A sluice is a controlled water channel or passage, that regulates the flow of water between areas, it may be natural or artificial.
The Sluice located in the community of Abercrombie is a tidal channel that historically shaped navigation, industry, and settlement along the East River and Pictou Harbour. It was central to coal-loading and shipping activity. A bridge was built across it to connect workers to wharves and loading grounds.
Sluices are not as common today as they once were when ship building was big in the Maritimes, (as their roles have shifted), are still widely used in water management systems (canals, reservoirs, flood control, irrigation, and hydropower). The traditional use of tidal “sluices” as named in Pictou County is less frequent.
Hydrographic Feature Sub Categories: Banks / Bays / Brooks (Creeks) / Channels / Coves / Entrance (Passages) / Guts / Harbours / Lakes / Ponds / Pools (Stillwaters) / Rivers / Sluice / Water Falls / Other
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The Sluice is a channel located in the community of Abercrombie. The Sluice served as a notable waterway feature at the entrance to the “Gut” west of the Loading Ground, an area of significant wharf and shipping activity in the 19th century