Point Tupper(pop: 21) is a small rural community located in
Richmond County, Nova ScotiaRichmond County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.-History:Named in honour of Sir Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond and Lennox, who was Governor General of British North America 1818-1819, Richmond County was created in 1835....
on the
Strait of CansoThe Strait of Canso , is a strait located in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It divides the Nova Scotia peninsula from Cape Breton Island....
in western
Cape Breton IslandCape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the French word "Breton", referring to Brittany.Cape Breton Island is part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada...
.
Extensive land grants in the area were acquired in 1863 by
Henry Nicholas PaintHenry Nicholas Paint was a Canadian politician, shipowner and merchant.-Career :...
, of Belle Vue, Canso, member of Parliament for
Richmond (Nova Scotia electoral district)Richmond was a federal electoral district in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1917.It was created by the British North America Act of 1867. It consisted of the County of Richmond...
, who started to promote a township on the site, a project which he continued doggedly until his death in 1921. According to Paint, the site was named by Sir
James KemptGeneral Sir James Kempt, GCB was a British Army officer, who served in Holland, Egypt and British North America, and fought during the Napoleonic Wars....
after
Ferdinand Brock TupperFerdinand Brock Tupper , was one of the leading historians of the Channel Islands.He was born in Guernsey in 1795 to parents John Elisha Tupper, Esquire and Elizabeth Brock , sister of Sir Isaac Brock.In 1845 he published The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock, KB, which contains a...
, the
GuernseyThe Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown Dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.As well as the island of Guernsey itself, it also includes Alderney, Herm, Jethou, Brecqhou, Burhou, Lihou, Sark and other islets. Although the defence of all these islands is the...
historian.
In the 1880s, Point Tupper became the eastern terminal for a railcar ferry service operated from the port of
MulgraveMulgrave is a town on the Strait of Canso in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, Canada; immediately across from the town of Port Hawkesbury. As of 2006 the population was 879....
, directly opposite on the western shore of the Strait of Canso.
Point Tupper(pop: 21) is a small rural community located in
Richmond County, Nova ScotiaRichmond County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.-History:Named in honour of Sir Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond and Lennox, who was Governor General of British North America 1818-1819, Richmond County was created in 1835....
on the
Strait of CansoThe Strait of Canso , is a strait located in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. It divides the Nova Scotia peninsula from Cape Breton Island....
in western
Cape Breton IslandCape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the French word "Breton", referring to Brittany.Cape Breton Island is part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada...
.
Extensive land grants in the area were acquired in 1863 by
Henry Nicholas PaintHenry Nicholas Paint was a Canadian politician, shipowner and merchant.-Career :...
, of Belle Vue, Canso, member of Parliament for
Richmond (Nova Scotia electoral district)Richmond was a federal electoral district in the province of Nova Scotia, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1867 to 1917.It was created by the British North America Act of 1867. It consisted of the County of Richmond...
, who started to promote a township on the site, a project which he continued doggedly until his death in 1921. According to Paint, the site was named by Sir
James KemptGeneral Sir James Kempt, GCB was a British Army officer, who served in Holland, Egypt and British North America, and fought during the Napoleonic Wars....
after
Ferdinand Brock TupperFerdinand Brock Tupper , was one of the leading historians of the Channel Islands.He was born in Guernsey in 1795 to parents John Elisha Tupper, Esquire and Elizabeth Brock , sister of Sir Isaac Brock.In 1845 he published The Life and Correspondence of Sir Isaac Brock, KB, which contains a...
, the
GuernseyThe Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown Dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.As well as the island of Guernsey itself, it also includes Alderney, Herm, Jethou, Brecqhou, Burhou, Lihou, Sark and other islets. Although the defence of all these islands is the...
historian.
In the 1880s, Point Tupper became the eastern terminal for a railcar ferry service operated from the port of
MulgraveMulgrave is a town on the Strait of Canso in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, Canada; immediately across from the town of Port Hawkesbury. As of 2006 the population was 879....
, directly opposite on the western shore of the Strait of Canso. The Intercolonial Railway line continued east from Point Tupper to
SydneySydney is a Canadian urban community in the province of Nova Scotia. It is situated on the east coast of Cape Breton Island and is administratively part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality....
, making Point Tupper an extremely important port for Cape Breton Island.
In 1955, the
Canso CausewayThe Canso Causeway is a rock-fill causeway in Nova Scotia, Canada.The causeway crosses the Strait of Canso, connecting Cape Breton Island by road to the Nova Scotia peninsula...
opened, closing the railcar ferry service and resulting in a decline in Point Tupper's economy as railway facilities were removed or abandoned.
But the causeway, which completely closed the Strait of Canso's water flow (except for the
Canso CanalThe Canso Canal is a short canal located in Nova Scotia, Canada.-Canal location:The Canso Canal is located in the Strait of Canso, on the eastern side of the Canso Causeway, a rock-fill causeway which opened in 1955 to carry a 2-lane highway and railway tracks from Cape Breton Island to mainland...
