Did You Know?

Did you know that in 1951 the population of Port Hawkesbury was 1034, Mulgrave was 1212, and Point Tupper was 394? Now do you know that in 2001, the population for Port Hawkesbury was 3701, Mulgrave was 904 and Point Tupper was 12?

The first commercial vessel to pass through the Canso Canal was the Donna Louise on September 9, 1955. Tom Dodge was the captain of the dragger that was named for his two daughters. One daughter remembers going to the Canso Canal, getting on the Donna Louise and going into Mulgrave with her father when he returned from a fishing trip.

Do you remember when wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen crossed the Causeway on September 12, 1986? The Man in Motion Tour traveled more then 18,357 miles in 34 countries raising funds for spinal cord injury research and raising awareness of the abilities of persons in wheelchairs. Rick completed his round the world journey in Vancouver on May 22, 1987.

September 16, 1952
The official start of the construction of the Canso Causeway began with 30,000 tons of rock cascading down Cape Porcupine when Hon. Lionel Chevrier, Federal Minister of Transport, threw the switch that set off the first blast. The first official load of fill for the Causeway was proudly dumped into the Strait of Canso by Premier Angus L. Macdonald.

Do you remember paying to get on and get off Cape Breton? Tolls in 1955 were 75 cents each way for automobiles. Then in 1980 to commemorate the 25th Anniversary, we moved from tickets to tokens and by this time we were only required to pay to get on the Island. Prices then became $1.50 for cars, $4.00 for large trucks and as little as 25 cents for motorcycles. Frequent users could buy a bag of twenty-five tokens for $5.00 making the cost of a trip 20 cents.

The dream and necessity of a permanent crossing was in the minds of Cape Bretoners for over one hundred years. In 1947, the Associated Boards of Trade, mainly from the county of Cape Breton, coordinated the promotion of a permanent crossing at the Strait of Canso. Leadership came from M.R. Chappell, L.J Doucet, Roland MacIntyre and others. Members met with Premier Angus L. Macdonald who was a strong advocate for a permanent crossing.

Did you know that the Intercolonial Railway chose Point Tupper in 1885 as the site for its railway ferry dock? In 1890 the first train ran from Point Tupper to Sydney. The first train crossed the Canso Causeway on April 18, 1955. On October 1,1993 train #407 the last CN train from Sydney crossed the Causeway to the mainland. Its five diesel engines, thirty-five cars and one caboose marked the end of an era.

The Canso Causeway construction began in July 1952 with the completion slated for August 1955. This would realize a causeway 4500 feet in length, 80 feet wide on the surface, widest point on ocean floor 860 feet with a depth of 217 feet. To accomplish this it would take a swing bridge measuring 308 feet and over ten million tons of rockfill from Cape Porcupine to build what was said to be the deepest manmade causeway in the world.

Did you know that the Canso Crossing Association was formed under the leadership of the Associated Boards of Trade on May 8, 1948 to lobby for a permanent crossing for the Strait of Canso? Fifty organizations were represented at the first meeting. M.R. Chappell of Sydney became president with other officers and committee chairs representing Sydney River, Glace Bay, Sydney, New Waterford, Baddeck, Antigonish, North Sydney and Sydney Mines.

The all-tackle world record bluefin tuna, weighing 1,496 pounds, was caught on Pomquet Bank north of the Canso Causeway by angler Ken Fraser of P.E.I., formerly of Port Hawkesbury. The bluefin, caught on Oct. 29,1979, took 45 minutes to land. The fish sold at Aulds Cove and from there it went to Halifax, New York and on to Japan. Strait area residents will remember seeing Glen Gibson's 1,065 pound tuna, caught with 125 pound line, hanging in the Port Hastings Canadian Tire Store for many years.

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