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1873 Gisborne / Hill Mining Map and Chart of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia
CapeBretonIsland-gisbornehill-1873$1,100.00
Title
Cape Breton Nova Scotia.
1873 (dated) 32.75 x 28.25 in (83.185 x 71.755 cm) 1 : 300000
1873 (dated) 32.75 x 28.25 in (83.185 x 71.755 cm) 1 : 300000
Description
A scarce and historically significant 1873 map of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, prepared by Frederic Newton Gisborne and Albert J. Hill. Aside from mapping the island, a feat in itself, it is significant for reflecting the development of fossil fuel industries and railways there.
A Closer Look
The map displays the entirety of Cape Breton Island, along with a portion of mainland Nova Scotia. The locations of coal mines are shaded in dark grey, while the presence of other natural resources (petroleum, gold, plaster, marble) is indicated as noted in the legend at bottom-right. Railways in operation and proposed are traced throughout. Primarily intended to serve mines, the shorter of these would have been narrow-gauge lines. Insets map the harbors of Sydney and Louisburg, while a general chart maps the coast of the northeastern United States and Canada, and a table of distances at bottom-left logs the distance between Sydney and points in Canada, the U.S., and Europe. On the water, soundings, anchorages, lighthouses, telegraph lines, shipping lines, and shoals are all recorded. A mine just east of Sydney is named Gisborne, after one of the makers of this map, an accomplished telegraph and mining entrepreneur. However, despite ample coal deposits, the mine and others like it were hurt by the economic depression of the 1870s.King Coal
The history of Cape Breton Island has been closely tied to the coal industry and to a lesser extent, petroleum. The island's native Mi'kmaq inhabitants utilized coal, so abundant that it was easily found at the surface, as fuel, as did early French settlers, who established a fort and settlement at Louisburg in the early 18th century. After the British gained control of the island in 1763 (at the conclusion of the Seven Years' War), coal mining expanded significantly. The island took on economic and strategic significance, leading to its being the site of two battles during the American Revolution. In addition to the Mi'kmaq and French, a variety of peoples have settled on the island and worked in its underground mines (collieries), including Acadia refugees, Loyalists to the British Crown following the American Revolution, and Scottish Highlanders. Soon after this map's production, at the turn of the 20th century, coal production peaked on the island, but this period also saw bitter labor disputes. Over the course of the 20th century, mining operations decreased, with the last coal mine at Pt. Aconi, north of Sydney, closing in 2001.Publication History and Census
This map was prepared by civil engineers Frederic Newton Gisborne and Albert J. Hill and printed by George Desbarats in Montreal in 1873. Maps of Cape Breton Island are notoriously hard to find, and the present map is no exception, only being noted among the holdings of the Bibliothèque de Genève and the Musée de l'Amérique Francophone (managed by the Musée de la Civilisation).CartographerS
Frederic Newton Gisborne (March 8, 1824 - August 30, 1892) was a British engineer, electrician, and inventor. Born in Broughton, England, he had settled in Canada by 1845 and developed an expertise in telegraphy and electricity, coming to manage the lines in Halifax and throughout Nova Scotia. He was responsible for laying the first deep-sea cable in North American waters, between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, in 1852. He became an associate of Cyrus W. Field, an early champion of transatlantic telegraphy, and was noted for a number of inventions that improved the operation of undersea telegraphs. Gisborne was then (in 1854) appointed chief engineer of the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company, which was founded to allow Field to acquire Gisborne’s telegraph interests and rights in Newfoundland. Though the company helped Field complete the first transatlantic cable in 1858, he and Gisborne had had a falling out in 1856 and Gisborne left the New York, Newfoundland and London Telegraph Company. Gisborne then turned his attention to mining, setting up companies (typically financed in London) to mine gold and coal in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Gisborne invested heavily in coal mines on Cape Breton Island from 1869, but his timing was unfortunate as the global economic depression starting in 1873 reduced demand for coal and he lost a significant amount of money. Nearly broke, Gisborne returned to telegraphy when the Canadian government offered him the job of superintendent of the dominion telegraph and signal service, a job for which he was very qualified. Following a life of dramatic ups and downs, Gisborne held this relatively quiet and stable position until his death. More by this mapmaker...
Albert James Hill (April 7, 1836 - November 26, 1918), generally known as A.J. Hill, was an esteemed Canadian land surveyor and civil engineer who was closely associated with railways. Aside from being born on Cape Breton Island, other details of his life are obscure. He may have been a relation of Canadian railway magnate James Jerome Hill (1838 - 1916). In any event, he was a prominent surveyor on the Canadian Pacific Railway and New Westminster Southern Railway, as well as a provincial land surveyor, in the course of his career. He also served as a director of the Coquitlam Water Works Company in British Columbia and became involved in local politics. Learn More...
George-Édouard-Amable Desbarats (April 5, 1838 - February 18, 1893) was a Canadian lawyer, printer, inventor, and publisher. He was born in Quebec, the son of a Montreal printer with a crown mandate. From 1846 to 1851, he attended the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1852, he transferred to the Collège Sainte-Marie, Montreal, to finish his secondary studies. He then studied law at Université Laval. After attaining his degree, he took a Grand Tour of Europe. Returning to Canada, he began working under his father in the Ottawa firm of 'Desbarats et Derbishire'. His partner Malcolm Cameron, who replaced Stewart Derbishire after his 1863 death, became the new Queen's Printer. The firm produced a rich corpus of literary, historical, religious, biographical, and scientific works. The Ottawa firm suffered arson in 1863, and the Desbarats Block building, containing the firm's precious printing and engraving equipment, burnt to the ground. In 1864, upon his father's death, he inherited the business and became co-queen's printer for the Province of Canada. Around this time, Desbarats relocated to Montreal, where he partnered with William Augustus Leggo (1830 - 1915). In 1869, he was made the first official printer of the Dominion of Canada. Finding it challenging to run businesses in both Ottawa and Montreal, he gave up the Ottawa portion of the business and settled fully in Montreal. Inspired by U.S. publications like Harper's Weekly and Frank Leslie's Illustrated News, he founded the Canadian Illustrated News. The graphic magazine benefited from Leggo's photo-engraving process (leggotype), which allowed for the fast reproduction of line drawings. In 1873, having found some success, the duo went on to found the New York Daily Graphic, the world's first illustrated daily. The expensive venture proved financially disastrous, driving Desbarats into insolvency. He never fully recovered but did open a small boutique press in Montreal, which he eventually passed on to three of his sons. Learn More...
Condition
Very good. Slight wear on old fold lines, with reinforcement at some fold intersections.
References
OCLC 1040328125. Musée de la civilisation SME-Fonds Séminaire de Québec / SME15-La collection de cartes et plans / S-29.