Industrial Stories
Dr. Robert J. Morgan
Before the arrival of heavy industry in Cape Breton, islanders relied on the land and sea for their living and the fishery, while itself rural, has fostered ever-evolving industrial livelihoods. The development of lobster canneries articulates this relationship; in early times, lobsters were worthless since they spoiled easily, but with the arrival of canneries, they could be exported fresh. Likewise, fish at first were salted for preservation but with the introduction of refrigeration they too could be exported fresh. Canneries sprang up over the island, and new jobs were made available for men and women.
As lumbering and shipbuilding developed, these industries provided supplementary income for fishers. In “Industry North,” you will see how the timber industry – simply cutting wood for home use – teamed up with the fishery to provide year-round income as well as communal interaction. Farming, sheep-raising and market gardening likewise blended with seasonal fishing and lumbering to provide additional sources of income and sustenance. Other income could be earned from carding mills, like Cash’s at Irish Cove, where farmers could bring wool for processing.
This interlacing of work and income continued even after the development of coal and steel when Cape Breton became the centre of heavy industry in the Maritime Provinces. Like fishing, coal mining in the early days was not a year-round occupation, and people would take to the seas or cut timber for pit props in As mining grew it attracted thousands of people here: from Europe, Asia and elsewhere in Canada. We will read in this section about the impact of immigration and new communities on the island’s culture and diversity.
With coal came steel. The story of Sydney Steel as told here is not only one of an important island industry, but of peoples’ struggles for the right to a fair wage for their work – a necessary point of contemplation when surveying the work history of our island. Railways like the Sydney and Louisburg (S&L) linked all these industries with gypsum and dolomite mines in rural areas, while the countryside benefited from the growing markets for food and lumber in Cape Breton’s burgeoning urban areas.
The interconnectivity of these sources of work and income speaks to the self-contained and self-sustaining nature of work on the island in the nineteenth century.
© C@P Society of Cape Breton County, 2009
