-week historical and architectural research program carried out in 1978 as basis for the interpretation of the Sherbrooke District gold mining and milling story. The research was made possible through a D.R.E.E agreement.

Goldenville

GOLDENVILLE

On the banks of Saint Mary's river,
Stands a mountain grand and cold,
Placed thair by a bounties giver,
Filled with treasures manifold,
Treasures for which the world is waiting,
While the miners ply thair Skill,
Seaking to excell thair raiting,
In the camp of Goldenville.

While I thanked the bounties giver,
And watched the Silvery ripped tide,
Sliding down St. Mary's river,
_______d hear the ceaseless pounding,
Of rock-breaker and Stamp-mill.
O're the hills and valleys sounding,
From the camp of Goldville.

T'was evening and the sun was setting,
O're lake and hill and mountain high,
And its golden rays were tiping,
The waves on the fiver flowing by,
As the gentle breezes waffed,
To my ease from o're the hill,
The merry Shouts and Joyous laughter,
Of the miners in Goldenville.

Laugh, yes work is but a pleasure,
To the miners after gold,
For when they see the golden-treasures,
Thair hearts pulsates with joy untold,
For thus thair labour is rewarded,
And farewell they know its worth,
For gold is king and will bring forward,
Brighter days of joy and mirth.

John A. MacDonald*
115 Kinnaird St.

* We do not know who John MacDonald was. This poem was found on the dump at Sherbrooke in the early 1970s.

Preface

A large portion of this report has been based on archival research and upon secondary materials about mining and milling methods used within Nova Scotia, Canada and the United States. In addition much was gained through conversation with former miners and millmen, and men who continue to prospect the gold fields of the province. I would like to thank particularly Wallace Macdonald, Edgar Horne, Gerald Logan, William Neily, Jim Leslie Jr., and Richard Durdle for the time and assistance they so willingly gave me in doing the background research for this report.

In addition, much of the report is based on photographs in the collections of the Nova Scotia Museum, Sherbrooke Village, and the Public Archives of Canada in Ottawa. Please note that the initials PA before a series of numbers refer to the National Photography Collection at the Public Archives of Canada and if any of these photographs should be used in exhibit at Sherbrooke Village, the source be identified.

K. Moggridge Kuusisto
Researcher
December 1978

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