CHAPTER XVI
A NEW INVERNESS
Skirting the south coast of Cape Breton one comes to one of the places where Cape Breton gains an additional island by the presence of a narrow water passage between two sections of land. In this instance it is the work of man and not of nature. As man found Cape Breton, the whole four hundred and fifty square miles of water of the great interior lake of Cape Breton was by the Little Bras d’Or on the north-east coast, so that the early settlers wishing to go from the Strait of Canso to Sydney, for example, had to go and sail around the Cape Breton coast. This was intolerable, considering that at St. Peter’s Bay, a neck of land, half a mile wide, alone prevented a south-west passage to and from the Bras d’Or, not only a saving of hundreds of miles, but an abolition of the risks, sometimes serious enough, of navigating the coast. A century ago the importance of the scheme to cut a canal across this narrow isthmus of St. Peter’s was realised, and in 1825 an engineer named Hall surveyed the isthmus and made an estimate for the cutting, which, I believe, was done for little more than £20,000. Up to that time there had been a portage here for very small craft. St. Peter’s was settled by the French even before Arichat, and came very near being settled as the site of the great French fortress which was destined for Cape Breton, and which was ultimately fixed at Louisbourg. At a spot in the locality called Briquerie Point the clay was dry for the brick used in building the town of Louisbourg, one of the very bricks of which lies before me on the table as I write.
The canal is about 2400 feet long, with a breadth of 55 feet, and a depth of 19 feet, debouching at its northern end into St. Peter’s inlet, which in turn flows into the widest part of the Bras d’Or. Through this canal the steamer from Mulgrave passes along the Strait of Canso, and through Lennox Passage to St. Peter’s.
The sites of both English and French forts are easily to be traced at the present time. The latter, indeed, is close to the canal, and the house of the lockmaster is upon it. The old earthworks are plainly to be seen, and occasional finds of bayonets and other evidences of warfare are made. A few years ago a hooped cannon was unearthed, undoubtedly belonging to a period long prior to the building of the “Port Toulouse” fort here in 1749. It had probably been the property of Denys de Fronsac, who had a settlement here as long ago as 1636. Fort Granville, used after the English occupation of Cape Breton, was on the hill to the east of the canal lock. In this locality is Jordan Chapel island, where the first chapel for the use of the Micmacs is said to have been erected by the French over two centuries ago. It is the scene of several interesting legends still related by the Indians.
There is good bathing at St. Peter’s, and as a matter of course there is every facility for boating, both in the bay and the inlet at the other end of the canal. Excellent trout-fishing may be had by going a short distance. Some of the best streams are river Tiere and its branches, two miles distant; Scott’s River, seven miles; Thom’s Brook, fifteen miles; and Grand River, a like distance. There are salmon in the last-named river.
A good deal has been said about the indifferent roads in Nova Scotia, but those about here are well made, and from the nature of the soil do not become muddy. Among attractive drives are those to river Bourgeois, five miles; and to Grand River along the shore through l’Ardoise. A favourite water excursion, on the Bras d’Or side, is to the quarries at Marble Mountain, a distance of fifteen miles. On the way thither is Point Michaux, or Cape Himlopen or Hinchinbroke. It has all three names, but is usually known by the first one. Here there is a beautiful driving beach, two miles long, and an eighth of a mile wide. It is very level, and of such hard, smooth sand that the hoofs of the horses make little more impression on it.
St. Peter’s Inlet is studded with islands clad in verdure, and there are times when the scene is unusually beautiful, even for a land of which beauty is everywhere. On a calm summer morning, for instance, the peaceful sea is a mirror which reflects in rare beauty the red, purple, and golden hues which the sunlight gives the hills. On the land the colours are strangely bright, while the waters soften and blend the whole into a picture which must ever linger in the memory.