Work Through Time: Cape Breton Stories of Land & Sea

A pole at Cabot’s Landing with a few feet of cable is all that remains of the first venture in long-range wireless communications.

Sugar Loaf

The first transatlantic cable in America landed in Sugar Loaf. The message was received from Europe in Morse code – dots and dashes. Some of this cable is still in the ground near Cabot’s Landing. At one time there was a small building that housed the telegraph office in Gilbert MacDonald's field.

White Point

A cable was taken from Sugar Loaf to White Point by land. At White Point, Chandler maintained the telegraph office. Vell Bon Theriault and Jack Nicholson worked as telegraphers.

Dingwall

In 1885, Murdock MacLeod and his wife were operating the telegraph in Dingwall. It had been moved up to Dingwall from White Point. Joe O'Brien, who came to Bay St. Lawrence from Bay Bulls, Newfoundland in 1901, bought Murdock MacLeod’s house and store. He became the next telegrapher.

In 1916, the telegraph office was moved to Gordon MacPherson’s for a short time. From there it went to William LaRusic’s. Cecilia LaRusic was the operator until 1922. She left that year to go to the United States and her brother Willie took over as telegrapher. Cecilia recalls that in those years, neighbours would gather at the LaRusic home to hear news of the war. This was their only means of communication with the outside world.

The office was moved from LaRusic’s to Kell Fitzgerald’s and his daughter Eliza became the telegrapher. Eliza and Archie MacLean, telegrapher of Neil's Harbour, communicated by telegraph. They were later married and Dingwall lost its telegrapher.

In 1933 the office was moved to the home of Gordon MacPherson where Dolly MacPherson served as operator until 1947. This was a busy time in Dingwall, as Atlantic Gypsum set up shop and later National Gypsum. Boats from different parts of the world were arriving in Dingwall harbour and setting sailing to distant lands with their gypsum cargoes. The telegraph office was moved to Kennie MacKinnon’s in 1947 and was operated by Kennie and his wife Lillian until telephones began to make an appearance in October 1955. They operated the telephone office from 1955 until the spring of 1962. It was taken over by Robert (Bob) Fitzgerald and family and operated until the dial system came in to effect on Sunday June 7th, 1975.

Sugar Loaf

In 1929 the telegraph office in Sugar Loaf at George Zwicker's was moved to the old home of Bob Gwinn. Helen Gwinn was the operator and so when Allen Gwinn and family moved to their present home in 1935, the office was transferred there. The salary was about fifteen dollars a month. A Miss MacNeil from Iona came to teach Helen how to operate the office. Allen recalls that when the office was transferred from Zwicker's, he and Jack MacDougall helped to move the batteries by boat to Sid Burkes’s in Ingonish. A few years later, they were installed at Gwinn’s. The batteries were the source of power for telegraph offices north of Sydney. When the batteries ran low, they would have to add bluestone and zinc to increase power.

An old phone system was used to communicate from Allen Gwinn's to Meat Cove as there was no telegraph beyond Aspy Bay at this time (1930s). There were several phones between Meat Cove and Aspy Bay on this party line. There was also a phone line from Bay St. Lawrence to St. Paul Island. Wilson Gwinn recalls that this line was damaged during his time as lighthouse keeper at St. Paul's. The cable was never repaired.

Cape North

In the early 1900s, the telegraph office was located in the old store owned by John MacDonald, merchant of Cape North. One of his record books of telegrams was found in the attic of the MacDonald Bros. store in June, 1977. The dates in this book run from 1904 to 1923. Neil Angus MacDonald, son of John MacDonald, took over the old store office in 1918. The office was moved to the new store built by Neil Angus and Allister MacDonald in the early 1920s. Neil operated the telegraph until his death on April 1, 1953.

The news of Neil Angus MacDonald's death at the Inverness Hospital came to Cape North from Chéticamp via Bruce Hume by two-way telephone. Mr. Hume delivered the message to Audie Morrison of Cape North. After Neil's death, the telegraph office was taken out of the store. Messages from this area were then sent to the telegraph office at Kennie MacKinnon's in Dingwall.

Bay St. Lawrence

The telegraph office first opened in Bay St. Lawrence around the year 1906. It was located in the house where Jim Angus MacNeil lives today. Alex B. MacDonald from East Bay was the first operator. Vell Bon Theriault, who came from White Point, was telegrapher for a time. Other operators in later years included Joseph R. MacNeil (St. Margaret's Village) and Norman Charlie MacDonald (Bay Road Valley). The wage at this time was approximately $25.00 a month. This telegraph office closed for a while under the coalition government of Borden and MacKenzie King. It later re-opened and George Zwicker worked as operator until it closed around 1924 after which there were no more telegraph offices in Bay St. Lawrence.

Meat Cove

The first telegraph office in Meat Cove was established in the late 1880s and Alex B. MacDonald was the first telegrapher. An underwater cable ran to the Magdalene Islands from Meat Cove. This cable can still be seen. Alex B. MacDonald continued as telegrapher until the telegraph office was moved to Bay St. Lawrence in the early 1900s, connecting with the telegraph in Sugar Loaf.

Telegraph Repairs

To repair this cable a government ship carrying Telegraph Repair Men would arrive to haul up the cable and look for the break. They tapped the cable to see if it was sound as a method of detecting damage. If not sound, the cable was pulled up, spliced and then dropped back onto the ocean floor.

The Process of Making Cable

In order to make cable, a small copper wire of the requisite length is taken and completely insulated by means of gutta percha. Three copper wires thus enveloped are placed together side by side in as compact a space as possible, all the interstices being filled with rope yarn. A machine then twists these three insulated wires around each other and the whole is completely surrounded by another envelope of gutta percha. This is then smeared with tar and is ready for use. It is an inch and a half in diameter.

 

This short history of The Telegraph North of Smokey was provided to us by the North Highlands Community Museum.

© 2009 North Highlands Community Museum & Archives