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HISTORY of BASS
RIVER, NOVA SCOTIA _________________________ Based on:
1.
History of Founders of Bass River, by J. Currie Creelman, written
in 1935;
2.
History of Bass River, produced by the Women’s Institute
of Bass River in 1955, and revised in 1978 by the Bass River Senior
Citizens Club;
3.
History of Bass River, by Marion R. Davidson, written for the Centenary
Edition, Truro Weekly News, June 29, 1967;
4.
Book entitled “Sawpower”
by Barbara R. Robertson, 1986.
About five years after the settlement of Colchester County by English
speaking colonists in 1759-60, there came to the Province a young Irish
Surveyor, James Fulton. For five
years, he had lived and worked in the American colonies but, learning of a new
unsettled country which presented great opportunities for a young, ambitious
land surveyor, he decided to go to Nova Scotia.
At age twenty, he had left Belfast, Ireland, and now, aged twenty-five,
he arrived in Nova Scotia and immediately found work as a surveyor.
As part compensation for his labours, James Fulton chose land in
Londonderry Township, in the district now known as Bass River.
His grant was for 2,154 acres and extended from the Little River, near
which is now located the Riverside United Church at Bass River, east towards
Portaupique about one and one-half miles, and north about three miles from the
shore of Cobequid Bay to the base line, at or about the foot of the Cobequid
Mountains.
His first house was built on the East side and near the mouth of Bass
River, between the bank of the River and the house which in 1935 was owned by
Edson Fulton but, now (1987), owned by Floyd McIntosh. James Fulton’s second house was across the road from that
property, and his third house is the one lived in by Edson Fulton in 1935.
The homestead remained in the hands of Judge James Fulton and his
descendants for one hundred and eighty years, being sold by Edson in 1945 to
Wilfred Corbett. It had passed down
from Judge James Fulton to his son David, known as Squire David, to his son
Thomas B., to John D. the son of Thomas B., and to Edson, the great, great
grandson of the Judge.
In 1770, James Fulton married Margaret Campbell of Folly Village and they
became the parents of fifteen children, thirteen of whom grew up and married.
He was at one time representative for the area in the House of Assembly,
known at that time as Halifax County and which included Halifax, Pictou and
Colchester Counties. Later, he was appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas
and, since then, Bass River’s first settler has been known as Judge James
Fulton. He died September 25, 1826,
aged eighty-seven years, and his wife died August 12, 1833.
They had 107 grandchildren and, as some of his brothers also had fairly
large families, you can understand why the Fulton name soon spread over
Colchester County. In the 1870’s,
Fulton was the third most common name in the county, being beaten out only by
the name McKay in second place and the name Crowe in first place.
Glowing reports, evidently, were sent home to Ireland and of the seven
brothers and one sister in the family - five brothers and the sister eventually
settled in Nova Scotia. Three
brothers, Samuel, John and Thomas, had followed Judge James within a few years,
but the fourth brother Francis, came as an old man in 1819 with his wife and
family and some grandchildren- a daughter married to Robert Starritt and his son
John married to his first cousin, Sarah Crawford.
Francis also had one unmarried son and two unmarried daughters on his
arrival. The sister, Sarah, Mrs. James Crawford, came at or about the same time
with an unmarried son and two unmarried daughters.
The Judge’s brother Samuel arrived in 1769, and his wife, Mary Boggs,
was the first English-speaking woman to live in Bass River.
Samuel settled on the west side of the Bass River, across from Judge
James Fulton’s homestead and probably less than one half-mile from the present
site of the Lighthouse at Bass River. Samuel’s
grant extended from the Little River, near the United Church at Bass River, west
to the Londonderry Township Line, at the bounds of present day Little Bass River
and Upper Economy. Samuel and his
wife had eight children.
Another brother of the Judge, John, settled at Portaupique on the West
side of the Portaupique River, where Darrell Fletcher, in 1987, resides.
