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Gowrie Mine
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Lamp Cabin Memorial Park
Drummond 1873 Disaster
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Springhill’s Novaco Mine
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New Glasgow's Linacy Mine
1913 Drummond Fires
1908 Princess Fire
Albion Mines 1913 Fire
DOSCO Miner
Cape Breton's TNT
The McCormick and Turner families
Payday Drunk
John Croak’s Victoria Cross
Atlantic Slag Company
Sydney Cement Company
1914 Coal Mine Cost
Dominion No 2
Canary in a Coal Mine
Draegermen
James Dinn
Pit Ponies
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
1877 Accidents
Allan Shaft 1912
William Fleming
The Story of Peat
T. G. MacKenzie
Trenton Steel
1930 Stats
MacGregor Mine Explosion
MacGregor Flood
Torbanite Products Limited
Abraham Gesner and Kerosene
1860 Prince of Wales Visit
Dominion No 5
The Royal William and Stellarton Coal
Tom Pit
Terminal City
1875 Accidents
Cannons in Coal Mines
Princess Mine Explosion
Dominion No. 26
A Tale of Two Mines
Franklin Colliery
Robert J. Grant
Springhill No. 1
Mother Coo
Submarine Mines
Barrachois Mine
Fundy Coal Seam
Dominion #14
Dominion #12
Dominion No 4
Child Labour
Joggins Colliery
Safety
Bootleggers
Richmond County
Mabou Mines
Stellar Coal
English Slope
Maccan/Jubilee
The Foster Pit Fire and the Poop Solution
Thomas Edison and the Chignecto coal mine
Henry Whitney and the Dominion Coal Company
Foord Pit
Hiawatha Coal Mine
Coalburn
Springhill Disasters
St. Rose-Chimney Coalfield
Stellarton, Dorrington Softball Complex
How Does Coal Form?
Drummond Coal Mine
Sydney Coalfield and the Princess Mine
Port Morien, 1720
Port Hood
General Mining Association
Thorburn
WWII and Nova Scotia Coal
Nova Scotia's First Railway
Samuel Cunard
Stellarton’s Mining Connections
Sydney Mines
Point Aconi
Victoria Mines
Sullivan Creek
New Campbellton
Inverness and Cabot Links
The Ghost Town of Broughton
Tobin Road, Sydney Mines
Flint Island Coal Mine?!
What does Colliery mean?
Cottam Settlement
Allan Mine
Victoria Mines
The first land grants in Victoria Mines were given to Irish settlers in 1794 and in New Victoria in 1808.
Coal mining in the area began in 1865 with what we now call the Old Victoria Mine, which was likely the first mine in North America planned to be completely under the sea floor. It was based on the shore just north of the intersection of the New Waterford Highway (#28) and Lake Road (circled in red on the map below). The coal from this mine was conveyed by a railway 5.5 kilometres long to the Victoria Pier at South Bar for shipment.
The mine’s two slopes (decline tunnels) were abandoned in 1870 due to water inflow problems and a new set of slopes was opened 250 metres to the northeast, again right along the shore – which was an unfortunate mistake to make once, never mind twice. Being so close to the shore did not leave enough rock cover between the subsea tunnels and the ocean floor above. This allowed sea water to enter the mine through faults or other structural features of the geology.
The mine closed in 1878 after having more water issues and a boiler explosion killed three workers. It produced a total of 820,411 tons of coal.
The New Victoria Mine was opened by the General Mining Association in 1883 about two kilometres northeast of the Old Victoria Mine (circled in green). Both mines were called Victoria Mine when they opened but they were subsequently referred to as “New” and “Old” to distinguish between them.
The new mine caused both population and economic activity to shift from Victoria Mines to the immediate area around the new mine. The Old Victoria Mine’s rail line was extended to the New Victoria Mine so it could also send its coal to South Bar for shipping. The New Waterford Highway is said to follow the path of the old rail bed.
The mine was sold to the Dominion Coal Company in 1894 and closed in 1897 due to rock fall issues. It was dewatered in 1913 and reopened in 1914 under a new name: Dominion No. 17 Colliery. However, it closed that same year, reportedly due to a lack of miners during WWI.
In 1918, No. 17 Colliery was pumped out and kept open until 1921, when it closed again on July 15. The colliery had produced an estimated 5,183,000 tons of coal.
A new mine, Dominion No. 18, opened in New Victoria in 1938 about 1.5 kilometres to the east of the No. 17 on Daley Road (circled in purple). No. 18 worked the Phalen coal seam until 1946, producing 1,531,320 tons. In 1946 a tunnel was driven from No. 18’s workings into the Harbour Seam, which lies over the Phalen Seam in that area.
In 1948, the No. 17 Colliery workings were pumped out and production in No. 17 started again in February 1950. No. 17 and 18 tunnels were now linked underground and coal from No. 17 was removed via No. 18’s slopes. Production continued until 1966 when both 17 and 18 closed.
In 1962 an airway was completed due West of Lamey’s Lane in New Victoria to service the eastern portion of the Princess Colliery whose main shafts were approximately 6 kilometres to the west, the other side of Sydney Harbour, at Cranberry Head in Sydney Mines. The site was abandoned when the Princess mine closed in 1975.
Victoria Mines and New Victoria are part of what was originally called Low Point by early settlers - the entire point from Sydney Harbour to Lingan.
The increase in coal exports after the General Mining Association got a monopoly on mineral rights in Nova Scotia in 1826 made it important to mark the entrance to Sydney harbour to keep ships safe. The first Low Point Lighthouse, in New Victoria at the mouth of Sydney harbour, was built in 1832. It was wooden with a lead roof. The wooden tower was replaced in 1938 with the concrete tower that stands at the site today.