Evening star., 1925-06-26
MACMILLAN BASE
FAMED IN HISTORY
Nova Scotia Noted for Many
"Firsts" on American
Continent.


Subject of the following communica
-tion to the society from Catherine
Mackenzie, issued as a bulletin from
the organizations headquarters here.
Sydney shares with North Sydney,
opposite, one of the finest ports in
North America, a harbor three miles
wide "a its mouth, five miles long
and having an area of twenty-five
square miles. During the late war
thousands of American troops were
conveyed to France from this port
when even Halifax was temporarily
threatened by submarines.
1t was a garrison town until the
Crimean war, and from that heritage
it has some well-planned streets
two OF them, now Charlotte and
George Streets were once more pic
turesquely Queen Charlotte and
King George.
Settled by British.
Sydney was settled in 1884 by
5000 United Empire Loyalists. 1t
was named in honor of England's s
then Secretary of State upon whose
advice Cape Breton Island was made
a separate province.
Cape Breton Island has the most
extensive coal deposits in Canada,
and the only coal at tidewater on the
Atlantic coast. The Sydneys-there
are three of them: Sydney, North
Sydney and Sydney Mines-are the
center of the great mining and steel
industry which now comprises as
we'll the coal deposits of Pictou and
Cumberland Counties and the steel
plant at New Glasgow.
Doorway to Europe.
Nova Scotia is the most easterly
province of Canada and is all but
surrounded by the sea. Situated far
out in the Atlantic. these coasts were
alike the haunt of Morse rovers in
the tenth century. and the landfall
of John Cabot-the first sighting of
the continent of North America of
which there is record. The earliest
known landing in the New World was
that of the younger Cabot, who
visited Cape Breton Island Cthe
smaller of the two islands of Nova
reached the mainland. Upon this
landing England based her claim in
the long struggle for it's possession
that ensued with France.
From these earliest maritime be-
ginnings Nova Scotia has continued
to be the most maritime of all the
so-called Maritime Provinces. No
part of the province is farther than
30 miles from the sea. and there are
tales of ships-frigate-o war. pri
vateer, pirate and buried treasure
for every mile of her harbor- -indented
coast. And she still is-will always
be-the gateway of the Atlantic.
Her ports are 600 miles nearer to
those of Europe than is, for instance
New York; and SO far easterly is her
projection that the shipping of Sgd
ney and Louisbourg and Halifax is
closer to Rio de Janerio than that of
New Orleans.
French Still Spoken.
Historically Nova Scotia is a land
of first things-the first European
settlement north of Florida: the first
road in Canada, built by the French
soon after 1904: the first representa-
versity in Canada-the oldest, too. in
the British Empire outside of the
British Isles. Here the first Atlantic
cable was lfaded, and here Marconi
sent his first wireless message be.
tween the two hemispheres.
I'm the Acadian settlements. both
on the west coast and in Cape Breton
the French of Louis XIV is still
spoken, and in the ruins of old Fort
Anne. of Louisbourg and many
another stronghold, the visitor may
England and France in the New
World.
As Gaelic as Scotland.
Between 1873 and 1928 more than
-
to Nova Scotia, a stream that has
made portions of the country, espe-
cially Cape Breton Island. as Gaelic
as the most Gaelic part of Scotland
There are still communities of
their descendants where the Gaelic
tongue is as familiar as English-the
tongue that hurled defiance at Caesar
from the shores of Britain 1000 years
ago: churches where sermons in both
languages may be heard: glens where
the pibroch sounded in the late war
and bronzed killed Highlanders-
Nova Scotia HighIanders now-made
common cause with English Loyalis,
and French Acadian.
Known to Z. S. Sportsmen.
American sportsmen have lone
known Nova Scotia for its moose and
deer and caribou hunting. its salmon
and trout-and the only tuna fishing
that most exciting sport in the
anglers Calendar) on the Atlantic
coast. Yachtsmen all over the world
know it's superb harbors and the un
paralleled cruising of the Bras d'Ol
Lakes. Now every year more motor
lists are discovering it's nearness anG
its 1000 miles of fine motor roads.
THE climate Of the province Is
tempered by the Gulf Stream, which
runs northeasterly and parallel t
| the coast of Nova Scotia till it meets
| the Arctic current flowing south
The minimum temperature on record
for Halifax is IL and the maximum
| 9S7 and for Yarmouth a minimum o.