Two mines, each operating on a different seam, were serviced by this surface plant which typifies one of the great technological achievements of the late nineteenth-century coal industry. Housing the haulage equipment for shaft mines, such structures dominated the landscape for miles around. Coal was lifted to the top of this giant building where it was sorted and cleaned before being dumped through chutes to railway boxcars waiting below. The owners also built machine shops, powerhouses and other ancillary buildings which occupied several acres (hectares). The Sydney and Louisbourg Railroad, owned and operated by the Dominion Coal Company, transported the coal to tidewater for shipment to external markets or to Sydney for use in the giant steel works.
Life in the coal towns was dominated by the overwhelming presence of the surface plants. To support the activity of so many men underground upwards of a thousand in this mine alone surface workings were in constant motion. Steam engines billowing smoke and steam and whistles signalling changing shifts or accidents set the pace of life for the townspeople.
Courtesy: National Photography Collection, Public Archives of Canada
