Port Hood Station Olympic athlete Duncan Gillis
-by John Gillies, Chestico Museum
Our Canadian prime minister and his government are promoting and supporting the undertaking of major development projects and calling on Canadians to build strong. From 1899 to 1901 Inverness County saw the undertaking of a major development project. In the construction phase it provided thousands of jobs for Inverness County workers. Upon completion, it provided dozens of permanent jobs for station agents, train crews, and section workers, among others. Today, it is one of Inverness County’s treasures – the Celtic Shores Coastal Trail.
In 1874 the Inverness Railway Company was chartered and began promotion for the construction of a rail line to connect Broad Cove (later named Inverness) to the Strait of Canso area. It would link Broad Cove with the yet to be built railway which would connect the Strait with the town of New Glasgow. In the early years little progress was made toward this objective.
In 1898 large subsidies amounting to $641,546 or $10,575 per mile were obtained from the federal, provincial, and municipal governments. Soon after, the firm of MacKenzie and Mann re-organized the Inverness Coal and Railway Company. A new contract granting more than the usual subsidy and providing not only for the construction of the railway but the development of the Broad Cove (Inverness) colliery was entered into, giving new life and hope for the building of the railway.
The contract provided for the construction and equipment of 60 miles of railway from a junction with the ICR (Inter-colonial Railway) near Port Hawkesbury and onto Broad Cove. It was to be put into operation on or before June 15th, 1901. It was to be constructed to a coal mine or mines in Broad Cove and called for the equipping of the mine with an approved plant and machinery sufficient for the production of 250,000 tons of coal per year.
The contract was signed on the May 23rd, 1899, and the successful tender for construction was Donald Mann of Toronto with the firm of MacKenzie, Mann and Company. Location surveys were made, submitted, and approved. Actual construction began in the June following. Within the seven-month period from June to December 1899, an average of 1,000 men were daily employed. A construction plant of the most approved and modern form was imported and set to work. About 30 miles of the excavation, bridge sub-structure, and culverts within that distance were completed in this short time frame. The rails were laid from Port Hastings to Port Hood by the end of 1899 and some ballasting introduced to enable the work trains to run over the roadbed with safety. The sharpest curve was nine degrees and the steepest grade was 80 feet to the mile or one and one half per cent.
The specifications called for 60-pound rails, sleepers eight feet by six inches by eight inches, ten inches of gravel, and 2,600 sleepers to the mile. Due to shortage of steel caused by high demand, temporary trestles had to be constructed with wood.
The work on the next leg of building the railroad to Broad Cove/Inverness continued immediately after reaching Port Hood. Work in rock cuttings, clearing of wooded lands, and other such work that could conveniently be proceeded with in winter was carried on. The strong manner in which line construction had been pushed forward in the summer and fall months of 1899 led locals to believe that the railway would be completed to Broad Cove Mines by the fall of 1900.
Although the main contract was won by Mackenzie & Mann they assigned much of the work on the Inverness County Line to railroad builder, Michael J. O’Brien, who was then living in Renfrew, Ontario, but had been born and raised in Lochaber, Antigonish County. O’Brien chose John Kennedy of Ohio, Antigonish County, to oversee the laying of much of the track on the Inverness Line. In early 1900 Kennedy was pushing to get the railway job finished as fast as possible. The railway crews were making their way through the hilly region near Mabou. That summer John Kennedy supplied the following information on that project to The Casket newspaper in Antigonish. He is quoted in the article:
We have now 300 men and 70 horses between the South West (Mabou) and Hillsboro, and in May intend to put on 1,500 men, so as to have the work completed by August, ready for the rails. Mr. O’Brien is away at present but is expected back shortly, after which he will start work at the Midland road at ballasting. “With such a demand for men, there is no need of any being idle.” With 1,500 men and 70 horses and good weather, boss Kennedy will, no doubt, make things hum. Like all good railroaders, he has no use for tender feet, they are no good.
One of the workers who helped build this railway was Duncan Gillis of the South West. He would use the money he earned to pay his rail fare, beginning at Glencoe Station on the line he helped construct, all the way to Vancouver where he joined the city police force and a local athletic club. He would go on to win a silver medal for the hammer throw in the 1912 Olympic Games in Stockholm, Sweden, and also become the first flag bearer for Canada in the opening ceremony of those Games.
The Port Hastings to Broad Cove/Inverness section was completed on schedule and opened to the public on June 15th,1901.
For anyone wanting to do further reading on this railway I recommend the 1987 publication, The Inverness And Richmond Railway, written by Allister W. D. MacBean, a book which has provided much of the information for this column.