HISTORY
MINING HISTORY
MINING HISTORY
MINING TERMINOLOGY
by Gail Hussey-Weir
Created April 2020; updated Sept. 2025
by Gail Hussey-Weir
Created April 2020; updated Sept. 2025
NOTE: This page is under construction. Items will be added on an ongoing basis.
BOTTOM: "A 'bottom' was the name given to the place where the loaded ore cars from the deckhead or stockpile were assembled and gripped onto the haulage cable to be sent to the shipping pier, and was also the place where the empty ore cars coming from the pier were ungripped and sent to the deckhead, stockpile or surface pit for reloading."
This description of a "bottom" was given by Addison Bown in his article "Memories of Earlier Wabana," in The Daily News, April 7, 1954, p. 9. The article was written following the fire of April 3, 1954 that destroyed what was at the time the oldest office building associated with the Wabana Mines. It had housed the original Main Office of the Dominion Iron & Steel Company and was built around 1900. It was built near the East Bottom of the Dominion East Tramway. Following the merger of the Dominion and Scotia companies, the Main Office was relocated to Bennett Street, immediately west of the Tramway. The East Bottom was a very busy spot. Bown went on to say, "flat cars with freight were constantly arriving from the pier for discharging at the warehouse nearby. Cars of coal from the pier were also ungripped at this point and allowed to run out on the coal trestle below the office." The location of the East Bottom in today's terms is that block of land immediately east of the hospital at the corner of No. 2 Road and Town Square. It is where you will find the "Red Building," (originally the Mine Survey Office). The Rolling Pin Bakery is also on this site, as is the former House of Stoyles, which itself is on the site of the former Company Surgery (labelled "Hospital" on the map). To the north of that is a building marked "D" with the number 52; that is the Company House that is still standing today.
The "East Bottom" is located in the upper part of the 1950s map below, between No. 2 Road, Main Street and the Coal Yard. (Source: "Wabana, Nfld." in "Insurance Plans of Towns in Newfoundland," Canadian Underwriters' Association, Toronto, 1954-1969.)
This description of a "bottom" was given by Addison Bown in his article "Memories of Earlier Wabana," in The Daily News, April 7, 1954, p. 9. The article was written following the fire of April 3, 1954 that destroyed what was at the time the oldest office building associated with the Wabana Mines. It had housed the original Main Office of the Dominion Iron & Steel Company and was built around 1900. It was built near the East Bottom of the Dominion East Tramway. Following the merger of the Dominion and Scotia companies, the Main Office was relocated to Bennett Street, immediately west of the Tramway. The East Bottom was a very busy spot. Bown went on to say, "flat cars with freight were constantly arriving from the pier for discharging at the warehouse nearby. Cars of coal from the pier were also ungripped at this point and allowed to run out on the coal trestle below the office." The location of the East Bottom in today's terms is that block of land immediately east of the hospital at the corner of No. 2 Road and Town Square. It is where you will find the "Red Building," (originally the Mine Survey Office). The Rolling Pin Bakery is also on this site, as is the former House of Stoyles, which itself is on the site of the former Company Surgery (labelled "Hospital" on the map). To the north of that is a building marked "D" with the number 52; that is the Company House that is still standing today.
The "East Bottom" is located in the upper part of the 1950s map below, between No. 2 Road, Main Street and the Coal Yard. (Source: "Wabana, Nfld." in "Insurance Plans of Towns in Newfoundland," Canadian Underwriters' Association, Toronto, 1954-1969.)
Below is a list of some of the occupational titles used in the Wabana Mines as compiled by students of the class of 1943 at the Church of England Academy, Bell Island, and printed in the June 1943 Academician, No. 2.
