Factors Contributing to the Failure of the Chignecto Ship Railway Project
	After a successful presentation of the Chignecto plans to the Mechanics' and Manufacturers' Exhibition at Saint John in 1875, the Great Fire in Saint John (1877) destroyed all Ketchum’s plans, blueprints and drawings.
	After the contract with the Canadian government was signed, a General Railway Act was passed in 1888, stating that “no bonds or debentures shall be issued until 20 per cent of the cost has actually been expended on the work”.  This put exceptional financial pressure on the Chignecto Marine Transport Railway Company to find funding other than bonds and debentures.
	Inclement weather in the fall of 1888, in the form of unusually heavy rain, created almost flood-like conditions delaying work for several months. The rainfall during October amounted to 9.34 inches against 3.70 inches in October 1877.  By the end of November almost 19 inches of rain had fallen, the most that could be remembered in the preceding 27 years.
	A large boggy section over one mile long,  previously undetected, required filling with rock to a depth of 60 feet (18 metres) to form a solid footing; legend has it that a steam shovel disappeared after being left on the bog overnight.
	It became necessary to divert the flow of the Tidnish River.
	The economic situation in South America in 1890 resulted in the crash of the money market in England.  The financial company of Baring Bros. (London), with whom John G. Meiggs & Co. had invested heavily, collapsed.  This led to the demise of the Chignecto project’s chief contractor, resulting in the Chignecto Marine Transport Railway Company being  unable to sell their remaining bonds.
	In 1896, by a  vote of 55-54, the Canadian government refused to renew the Chignecto Marine Transport Railway Company’s charter and to extend the Chignecto project’s completion date.  By this time $3.5 million had been spent on the railway and four-fifths of the work had been completed.  $1.5 million and two months work were required to complete the Chignecto Marine Railway.
	The frequent changes in prime ministers and the governing political party in Canada during the Chignecto project resulted in uncertain political support.  The Chignecto Railway Project survived three federal elections and six Prime Ministers: MacDonald, Abbott, Thompson, Bowell, Tupper, and Laurier, finally being laid to rest under the administration of Sir Robert Borden.

	Dickey, Arthur Rupert (1854-1900) Canadian politician, and son of “Father of Confederation” Robert Barry Dickey.  Arthur Dickey served as member for Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, in the House of Commons from 1888-1896.   Dickey held three ministerial positions in the Conservative government from 1894-1896 including Secretary of State, Minister of Militia and Defence, and Minister of Justice and Attorney General.  Arthur Dickey was also the only member of Parliament who voted for the Suffrage Bill in the late 1800s. Arthur Rupert Dickey was a strong political supporter of the Chignecto Ship Railway.
	Foster, Sir George Eulas  (1847-1931) Canadian statesman and politician, born in New Brunswick.  Foster was Minister of Finance 1888-1896, Canadian Delegate to the Paris Peace Conference 1918-1919, Acting Prime Minister of Canada 1920, and was appointed to the Senate in 1921.  Foster was knighted in 1914. Foster supported Ketchum in his attempts to complete the Chignecto Ship Railway.
	Landry, Sir Pierre-Amand J.C. (1846-1916) Canadian lawyer, politician and judge, born in Memramcook, New Brunswick.  Landry was the first New Brunswick Acadian Cabinet Minister (1883 and 1887) and Supreme Court Judge (1893). Landry was a Board Member of the Chignecto Marine Railway Company.
	Tupper, Sir Charles    (1821-1915) Canadian statesman and doctor, born in Nova Scotia.  Tupper was Premier of Nova Scotia 1864, Minister of Railways and Canals 1879-1884, Prime Minister of Canada 1896.  Tupper became a Baronet in 1888. Tupper was the driving force for the Chignecto Ship Railway project in the House of Commons.

	MacDonald, Sir John Alexander (1815-1891) Prime Minister 1878-1891 (2nd term in office) - Conservative Born in Glasgow, Scotland; emigrated to Canada in 1820; lawyer by profession; a Father of Confederation; 1st term in office 1867-1873.
	Abbott, Sir John Joseph Caldwell  (1821-1893) Prime Minister 1891-1892 - Conservative Born in St. Andrews, Lower Canada (Quebec); graduated from McGill University, Montreal, in 1854; lawyer by profession; first Canadian born Prime Minister.
	Thompson, Sir John Sparrow David (1845-1894) Prime Minister 1892-1894 - Conservative Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia; lawyer by profession; first Roman Catholic Prime Minister of Canada.
	Bowell, Sir Mackenzie (1823-1917) Prime Minister 1894-1896 - Conservative Born in Rickinghall, England; emigrated to Canada in 1904; publisher by profession; Grand Master of the Orange Order of British North America, 1870-1878.
	Tupper, Sir Charles (1821-1915) Prime Minister 1896 - Conservative Born in Amherst, Nova Scotia; graduated from Edinburgh University, Scotland in 1843; doctor by profession; a Father of Confederation; served only 69 days as Prime Minister.
	Laurier, Sir Wilfred (1821-1915) Prime Minister 1896-1911 - Liberal Born in Saint-Lin, Canada East (Quebec); graduated from McGill University, Montreal in 1864; lawyer by profession; first Canadian Prime Minister of French ancestry.
	Borden, Sir Robert Laird (1854-1937) Prime Minister 1911-1917 - Conservative Born in Grand Pre, Nova Scotia; graduated from Edinburgh University, Scotland in 1843; lawyer by profession; Chancellor of Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario, 1924-30; Canadian Prime Minister during WWI.
Note: After Ketchum’s death in 1896, the Chignecto project no longer had a high profile champion.  English Chignecto shareholders appointed Andrew Dryburgh Provand to pursue the rights of the shareholders with the Canadian government and press for the resumption of work on the Chignecto Railway.  Provand continued in his endeavors for the next 18 years, unsuccessfully, until his death in 1914.

