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14 PITT ST
Sydney Mines,
Nova Scotia
B1V 2L0
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Nova Scotia Tourism Region : Cape Breton Island
Description From Owner:
- First called simply The Mines and later named for Thomas Townshend, first Viscount Sydney. Coal was shipped from here to Boston in 1724 and to Martinique in 1732.
- The old town of Sydney Mines was given this name by visiting farmers. The coal miners in early days went to the pits at a very early hour.
- After preparing breakfast for their husbands the wives went back to their beds. When the farmers came to town to sell their produce, they found the window blinds drawn and the families sleeping.
- With permission from 'Nova Scotia Place Names' David E. Scott 2015
Address of this page:
http://ns.ruralroutes.com/SydneyMines
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James Bryson McLachlan
Fiery dedication to the workers' cause James McLachlan (1869-1937) is considered the greatest labour leader Nova Scotia has ever produced.
He came to Cape Breton from Scotland in 1902 to work in the coal mines but by the 1920s was the champion of steelworkers and miners fighting the British Empire Steel Corp (BESCO) for better wages and living conditions.
The provincial government openly sided with BESCO and its president Roy Wolvin. Troops and provincial police were sent in to deal with strikers whose walkout in 1923 had closed down the steel plant and mounted policemen assaulted residents as they returned home from church.
McLachlan immediately circulated a notice urging other mining unions to walk out in support and he called the Nova Scotia government "the guilty and responsible party" for the attacks.
"Fighting Jim" as he was nicknamed, called on fellow unionists to "spread the fight against (Premier) Armstrong to every mine in Nova Scotia."
McLachlan was convicted that year of three counts of sedition--unlawfully inciting public disorder or promoting hatred of the government. Former coal company lawyer Justice Humphrey Mellish of the Supreme Court could barely disguise his contempt of McLachlan and sentenced him to two years in jail. (Legal historian Barry Cahill has called this "a gross miscarriage of justice.")
Fighting Jim was paroled after five months. McLachlan's death at 68 was blamed on a lung ailment contracted while held in the damp cells of Dorchester Penitentiary.
Johnny Miles
Robbed of Boston Marathon record He was born at Halifax, England, but at a young age his family moved to Sydney Mines.
At the age of 11 he worked in a coal mine to help support the family while his father was at war. At the age of 21, Johnny Miles (1905–2003) won his first Boston Marathon.
Just like Boston Marathon competitor Nova Scotian Fred Cameron in 1910, Miles had never run farther than 10 miles before the marathon, but he beat the record time by four minutes.
(His record was not allowed to stand after it was discovered race organizers had improperly made the course 176 yards too short).
He moved to Hamilton, ON, in 1928 and the following year won the Toronto, Hamilton and Boston Marathons.
Sydney Mines Heritage Museum and Fossil Centre
at 159 Legatto St. is in the former 1905 railway station. The focus of the museum is the history of Sydney Mines, coal mining and steel-making.
The fossil museum has 300-million-year-old fossils from the Sydney coal field. Gift shop.
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