GMA holdings in the Springhill area to develop a coal mine. In 1874 the provincial government confirmed an attractive subsidy for constructing the railway: 10,000 acres (40 km²) and $5,000 per mile. In 1875, the company secured financing and began construction with the railway line reaching Parrsboro two years later. The Spring Hill & Parrsborough Railway officially opened on July 1, 1877 and began shipping coal to the port; the first year saw 900 ships loaded in the port. The Pugwash & Spring Hill Railway was never constructed as a result of the construction of the Intercolonial Railway connecting to additional markets; in the 1880s the Intercolonial would build a spur to Pugwash off its Oxford Junction - Stellarton. In 1878, the Springhill colliery had reached the boundary of the GMA holdings and in 1879 the provincial government revoked the GMA lease and transferred the mineral rights for the property to the Spring Hill and Parrsborough Coal and Railway Company (Limited). Cumberland Railway and Coal Company Unfortunately, construction costs for the railway and expansion of the colliery had impacted company finances. Revenues were insufficient to pay interest on company bonds and bankruptcy was declared with the company liquidated in 1883. The Cumberland Coal and Railway Company was incorporated in 1883 and changed its name to Cumberland Railway and Coal Company in 1884 when it purchased the assets of the Springhill and Parrsborough Coal and Railway Company (Limited). The new CR&C began mining on a much larger scale, opening the No. 1 and No. 2 collieries on the Springhill Coal Field. The company suffered a devastating loss on February 21, 1891 when a fire ignited accumulated coal dust in both collieries killed 125 miners (see the 1891 Fire under Springhill mining disaster). Following the fire, coal production resumed on an ever-increasing scale in the Springhill Coal Field, fed by the railway boom across Canada and the economic protection afforded by the National Policy which prevented a flood of cheap American coal into the country. DOMCO and DOSCO In 1910 the Dominion Coal Company Limited (DOMCO) absorbed the Cumberland Railway and Coal Company, maintaining the CR&C as a subsidiary. DOMCO was merged into the British Empire Steel Corporation (BESCO) in the early 1920s, which was later subsumed by the Dominion Steel and Coal Corporation (DOSCO) in 1930. In 1957 DOSCO was acquired by Avro Canada, which became Hawker Siddeley Canada in 1962.