Eigg Mountain is high plateau (between 225 and 300 metres above sea level), part of the highlands of Antigonish County,
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland".
Most of the population are native Eng ...
, Canada.
Originally used as winter hunting grounds by the
Mi’kmaq people, Eigg Mountain was settled and farmed in the early nineteenth century by immigrants from Ireland and the Scottish Highlands. The place takes its name from the
Isle of Eigg in western Scotland where some of the first settlers originated. Farming conditions were difficult at this high elevation. Winters were longer and the snow-cover deeper than in lowland areas. The soil was rocky and thin. Crop failures were reported in the 1890s. The school was closed in 1914. The entire settlement was abandoned shortly thereafter. The history of Eigg Mountain settlement is documented on a
interactive online map
Eigg Mountain has been logged continuously since the eighteenth century, and logging is now the main economic activity there. People still hunt on Eigg Mountain as the Mi’kmaq did centuries ago; however the caribou are gone and the endangered mainland moose is now a protected species. In the summer people enjoy the area by hiking, cycling and exploring with all-terrain vehicles; in the winter by snowshoe, ski and snowmobile. A portion of Eigg Mountain was protected in 2003 as part of the Eigg Mountain-James River Wilderness Area.
The term Eigg Mountain is also used to refer to a peak that rises above the Eigg Mountain plateau to an elevation of 321.9 metres (Co-ordinates: ) and is the site of a horizontal control point or
triangulation station
A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The nomenclature varies regionally: they a ...
.
References
External links
''Eigg Mountain Settlement History Project'', http://people.stfx.ca/rbantjes/gis/txt/eigg/introduction.html
{{Nova Scotia parks
History of agriculture in Canada
Protected areas of Nova Scotia
Mountains of Nova Scotia
Eigg
Mountains of Canada under 1000 metres