) also created a sheltered ice-free deepwater port to which Point Tupper's waterfrontage was uniquely suited to the vast numbers of modern deep draught cargo ships.
In the early 1960s, the government of
Robert StanfieldRobert Lorne Stanfield, PC, QC was Premier of Nova Scotia and leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He is sometimes referred to as "the greatest prime minister Canada never had", and earned the nickname "Honest Bob"...
's Industrial Estates Limited Crown corporation designated all of the Point Tupper Peninsula for industrial development, along with a corresponding area on the opposite shore between Mulgrave and Melford in
Guysborough CountyGuysborough County is a county in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia.-History:Taking its name from the Township of Guysborough, which was named in honour of Sir Guy Carleton, Guysborough County was created when Sydney County was divided in 1836.In 1840, the Township of St. Mary's, in Guysborough...
. New highways and roads were constructed and railway lines were extended to service the various properties.
One of the first industries to locate at Point Tupper was Swedish pulp and paper manufacturer
StoraStorå may refer to the following locations:*Storå in Tysfjord municipality, Nordland, Norway*Storå in Lindesberg municipality, Västmanland, Sweden*Storå, a creek in Denmark's West Jutland*Storå is also the Swedish name of Isojoki in Finland....
and was one of the largest in eastern North America at the time that it opened. Stora merged in the 1990s with Finnish pulp maker
EnsoEnsō is a Japanese word meaning "circle" and a concept strongly associated with Zen. Ensō is one of the most common subjects of Japanese calligraphy even though it is a symbol and not a character. It symbolizes enlightenment, strength, elegance, the Universe, and the void; it can also symbolize...
to form
Stora EnsoStora Enso Oyj is a Finnish–Swedish pulp and paper manufacturer, formed by the merger of Swedish mining and forestry products company Stora and Finnish forestry products company Enso-Gutzeit Oy in 1998. It is headquartered in Helsinki, and it has approximately 29,000 employees...
. In 2007, Stora Enso sold its North American production facilities including the Point Tupper mill to
NewPage CorporationNewPage Corporation, based in Miamisburg, Ohio, is a leading producer of coated paper in North America.The company produces coated papers in sheets and rolls with many finishes and weights to offer design flexibility for a wide array of end uses...
.
To service the electrical requirements for the pulp and paper mill, Crown corporation
Nova Scotia PowerNova Scotia Power Inc. is a power generating and delivery company in Nova Scotia. It is privately owned by Emera and regulated by the provincial government via the NSUARB.-History:...
constructed a new oil-fired generating station at an adjacent property later to be converted to coal in 1986. These industries were soon followed by a
gypsumGypsum is a very soft mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula CaSO
4·2H
2O.-Crystal varieties:...
loading terminal for gypsum being mined by Georgia Pacific in
River Denys River Denys is a small community in the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, located in Inverness County on Cape Breton Island.-References:*...
and delivered to Point Tupper by rail - ironically the ship loader was on the same site as the former railcar ferry dock.
Point Tupper was also the site of several failed industrial policies, when the Gulf Oil refinery was closed and mothballed in the late 1970s and later dismantled, although its storage tanks remain to this day, now operated by
NuStar EnergyNuStar Energy L.P. is a Fortune 500 company based in San Antonio, Texas. The company was established in 2007 after separating from Valero...
. Another more infamous folly involved a
heavy waterHeavy water is water that contains a higher proportion than normal of the isotope deuterium, as deuterium oxide, D2O or ²H2O, or as deuterium protium oxide, HDO or ¹H²HO. Its physical and chemical properties are somewhat similar to those of water, H2O...
manufacturing plant built in the 1970s following the
1973 oil crisisThe 1973 oil crisis started in October 1973, when the members of Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries or the OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo" in response to the U.S. decision to re-supply the Israeli military" during the Yom Kippur war; it lasted until March 1974...
by
Atomic Energy of Canada LimitedAtomic Energy of Canada Limited or AECL is a Canadian federal Crown corporation with the responsibility of managing Canada's national nuclear energy research and development program, including the advancement and support of CANDU reactor technology which was developed at AECL starting in the 1950s...
(AECL), but quickly closed and later mothballed and dismantled. A gypsum drywall manufacturing plant also closed after experiencing difficult economic conditions. A new company, Federal Gypsum, has reactivated the mothballed drywall plant.
During the late 1990s, Point Tupper's strategic location proved useful when the
Sable IslandSable Island is a small Canadian island situated 180 km southeast of mainland Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2008, the island is a year-round home to approximately five people...
natural gas project located a gas liquids processing plant. In the early 2000s, Nova Scotia Power built a large bulk coal terminal. A liquified natural gas terminal was under construction at the southern end of the Point Tupper Industrial Park at Bear Head but this has since been discontinued.