A museum, including an aquarium, was rebuilt by the Western Development Corporation and is called the PEI. Shellfish Museum. The Tyne Valley & Area Development Corporation operate it each summer. Different stages in the growth of oysters from spat to market size may still be viewed along, with an overview of the oyster industry and a brief history of the Biological Station. Production of quahogs (quahaugs) and bay scallops continues to be done in a Shellfish Hatchery. An Opportunity Center that was located there for several years was moved
in 2001 to Tyne Valley.
TELEPHONE
Telephone service was installed in Charlottetown in 1884. On April 10, 1885, the Telephone Company of Prince Edward Island opened its first office in Charlottetown. In a section about Tyne Valley in VOICES OF THE ISLAND by Walter C. Auld is the following: In 1891 the provincial govern- ment requested the Telephone Company of Prince Edward Island to erect a telephone line from Summerside to Tignish, with the government to pro- vide a subsidy of $2 50 a year for 15 years, payments to be made as each sec- tion was completed.
A single wire line was completed in 1895. Public telephones or toll sta- tions were placed at the following locations in the area around Tyne Valley: BIDEFORD—JW. Richards, Residence; CONWAY—Railway Station; ELLERSLIE—A. McCaall, Residence; NORTHAM—John E. Yeo, Residence; PORT HILL—Senator James Yeo, Residence; PORT HILL—J. W. Brown, Store; TYNE VALLEY—Mrs. J.W. Forbes, Residence; TYNE VALLEY—1W. Brown, Residence
By 1916, the Telephone Company of Prince Edward Island was providing service to 12 customers, while three privately owned telephone compa- nies were servicing 74 customers all connecting at Tyne Valley: Ellerslie— Conway Rural Telephone Company, 40 customers; Mt. Pleasant Rural Telephone Company, two customers; and Northam-Arlington Rural Telephone Company, 32 customers.
The customers making up each privately owned telephone company, put up their own line and kept it repaired. Each person with a telephone con- nected to that line paid for rent and tolls. The secretary of the company received a statement from the Prince Edward Island Telephone Company, listing the long distance calls that had been made by each per-
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