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39-533: Chignecto bay was also the site of an unsuccessful railway and canal project of the 1880s and 1890s that would have intersected the landmass, thereby providing a transit passage between New England and Prince Edward Island . After several investigations into the feasibility of a new canal project, including most importantly by the Chignecto Canal Commission, the proposed Chignecto Canal was deemed commercially and economically unjustifiable and

78-454: A drydock into which ships would float in and out. Each terminal had a lifting dock containing a steel grid measuring 235 ft (72 m) by 60 ft (18 m) connected to 20 hydraulic jacks . The grids supported the cradle which carried the vessel. The cradle was pulled from the lifting dock by hydraulic power and was then pulled along the length of the ship railway by 2 steam-powered locomotives. The terminal at Tidnish Cross Roads

117-520: A National Historic Civil Engineering Site by the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering in 1989. With the area having been an important site for trade and military activity in the 1600s and 1700s, proposals to intersect the isthmus with a canal have emerged with various degrees of seriousness since the arrival of Europeans in Canada . The earliest proposals came from traders who frequented

156-523: A capacity of 300 MW. Pictou Island , in Nova Scotia receives no electricity from that province's utility, Nova Scotia Power . Residents must generate their own electricity from off-grid sources. Bell Aliant has two fibre optic telecommunications cables spanning Northumberland Strait to serve Prince Edward Island . The first is a submarine cable running from Caribou, Nova Scotia to Wood Islands, Prince Edward Island . The other runs through

195-578: A steamship company in Charlottetown suggested the routes to those ports from Prince Edward Island would save another 100 nmi (190 km; 120 mi) by crossing the isthmus rather than sailing around Nova Scotia. The ship railway was designed to carry vessels weighing up to 2000 tons with a proposed transit time of 2.5 hours. Ships would be carried on a cradle forming an extremely wide rail car that straddled parallel twin standard gauge railway tracks, separated by 18 ft (5.5 m) to

234-595: Is a strait in the southern part of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in eastern Canada . The strait is formed by Prince Edward Island and the gulf's eastern, southern, and western shores. The western boundary of the strait is delineated by a line running between North Cape, Prince Edward Island and Point Escuminac, New Brunswick while the eastern boundary is delineated by a line running between East Point, Prince Edward Island and Inverness, Nova Scotia . The Northumberland Strait varies in depth between 17 and 65 metres, with

273-502: Is a northern extension of a rift valley that forms much of the Bay of Fundy. Chignecto is derived from the Mi'kmaq language , but its exact etymology is unclear. It may be from Sigunikt 'foot cloth', possibly alluding to a Mi'kmaq legend. Or it may be from Siknikt , 'drainage place'; the latter (as Siknikt or Signigt , in longer form Sikniktewa'kik or Signigtewa'gi )

312-714: Is today the name of the Mi'kma'ki district in which the bay is located. The head of Cumberland Basin is an important migrating area for many shorebirds . A large portion of it is protected as a wildlife sanctuary known as the Chignecto National Wildlife Area . It includes the 10.2 km John Lusby National Wildlife Area , which is recognized as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance since October 1985. 45°40′N 64°40′W  /  45.667°N 64.667°W  / 45.667; -64.667 Chignecto Ship Railway The Chignecto Marine Transport Railway (sometimes referred to as

351-557: The Chignecto Ship Railway or Baie Verte Ship Railway ) is a historic Canadian portage railway located in Cumberland County , Nova Scotia . With Canadian Confederation in 1867, a variety of canal-building projects were undertaken throughout the new country by the new federal government, including renewed interest in a canal that could transit the isthmus at Chignecto. The Chignecto Ship Railway project

390-664: The Confederation Bridge when it opened on 31 May 1997. Maritime Electric supplies electricity to customers in Prince Edward Island. Although the utility does have some electrical generation facilities, since the mid-1970s the majority of Prince Edward Island's electricity has been purchased from NB Power and supplied via an interprovincial electrical interconnection. This interconnection consisted of two 23 km (14 mi) 138 kilovolt oil-filled submarine transmission cables installed 1975-78 under

429-510: The Confederation Bridge ; this cable replaced a submarine cable that used to run from Borden-Carleton, Prince Edward Island to Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick . Eastlink has a fibre optic telecommunications cable connecting Gaspereau, Prince Edward Island with Port Hood, Nova Scotia . Swim-related details about crossings, tides, currents, marine life, and navigation can be found at OpenWaterPedia's Northumberland Strait page . There have been several documented unassisted swim crossings of

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468-701: The Northumberland Strait by approximately 21 km (13 mi) at its narrowest point. The isthmus presents a barrier to marine traffic from ports on the Bay of Fundy and along the East Coast of the United States , which must instead sail a long route around the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia to reach the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence Seaway . In 1685, during an inspection of

507-595: The Tidnish River . The site of the Tidnish dock was made Tidnish Dock Provincial Park in 1982. A heritage plaque identifies the site where rock remnants and wood pilings can be seen at low tide. The remains of the dock at Fort Lawrence consist of stone work and left-over masonry. The bridge and both docks were listed on the Canadian Register of Historic Places in 1985. The railway was designated