John never married.
The third brother, Thomas, after arriving in Nova Scotia, decided to
settle in Cumberland County. Today,
many of the Fulton descendants around the Wallace area trace their line back to
Thomas. One son if Thomas, John the
“Comber” as he was known, returned to Colchester County and settled at
Economy, and there are descendants of his in the Bass River area at the present
time.
An interesting story about one of the early settlers of Castlereagh
appears in all the accounts of Castlereagh and deserves, I believe, to be
repeated here. Daniel Robinson, a
youthful settler in Castlereagh, was married
at the Hamilton farm
(formerly owned
by
John Fulton)
in
Portaupique. When the bride
and groom started for their new home in Castlereagh after the wedding, they were
both riding on the one horse. On
crossing a brook now known as Robinson’s Brook, near their home, somehow they
lost in the brook the live coals they were carrying to light the fire in their
cabin. Darkness had overtaken them
by this time, but there was no use in proceeding any further without means of
lighting a fire. So what did they
decide to do? The bride dismounted
and seated herself on a nearby log, to wait in the darkness until the groom on
horseback retraced their steps the five miles to Portaupique for a new supply of
coals. Whatever trials and
tribulations the bride may have suffered in later years, she probably thought
they were no worse than her experience that first night.
Another story found in the 1955 History of Bass River and repeated in the
1978 edition recalls an experience of the Judge’s brother Samuel and his boys.
“Two of Samuel’s boys had gone for a Sunday visit to a neighbour’s
house. When they failed to return
at the time they were expected, Samuel set out to bring them home. He soon espied the children among the limbs of a spruce tree,
at the foot of which sat a year-old bear. With
his back towards the father and intent on watching the frightened boys, young
Bruin knew nothing of
Samuel’s
proximity until
he
was rudely
bowled over
by a blow from Samuel’s heavily-shod foot.
Before the bear could recover from the blow, Samuel grabbed his hind foot
and dragged him ignominiously to the farm. Here, he was put in a storage bin, kept there until Monday
morning and then unceremoniously slain. Samuel’s
conscientious objection to doing any unnecessary work on the Sabbath gave
mischievous Bruin a Sunday night in which to reflect on his folly”
For many years after 1770, the two Fulton families had no neighbours
nearer than Economy on the west and Portaupique on the east. The Davisons and Fletchers were among those at Portaupique,
while at Economy, the Hills, Crowes and McLaughlins arrived at about the same
time as the Fultons in Bass River.
Lumbering
For about the first 50-60 years, the main industries of Londonderry
Township, which included Bass River, were farming and fishing and, later,
lumbering. At first, the gathering
of timber and its processing was almost all done by hand with the help of oxen.
Gradually methods were devised for more efficient processing of the
timber and its transportation.
By the 1820’s some more specialized machines began to be used for
making of barrel staves. The shad
procured from the bay necessitated the making of many barrels for processing and
storing.
In time, the use of water power for mills was begun both for sawmills and
grist mills. As shipbuilding grew,
the need for more timber increased and stock near the salt water was rapidly
being diminished. How was the
timber to be brought to the wharves and building sites?
Rivers were used for river drives for many years.
One method of transportation used in the Bass River area was quite
unique- the Pole Railway. Silica
Before 1895, Alex McPherson and Company, of Oxford, N.S., was producing a
steam engine designed to run on wood rails. - 4” x 4” or 4” x 6”.
A Bass River company, “The Fossil Flour Company”, purchased such an
engine to run their tram line seven miles between the Bass River Lake, or Silica
Lake as it is locally known, at Castlereagh and the village of Bass River,
ending its trip at salt water at Saint’s Rest.
The “fossil flour” or powdered silica was recovered from Silica Lake,
processed at the Company plant at Castlereagh, and transported over the pole
railway to Bass River before being shipped to the United States.
