Bell Island (Newfoundland)

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Bell Island
Bell Island
Bell Island
Waters Conception Bay, Atlantic Ocean
Geographical location 47 ° 37 '27 "  N , 52 ° 58' 2"  W Coordinates: 47 ° 37 '27 "  N , 52 ° 58' 2"  W.
Bell Island (Newfoundland) (Newfoundland and Labrador)
Bell Island (Newfoundland)
length 10 km
width 3.5 km
surface 29.46 km²
Highest elevation Round Juniper Marsh
233  m
Residents 3000
102 inhabitants / km²
main place Bell Island

Bell Island is an island in Conception Bay , a bay on the Avalon Peninsula in the northeast of the Canadian province of Newfoundland . The island is thus in the North Atlantic . It is 9 by 3 km and has a population of around 3000, many of whom commute to work in St. John's these days .

history

As in all of Conception Bay, the early European inhabitants made their living from seal hunting. In 1848 the Pitt family started a brick factory and the Rees family ran a shipyard in Lance Cove. From 1895 to 1966, iron ore was mined and mostly exported to Europe, although it was continuously controlled by foreign companies that saw no advantage in taking care of the local economy or environmental protection. A merchant from Bristol had already reported about the ore in 1578 . In 1628 members of the Sir John Guy's Colony in Cupids tried to get a prospecting permit after they had sent a consignment from Bell Island to England for the purpose of analysis, but they did not receive a letter of protection.

Loading pier, before 1903

In 1892 the mine went to the Butlers from Topsail, who brought in agents from the New Glasgow Coal, Iron and Railroad Company , later the Nova Scotia Steel and Coal Company . Thomas Cantley, Secretary of the Society, named the mine with the Abenaki word Wabana , which means something like 'place where daylight first appears'. The dismantling began in the summer of 1895. The ore mainly supplied the steel works in Sydney , New Scotland , but was also delivered to the USA and Germany. In 1899, another mining company, the Whitney Company , later the Dominion Steel Corporation , acquired mining rights below the competition's mine in the so-called lower bed. After the ores were mined above sea level, the lower altitudes were attacked from 1905. The Nova Scotia Steel and Coal owned about 32 square miles of submarine territory there, and the Dominion Company about eight. In 1951 they were already working just under 5 km from the coast below sea level. The ceiling of the mine was in places less than 70 m thick. But the First World War was a severe setback for both societies, because Germany, the main customer, suddenly fell out of the way as an enemy. On the other hand, the occupation of the Ruhr by France from 1923 to 1925 led to dramatic oscillations on the ore market, especially the world economic crisis .

In 1920 the British Empire Steel Corporation (BESCO), an industrial conglomerate, took over both companies originally operating on Bell Island. But in 1926 BESCO was bankrupt and the mines were taken over by the National Trust , to which BESCO was massively indebted. In 1930 Dominion Steel Corporation (DOSCO) acquired the facilities from BESCO, but in 1957 AV Roe Canada took over the facilities after quarrels with shareholders. This company later became known as Hawker Sidley Canada .

In 1942, German submarines attacked the island and ore freighters operating in the surrounding waters. With the attacks on St. John's and traces of German activity in Labrador , the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador is the only region in North America to experience combat operations during World War II .

The first of the four mines had to be closed in 1950, the second in 1959, and the third in 1962. The last mine closed in April 1966. A total of 78,989,412 tons of ore were exported. The Submarine Miner newspaper appeared between 1954 and 1959

After the mines closed, many left Bell Island. In 2001 Wabana had 2,679 inhabitants, in 2006 there were still 2,418, the population of Lance Cove fell from 399 to 366 inhabitants. In 2011, however, around 3,000 people still lived on the island, and there are still schools and churches, such as St. Augustine's Elementary School, St. Michael's Regional High or the facilities of the St. Michael's Roman Catholic Parish, established in 1875. Tourism now plays the main role in the economy. To promote this, the island was staged as a mining town, for example by adding large wall paintings with corresponding representations. Mine No 2 was opened to tourists, there were plans to use the tunnels as a crude oil store.

traffic

The island's two ferries in front of Portugal Cove
Post Office, 2016

The island is connected to the mainland by the ferry The Tickle . It runs to Portugal Cove .

Web links

Commons : Bell Island  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. Statistics Canada ( Memento of December 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ).