Bell Island: Dawn of First Light

By N. W. Sheppard

The history of Bell Island, Newfoundland, is an amazing one of a strong and courageous people who overcame the challenge of creating a community exposed to the mighty North Atlantic Ocean. Bell Island: Dawn of First Light covers the first permanent European settlers who were attracted to the rich soil of the island and to the fish in the surrounding waters. It outlines the accidental discovery of iron ore, the growth of the mining operations to become the largest submarine mine in the Commonwealth, labour unrest and the formation of a union, the factors that led to the mine’s closure, and the tragic impact this would have on the residents. This is also the story of the equally determined women who fashioned the family home in both good and bad economic times.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Flanker Press
• Release date: Jul 22, 2011
• ISBN: 9781926881379

N. W. Sheppard

Nath W. Sheppard was born, raised and educated on Bell Island. After attending Memorial University of Newfoundland, he began his teaching career at Jackson Memorial on the island. After leaving Bell Island, Nath served as department head in social studies at several junior high schools in St. John’s and Mount Pearl. Throughout his 30 years, Mr. Sheppard was actively involved with the Social Studies Council of the Newfoundland & Labrador Teachers Association for which he was awarded the prestigious Barnes Award for his work in the professional development of fellow teachers. During his career, he wrote several curriculum units for teaching the history of the province. While living on Bell Island, Nath was actively involved in many area of community life. He became President of the Wabana Boys and Girls Club; President of the Newfoundland and Labrador Provincial Council, and member of the National Board of Boys and Girls Clubs of Canada. For the past several years, he has served on the executive of the Alumni Association of Memorial University. Since retiring, Mr. Sheppard has worked part-time in the tourist industry; developed curriculum for national and international organizations in the education field; curled in the winter time, and done some travelling. He is married to Maureen (Deveraux) Sheppard, formerly of Logy Bay.

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Preface

To try and encompass a community’s history that spans at least 500 years in a short book is a difficult task. There have been several wonderful historians—Addison Bown; Peter Neary; Gail Weir; Rev. John Hammond; and Wendy Martin—who have done a remarkable job of recording the history of Bell Island. This compilation of historical facts merely seeks to scratch the surface. Any errors or omissions are mine. It is very easy to overlook names or confuse dates, especially in a community like Bell Island where many people went to start their working lives and left to settle in other parts of the world.

There is something unique about people who are born on an island. They have an exceptional strength of character that sets them apart. I hope that you enjoy reading the history of one such group of people.

Acknowledgements

There are several special people who have helped with this task. A special thank you is extended to Garry Cranford of Flanker Press whose original idea was the germ for this seed. Also, I wish them to know how much I appreciate the kind assistance from the staff at the Centre for Newfoundland Studies at Memorial University, and at The Rooms. Much gratitude goes out to Maureen, Natalie Green, Debbie and Gerry Sheppard, Raymond Lewis, Robbie Lewis, Neil Power, and Father John Cole. I would also like to especially thank Mr. Tom Spracklin for the use of many of the photos from his wonderful collection.

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In the Beginning

Introduction

Whether it is referred to as the iron isle, the beautiful isle, or the place of first light, there is something unique and fascinating about Bell Island. Its story is a compelling one, from being the industrial heart of the Dominion of Newfoundland to the heartbreak of large numbers of its residents having to pack up all belongings, sell their homes, and move to far-off locations. It is the story of strong, determined, and courageous men, who like their coal mining compatriots in Nova Scotia not only went down underground, but also under the icy waters of the North Atlantic Ocean. These were the men whose skills were used in World War I to tunnel under enemy lines; they played with all their hearts on the athletic fields, and helped rescue the survivors of the attacks by U-boats upon ore carriers in World War II. The telling of Bell Island’s history must include the equally strong-willed and determined women who usually fashioned the family home in both good and bad economic times. The story of the mining operation on the island contains elements of its accidental discovery; labour unrest and the formation of a union movement; the introduction of horses underground; and the shifting fortunes of big business and its impact upon the daily lives of the island residents.

Islands, no matter where they are located in the world, have distinctive features—geographically, socially, and economically. Open to the North Atlantic with its ever-changing winds and, at times, furious seas, Bell Island is the largest of a number of islands located in Conception Bay on the eastern edge of the North American continent. The island measures approximately 9.5 km (6 mi) long by 3 km (2 mi) wide. Ferries transport residents and tourists daily to The Beach at the eastern end of the island from Portugal Cove on the mainland, a twenty-minute ride across the body of water known locally as The Tickle.

