Malagash Salt Miners' Museum
Malagash, Nova Scotia

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The First Rock Salt Mine in Canada
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TRANSCRIPT

So when the railway opened in I think late 20's, 1920's or whatever, so how far did you say that track went, that actually shipped from the mine to the wharf?

No it went down to the wharf and there was what you call a 'spur' line into the wharf, so you could take salt box cars and load salt over at the wharf; but it went right out to Malagash Station and about 8 miles.

Where did they ship from there? You said it was going to Newfoundland?

Oh yes it would go to Newfoundland, yes and New England. Some of the New England states started buying salt and some of it went down by ship, and some of it went by ship to Newfoundland to.

So you had the two ways of shipping the railway and the shipping?

Yes.

Ok. Where there any passenger trains at all used on the railway or was it just for the salt?

No just for the salt. But in the wintertime, when the roads was all blocked, messed up; back in those days you didn't have all these snow ploughs and then in the spring of the year, even when I started working in the mine, it was axel deep and for weeks you couldn't get out over it. I've seen a tractor get stuck in the middle of the road lots of times. But they used the train. If somebody had to go, we had a doctor here to, which was a mine doctor, just up the highway a little bit. So we had our own doctor. But if somebody had to go get groceries they could give the engineer the grocery list and whatever you needed, and the train would make a special trip out for a lot of people, to get their groceries.

 

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