The Strait of Canso (also Gut of Canso or Canso Strait, also called Straits of Canceau or Canseaux until the early 20th century) separates mainland

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

and

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...

, in eastern Canada. It is a channel approximately 27 kilometers long and averaging 3 kilometers wide (1 km at its narrowest). The strait connects Chedabucto Bay on the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

to St. George's Bay on the Northumberland Strait, a subbasin of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The strait is (200+ feet) deep, with two significant communities at Port Hawkesbury on the eastern side facing Mulgrave on the western side, both ports. The strait is crossed by the Canso Causeway for vehicular and rail traffic, opened in 1955. The Canso Canal allows ships to pass through the causeway, and this can accommodate any vessel capable of transiting the St. Lawrence Seaway. An account of early settlement in the area is given in the letters of resident Henry Nicholas Paint (1830–1921), Member of Parliament for Richmond county and merchant, whose father Nicholas secured valuable land grants and settled in a stone-built house at Belle Vue in 1817. Port Hawkesbury, at first known as Ship Harbour, emerged as a shipbuilding and boatbuilding port on the Strait in the 19th century with firms such as H.W. Embree and Sons producing distinctive fishing boats that came to be known as "Canso Boats" after the Strait.

References

External links

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Strait of Canso - Economic Development Studies
(online collection of studies of the Strait of Canso area) {{Coord, 45, 35, 50, N, 61, 22, 38, W, display=title, region:CA_type:waterbody_source:dewiki_scale:250000 Canso Landforms of Antigonish County, Nova Scotia Landforms of Guysborough County, Nova Scotia Landforms of Inverness County, Nova Scotia Landforms of Richmond County, Nova Scotia Straits of the Atlantic Ocean Geographic regions of Nova Scotia