Men in the Mines

A History of Mining Activity in Nova Scotia, 1720-1992

7 April 1869, Whitehaven, England. Modern typed copy of an original agreement between John Elliott of Cleatonmoor Colliery, Cumberland County, engine-wright, to work for five years for the GMA at Sydney, Cape Breton. Wages and conditions are outlined, including payments to be made by Elliott for hauling coal to his house, doctor's fees and a school tax which "entitles the said John Elliott to send all his children to be well educated." Elliott stayed in Cape Breton and is seen as the chief engineer in the cab of the locomotive C.G. Swann, the engine built by the GMA in Sydney Mines in 1888.

Date: 1869

Reference:   Nova Scotia Archives  MG 100 vol. 190 no. 23 (mfm 15209)