On June 28, 1985, the first trip on this railway took place - the four
cars and engine carrying ninety people on an excursion to celebrate the event.
Seventy-two years later, the Centenary edition of the Truro Weekly News,
June 29, 1967, had a detailed write-up of all that day’s happenings, including
a poem written for the occasion by the late Robert S. Fulton, of Castlereagh.
Many notables were included in the ninety persons, including a Member of
Parliament, W.P. Dimock, Clergy, doctors, editor, a band and a photographer,
with many ladies included. This
Pole Railway was designed to carry minerals but others built at about the same
time were designed to haul lumber, some used horses for power, others the Oxford
engine and various other types of steam locomotives.
The flanged wheels traveled on pole rails, sawn wood rails, and steel
rails. They were used as far away
as British Columbia, Tennessee, and Oregon.
The Bass River Pole Railway would handle four loaded cars, two before and
two behind the engine.
The Fossil Flour Company, unfortunately, had rather a limited life.
In 1905, the plant was destroyed by fire and a new company was formed
with C.C. McNeill and A.M. Hingley, both of Oxford, Nova Scotia, as principal
shareholders. It was named the
Oxford Tripoli Company Limited with Mr. D.S. Collins as President.
Shortly after the new Company commenced operations they changed their
shipping point from the Saint’s Rest wharf to Thompson Station via the
Intercolonial Railway. Later in the
year, the Company ceased operation.
At the time, there were many uses for the silica “flour”, one of the
chief ones being silver polish, and another use was in the manufacture of
rubber. Some of the largest rubber
companies in the world were customers - namely, such well-known firms as
Goodrich, Goodyear and the U.S. Rubber Company. Mills
The first sawmill we know of was built at Little Bass River around 1845.
We have a property transfer dated 1830 for a saw mill at Portaupique, so
this 1845 date is questionable. The
Little Bass River mill had its machinery all made of wood except the saw.
The lumber was sawn with the old up-and-down saw and was then taken to
the edger to be edged. When there
was a heavy run of water in the spring, the mill operated twenty-four hours a
day. Lumber was used in the
construction of ships at Little Bass River.
Early owners were Fultons, Creelmans, and Lewis’.
At about the same time as the first sawmills, grist mills were being
built at Economy, Bass River and Portaupique. Shipbuilding
In the Confederation Year of 1867 shipbuilding commenced at Bass River.
On November 27, 1867, the 500-ton brig Jos. Howe was launched at
the junction of the “Little River and the Bass River”, at what is known as
the Salmon Hole. The Jos. Howe was
built by Jerry L. Spencer of Great Village.
The Depositor was built at Little Bass River by Robert Lewis and
others. She was a double decker,
240 feet long, with a 45-foot beam. She
was launched in July 1884. Her
cargo was lumber for overseas, and her Captain was Capt. Telfer.
Others built at Little Bass River were Goldstream, Compier,
Cashier, M.J. Kenney, and the Modoc.
The last ship built in the area was the Minas King, a three-masted
schooner of about 500 tons, built at Little Bass River in 1918 by J.S. Creelman
and others. Chair
Making
In 1965, Bass River celebrated the 200th Anniversary of the founding of
the village. For 105 years, chair
making had been its lifeline.
In 1860, George and William Fulton, great grandsons of Judge James
Fulton, started a little wood-working business at George’s home on Maple
Avenue, Bass River. They both had
been born in Stewiacke where the Judge’s son, George, had settled after his
marriage to Esther Creelman. William
left Bass River for Truro in a few years but George stuck it out.
In 1875 a Joint Stock Company was formed, called the Union Furniture and
Merchandise Company,
and, in 1903,
it became the
Dominion
Chair Company
Limited.
Plagued by adversity, their factory down the years was five times
completely destroyed by fire - the first time in 1885, then in 1892, 1909, 1940
and 1948.
In 1985, the 125th Anniversary year, the business was reorganized with a
new owner and is now known as the Dominion Chair Company (1985) Limited.
