Milton, Newfoundland and Labrador

Milton
Former Logging Village
Milton

Location of Milton in Newfoundland

Coordinates: 48°13′00.35″N 53°57′43.27″W / 48.2167639°N 53.9620194°W / 48.2167639; -53.9620194Coordinates: 48°13′00.35″N 53°57′43.27″W / 48.2167639°N 53.9620194°W / 48.2167639; -53.9620194
Country  Canada
Province  Newfoundland and Labrador
Time zone Newfoundland Time (UTC-3:30)
  Summer (DST) Newfoundland Daylight (UTC-2:30)
Area code(s) 709

Milton is a small former logging community on Smith Sound, Trinity Bay, on the island of Newfoundland in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Situated on the shores of the inner reaches of Smith Sound the community is on Route 230-A, which starts at Clarenville and continues to the intersection at Route 230. Nesled in the lee of the Greeps Nest Hill, the winters are mild and spring to fall are pleasantly warm and attributes its climate to the protection of its environment from the sheltering effects of Random Island from the open Atlantic. The community was originally settled in 1868 after two previous "wintering-over" by Wm. James Adams and his four sons and three of his four daughters. They came to the area from Old Perlican on the east side of Trinity Bay. Originally named King's Cove, it changed its name to Milton (it is believed after the poet John Milton) in the 1920s. It has always been a logging town and at its height in the 1930s possessed four water-powered and 8 gas-powered saw mills. The only remnants of its logging history is found in the name of the small brook that runs through the town called THE SAW PIT BROOK". At another point in its history it was also a siding for the branch railway line to Bonivista. This element was run by Mr. Herbert Adams.

The family was originally settled by this Adams clan (who descended from the Scottish Highlands) and descendants of these four brothers are still scattered throughout the community to this day. The community has seen 6 generations of the family make its home here.

Other industries that have existed here were a Brick Manufacturing plant (the only one in NL until its closure in the 1970s). It was also the starting point of the cross country explored Wm Epps Cormack and his traveling companion Joseph Sylvester where they began their trek across the provinces interior in 1832.

Most importantly, a series of "transatlantic cables have in the past landed in the general area (the first telegraph cable was landed at Heart's Content in 1866 and the first international telephone cable in Clarenville in 1955)." The current Greenland Connect cable landed in Milton itself in 2009, connecting Eastlink network to Greenland and thence to far Northern European network exchange points via Iceland. It provides an alternative to the more southerly Hibernia Atlantic cable from Halifax or Emerald Express and is on a route that could in theory connect to Russian or Far Eastern destinations via Arctic great circles, to complete a global transocean fibre loop.

Today the community functions as a bedroom community to the Clarenville area.[1] TELE Greenland "constructed and staffed a $4 million facility in the Town of Milton and contributed significantly to the local economy" according to the provincial government, which noted many additional benefits to the area.[2]

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