Work ceased on the Chignecto Ship Railway in 1891.  A.D. Provand, representative of the Chignecto Marine Transport Railway Co. shareholders, continued to press the Canadian government to resume work on the project up until his death in 1914.  The onset of  WWI in 1914 demolished any hope of resurrecting the project.  Over time the railway has been systematically dismantled and its materials used for a number of ventures:
◆	The Chignecto Marine Transport Railway Company sold rails and fastenings from the Chignecto Railway to the Canadian Government for use on the Intercolonial Railway.
◆	Cape Tormentine, New Brunswick, and Borden, Prince Edward Island, used a large portion of the heavy rock from the railway site in construction of their ferry approaches.
◆	Sleepers were salvaged and cut into lumber, much of which was used to build several houses in the vicinity of the railway.
◆	The machinery used for constructing the railway was sold for scrap.
◆	The brick used to construct the Power House now forms part of the firewall in the Fort Beauséjour Museum, Aulac, New Brunswick.

Housing for the Chignecto Railway Employees

With the influx of so many workers (up to 4,000) into the Chignecto area to work on the Ship Railway, the towns of Sackville and Amherst underwent a commercial boom.  Immigrant workers from Quebec, Italy and Ireland, as well as engineers, site management, businessmen and visitors, had to be housed. Many new buildings were erected in Amherst and on the Fort Lawrence Marsh:
◆	Henry George Clopper Ketchum set up his business office at Amherst.  Later the Ketchums constructed a home at Tidnish, which is now used as a summer rental accommodation.
◆	The engineers employed on the Chignecto Railway also set up their headquarters in Amherst.  Their residence was known as “BallyHooly House” due to the large amount of entertaining carried out there.
◆	A home was built by Rhodes, Curry Ltd. of Amherst for Fletcher F.S. Kelsey, Resident Manager and Engineer of the Chignecto Ship Railway.  The house was purchased in 1910 by  C.E. Trenholm who moved it to Upper Fort Lawrence.
◆	The CMTR (Chignecto Marine Transport Railway) Cottage was constructed for the use of workers on the Chignecto Ship Railway.  It has been suggested that the building was used as a cookhouse, but this cannot be confirmed.
◆	Labourers’ Barracks were built in various locations around the Ship Railway works.  The sites of all the barracks are not known but there were two built near the Fort Lawrence terminal.  One of the residences consisted of two long narrow buildings, which, in the 1940s were being used by Mr. Harley Smith to house pigs.
◆	The Italians had their own barracks in a large hollow beside the railroad.  The smoke from their morning breakfast fires gave rise to this location being known as “Smokey Hollow”.
◆	The inhabitants of Fort Lawrence had been unable to buy goods in their town since the closing of the one local store owned by Thomas Roach.   With the Ship Railway came the opening of at least two stores, one managed by C.R. Church, that sold a large range of dry goods, fabrics and groceries.
◆	Several private boarding houses, hotels, and stables were also erected to accommodate business and company officials, interested visitors, and travelers.

Sources:
Atkins, Pearl MacD.  “The history of Tidnish Bridge”.  Amherst Citizen, 4th January, 1986.
Trenholm, Gladys et al.  A history of Fort Lawrence - Times, Tides and Towns.  Edmonton: Sherwood Printing Ltd., 1985

	"The Chignecto Ship Railway."  Engineering News and American Railway Journal XX (27 Oct. 1888): 326.
	"The Chignecto Ship- Railway." Engineering News and American Railway Journal XXII (7 Sept. 1889): 218-220.
	"The Chignecto Ship Railway Lifting Docks."  Engineering News and American Railway Journal XXII (28 Sept. 1889): 295.
	"Untitled." Engineering News and American Railway Journal XXVI (08 Aug. 1891): 122.
	"The Amherst Dock of the Chignecto Ship-Railway."  Engineering News and American Railway Journal XXVI, 39 (26 Sept. 1891): 279