Woolford's Surveys: The Roads from Halifax to Windsor and Truro, 1817-18

Woolford identified in this section the properties of McDonald, Carrol, Mason, Michael Poor, Wardrobe, McHaffy, Daniel McHaffy, Admiral Cochrane, Moor, Moor's Inn and William Muir, plus other landmarks such as "a very wet and bad Road," a bridge, a marsh, the Gays River mill, coal, limestone and gypsum deposits, the road to Musquodoboit, Black Rock Burn, and Black Pond.

Governor Dalhousie had heard that Sir Alexander Cochrane had a large estate on a lake running parallel to the Shubenacadie River. Although Cochrane had expended vast sums of money to establish several Scottish farmers, "they have turned out Rum drinkers & Rogues, absconding with all their stock." Dalhousie observed the topography of this area in September 1817, commenting that "on crossing the Gay's river, the soil instantly changes to a cold whitish clay, with ridges of granite rock quite forbidding to agriculture." He also took note of the Stewiacke and Gays rivers running to the east of the Shubenacadie, and observed that a visit to those thriving new settlements remained for a future time.

Date: 1817-18

Draughtsman: John Elliott Woolford

Reference: Nova Scotia Archives Map Collection: 15.1