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The South Shore of Nova Scotia A long and intricately indented coast line stretches from the Strait of Canso to St. Mary's Bay, providing a natural, if attenuated, regional focus. The climate is extremely moist with a rainfall of over 50 inches per year and a great prevalence of fog. The population is, in general, aggregated into small fishing towns and villages and a few larger seaports. Agriculture of an extensive nature is impossible in the rocky hinterland and only small patches are cultivated as part-time occupation. This shore has considerable industrial activity based upon raw material from the sea or from the forest hinterland and, in the larger seaports, imported from overseas. There is one large urban development, the Halifax Harbour area which is the most important industrial and commercial centre of the Maritime provinces. Yarmouth, at the western end of the province, is also an important gateway while Lunenburg, Liverpool, Lockeport and Shelburne are fishing and shipbuilding centres which have regional importance. Halifax Halifax, capital city and chief seaport of Nova Scotia, had a population of 119,292 at the census of 2001. It was founded in 1749 by Lord Cornwallis, who considered Chedabucto Bay to be the best harbour on the Atlantic coast. Here he established a military and naval station to offset the power of the great French fortress at Louisbourg on the Island of Cape Breton. Until 1905 it was the summer station of the British North American squadron and until 1906 the Citadel was occupied by a British garrison. Since then it has been a Canadian naval base and was of great importance during both the first and second World War. On December 6, 1917, the north end of the city was devastated by an explosion which took the lives of 1,600 people, injured about four times as many and left thousands homeless. The blast occurred when the Mont Blanc, a French vessel carrying 3,000 tong of T.N.T. collided with the Norweigan freighter Imo which carried a cargo for Belgian relief. The Harbour Halifax Harbour is a drowned valley extending inland for about 14 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. Its mouth is divided by a large island into two channels, the Eastern Passage which is too shallow for large vessels and the Western Passage which is the entrance to the harbour. Actually, there are two harbours connected by a constricted channel known as "The Narrows". The outer harbour is about a mile in width and six miles in length and is lined with docks and piers capable of accommodating the largest ships. The inner harbour, known as Bedford Basin is about four miles long and 2 ½ miles wide. In this commodious haven many huge wartime convoys were assembled. The City Site The city of Halifax is built upon a small peninsula, about 4 ½ miles in length and less than 2 miles in width, lying between the harbour and the Northwest Ann, and about midway between the ocean and the head of the harbour. Upon the rock floor of the peninsula are several drumlins, oval hills of glacial drift one of which is surmounted by the fortifications of the Citadel. Fort Needham, in the north end of the city, is also built upon a drumlin while several others are found on islands in the harbour. The Urban Landscape Halifax is a wooden city, save for its downtown area-over 90% of its dwellings are of frame construction. Nearly half of the people live in single houses and there are few large apartment buildings. Normally it is not overcrowded for 70% of its dwellings have from 4 to 7 rooms. Most of the older residential streets are lined with trees and there are many parks and open spaces. From the top of Citadel Hill, more than 200' above the Harbour, most of the city can be seen. Halifax contains no skyscrapers, even the modern buildings are of modest height. To the east, between the hill and the harbour is the half square mile of downtown Halifax. Directly below the hill is the old town clock, erected in 1810 by the Duke of Kent and still faithfully keeping time. Across Brunswick Street lies the city market, three streets farther down is the city hall and old St. Paul's Anglican Church erected in 1750. Farther down are the Province House where the Legislature of the Province meets, the Provincial Building which houses the government departments, the Post Office and the Federal Buildings. Opposite the Custom House is the dock used by the ferry to Dartmouth across the habour. About half a mile to the north are the old Ocean Terminals. Half a mile to the south are the huge new Ocean Terminals, the Union Station, the Nova Scotian Hotel, the cold storage plant and the 2,000,000 bushel terminal elevator. The extreme southern end of the peninsula is occupied by the wooded Point Pleasant park, some 200 acres in extent containing an interesting old Martello Tower and several other forts. Along the Northwest Arm is a series of wooded lots and the clubhouses of many aquatic sporting associations. Near the Northwest Arm, also, lies the Campus of Dalhousie University, Kings University and the Nova Scotia Archives. Somewhat nearer the hill are the Victoria General Hospital, All Saints Cathedral, the Lord Nelson Hotel and the Public Gardens. Immediately to the west of the Hill is a large open space known as the Common, while a mile or so to the northwest are the Exhibition Grounds. The western side of the city contains many fine residential streets. In the far north are Fort Needham hill and the Hydrostone district which occupies the area devastated in 1917. In the north also, are many hundreds of small houses built since the end of World War II. Land transportation facilities all enter the city from the north, there are no bridges across either the harbour or the Northwest Arm. The city is almost surrounded by railways. The old terminals and the dockyards are served by a line which skirts the edge of the harbour while the new Ocean terminals are reached by a new line which follows the Northwest Arm and crosses the southern part of the peninsula in a deep open cut. Across the harbour to the east lies the town of Dartmouth which in many ways can be regarded as a suburban part of the Greater City of Halifax. Southward along the eastern shore of the harbour are Woodside with its sugar refinery and the oil refinery at Imperoyal. Beyond these urban developments lie great stretches of woods and rocks; the immediate hinterland of Halifax is not by nature suited to agriculture and much of it has so little soil that it is not even well forested. Population  The population according to the census of 2001, was 119,292 which is nearly three times as great as it was in 1871. There were two periods of rapid growth: 1911-21 and 1931-41. During the World War 2 the population of the city swelled to over 130,000, but has declined to about 85,000 in the post-war period. The metropolitan district of Halifax includes Dartmouth, Woodside, Imperoyal and smaller adjoining settlements. Home