SPRINGHILL

town, Cumberland county, northern Nova Scotia, Canada. It lies 22 miles (35 km) southeast of Amherst and is situated on a hill 700 feet (210 m) high, which was once the source of numerous springswhence its name. Coal, discovered in the vicinity in 1834 and mined commercially since 1872, is the town's economic mainstay. The first Canadian coal-mining trade union was legalized in the Springhill collieries in 1879. One of the mines, with a vertical depth of 4,000 feet (1,220 m), is said to be the deepest in Canada. Springhill has experienced several major mining disastersin 1891, when 125 miners lost their lives; in 1956, when 39 were killed by an explosion; and in 1958, when 76 were suffocated by a massive earth disturbance. Most of the business district was destroyed by fire in 1957. Coal now is mined only intermittently. Other activities are gardening, farming, lumbering, woodworking, and machine-shop practice. Inc. 1889. Pop. (1991) 4,373.