PUBLICATIONS
ISAAC C. MORRIS
1897 Visit to Bell Island
by Gail Hussey-Weir
Created January 2022; updated January 2026
Isaac C. Morris (1857-1937): St. John's businessman, politician, writer and public speaker. He was born in St. John's, where he operated a sail-making business and served on the Municipal Commission and the city Council. He was a prolific writer for the St. John's newspapers on the social and political issues of the day, and it was in this capacity that he became "one of the important people in Bell Island's history never to have lived there." There were no newspapers published on Bell Island in the first few decades of the iron ore operations, and no newspaper correspondents living on Bell Island to report on all the mining and other activity going on there. Morris liked to travel outside St. John's on summer weekends and holidays, visiting communities and chatting with locals about their history and culture. You might say he was an early folklorist because he would make note of who he met and what they told him. When he returned home, he would write up these experiences for publication in the St. John's periodicals. He visited Bell Island on at least 5 occasions between 1897 and 1911 and reported in The Daily News on the mining activity and social life, and changes he had observed over that time period.
In his 1899 article in The Daily News, Morris says his first visit to Bell Island was in 1897 and that it was recorded in The Daily News, however, he goes on, "...but the day being Sunday, and our stay being brief, we were not in position to form proper conclusions." [On a Sunday, the tram cars would not have been operating, nor the miners working.] I have searched issues of The Daily News for June through September of 1897 and have not found anything referring to Morris' visit. The only thing I found about anyone visiting Bell Island from St. John's that summer was in The Daily News of Friday, August 20, p. 4 under the headline: "Excursion to Bell Isle: At 1 p.m. yesterday [Thursday], the D.P. Ingraham left the wharf of J&W Pitts with about 60 passengers for Bell Isle. A few hours later, she reached her destination. All started over the island to take in the sights and scenes. The weather being fine, the excursionists could not but enjoy themselves. The principal attraction of the sight-seers was the Nova Scotia Steel Co.'s mine. Many visited Lance Cove and were pleased with what they saw. At 11 p.m., the little steamer blew her whistle in the harbour [St. John's] and drew into Tug Co.'s wharf."
In his 1899 article in The Daily News, Morris says his first visit to Bell Island was in 1897 and that it was recorded in The Daily News, however, he goes on, "...but the day being Sunday, and our stay being brief, we were not in position to form proper conclusions." [On a Sunday, the tram cars would not have been operating, nor the miners working.] I have searched issues of The Daily News for June through September of 1897 and have not found anything referring to Morris' visit. The only thing I found about anyone visiting Bell Island from St. John's that summer was in The Daily News of Friday, August 20, p. 4 under the headline: "Excursion to Bell Isle: At 1 p.m. yesterday [Thursday], the D.P. Ingraham left the wharf of J&W Pitts with about 60 passengers for Bell Isle. A few hours later, she reached her destination. All started over the island to take in the sights and scenes. The weather being fine, the excursionists could not but enjoy themselves. The principal attraction of the sight-seers was the Nova Scotia Steel Co.'s mine. Many visited Lance Cove and were pleased with what they saw. At 11 p.m., the little steamer blew her whistle in the harbour [St. John's] and drew into Tug Co.'s wharf."
In his "Newspaper History of Bell Island," Addison Bown did not record a visit to Bell Island by Morris in 1897, which suggests to me that Morris did not publish an article on it in the way he did with his later trips.