Salem & Hillsborough Railroad II Traditional Geocache

Salem & Hillsborough Railroad Cache Series.

Let's flash back to early October 1872, as Lieutenant-Governor Wilmot with a number of other top-hatted gentlemen and their ladies gathered near Salisbury to turn the first sod of the Albert Railway. The bright sunshine and colourful fall foliage made a suitable backdrop. This was about the peak of early railway construction, Canadian Confederation was only a few years old, and everyone was flush with enthusiasm for railway building. Railways were going to be the saviour of the people, once built, they weren't subject to the ongoing problems of the early muddy trails we called roads. The railway promoters, like most promoters, figured that their systems would out perform all other modes of transportation such as horses and those slow sailing ships that had to rely on the wind. The area from Salisbury to Hillsborough was mostly unsettled, but the promise of lumber, minerals and active ship building along the Petitcodiac River were great drawing cards. Coupled with this were the subsidies of the governments, as well as local communities along the proposed routes. Early settlers along the Petitcodiac River had quickly learned about the land. The Acadians built the early dykes with their aboiteaux to keep out the tide whilst still allowing drainage thus permitting the marshes to become valuable farmland. Other entrepreneurs discovered various minerals and other resources and soon ships were carrying stone from the river's shores to markets. Grindstone Island, needs no explanation, but many ship loads of other cut stone went to Boston and New York for their buildings. About 1850, a mineral related to coal was discovered near Albert Mines. This mineral became known as Albertite, (technically called in 1877, congealed inspissated petroleum) and was a great source of "coal oil." It was promoted as a great illuminating oil. As hundreds of tons of this mineral was exported by ship, a railway was built from the Albert Mines to a coal wharf on the Petitcodiac River. This railway wharf was located a few hundred metres south of the village of Hillsborough, and its cars were pulled by horses. This Albertite mining operation wound up a few years after the arrival of the Albert Railway.