Let’s take a Sunday drive to Cape Enrage. Here is a great photo of the Lighthouse at Cape Enrage in 1908.

Lumbering was an industry that took place across the county. In this photo we see logs spread all over hillside in foreground, horses and wagons along with temporary saw mill activity in background, Hopewell, ca. 1940.

The CPO of Coverdale base, Irene Carter, related this wartime story” One of our operators (Anne Elder) received a strong blast from NSHQ in Ottawa for sending in a bearing on a sub which was obviously incorrect as she had placed the sub in the St. Lawrence River. A few days later they at least had the courtesy to apologize when the they found the sub really was in the St. Lawrence!”.

This photo shows an unidentified member of the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (W.R.C.N.S.) operating direction-finding equipment at H.M.C.S. COVERDALE, Riverview, New Brunswick, Canada, August 1945. If you want to learn more about this amazing bit of Albert County history please visit this site: http://jproc.ca/rrp/rrp2/coverdale.html

On this date 75 years ago, April 30, 1945, a Coverdale operator intercepted a message sent by German Admiral Karl Doenitz telling all his forces that Hitler was dead. She was the first allied person to hear the news of his death. The HMCS Coverdale base was established as a Special Wireless Station (High Frequency/Direction Finder (HF/DF) station) on November 23, 1942 and operated until 1970.

In keeping with the Home-school theme of Lumbering here is a photo Alma Mill. It was quite the operation!

In keeping with the Home-school theme of Lumbering here is a photo of some logs cut in Hebron by William Hoar in 1942.

Back to school Monday, with a trip to to Hastings School,one of the many lost settlements in Albert County. Hastings was located 2.59 km west of Alma on Hastings Hill. The settlement was named for Sir Hastings Doyle (1804-1883), lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick from 1866-1867. It had a post office from 1867-1939. In 1871 Hastings had a population of 100: in 1898 Hastings was a community with 1 post office, 1 church and a population of 110, this included the community of Upper Salmon River. It now lies within Fundy National Park, and the building shown was demolished with the opening of the park, when the families moved into Alma.

Staying in Stoney Creek for our Sunday Drive. This photo of The 114 looking down Scott’s Hill toward Hillsborough shows how the road curved to the left of the present highway in order to cross the small marshy area at the bottom of the hill. Probably taken about 100 years ago. The Balser farmhouse is on the left. The Wright house in the distance on the right.

Here is an interesting shot showing the oil works at the Stoney Creek Field with buildings and various gasoline storage tanks, 1938

Here is a nice shot of a drilling rig in the Stoney Creek Oil Field from 1938.

MicMac gasoline production at the NB Gas and Oilfields started in 1931. A filling station located at the present day site of Doug Steeves Museum operated by Claude and Alonzo Fales ran from 1939 until the mid 1940s. Another was located near the Staples store on East Main Street in Moncton ran from 1940 - 1942. The period pump with the glass bowl, installed in 1937, was used to fill service vehicles on the oil field.

Gasoline had no additives and would ping if you had a heavy foot. Lead additive could only be purchased if production topped 1 million barrels. Initially the refinery was required to remove volatile light distillates so that the remaining heavy fuel could be burned locally. Gasoline production started in 1931 continuing until 1988. What was not used on the station was shipped to the Esso refinery in Dartmouth.

This photo taken c1911 shows a group of American and local investors in front of “the gas house” in Stoney Creek. This was the first house, serving as company headquarters, to have natural gas, November, 1909 from well #5 down the road about a kilometre. This well was abandoned in 2008.

There are 36 people in this photo. Notice the man in the extreme right – a gas lamp appears next to him. A dish towel dries on the line hung there by Bessie Steeves who operated a boarding house. Some names are known. From L-R: 1st E.A. Reilly, former Moncton mayor; 3rd Fred Jones of Jones Lake fame; 7th Capt Masters, business man and future mayor; to right of center post and hatless Sam Winter, prominent businessman.