[1] Located on the west coast of Cape Breton Island fronting the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Inverness sits astride a small coal seam which was exploited from the late 19th century to the mid-late 20th century, beginning with a mine opened by William Penn Hussey of Massachusetts.

Hussey was able to secure financial backing from European investors and soon dredged a portion of the sand dunes to connect MacIsaac's Pond to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

He had some piers and wharves built, laid a small railway and was able to ship coal to export markets.

[citation needed] Immediately following Hussey's departure the town entered the era of William Mackenzie and Donald Mann during the 1890s.

These two (whom local streets are named after) were able to lobby the Government in order to fund a railway project from Port Hawkesbury to Inverness.