But in the early 1800s, thousands of Scots settled in the area. They fished and farmed and produced most of what they needed to live from their own land. They called Port Hood “Chestico”, which was their way of saying Juste Au Corps.

It was a hard life, but a peaceful one. All that changed in the late 1800s when coal mining began as a business.

In the 1880s, an American named William Hussey went to Europe to raise money to build a coal mine. He came back and dredged the harbour, built piers and opened coal mines. People always saw him riding a white horse through the community. He employed 300 miners and paid them a fair wage. In return, he made $10 million dollars.

After 10 years, Hussey left. Two smart railway builders replaced him. They were William MacKenzie and Donald Mann. These two men had become famous for building railways in other parts of Canada. They saw a way to make money for themselves in Inverness.

Half a Rail Line

They talked three levels of government into giving them money: the Dominion of Canada, as it was called then, the Nova Scotia government and the County of Inverness. They promised to build a rail line from Point Tupper, close to mainland Nova Scotia, to Chéticamp which was 100 miles away.