Big Head

With this page, we reach a region with four place names on the topographical map, more plentiful here than elsewhere along this coast; one of them is Big Head and the other three all mention the Delaneys. Alas, I have been unable to locate any information about the person or family to which these place names refer; none of the three place names in question (Lower Delaneys Brook, Upper Delaneys Brook, and Delaneys Point) is listed in the Nova Scotia section of Place Names of Atlantic Canada; MacDougall’s “district sketch” of Pleasant Bay in his History of Inverness County, pp. 614-627, which in his telling runs from Cap Rouge to Meat Cove, does not mention anyone bearing that name; nothing turns up in the internet searches I have tried. This web page lists three Delaneys who were members of the Cape Breton Highlanders, but two of them were from New Waterford and the third was from Margaree Harbour, so they are unlikely to be the source of this name. If anyone knows of its provenance, please contact me at the address in the footer below.

This page is dedicated to the first of the four names, Big Head, which the topographical map locates inland north of Lower Delaneys Brook and running at least as far north as the unnamed brook on the south of “Between-the-Brooks Mountain”. Photo #1, a moderately wide-angled view, shows the magnificent feature that I believe most likely gave rise to this place name, with “Big Head Mountain” at the far left and the valley carved by the Lower Delaneys Brook below both, though it is entirely possible that the name refers both to the mountain at the left and its prolongation inland. The mountain on the south (right) side of Lower Delaneys Brook has no official name; I dub it “Between-the-Delaneys Mountain” since it rises between the Lower Delaneys Brook seen here and the Upper Delaneys Brook to its south. These features will be the subject of the following pages of this essay.

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Photos #2 and #3, both taken at the same moderately wide-angled lens setting, break the scene in photo #1 into two halves. Photo #2 shows the great crest on “Big Head Mountain” rising just inland of the mouth of Lower Delaneys Brook, at the lower end of the point left of the centre of the photo, and the ridge which leads back to the great ridge further inland. The photos on the previous pages have looked at the great crest in detail, so I will say little more here, but this is the first really good look at its southern flank, seen to be primarily gravel/dirt/rubble, and the ridge leading to the great ridge at the far right. The patches of green on the sides are mostly low brush or, occasionally, grass, though some trees are growing there too. Full-sized trees are growing along the ridge to the right of the great crest, even right up to the edge of the ridge, but they thin out considerably at the far right of the photo as the ridge ascends to the great ridge.

Photo #3 looks as far to the right as is possible from this vantage point at the great ridge rising above the valley through which the Lower Delaneys Brook reaches the Gulf. The rocky outcroppings here seem more prevalent than in photo #2, though there is plenty of gravel/dirt/rubble along the slopes. The patches of green are either low brush or stunted trees, though the lighter coloured ones appear to be patches of grass. At the right, the great ridge slopes down and, though it is not visible in this photo, continues to descend sharply into the valley below.

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The remaining photos on this page add more detailled views of the ridges above the Lower Delaneys Brook valley; they do not exactly form a panorama, but do generally proceed from left to right across the view in photo #1.

Photo #4 is a telephoto view of the ridge leading from the great crest on “Big Head Mountain” above the Lower Delaneys Brook valley to the great ridge further inland. One wonders whether there might not be an intermittent brook bed where the line of trees (at the top) and brush (further down) descend into the valley left of centre. Or is the greenery there explained by some other cause? To the left of the large rock face on the side of the great ridge at the centre right of the photo is a large area that appears to have undergone significant erosion: at one point must there not have been land as far out as the outcropping that has since been eaten away?

Photo #5 is not a telephoto view, but was taken with a longer focal length than photo #3, and brings into better view more of the detail of the great ridge and the slopes below. In particular, the deep furrow on the centre right, while present in photo #3, is here much more obvious. This does not appear to have been primarily carved by water, but perhaps by the large boulders that can be seen at the lower end that broke off from the rock faces above. What a view one must have from up there! A panorama in all directions!

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Photo #6 is a telephoto view of the right portion of the great ridge; if one looks carefully at the point where “Between-the-Delaneys Mountain” intersects with the top of the great ridge at the right of the photo, you can see that the great ridge begins to descend towards the valley below.

Photo #7 is another telephoto view, taken north of the mouth of Lower Delaneys Brook (which is at the far right and outside the scope of this photo); it shows the southern flank of the great ridge as it descends further into the valley. The ridge seen above the V of the two mountains is on the south side of the brook and is a prolongation of “Between-the-Delaneys Mountain” as it moves back inland to merge into the Cape Breton Highlands Plateau.