The hardwood furniture produced there is second to none. The Board Room of the Colchester Historical Society, Truro,
which was officially opened in February of this year, is furnished with a new
table and chair set, made at Bass River, that in workmanship and appearance
certainly proves that the (1985) Company inherits the furniture-making ability
of “Chairmaker” George. Education
The first indication of a school in Bass River is found in the Island
Cemetery located on a knoll in the marsh just below Judge Fulton’s former
home. There is a stone there with
the inscription, “John McLean. Died 1790.
The original stone replaced by Bass River Women’s Institute in 1967.”
The 1955 History of Bass River states he was a native of Ireland - the
first teacher and the first person buried in the Island Cemetery.
Some of the first generations of Fultons are also buried in this
Cemetery.
Up until the first part of the 1800’s, school was taught in private
homes. Around 1825 there was a
school house built near the bank where Mrs. Henry Starritt’s house now stands,
within a few yards of Riverside United Church.
Some twenty-five years later, the little “Red” Schoolhouse was built
on the east side of Maple Avenue - a couple of hundred yards from the
intersection of Maple Avenue with Highway No. 2.
This building was used until the Free School Act of 1866 came into force,
when this building was condemned and a new building was necessary.
A larger school was built just north of the present Baptist Cemetery, and
the site of that school was given by Mrs. Lillian (Thompson) Hill a few years
ago to the Cemetery Association. The
School Register at that School at times carried the names of over one hundred
scholars and sixty or seventy would sometimes be crowded into this school house.
Everything from the A, B, C’s to Navigation was taught, except the
classics. Ambitious sailors from
Five Islands to Londonderry came to that school to study navigation, big husky
men, so large the seats could not hold them and they sat on their desks with
their feet and legs out in the aisles.
At this time the School Section extended from the east side of Little
Bass River to a line on Portaupique Mountain just past the Davidson dairy farm.
The Section, in 1885, was divided and another School built at Little Bass
River and one at Portaupique Mountain.
The Bass River School was burned in 1893 and was replaced by a two-room
school on the same site. In 1911,
the second building burned and a new site was chosen nearer the center of the
village. At first, only two rooms
were needed but, eventually, four rooms were in use with a second storey added
and classes taught up to and including Grade XII.
On August 9, 1960, Senator J.G. Colhoun, Mayor of Londonderry, Ireland,
turned the first sod at the site of a new Rural High School for the Bass River
district. The site was in Mayflower
Park where so many community picnics have been held over the years and also many
contests between the Bass River baseball teams and those from surrounding towns
and villages.
In September, 1961, a fine new High School was ready for Grades ten to
twelve, with an Industrial Arts department, Household Economics department and
Physical Education department, and, later, Grade nine also attended this School,
which included the High School students from Londonderry to Five Islands.
In 1970, when the Cobequid Educational Center, Truro, was opened,
progress again overwhelmed us and Grades ten, eleven and twelve were moved to
Truro, resulting in a daily round trip of approximately ninety miles for those
students living as far away as Five Islands.
When the higher Grades were moved into Truro and with the closing of
Elementary Schools in the surrounding area, the former High School has been used
as a Junior High School and, just the past year, it has been necessary to move
Grade V also there. Additional rooms have been added to the former four-room
Elementary School and the children from Primary to Grade four attend classes
there. Riverside
United Church, Bass River
The first Church building built in Bass River was the Riverside
Presbyterian Church. In 1865, land
given the congregation by Samuel James Fulton, a grandson of Samuel, Judge
Fulton’s brother, and, on April 22, 1868, the new building was dedicated. At a later date, the steeple and Christian Endeavour Hall
were added.
Before the Church was built, services were held in private homes, the
schoolhouse, and, once at least, the service was held in Joseph Vance’s barn.
In 1873, the Lower Londonderry charge was divided into Great Village and
Riverside-Portaupique. Rev. A.L.
