Albert Mines, New Brunswick Explained

45.8779°N -64.6685°W

Albert Mines is a community in the southeastern corner (Map) of the province of New Brunswick, Canada. It is due south of the Village of Hillsborough and bordered by the communities of Demoiselle Creek (site of Hopewell Rocks) and Edgetts Landing. Prominent buildings today include the Albert Mines Baptist Church. The locale is notable in the history of the petroleum industry as being the source of the first ore used to distill kerosene.

Mining history

In 1820, a deposit of Albertite, variously described as "solid petroleum" or "asphalt" was discovered by Abraham Gesner, who understood its potential as an alternative to whale oil as a source of light.^[1] After developing a process to distill the ore into what he would call kerosene (paraffin in Europe) the ore was mined between 1854 and 1881, yielding an estimated 200,000 tons of Albertite. Mining disputes, including the nature of Albertite, were subject to legal action in the 1850s.^[2] A section of the Albert Railway ran through the area beginning 1877 until the track was dismantled in 1955^[3]

A century-old^[3] gypsum quarry supplied a National Gypsum mill in nearby Hillsborough and ceased production in the 1980s when the mill closed.

See also

• Royal eponyms in Canada

References

• Book: Martin . Gwen L. . Gesner's Dream: The Trials and Triumphs of Early Mining in New Brunswick . 2003 . Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum . Fredericton . 1894475-46-1 .

Further reading

• Nancy Redmayne Ross, ed,. Diary of a Maritimer 1816-1901: The Life and times of Joseph Salter, St. John's: International Maritime Economic History Association, 1996.
  This work includes a description of the diarist's affiliation with the Caledonia Mining and Manufacturing Company (1859–1862), which was one of the companies that mined Albertite here.

Notes and References

1. News: The cautionary tale of whale oil. The Globe and Mail. Ed Butts. 2019-10-04. https://web.archive.org/web/20191006064852/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-cautionary-tale-of-whale-oil/. 2019-10-06. 2019-10-30. live.
2. Web site: Jackson's Revenge: Albert Mines . 2008-02-13 . Heritage Resources Saint John . 20 November 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110518075029/http://www.saintjohn.nbcc.nb.ca/~heritage/AlbertMines/Revenge.htm . 18 May 2011 .
3. Web site: Salem & Hillsborough Railroad And Other Railways of Albert County . Clowes . Art . David Othen . 1999 . The Railways of Canada Archives . Trainweb . 20 November 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110318041912/http://www.trainweb.org/canadianrailways/articles/SalemAndHillsboroughRR.html . 18 March 2011 .