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When the first permanent settlers came to Tatamagouche, they found the
remains of a copper mine which had been worked by the French on Waugh’s River
about a mile above Murdock’s where the River is joined by a small Brook from
the West, and appropriately the pool formed at the junction of the River and of
the Brook they called the "Mine Hole" and the Brook itself, the "Mine
Brook". These names have beeeeen retained till this day. The pool formed a
noticeable, unnatural turn in the River and gave rise to the theory that the
original French mine had been broken into and flooded by the River, and if the
River were diverted and drained, the main body of ore would be found. Acting on
this theory, American capital became interested and about 1867 carried on
extensive operations in restoring the River to its supposed original course.*
The old shafts and diggings now to be seen at the Mine Hole were the works not
of the French but of subsequent operators.
It is also believed that the French made some
attempts at smelting the ore.** There are old traditions that in the early
plowing of the fields near the Mine Hole bolts of half-smelted ore were found.
*The operations were promoted by an American, Joseph C. Ayer, who was able
to acquire from the land owners the mining rights at the Mine Hole and in
adjacent properties as copper in the DesBarres Grant was not reserved to the
Crown. Ayer in 1867 sold out to the Balfron Mining Association for a stated sum
of $35,000.00. Extensive developments were made and the River diverted as we
have mentioned by its being dammed above the Mine Hole. The French mine was then
pumped out. On the Mine Hole Rock can yet be seen the cut which was made for the
belt to the pumps. The project, however, ended in failure and a vessel loaded
with copper ore caught in the ice, was burned in the channel near Steel’s
Island, it was thought by design of the crew. The properties and mining rights
were shortly after sold at a Sheriff’s sale for $800.00 and eventually got
back into the hands of Eben Sears, one of the promoters. These rights Sears sold
to the Sterling Mining Company which resumed and carried on operations at
the Mine Hole and elsewhere on Waugh’s River from 1905 til 1909. Since then
the mines have been idle. Strangely the River has in recent years of its own
flow gone back into the course to which Ayer diverted it and the site of the
French mine is again out of water. The Mine Hole is one of the beauty spots of
Waugh’s River and as well one of its best trout pools. Now, fittingly, French
willows edge the stream at this historic spot and shelter the place where the
Acadians once carried on their crude attempt at mining.
**History of Pictou County. Rev. George Patterson p.
129
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