A prominent historian who was born on the island described his native home in this following manner: Its appearance is that of a huge rock raised suddenly and cleanly from the deep.¹ Sandstone and shale from the Ordovician period of geologic time (443 million to 495 million years ago) cover older formations from the Cambrian period (500 million to 570 million years ago) to form the island.² It is worthy of note that it was during this older geological period that invertebrate animal life, including trilobites, first appeared. Bell Island is world-famous for its trace fossils (tracks, trails, and burrows produced by trilobites and soft-bodied animals).³ For a large part of Bell Island’s recorded history, the mineral that played the most important role was the rich red hematite (iron ore) dispersed throughout the island and the adjacent waters.

MV Flanders crossing The Tickle. (Author photo)

Sandstone and shale slope toward the waters

of Conception Bay. (Author photo)

Early History

There is no available evidence to indicate that the early native people of Newfoundland, the Beothuk, visited the island. However, archaeologists tell us that the Beothuk may have at one time or another lived and hunted in all major bays of the island.⁴ Therefore, it is likely that the Beothuk may have at least passed, if not paused at, the shores of Bell Island.

Rock formation at the eastern end of the island known locally as The Clapper.

(Photo courtesy of Mr. Tom Spracklin)

An example of nature at work at The Back

of the island. (Courtesy of Rob Lewis)

First Settlers

Like many other coastal communities in Newfoundland, it was the rich fishing grounds of Conception Bay that attracted early Europeans to the areas around Bell Island. The waters surrounding the island may have had many visitors as early as the sixteenth century. According to local lore, one can add the presence of pirates in the general area. Even before the first permanent settlers made their homes there, the island was a constant stop for ships from Europe requiring fresh water.

Houses and gardens, The Beach, c. 1904. (Courtesy of Archives and Special Collections, Centre for Newfoundland Studies)

Group of women standing on the wharf, The Beach, c. 1900. (Courtesy of Archives and Special Collections, Centre for Newfoundland Studies)

There are two places on the island that bear the name Freshwater, which evidently came from this custom.⁵

There is written historical evidence that early in the period of colonization of Newfoundland by the European settlers, they became aware of the potential riches of Bell Island. As early as 1587, merchant, explorer, and advocate of English settlement in Newfoundland, Anthony Parkhurst, wrote of obtaining ore samples from an island of iron not far from St. John’s.⁶ During the time of John Guy’s settlement at Cupids starting in 1610, Great Belle Isle enters the written historical record of Newfoundland. The Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador declares that as early as 1628, John Guy sent samples of rock from the island to England for analysis.⁷

One of the settlers at Guy’s colony was the strongest advocate for the possibility of mineral treasures on Bell Island. Henry Crout was a member of a syndicate of investors in the London and Bristol Company (known sometimes simply as the Newfoundland Company) that financed Guy’s colony in the new world. He acted as an agent for a prominent landowner, Sir Percival Willoughby, and guardian to Willoughby’s son, Thomas, when Thomas was at the Cupers Cove plantation (present-day Cupids). Crout wrote to Sir Percival concerning Bell Island that there was not similar land in Newfoundland for good earth and great hope of Irone stone.⁸

Willoughby was extremely interested in this mining potential and was critical of his agent’s lack of exploration. Sir Percival tried unsuccessfully for many years to have the island added to his original grant.

While Rev. Lewis Anspach in his book A History of the Island of Newfoundland noted a mine at Back Cove on the island c. 1819, he provided no details about it.⁹ Yet, when the noted geologist Joseph Jukes, who had been hired by the Government of Newfoundland to prepare a report on the geological structure of Newfoundland, visited the island in the 1840s, he mentioned in his report that he found bright red sandstone but did not include one word about any possible iron ore.¹⁰

Therefore, it was not the prospect of potential mineral development that drew people to the place. It may have been the more obvious natural resources of the land, namely the rich topsoil, as well as the resources of the surrounding ocean that attracted the first permanent settler, Gregory Normore, a young native from the island of Jersey in the Channel Islands, to Bell Island. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Newfoundland writer Rev. Philip Toque, in his book Newfoundland: As It Was, and As It Is in 1877, would make the following observation: The soil of Belle Isle is said to be richer than any other part of Conception Bay.¹¹

Gregory Normore—Settler From the Channel Islands

Outlining, with any degree of accuracy, the details in the life of any early pioneer settler is not an easy task. Attributing motives to the actions of people long gone is next to impossible. Addison Bown, a journalist and prolific writer on the history of his native island, wove an interesting, if not romantic, story of young Gregory Normore. Bown’s story starts