LOOKOUT BELOW!

A newspaper piece of
Bernard Bowers.

 Despite the common assumption that such a secluded area would be cut-off from the rest of Canada (as well as the world), the Islands were fairly up-to-date with the precautions of the Second World War. Bernard Bowers, a local businessman from Brier Island had been registered to have a radio station for the area to alert the residents of the Islands, as well as the higher authorities of the time of air crafts flying over.

Bowers' certification to operate
a radio station.

The following clippings are from the Chronicle Herald (from the early 1940s) show how to identify air-crafts from their silhouettes-- both Allied and Axis Powers' countries. Clippings donated by the Bowers Family.

You can find documents at the Islands Archives of the different planes that were recorded during World War II. These "Official Observer Reports" contain the directions of which the planes were heading from, how many engines were identified and other characteristics of the particular flying crafts.

Click here for several types of planes that people were to be on the look out for. Clippings taken from the Chronicle Herald.

Foxy Industry

Gorham Elliott, Sr.

    The fishing industry is, and has been, dominant in the economies of both Brier and Long Islands. There have been other, more unique outlets of economy, such as fox ranching, which the inhabitants of the islands experimented with. Although odd sounding, fox ranching was a great means of supporting oneself. However, it was also a temporary industry.

    Beginning in the 1930s, the industry of selling fox pelts began to rise. Brier and Long Islands were home to large, fenced in establishments that housed many foxes. These foxes were bred for their grand quality pelts. These foxes, known as the “Silver, Black-Faced” foxes are a mutation of what we know as the common 'red fox.' Although the ethics of this trade comes into question, fox ranching was a business to be in. The fox pelts were brought to fairs in the Annapolis County where they were traded or sold.

    The first, and largest of the fox ranches was built and owned by Gorham Elliott, Sr., of Tiverton. His ranch was located in back of what is now the “Long Island Trading Company” general store, and housed over a hundred foxes. Smaller establishments, owned by Samuel Young and sons, Lloyd Blackford, Alton MacNeill, Carmen Nase and others were found in Freeport. In Central Grove Melvin Tibert raised foxes. Many residents recall a pungent odour always wafting from the fox ranches. There was only one fox ranch recorded in Westport, owned by Daniel Kenney Jr.

Daniel Kenney Sr,
with Mushy

    The foxes were fed once a day; their diet consisted of tripe and fish scraps. Elsie Young  of Freeport recalled having duties of feeding the foxes when her husband Charlie was away. Using a wheelbarrow, she would transport the frozen blocks of food from the government wharf at the Point to their home on top of Crocker's Hill.

    Due to the jittery nature of foxes, minimal contact with humans was ideal. If they felt threatened, the mother fox would eat her own pups. However, the story of “Mushy” is an exception. Mushy, a fox pup on Daniel Kenny Sr.'s farm (Westport) had to be isolated from the other foxes and fed by the household cat. Mushy was later tamed and became the Kenney family's newest pet.

    As the Second World War began, the fox ranching industry declined. Pelts became more expensive, and demand for clothing made from them decreased .