Shore Coal In Cape Breton

Probably one of the few places in the world coal can be dipped with a net from the sea was Sydney Mines, Cape Breton. The Princess Colliery was a submarine coal mine which operated continually for over a hundred years and,washed the coal before exporting. This washing process involved dumping many tons of coal in a huge washer and after the washing it was loaded into coal hoppers and exported. This washing process was not very efficient and for every 100 tons of coal washed many tons were lost. The lost coal and water was dumped into the nearby Sydney Harbour adjacent to the washplant.

With millions of tons mined yearly you can imagine the amount of coal which ended up in the harbour water.After years the coal, being lighter than the sand in the harbour water became stratified and formed a layer of pure coal near the mine site. When a storm blew in the harbour the coal would move and settle in the coves in the harbour. This layer of fine coal would be exposed at low tide and my father and I ,along with several other owners of horses would load the coal on waggons hauled by horses and piled on the shore above the tidal line.

On a good day our mare Lady, would pull fifteen or twenty half loads up from the water to our coal pile. We used dump carts or Red River carts which were very useful when working in water and sand. When the tide came in and covered the coal we used dip nets to load the coal on to our carts. This was very hard work and when it was in the winter very cold. My father had a trick to keep our hands warm while they were wet. Before we started to work and while our hands were warm we would dip them in the water. They acted like a wet suit for diving. This only worked with knitted wool mits.

We used to sell this coal to regular customers but often large trucks would buy the coal there on the beach. One particular day we sold almost ten tons to a truck driver and after helping to load the coal by hand we received $20.  That was an excellent days pay . When we delivered the coal to houses a couple of miles away we charged $2 per dump cart full. When I was older,  around 14, Dad would permit me to go alone to make some money. I loved to work with our old horse Charlie. He was old but strong and steady.

The mine has been closed for years and there is no more coal in the water but for many years it gave us a chance to earn extra cash. One quality this fine coal had was being covered with a salt from the sea it kept the chimneys clear and clean. There was no dust and was clean to the touch. At our home we used this shore coal for many years.The good old days they say but I always think of them as the difficult days when good things happened.