other bridges in the district, one over Auld’s Creek, known as Cass’ Bridge, and the other crossing Auld’s Creek higher up, on Samuel Gurney’s land. Both bridges linked the main road to town with the “Cove Head West Road”. Cass’ Bridge was completed in 1829; its length was 213 feet and its depth was “15 feet from flooring to bottom of stream.”

The Railroad Line That Never Was

In the days of rail travel Stanhope was served by the stations at Bedford and York, which have not had passengers for years; however, there were plans for a branch line to Stanhope on two occasions. In the Daily Examiner for October 17, 1900 a proposed branch line was mentioned, from a point between Royalty Junction and York Stations to Covehead, and thence to Oyster Bed Bridge. And in 1906-07 a branch line was projected from Hunter River through Oyster Bed, Brackley and West Covehead to Stanhope and Tracadie. This line was actually pegged: it entered the district near Roy Bell’s property, where the station was planned to be, passed behind Herb Kielly’s (now Clark Gallant’s) and James MacLauchlan’s barns and crossed the main road at George Clark’s (now Mervyn Robison’s). Finally it went over the fields and across the Eastern Road to the old Foster and Higgins properties, passing eastwards out of Lot 34 to re- connect with the main line again at Tracadie. But the line never was built; there may have been objections from some property owners to a line passing through their lands. So the railway passed Stanhope by; at least we are spared the trauma some districts are having now, with the closure of their branch lines and stations; you don’t miss what you never had.

Automobiles

The transition from horse power to cars and tractors began around 1913, when a bill was passed allowing cars on certain roads where 75% of residents had signed an agreement that cars could run on those .roads; cars had previously (1908) been totally banned. The Cliff Hotel, Stanhope, later Stanhope Beach Inn, was a major tourist attraction, and the Union Road was one of the first roads opened to cars (on one day a week), to expedite tourist traffic from Charlotte- town to the hotel at the Point.

There was considerable opposition to automobiles, on account of noise, scaring farm animals, and so on; seventy years ago from the time of writing this, on February 14, 1914, there was a protest meeting at Pleasant Grove, condemning automobiles. There were instances of

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