Wyllie continued to minister at Great Village and Rev. Alexander Cameron was
called to the Riverside-Portaupique charge, being inducted in the Portaupique
Church, July 15, 1873.
Rev. Mr. Cameron was succeeded in 1889 by Rev. W.H. Ness. It was Mr. Ness who saw the need and a Church was built at
Castlereagh in 1891.
With Church Union in 1925, Riverside Presbyterian Church became Riverside
United Church. With the
Presbyterian Church in Portaupique continuing to be used by Presbyterians, a new
smaller United Church was built in that community.
On July 1, 1963, another change took place.
The Bass River-Portaupique Pastoral Charge and the Economy-Five Islands
Pastoral Charge of the United Church of Canada amalgamated to become a single
Charge and to be known as the Cobequid Pastoral Charge.
The first minister of the new Charge was Rev. Gordon C. Pringle.
In 1955 and again in 1980 extensive changes were made in the Church
building at Bass River. The 90th
Anniversary celebrations in 1955 were held in the newly redecorated edifice.
In 1980, the Christian Endeavour Hall was torn down, the Church building
was raised and a modern basement built under the Church building containing
space for Sunday School classes, meetings and social events, and also modern
kitchen facilities. The present
minister (1987) is Rev. Margaret Outerbridge. United
Baptist Church, Bass River
The Baptists in the Bass River area first worshiped in Portaupique, the
Church being established there in 1842. The
General Association of the Baptist Church met in the new Meeting House in
September 1842. Rev. Charles Tupper
of Amherst, the father of Sir Charles Tupper, on visiting the area in 1841 was
largely instrumental in organizing the new congregation.
The first three deacons in 1842-43 were David Jenks, George Davison and
Thomas Fulton. The first settled
minister was Rev. J.E. Cogswell.
As the center of population gradually moved to Bass River, the necessity
arose for a Church home there. In
1889, a parsonage was built and occupied about November 1, 1889.
In 1892, the present Baptist Church at Bass River was opened.
Of interest to many, the first wedding in the new Church was that of
Agnes Fulton and Charles Robinson Thompson, on September 25, 1895. They are the parents of Mrs. Robie Hill, Maple Avenue, Bass
River, who this year will be eighty-seven years young.
On June 1, 1898, it was unanimously agreed to change the name of the
Church from Portaupique Baptist Church to Bass River Baptist Church.
On January 1, 1905 or 1906, the name of the congregation was changed from
Bass River Baptist Church to the present name of Bass River United Baptist
Church. The present minister (1987)
is Rev. Ronald Johnson. Church
of the Nazarene, Bass River
The first public meeting of the congregation was held in the Autumn of
1931 in the Good Templars Hall.
On August 4, 1936, the congregation was organized and the Jotham Fulton
property on the Main highway was purchased, remodelled, and used for services
until 1944, when the present Church was opened for services, the former
Presbyterian Church at Economy having been purchased in 1943, torn down, and the
material used in constructing the new building.
The pulpit and pews in use are those brought from the old Presbyterian
Church in Economy. Following Church
Union in 1925, the “Continuing Presbyterians” used this Church for a number
of years with the former Congregational Church in Economy becoming the United
Church. Of recent years, the
Nazarene Church in Bass River has not had a resident pastor but services are
being held there by the Truro minister. St.
Luke’s Anglican Church, Bass River
Commencing in 1951, Anglican services were held for three years in
private homes. On April 26, 1954,
Rt. Rev. R.H. Waterman, Lord Bishop of Nova Scotia, dedicated the new building.
The first Wardens were Ernest Fisher and Logan D. Lewis;
Secretary-Treasurer, Mrs. M.E. Gilbert; Organist - Mrs. F.R. Creelman.
