Cape Breton Coal Hetitage Geotrail
- Princess Colliery
The Cape Breton Coal Heritage GeoTrail
is a geocaching
trail consisting of fourteen caches within the Cape Breton Regional
Municipality in Nova Scotia. The caches are located at sites of
historic, cultural, or natural significance that highlight unique
aspects of Cape Breton history. Along the GeoTrail, geocachers will
travel two scenic byways: the Colliery Route, and the Marconi
Trail. The South End Community Centre has also partnered with the
Miner’s Museum to place one cache near the Miner’s
Museum. In each cache, geocachers find clues that help them
complete a puzzle in the official Cape Breton Coal Heritage
GeoTrail brochure. Geocachers who complete the entire GeoTrail and
solve the puzzle will receive a commemorative South End Community
Centre Heritage GeoTrail Coin!
Princess
Colliery
Princess Colliery was originally a shaft mine, sunk in 1876 to
the Sydney Main Seam. This corresponds with the Harbour Seam in the
Glace Bay area and the Victoria Seam in the New Waterford district.
The coal shaft, now discontinued as a hoisting shaft, is 684 feet
deep and 13 ft. in diameter. The man shaft, which is still serving
as a return air shaft, is 11 ft. in diameter. Sinking of the shafts
was commenced in 1868, but due to water difficulties the seam was
not reached until 1876.
In
1955 the underground workings at the pit bottom were connected to
the surface by an inclined tunnel pitching at 20 1/4 per cent (l0
deg 26'50".) to the horizontal and 3,445 feet
long.
The
tunnel was developed to hoist coal as well as men and
material.
The
seam averages 5'6" in thickness;
The
workings are entirely submarine, the shaft being located near the
shore.
The
method of working is longwall advancing and on the south side, the
longwalls are completely mechanized, with DOSCO Continuous Miners
cutting and loading the coal onto chain conveyors, and are
supported with steel props of the friction
type.
This
was the first colliery to mine undersea coal to any considerable
extent in the Sydney coal field, and was a pioneer in extracting
the total seam under the sea, this being done from the 800 ft.
cover line onwards.
The
main deep from the shaft bottom is 19,150 feet
long
During its life this colliery has produced a total of
22,351,058 long tons of coal and worked over an area of 6,528
acres.
North Sydney - Sydney Mines
1766
First extraction of coal from exposed seams in
cliffs at Sydney Mines, Cape Breton.
1863
Sydney Mines Colliery opens at Sydney Mines (closed
1962).
Collins Colliery opens at Little Bras
d'Or Bridge, Cape Breton County (closed
1878).
1865
Matheson Colliery opens at Little Bras d'Or Bridge
(small colliery; closed 1869).
1867
Black Rock Colliery opens at Boularderie Island,
Victoria County (small colliery; closed 1872).
1873
Princess Colliery opens at Sydney Mines (closed
1975).
1883
Barachois Colliery opens at Sydney Mines (small
colliery; closed 1886).
1885
Franklin Colliery opens at Bras d'Or (closed
1957).
1895
North Sydney/Indian Cove Colliery opens at North
Sydney (closed 1919).
1896
Greener Colliery opens at Sydney Mines (closed
1963).
1907
Sydney No.2 (Lloyd Cove) Colliery opens at Sydney
Mines (closed 1916).
Colonial Colliery opens at North Sydney
(closed 1958).
1908
Sydney No.1/Princess Colliery opens at Sydney Mines
(closed 1975).
Sydney No.3/Florence Colliery opens at
Sydney Mines (closed 1961)
Sydney No.4/Scotia Colliery opens at
Sydney Mines (closed 1921).
Sydney No.5/Queen Colliery opens at
Sydney Mines (closed 1916).
1909
Colonial No.1 Colliery opens at North Sydney (closed
1958).
Colonial No.2 Colliery opens at North
Sydney (closed 1924).
1918
Colonial No.3 Colliery opens at North Sydney (small
colliery; operated one year only).
Coastal Colliery opens at Point Aconi,
Cape Breton County (small colliery; closed
1922).
1920
Hiawatha Colliery opens at False Bay, Cape Breton
County (small colliery; closed 1921).
Tom Pit Colliery opens at Sydney Mines
(closed 1942).
Jack Pit Colliery opens at Sydney Mines
(small colliery; operated one year only).
Colonial No.4 Colliery opens at North
Sydney (closed 1924).
Colonial No.5 Colliery opens at North
Sydney (small colliery; closed 1923).
1921
Scotia No.7/Alexander Colliery opens at
Sydney Mines (closed 1925).
1922
Barrington Colliery opens at Sydney Mines (small
colliery; closed 1925).
1925
Hartigan Colliery opens at Sydney Mines (small
colliery; operated 1925 and 1929).
1928
Prospect Colliery opens at Sydney Mines (closed
1931).
Harbourside Colliery opens at North
Sydney (closed 1933).
1931
Boularderie Colliery opens at Little
Bras d'Or Bridge (small colliery; operated one year
only).
1932
MacDonald Colliery opens at Sydney Mines
(closed 1934).
1938
Dominion/Devco No.18 Colliery opens at New Waterford
(closed 1966).
Thompson Colliery opens at Sydney Mines
(small colliery; closed 1940).
Black Diamond Colliery opens at Sydney
Mines (small colliery; closed 1940).
Cable break in mine shaft, Sydney Mines;
20 killed.
1940
Tomson Colliery opens at Sydney Mines
(closed 1962).
Sullivan Colliery opens at Sydney Mines
(closed 1946).
1944
Lloyd Cove No.7 Colliery opens at Sydney
Mines (closed 1956).
1957
Atlantic Colliery opens at Bras d'Or (closed
1959).
1974
Strip mining of coal begins at Point Aconi, Cape
Breton County (one year only).
1975
Prince Colliery opens at Point Aconi.
Strip mining of coal begins at Alder Point, Cape
Breton County (one year only).
1980
Point Aconi Colliery opens at Point
Aconi.