546-459: The 1880s. In the 50-year interim, the newly formed Government of Canada had constructed a network of railways throughout the Maritimes, meaning that any new canal would cannibalise traffic from existing public infrastructure. The commission also found that trade between the Maritimes and New England through any Chignecto Canal would have been insignificant; since both regions competitively produced

585-413: The 1890s, there was a decline in enthusiasm for canal-building projects across Canada more generally since many of the canals built in the late 1800s concluded well over-budget and did not deliver promised increases in commerce. This ended any prospects of building a canal at Chignecto until the 1930s when the idea of building a canal was investigated as part of Ottawa's fiscal stimulus program in response to

624-750: The Economic Research Corporation argued that a canal at Chignecto would help to reinvigorate a struggling Maritime Economy. More recently, celebrated Maritime scholar of public administration Donald Savoie argued for infrastructure spending on projects like Chignecto, which he argued to be key for Maritime economic development and is an undertaking that the federal government should have completed long before as part of its promises at Confederation in 1867. Northumberland Strait 46°05′N 63°35′W  /  46.083°N 63.583°W  / 46.083; -63.583 The Northumberland Strait (French: détroit de Northumberland )

663-618: The Government of Canada in 1881. In 1882 the Chignecto Marine Transport Railway Company was incorporated as a federally chartered railway. It was financed by Baring Brothers and Company , London . The Isthmus of Chignecto is a land bridge connecting the mainland province of New Brunswick with the province of Nova Scotia , which would otherwise be an island. It separates the Bay of Fundy from

702-515: The Great Depression . The thought was that the construction would stimulate the depressed region and the canal would increase the Maritimes' economic vitality over the long-term. A substantial investigation was undertaken by the newly formed Chignecto Canal Commission which concluded that such a canal was economically unviable due to changes in the political and economic landscape which had occurred since Henry Ketchum 's project had begun in

741-632: The Northumberland Strait at the western end of the Abegweit Passage between Murray Corner, New Brunswick and Fernwood, Prince Edward Island . Since the Northumberland Strait freezes in winter, the cables were designed to be protected from ice scouring and were copied from a Swedish design that was originally used to supply the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea . They were replaced in 2017 by two new cables providing

780-560: The area in the 1600s and 1700s. These early proposals occurred well prior to the creation of any strong central government in Canada which would have been able to undertake a project of this magnitude, making the Chignecto Ship Railway project (which occurred after the creation of a Canadian central government ) the first serious attempt to intersect the Chignecto isthmus. When the Chignecto Ship Railway went defunct in

819-416: The centre of each track. The tracks were built on a route that was almost perfectly straight for a distance of 17 mi (27 km) between the southwestern terminal on the Bay of Fundy, located at Fort Lawrence and the northeastern terminal on the Northumberland Strait, located at Tidnish Cross Roads . At each terminal the twin railway tracks descended on an incline into a stone-lined basin similar to

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858-466: The decline of rail service to ports and the increased capacity of highways to larger ports outside the Gulf of St. Lawrence, which freezes in the winter. Cruise ships regularly visit Charlottetown during summer and fall, and since 2012 a few smaller cruise ships have been visiting Pictou, NS. The narrowest part of the strait, the 13-kilometre (7–nautical mile) wide Abegweit Passage in the western part of

897-450: The deepest waters at either end. The tidal patterns are complex; the eastern end has the usual two tides per day, with a tidal range of 1.2 to 1.8 metres, while the western end effectively has only one tide per day. The strait's shallow depths lend to warm water temperatures in summer months, with some areas reaching 25° C , or 77° F . Consequently, the strait is reportedly home to the warmest ocean water temperatures in Canada, and some of

936-464: The eastern end of the strait (approximately 24.5 kilometres (13.2 nmi) was made by Jill Leon of Charlottetown, PEI on July 31, 2013, when she swam from Caribou, NS to Wood Islands, PEI in 9 hours, 48 minutes. The strait is famous in folklore circles for regular sightings of the Ghost Ship of Northumberland Strait , a flaming vessel which appears in the middle of the strait. The strait

975-587: The financing of debts in Uruguay and Argentina. This created the Panic of 1890 . By August 1891 work on the ship railway ground to a halt and would never restart. Ketchum appealed to the federal government for help in finishing the project but in 1892 the Parliament of Canada refused to extend the time period for the contract with the Chignecto Marine Transport Railway Company. Ketchum never ceased lobbying for

1014-655: The now defunct Acadian settlement of Beaubassin , intendant Jacques de Meulles reported that a portage of one league could be made by cutting a ditch, since the elevation is low. Various proposals for a canal crossing the isthmus were made as early as 1822. Writing in the Daily Telegraph in 1894, one shipping agent suggested that a route crossing the isthmus would reduce the sailing distance from Pictou, Nova Scotia to Boston by 200 nmi (370 km; 230 mi), and to Saint John, New Brunswick by 400 nmi (740 km; 460 mi). An agent of

