Not Your Grandfathers Mining Industry, Nova Scotia, Canada

Herbert Dixon and the Halifax Explosion

Gold miner Herbert Dixon died as a result of the Halifax Explosion, but the Explosion was not what killed him. He died because he tried to help others in its aftermath.

Dixon worked in several of Nova Scotia's historical gold districts in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Most notably, he ran the Dixon mine in the Caribou district, in what is now known as the community of Caribou Mines, Halifax County.

In 1888, Dixon, with Henry Archibald and Gordon Zwicker, purchased seventeen claims in the Caribou district and mined what became known as the Dixon gold-bearing quartz vein. In 1890, they produced at an average rate of one ounce of gold per ton of ore, similar to many of Nova Scotia’s successful historical gold mines. To put that in perspective, output at modern gold mines is measured in grams per ton, not ounces, so an average of one ounce per ton is spectacular by today’s standards.

Dixon continued running the mine for the next several years, employing about 20 men.

By 1894, the ownership of the mine had changed. Dixon was still the managing owner, but his partners were two men named Hartlen and Putnam. Their company had 72 claims by that time, and the mine’s main shaft was 230 feet deep. Their 5-stamp mill, steam pumping and hoisting equipment had an estimated value of $2,500, according to the Canadian Mining, Iron and Steel Manual.

Dixon ran the mine for seven months in 1894 until the partners sold it to the Caribou Gold Mining Company. The Dixon mine was worked intermittently for the next two decades.

In 1895, Dixon switched to focussing on the Brookfield gold district in Queens County where he and Miner T. Foster reopened the Philadelphia Mining Company’s mine and ran it together until 1897.

Dixon also briefly reopened the Old Minneapolis mine in the nearby Malaga gold district in 1895. The mine was pumped out and extended that year. Mining results were initially very positive, but the mine did not produce in 1896.

Historical mining records and newspaper clippings shed no light on what Dixon did after the mid 1890s until the Nova Scotia Department of Mines report for 1914, which said he was the foreman of the Dixon mine that year. The reports for the following two years say he managed the mine on behalf of the Caribou Gold Mining Company. The mine did not operate in 1917, and we could not find any references to what Dixon was doing that year.

He was 67 years old and living at 240 Gottingen Street in Halifax when, on December 6, 1917, two ships collided in the Narrows of Halifax Harbour during the first world war. One of the ships was carrying explosives and the resulting blast devastated much of the North End of Halifax and flattened wooden buildings on both sides of the Narrows.

Despite living in one of the areas most badly damaged by the Explosion, Dixon was apparently not hurt by it, or at least not significantly. In the aftermath, he searched the ruins of buildings destroyed by the Explosion. As someone who had spent decades working in underground mines, his instinct no doubt would have been to disregard any risk to himself in order to help others.

According to the Halifax Explosion Death Registration Book, the cause of his death was “Pneumonia – Contracted after searching ruins.” He was sick for 20 days and passed away on December 26 at the Victoria General Hospital. He was buried in Camp Hill Cemetery in Halifax.

The Halifax Explosion Death Registration Book listed his profession as “miner.”