Services Will Honour Pictou County Coal Miners

Services will be held on Monday, June 11, to commemorate Pictou County’s long, and sometimes tragic, coal mining history.

Miners’ Memorial Day ceremonies will be held at three locations:
the Miners’ Monument in Stellarton, the Westray Memorial Park, and the Museum of Industry in Stellarton.

The events are sponsored by the Westray Families Group, the Museum of Industry and the Town of Stellarton.

Coal mining has affected, in one way or another, thousands of Pictou County families. In the early 1800s, the General Mining Association started mining the Foord Seam in Albion Mines. Coal mining later moved to Westville and Thorburn, along with smaller mining efforts in other parts of the county over the years.

Successive generations of Pictonians found work mining the “black gold” needed to fuel industry, business, and homes. But oil and other fuels, which were cheaper and easier to handle, eventually started replacing coal as a primary fuel, leading to the slow demise of coal mining.

Hundreds of miners lost their lives in mining-related disasters in Pictou County and other parts of the province over the years. The most recent major disaster happened on May 9,1992, when 26 miners died in an underground explosion at the Westray Mine in Plymouth, near Stellarton.

Monday’s ceremonies begin at 11 a.m. with the annual Davis Day service at the Miners’ Monument. The service, held annually since 1925, commemorates the death of Cape Breton striking coal miner William Davis, shot near New Waterford.

Historical records reveal there was no violence in Stellarton and Thorburn during the strike, but considerable ill-feeling developed toward the mining companies.

Well-known Stellarton resident Leo McKay will provide the history of Davis Day at the Memorial on Monday. The service will also include laying of wreaths; recital by a Grade 9 student of an Aubrey Dorrington poem, The Old Home Town; selections by the Stellarton School Band; and prayers.

Memorial Day then shifts to the Westray Memorial Park to mark the unveiling of interpretive panels that tell an abbreviated version of the Westray story.

The welcome and introduction will be given by Allan Martin, brother of a Westray victim. Tourism and Culture Minister Rodney MacDonald will bring greetings on behalf of the department.

The United Steelworkers of America, a major sponsor, will be represented by National Director Lawrence McBreaty. Rev. Glen Matheson will conduct the blessing of the panels.

The event then moves to the Museum of Industry on Foord Street in Stellarton for a reception and viewing of the feature exhibit, “All We Worked For,” created by the Ontario Workers Arts and Heritage Centre. The travelling exhibit captures the richness of more than a century of Canadian labor history, with its struggles, challenges and rewards.

Local singer Maurice Poirier will perform the song Black Ribbons from his new CD, Behind a Voice.

Residents are invited to attend the services.