1053-575: The project but died unexpectedly on September 8, 1896, in Amherst . He was buried in Tidnish Bridge at a cemetery that overlooked the unfinished ship railway. The tracks were eventually pulled up and recycled while nature slowly claimed the rail bed. Some of the stones used for the breakwaters at Tidnish were moved in 1917 to Cape Tormentine and used in the construction of the docks used for ferry service to Prince Edward Island . The land for

1092-540: The project was abandoned. Some of the physical remnants of the 1880s project still continue to dot the landscape of Chignecto Bay today. At its head, Chignecto Bay itself subdivides into two basins, separated by Cape Maringouin: Many small named bays line the Bay's coast including Salisbury Bay at the mouths of the Upper Salmon River and Cleveland Brook , site of the Village of Alma, NB . Chignecto Bay

1131-466: The project was three-quarters complete with 16 mi (26 km) of the rail bed finished, and 13 mi (21 km) of the track laid. A bridge and large stone arch culvert were built at Tidnish Bridge - a community which received its name due to this infrastructure. And the terminals were built including the docks, breakwaters, and lock. In fall 1890 the primary financiers of the project, Baring Brothers & Co., faced potential insolvency due to

1170-534: The railway's right-of-way was purchased by the Government of Nova Scotia in 2012. Most of the rail bed is still visible in aerial and satellite photos in the 21st century and supports several recreation trails. The keystone bridge constructed near Tidnish Cross Roads remains, and now carries the Henry Ketchum Trail, a 4 km (2.5 mi) walking trail following the former rail bed, over

1209-576: The same types of goods, neither would have much advantage in trading with the other. The Chignecto Canal Commission concluded by stating "this Commission is strongly of opinion that the proposal to construct a canal at Chignecto offers no national or local advantages at all commensurate with the estimated outlay." Following the Second World War there have been several proposals to build a canal at Chignecto although none of them have advanced far enough to materialise into any construction. In 1960,

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1248-413: The strait across Abegweit Passage between Port Borden, Prince Edward Island and Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick . This service operated from October 1917 until May 1997. Owned by the Government of Canada , it was one of Canada's busiest ferry services and was operated by various federal Crown corporations ( Canadian National Railways , CN Marine , Marine Atlantic ). The ferry service was replaced by

1287-407: The strait between Borden-Carleton, Prince Edward Island and Cape Jourimain, New Brunswick , is now spanned by the Confederation Bridge . The strait hosts three seasonal ferry services: All three ferry services are located in the eastern end of the strait and operate during the ice-free months from May - December. There was a year-round ferry service that operated in the central/western part of

1326-519: The strait include the cities of Charlottetown and Summerside , Prince Edward Island as well as the towns of Souris, Prince Edward Island , Pictou, Nova Scotia , and Shediac , New Brunswick . The Northumberland Strait is a minor shipping route, with ports such as Pugwash shipping salt, Summerside, Charlottetown, Georgetown and Souris shipping agricultural products and receiving petroleum and aggregate, and Pictou shipping forestry products and general cargo. Shipping has declined in recent decades with

1365-696: The strait, although there is no official body to verify these claims. All documented single and double crossings except one have been at the western end of the strait across the Abegweit Passage . The first documented single crossing of Abegweit Passage (approximately 14 kilometres (7.6 nmi)) with assistance was made by Evelyn Henry of Keppoch, PEI on July 15, 1951, when she swam from Cape Tormentine, NB to Borden, PEI in 8 hours, 47 minutes. There have been two documented single-day double crossings of Abegweit Passage (approximately 27 kilometres (15 nmi)) with assistance to date: The first and to date only, documented single crossing with assistance across

1404-466: The warmest ocean water temperatures on the Atlantic coast north of Virginia . There are many sandy beaches along both the northern and southern coasts of the strait. These beaches, found in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Scotia, are very popular with tourists. During the winter months between December and April, sea ice covers the entire strait and Gulf of St. Lawrence. While

1443-423: The western shores of Cape Breton Island and northeastern shores of the Nova Scotia peninsula are dominated by granite , sedimentary rocks along the central and western parts of the strait, as well as the entire south shore of Prince Edward Island, consist of sandstone , lending to beautiful sandy beaches with minimal coastal development. The largest island in the strait is Pictou Island . Major communities on

1482-488: Was first proposed in 1875 by notable civil engineer Henry Ketchum as a means to transport ships across the Isthmus of Chignecto , shortening the sailing distance between the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of St. Lawrence by avoiding the necessity of sailing 500 nmi (930 km) around Nova Scotia. A canal had been proposed for the isthmus but financing was proving difficult to secure. Ketchum submitted his proposal to

1521-553: Was located on Baie Verte and had a moderate tidal range and was protected by two breakwaters. However, the terminal at Fort Lawrence was located on Cumberland Basin at the discharge point of the Missaguash River on the inter-provincial boundary with New Brunswick and had a high tidal range, necessitating the construction of a lock to accommodate different water levels. Construction began in October 1888 and by 1890

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