By: Kristy von Moos
Ingenium - Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation
Digital Archives: The iron ore crisis in Bathurst, New Brunswick
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Apr 3, 2018
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Photo Credit
Emergency war mining project, Bathurst, New Brunswick, 1943. Loading iron ore which has been blasted from an entire hill of the same in Eastern Canada.
In honour of Archives Awareness Week (April 2-8), Ingenium is highlighting a few gems taken from our digital collection. The captions displayed here are the original text.
During the Second World War, iron was a vital commodity for ship building, as well as rails, guns, and munitions manufacturing. Raw ore was shipped from Little Bell Island, Newfoundland, among other mines, to Sydney, Nova Scotia, where it was made into steel. In September 1942, two ships waiting to be filled with ore were sunk, and the loading docks on Little Bell Island destroyed by a German submarine.
Photo Credit
Breaking up large blocks of iron ore blasted from the face of a hill in Eastern Canada with an air drill, so it will pass through the crusher.
The Department of Munitions and Supply moved quickly to find new ore supplies and routes. One site was an old ore mine near Bathurst, New Brunswick, next to the CN Rail lines. Originally closed in 1913, the Drummond Iron Mine was reopened in December 1942, and the settlement nearby renamed Bathurst Mine.
The mine was an open pit operation run by the Dominion Steel and Coal Company, on a lease from Canadian Iron Foundries. Between February and December 1943, men blasted the walls of the pit and sifted rocks for shipment to Sydney. Unfortunately, the ore was bad quality, and the mine was closed in favour of better sources found in the US.
Photo Credit
This photograph shows drillers at work on the face of an entire hill of ore. These drilling machines drill holes in the face of the hill after which a charge of dynamite is inserted. The charge is exploded and a steam shovel then gathers up the ore which has been blasted from the face of the hill for crushing to proper size and loading into railway cars and then transported to the steel mills at Sydney.
In the early 1950s, however, samples taken from the mines were discovered to be rich in sulphur and lead—minerals important to industries in the region up until the early 1980s. Ironically, the high sulphur content was one of the reasons the rock was poor for steel production.
This photograph series became part of the Canada Science and Technology Museum’s archival collections when CN Rail donated their massive photograph inventory to the museum in 2000. These images were featured in an October 1943 edition of Canadian National Magazine, and the captions displayed here are the original text.
Photo Credit
The steam shovel operator digs the bucket into a mass of iron ore which has been blasted from the face of an entire hill of the same at an emergency war mining project in Eastern Canada.
Photo Credit
Breaking up large blocks of iron ore blasted from the face of a hill in Eastern Canada with an air drill, so it will pass through the crusher.
Photo Credit
Breaking up large blocks of iron ore blasted from the face of a hill in Eastern Canada with an air drill, so it will pass through the crusher.
Photo Credit
Breaking up large blocks of iron ore blasted from the face of a hill in Eastern Canada with an air drill, so it will pass through the crusher.
Photo Credit
Loading iron ore into Canadian National cars at an emergency war mining project in Eastern Canada for transport to the steel mills at Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, where it is made into plates for ships, rails, billets for guns, tanks, shells, bombs and other war weapons.
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Two workers discuss how many bombs for plastering Germany are represented in a day's outturn of iron ore from an emergency war mining project in Eastern Canada.
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Iron ore being dumped into the crusher at an emergency war mining project in Eastern Canada.
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No! This is not a modern version of the Delphian oracle with vaporous fumes from the underworld issuing through a cleft in the rock. It is dust being blown out a hole which has been drilled in the face of a hill of iron ore in Eastern Canada preparatory to blasting. The driller attaches a compressed air hose to a length of pipe which is inserted...
No! This is not a modern version of the Delphian oracle with vaporous fumes from the underworld issuing through a cleft in the rock. It is dust being blown out a hole which has been drilled in the face of a hill of iron ore in Eastern Canada preparatory to blasting. The driller attaches a compressed air hose to a length of pipe which is inserted into the hole and blows out the dust accumulate from the drilling. This is an emergency war activity brought about the need of securing a steady supply of iron ore for the steel mills at Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, to be used in the making of plates for ships, rails, billets for guns, tanks, shells, bombs and other munitions of war. It was a requisite that the ore be easily accessible to a railway line and such a deposit was found adjacent to the lines of the Canadian National Railways.
Photo Credit
In addition to providing steam for the transport of munitions of war, Canadian National locomotives are furnishing steam in the operation of various plants. Here is a boiler of an old locomotive which is supplying steam in the operation of an emergency war mining project in Eastern Canada.
Photo Credit
Loading iron ore into Canadian National cars at an emergency war mining project in Eastern Canada for transport to the steel mills at Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, where it is made into plates for ships, rails, billets for guns, tanks, shells, bombs and other war weapons.
Photo Credit
A trainload of iron ore at a Canadian National station in Eastern Canada en-route from an emergency war mining project to the steel mills at Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, where it is made into plates for ships, rails, billets for guns, tanks, shells, bombs and other war weapons. These cars have a capacity of sixty-five tons but due to the weigh...
A trainload of iron ore at a Canadian National station in Eastern Canada en-route from an emergency war mining project to the steel mills at Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, where it is made into plates for ships, rails, billets for guns, tanks, shells, bombs and other war weapons. These cars have a capacity of sixty-five tons but due to the weight of the ore a full load only fills half a car.
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"Air conditioned" trolley used in transporting workers to and from a war emergency iron mining project in Eastern Canada.
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One of Canada's largest steel industries is located at Sydney, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. In close proximity are huge deposits of coal. Ore comes from the Wabana mines in Newfoundland. At night the red glow from the blast furnaces lights up the surrounding district, suggesting a scene from some inferno.
Photo Credit
Loading iron ore which has been blasted from an entire hill of the same in Eastern Canada.
Kristy von Moos
Kristy von Moos is the Digital Content Officer at Ingenium. Kristy has a BA in History and Philosophy from St. Thomas University, and an MA in Public History from Carleton University. She has worked with cultural media, research, and virtual exhibit companies, and enjoys bringing history, education, and technology together.
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