As Bass River is part of the Parish of Londonderry, the Rector of that
Parish conducted the services at Bass River for a number of years and, in 1954,
the Rector was Rev. J.A. Willett. After
a reorganization of the Parish, the present Rector of St. George’s Church.
Bible Hill, Truro, Rev. Dana Dean, holds weekly services in St. Luke’s
Anglican Church, Bass River. Other
Early Settlers at Bass River
The late James Starratt Creelman, or “J.S.” as he was often called,
who was for a long time Managing Director of the Dominion Chair Company Limited,
was the grandson of George Creelman and Sarah Jane (Davison) Creelman who
settled at Bass River. J.S. was the
sixth generation of Creelmans in Colchester County.
Also Francis Creelman, fifth son of Samuel Creelman and Mary (Campbell)
Creelman, married Esther Fulton, daughter of John Fulton and Esther Crowe, of
Bass River, and settled there. The
late J. Currie Creelman, who wrote the 1935 History of Bass River, was grandson
of this Francis. Tupper Creelman
came from Stewiacke and was the carpenter in charge of building the present
United Church at Bass River. Samuel
Creelman, Tupper’s brother, also came and worked on the building of the
Church. These men with their
families remained here.
John and James Lewis came from Scotland in 1830 and landed at Saint John.
They were shoemakers in the Old Country and they commenced to look for a
suitable location for a boot and shoe factory in the New Country.
They came by boat into the Bay of Fundy and settled at Upper Economy at
the place now occupied by Mrs. Mary Priest - the granddaughter of the late
Albert Lewis.
Later, John’s wife came out from Scotland with his parents, his two
sisters and also two brothers, Samuel and George.
George became the grandfather of Mrs. Grace Creelman of Truro, Mrs Pearl
McCurdy of Old Barns, and Mrs. Helen Fletcher of Bass River, and others, and has
many descendants in the area. Robert
Lewis, another brother, bought a sawmill and grist mill at Little Bass River and
his brother James operated both for a short time.
Later, the Lewis brothers went into shipbuilding.
Samuel Lewis married Margaret Ann Hill and they had three sons and two
daughters. Thus began the Lewis
Families of Bass River and Economy.
The first Vances came out from Northern Ireland and settled in Great
Village. Some of their family
settled at Masstown and some in Lower Londonderry, and many descendants still
live in Bass River.
The Davison/Davidsons were of Scottish descent but came to Nova Scotia
from Northern Ireland. The first to
come out was William Davison from Londonderry, Ireland, in 1762.
On September 12, 1766, he was married to Miss Jane Fletcher in St.
Paul’s Anglican Church, Halifax. They
had four sons and two daughters - William, Thomas, Samuel, David, and Nancy or
Agnes and Jane. He married the
second time, Susannah Vance, daughter of David and Isabella Vance and they had
two children - Robert and Isabella. Many
descendants are still in the area.
The McLellans came from Northern Ireland and from the Isle of Man and
founded the McLellan families here, and in Economy.
McLaughins, too, were early settlers here.
William McLaughin, known as “Little Mac” came from Northern Ireland
as a farm apprentice. He married
Esther Husher and their family consisted of Nelson, Wellington, John William,
David and Joseph, and daughters Catherine and Jane.
There were other McLaughin families who settled in the Economy-Pleasant
Hills area and descendants of both these McLaughin families still reside here.
The Corbetts now living in Bass River are descendants of early Corbett
settlers of Five Islands.
The Mahon family came from Great Village.
The first Mahon to settle here married a daughter of Isaac Fulton.
His son Josiah or “Josie” as he was known built the large farm house
later occupied by the late Stanley Fulton.
The house burned and the property is now owned by Alfred Thompson, with
Mrs. Stanley Fulton retaining another smaller house on the property for her
home. There are no Mahons now
residing in Bass River, the family having moved to Truro a few years ago.
