(1889-1966)
Among the first of the Second World War-era female station agents, Bessie Smith’s
first post was at Brookfield Mines in Queens County. She was subsequently station master
at Barrington Passage, Lower Argyle and Hubbards, her last post. She retired at the age of
65. Born in Pleasant River, she came from a railway family; her brother P.C. Smith was
agent at Barrington, and brother Horace Smith agent at Allendale near Lockeport. |
Photograph courtesy
John Smith |
Photo courtesy of
National Library/
Archives of Canada |
(1837-1907)
Born in Lunenburg, Snowball made his personal fortune in New Brunswick, as a lumber
merchant and ship owner. He was a partner with "Boss" Gibson, and together they
built a railway from Fredericton to their woodlots to the north of the city. Their
engineer was a young man named Henry Ketchum. Unsuccessful in politics, Snowball was
appointed to the Senate in 1891 and was later Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick |
(1848-1904)
Born into a wealthy Halifax family, Stairs was raised in the family businesses which
included the Dartmouth Ropeworks, of which he became manager at the age of 21. He was an
MLA for Halifax County, then later twice MP for Halifax (1883-1887 and 1891-1896). It was
during his second term as MP that he pursued the charter for the New Glasgow Iron, Coal
& Railway Co., of which he was president. The company built a 13-mile line from its
steel furnaces at Eureka in Pictou County, to the iron mines near Bridgeville. The line
would later become a pivotal part of the scheme to build a railway from Guysborough. |
Photo courtesy of
National Library/
Archives of Canada |
|
(1837-1918)
Leaving his ancestral home in the Alsace region of France after the war of 1870 with
Germany, Emile Stehelin came to the Weymouth area of Nova Scotia to start a lumbering
business. In order to deliver the lumber to his mill, he built a 17-mile pole railway,
using logs as rails, and a unique locomotive, Maria Teresa (named after his wife)
built by A. Robb & Sons of Amherst. It is said his railway was modelled on the Fossil
Flour Co. line at Castlereagh near Bass River. A series of fires, and the outbreak of the
First World War brought W&NF operation to an end. |
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