Origin   Evolution   Hockeyists   Windsor

Birthplace
Overview

T.C. Haliburton's
NS c1800
Overview
NS 1st Historian
Windsor
King's College
Hurley on Long Pond
TCH's Long Pond
Clifton Grove
Waterways
Railway
Windsor Gypsum
Bluenose
Why He Wrote
Wise Saws
Bibliography
Works Online
Sam Slick's Words

Related Pages
Acadians
Rhode Island to NS
MacMechan Hist/Stat
Chittick Hist/Stat
TCH Explains Hist/Stat
Alexander Meets TCH

Thomas Chandler Haliburton's Windsor - 1829
From - An Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia by T. C. Haliburton

Gypsum Quarry Near Windsor

"...The chief trade of Windsor consists of the exportation of Plaister of Paris or Gypsum, to St, John and St. Andrew's, in New Brunswick; from whence it is transported to the United States, and applied to agricultural purposes, This fossil is found in the western part of Nova-Scotia [Nova Scotia], but commencing in Falmouth, occurs in various places in the midland and eastern sections, and also in the Island of Cape Breton. In the County of Hants, and particularly in Windsor and Newport, it exists in greatest profusion. It protrudes itself in Windsor in many places above the surface; on the north side of the St. Croix it rises into a high mural precipice for several miles, and in Newport it forms one continued ridge through the centre of that extensive peninsula, enclosed by the St. Croix and Kenetcook. In all these places it is accompanied and often intermingled with lime-stone, to which it bears a strong affinity, the one being a sulphate and the other a carbonate of lime, The ground where it occurs is generally much broken, and abounds with deep circular cavities, known by the Miners, under the name of "kettle holes," in which the bones of animals and the skeletons of Indians have sometimes been found, who had falled into these caverns, and were unable to extricate themselves from their prison.

This fossil is by no means a solid body, and is seldom found in any great extent in a compact form, or unbroken strata of pure gypsum. Large veins of loam are scattered through the rocks, and a red and blue clay, with layers of lime. It is quarried by the aid of gunpowder, and broken into suitable sizes for exportation, by a pick-axe. As it enters so largely into the composition of the soil, its inulility 1 as a manure, in Nova-Scotia [Nova Scotia], has been assumed by practical farmers, although no regular experiments have ever been instituted to ascertain its effects. In the United States its value has long been known; and nearly one hundred thousand tons have been annually exported from different parts of the Province to that country.

"The manner in which it operates on vegetation remains enveloped in mystery, By some its efficacy is attributed to its power of accelerating purification; and by others, to its absorbing moisture and imparting it to the soil; while many ascribe it to the valuable nutriment it affords to plants. Perhaps its extraordinary powers may be justly inferred, from a union of these several known peculiarities, than to the agency of any one in particular. Besides gypsum and limestone, this township contains freestone; and indications of coal have been discovered near the south mountain.

Next Page

  Origin   Evolution   Hockeyists   Windsor   Home   Site Map   Contact   Links   ©