Other early arrivals were people with the names, Lank, Fisher ( the
ancestor of our poet - the late Ed Fisher - and of Ed’s brother Mayhew, who
for many years operated a blacksmith here), Culgin, Thompson, Rutherford,
MacDonald, Carr, Munroe, and Card. When
the Chair factory was built in Bass River, many new people came to seek
employment and made their homes here.
Some other early settlers at Castlereagh besides the Fultons and
Starritts, were Gambles, Grues, Cooks, and Wilsons. Early
Life in Bass River
Fish were very plentiful in Cobequid Bay and Bass River derived its name
from the many bass caught in the river and bay.
Later, shad were very plentiful and were caught by means of boats and
nets and also in weirs. In earlier
years, many boats could be seen fishing in the Bay during high water.
At the present time, little fishing is done in the Bass River area.
In early days flax was grown and clothing, sheets, towels, tablecloths
and other lines were made from
the home-manufactured flax.
The manufacture of flax by hand was quite a process.
The flax was cut and spread in the fields and the fibre rotted by wetting
and turning. It was then broken,
scutched and hackled with special implements used for that purpose.
The women then spun it into thread on small spinning wheels, and it was
then woven into cloth for tablecloths, sheets, bedspreads and towels on a large
wooden loom. Several homes in Bass
River still have one or two of these home-woven articles and, I might add, that
my wife, who is a great granddaughter of Robert Starritt and his wife Ann
Fulton, has in her possession one of these white linen tablecloths made in
Castlereagh.
Soap, too, as well as candles were homemade in those early times.
Farming was done by teams of oxen - a slow method - and the land was
broken and cleared with the help of these oxen.
Later, they were replaced by horses and, now, horses for the most part
have been replaced by tractors and other machines.
The horses one sees today are mainly kept by “hobby” farmers, used
for riding and as show horses to be shown at Agricultural Fairs, and perhaps,
occasionally some are used for other purposes such as winter straw rides.
The first road in Bass River came from Portaupique Mountain, went down to
Birch Hill and passed in front of Judge Fulton’s “Old Homestead”.
It followed the bank, then went down on the marsh and forded the river
there, and went up the hill and through Little Bass River passing nearer to the
shore than the present highway. The
road branched off near Vance’s Crossing and ran out what is now known as the
Edgewood Road as far as the home of Mrs. James Starratt.
It is possible, or it was at one time, to continue past the Starratt home
at the end of that road and go through to River Phillip by way of woods road. What is now known as “The Flat” in our village, where the
stores and the Post Office are now located, was then only a swamp and a frog
pond, and a path around it on the top of the bank was used.
The year 1849 was known as the “dry year” when rain did not fall from
April until the fall. During the
dry time a great fire went through the forest toward Portaupique and everything
was burned. Soon after this, the
road was built along the shore. “Firsts”
in Bass River Lodge
- January 7,
1867, Victoria Lodge - Imperial Order of Good Templars Telephone
- It is believed the first telephone was installed in Bass River in the 1880’s. Electricity
- About 1930, residents along the shore were provided with electricity
when the lines were strung along the highway from Truro.
The Dominion Chair Company Limited had electricity for many years, having
their own generating
systems, as did a few of the homes. Post
Office
- The first postmistress was Mrs. Nancy Dickie, sister of Chairmaker
George Fulton. The office was
situated on the north side of the lane leading to Chairmaker George’s home.
At Upper Bass River, the first postmaster was Mr. Amos Fulton and, at
Little Bass River, the family of Mr. George
Lewis had the Post Office for seventy years. Store
- The first store
was operated on Maple Avenue by Mrs. Nancy Dickie, who also kept the Post
Office. About the time of the organization of the Chair factory, Edward Fulton
opened a store in a small building near where the present
Dominion
Chair
Company Store
now
stands. Together
with
the
factory, this formed the
Union Furniture and Merchandise Company. The
present store-office building was erected in 1890. ------------------------------------------ S. Ward Hemeon Bass River,
Nova Scotia April 21, 1987 |