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HALIFAX DISASTER RECORD OFFICE
ARCHIBALD MACMECHAN, F.R.S.C.
DIRECTOR
HALIFAX, N. S.
From 'Morning Chronicle' April 27, 1918.

CLEARED THE DEVASTATED AREA IN RECORD TIME

The Firm of Messrs. Cavicchi and Pagano Did Remarkable Work in Clearing up the Debris at Richmond.

The disaster of December 6th was responsible for such a magnitude of things that to recall all of them would be an impossibility. One of its greatest works of destruction was the demolition of that section of Halifax, which had always been known as Richmond, but after December 6th took on the name of the Devastated Area.
To those who visited this area on the day of the explosion, a scene similar to the destruction wrought by the Germans hordes in France and Belgium, presented itself. But the visitor to this area now will find little trace of the ruins that were then to be seen.
In the short space of four months this district has been cleaned up in such a manner that today, speaking figuratively, it cannot be referred to as the Devastated Area. Its streets are in better condition than some of the principal streets in the heart of the city. The ruins of the buildings and houses have been thoroughly cleaned out, so that at the present time nothing remains but the foundations, and in some cases not even these, for only those foundations that were in good condition were left.
Generally the Devastated Area does not today present the slightest sign that would indicate that it was the scene of one of the worst disasters in history, but resembles rather a residentia ldistrict that has been razed in order that better buildings, better houses, may take the places of the old, under the beneficial guidance of some town planning scheme.

Cavicchi and Pagano's Work.
To bring about this remarkable change, there must to have been a skilled hand guiding the work, and there was. The work of cleaning up the devastated area was done by Cavicchi and Pagano, a firm which Halifax has every reason not only to be proud of having it clean up its ruins, but of having it among its many enterprises, because this firm generally has its offices in the city or close by. The entire work was under the personal supervision of Mr. Cavicchi himself, who looked after every detail and was on the scene almost continually to see that the work was done properly.
When the disaster occurred, Cavicchi and Pagano had just finished a piece of railway construction in New Brunswick. Immediately after the disaster, Mr. Cavicchi came to Halifax, inspected the area, and submitted to the local authorities his proposition to clean it up, which was accepted. Immediately the work of preparing for the task of clearing up this ruined district began. When Mr. Cavicchi's proposition was accepted he had no men, no equipment, in fact nothing to start work with here. The first thing done was the building of the miniature village on the incinerator field at the corner of Robie and Young streets, which went up over night. While this was being done Mr. Cavicchi was getting his organization together, the nucleus of which was former hands, whom he could call on at a moment's notice. The majority of those live in and around Halifax, so that they were soon on the scene of their new work. Not being able to get enough men here to carry on this work, Mr. Cavicchi was forced to look elsewhere for them. A total of from five hundred to six hundred men were imported, and together with those already here the work of cleaning up was commenced.


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MG 1 vol 2124 number 291