>From: "Carolyn Wallace" <[email protected]> >To: "ns roots" <[email protected]> >Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2004 20:07:41 -0400 > > >Eastern Chronicle, New Glasgow, N.S., Thursday, 24 May 1934: > >ROMANTIC DAYS OF THE STAGE COACH > Four to Six Horses Used On Antigonish- > New Glasgow Route > by D.G. Whidden In Antigonish Casket > > The Post Offices and Mail Services of Nova Scotia, which had heretofore > been operated by the Government of Great Britain, were taken over by the > Nova Scotia Government July 6, 1851. > The mail service had been extended from Pictou to Antigonish in 1817, > as a weekly one, and it continued until 1843, except that, from 1841 to > 1843 there had been two mails a week, to and from Halifax, from May to > November. From 1844 to 1852 there were mails twice a week between > Antigonish and Halifax. > In 1852 a contract was entered into with Hiram Hyde, for the carrying > of the mails , semi-weekly, between West River, Pictou County, and > Plaster Cove,(now Port Hastings), and between Antigonish and Guysborough, > at seven hundred and fifty pounds($3,000) per annum. A new contract was > entered into with Hyde, June 1, 1855, for a tri-weekly service, and this > service was owing to Mr. Hyde having gone to England, transferred, > November 1858, to a Mr. Cunard, with Thos. A. Lindsay managing , as he > had done for Mr. Hyde. In 1859 the Sydney County Sessions petitioned the > government for a daily service between West River and Antigonish, and in > June 1860 a contract was given T.S. Lindsay for a daily service between > Antigonish and Plaster Cove and Sydney and between Antigonish and > Guysborough, the entire service becoming a daily one July 1, 1865. > The Postmaster General in his report for the year 1860, said, "The > contract from West River to Sydney is now in the hands of Thomas Lindsay, > who has engaged good, sober, and careful drivers, Forty-six horses, in > good condition are employed in carrying these mails, of which six are > West River to New Glasgow,14 miles; six to French River, 15 miles; six to > Marshy Hope, 14 miles, and six to Antigonish, 11 miles. These mails , I > am happy to be enabled to report are conveyed since they have been in the > hands of the present contractor, with far greater regularly than ever > they were before." > The mails to Antigonish were carried by Mr. Lindsay until 1880, when > those between New Glasgow and Port Mulgrave were carried by the railway > having been completed to Pictou landing. In 1886 New Glasgow became the > junction point on the Truro-Pictou route, and Mr. Lindsay purchased a > number of concord coaches, which had been used between and Pictou, and > put them on the Antigonish-New Glasgow route. Between 1866 and 1880, the > coach between Antigonish and New Glasgow seldom had less than four > horses, and often -------------------and the Strait of Canso two horses > were generally sufficient to carry practically all the passengers and > mails for the whole Island of Cape Breton. > Mr. Lindsay had associated with him, D.D. Harrington and John Morrison; > after his death in 1884, Mr.Harrington had the mail contract between > Monastery station and Guysborough, he removing to Guysborough and Mr. > Morrison , residing in St. Peter's , had the contract between Port > Hawkesbury and Sydney until the railway was built. > Mr. Hyde built a stage barn on the south side of Main Street, a little > east of Court Street, in which, for a time, the post office was located. > Later the office was moved to the building on the southwest corner of > Main and Court Streets, where it remained until about 1887, when it was > removed to the north-west corner of main and college Streets to be > located in the old St. Francis Xavier College, purchased by the Dominion > Government's Public Works Department, this building being replaced by a > handsome brick building in 1906. >(*This being so long I will finish it an another posting.) >xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >Carolyn Wallace ___________________________________________ >nsroots mailing list >[email protected] >http://mailman.ednet.ns.ca/cgi-bin/listinfo/nsroots