COAST OF NEW BRUNSWICK WITHIN THE GULF SHORE MIRA• MICHI RIVER AND SETTLEMENTS. CHATHAM, NEWCASTLE, ETC. - OCCUPATIONS OF THE INHABITANTS. TIMBER TRADE. - CULTIVATION OF THE SOIL. - SALMON FISHERY. - TRE MENDOUS FIRE OF 1825. - EFFECTS ON THE SOIL. — HARBOURS ON THE GULF COAST, ETC, 1 100 9idered sh MIRAMICHI * River enters the province of New Brunswick in latitude 47° 10 N., and in longitude 64° 40′ West. From Point Erscuminac, forming the south side of the bay, a dangerous reef extends three miles into the gulf. There is a sand bar across off the entrance, but the channel over it is broad, with water for ships of from six hundred to seven hundred tons; and vessels entering the river seldom' meet with any accident. The land near the sea, like the whole of the north-east coast of New Brunswick, is low, and clothed near the shore with dwarf spruce and birchtrees; beyond which the whole country is covered with heavy timber. This magnificent river divides into two great branches, and these again into numerous streams. It is navigable for large ships for about forty miles. The south-west branch winds from its source, in a small lake near the Tobique Hills, 189 miles before it joins the north-west branch, which is about 100 miles long. Each receives several large streams of from 20 to 40 miles in length. * Miramichi is not the Indian name, as generally supposed, but probably a corruption of Miracheet, the name of a tribe of Micmacs that once occupied its banks. The Indian name is Lis-tee-gooi deetch, and its north-west branch is called by the Indians Atlee-managan. The importance attached to Miramichi has arisen within the last thirty years, in consequence of the vast quantities of pine timber exported from thence. It was scarcely known thirty years ago, except to a few adventurers, who traded with the Indians for furs; and those who first settled on the banks of the river were attracted thither by its plentiful salmonfishery, which formed for some years a profitable source of enterprise. The French, when the country was possessed by their government, had temporary establishments on the islands at the entrance, for trading with the Indians for furs and salmon. Some small settlements were formed at Bay des Vents, at Negowack, and one said to contain two hundred houses, but this is likely an exaggeration, on Beaubair's Island. All the French posts were, however, nothing more than entrepôts for the fur trade. The first English vessel that entered Miramichi, was the ship that carried the remains of General Wolfe from Quebec, and driven in by stress of weather. Part of her crew, while ashore for water, were massacred by the Indians. The first British settler was a Mr. William Davidson, a Scotchman of enterprise and intelligence, who planted himself on the banks of this river in the year 1765, when there was not an European living in the whole territory between the Bay of Fundy and the Bay des Chaleurs. In 1790, Mr. Davidson, on account of government, exported three cargoes of masts and spars from Miramichi. From that period the exportation of timber has superseded almost every other pursuit; and the waters of the river being much disturbed by vessels, boats, and rafts of timber, a decrease in quantity has followed in the salmon-fishery; but whether in consequence of this circumstance, as the inhabitants always assert, or from some unknown natural cause, must, I think, be difficult to determine. The salmon-fishery on the river still affords more than is required for the use of the settlers and lumbering parties. On the south side of Miramichi, a little within its entrance, lies Bay des Vents, where ships occasionally load, and where there is safe and sheltered anchorage; on the north is the bay and settlement of Negowack, where ships also load, but where there is not much shelter.* Houses are seen thinly scattered along the bay and on each side as we sail up the river; but little cultivation appears. About twenty miles up, on the south * Shoals extend for a great distance from the islands at the entrance of Miramichi. I have some cause to remember them. After crossing the province from Fredericton to Chatham, I embarked on board a coasting schooner bound for Pictou, the master of which engaged to land me on Prince Edward Island. The night was dark. It blew a gale; yet the master incautiously ventured to pass through an intricate channel among the shoals. The vessel struck, and beat for some distance over, and at last bedded in the sands, at a great distance from the shore, and there we lay for three days and nights, until a man, who contrived to gain the shore, travelled by a circuitous route forty miles to Chatham, from whence a vessel was despatched to take us off. : There were several passengers, among whom were two ladies, a clergyman's wife, and a young lady, daughter of Dr. Mac Culloch of Pictou. The people of the vessel were awkward, and not cleanly. We were not prepared for such a disaster; and my friend Mr. Noble of Halifax, who was on board, and I, had to officiate as cooks for the ladies and ourselves. We contrived to stew mutton and potatoes so as to be very palatable, considering our situation. side, stands the town or village of Chatham, where many of the timber ships load, and where several of the merchants are settled, who have erected stores and wharfs. Some of the latter, particularly the fine stone warehouse, stores, wharfs, and timber booms, belonging to the very extensive establishment of Messrs. J. Cunard and Co., are on a most respectable scale. It has also a handsome Presbyterian church, a Methodist chapel, two or three good schools, and a printing office, which sends forth a weekly newspaper. About four miles further up, Nelson village, which has a handsome Catholic chapel, rises along the banks of the river; and here, also, a few vessels occasionally load with timber. On the opposite side, the village of Douglas, which has an excellent school, and the extensive mercantile establishment of Messrs. Gilmour and Rankin, where several ships load, appear rising along the shore. Some miles below, the same firm have erected one of the best saw-mills in America; working 28 saws, which cut about 27,000 feet of deals daily. Four miles further up than Chatham, and on the north side of the river, stands the village or town of Newcastle, with its wharfs and stores. It is considered the shire town for the county of Northumberland. Its public buildings, and most of the dwelling-houses and stores, were consumed by the fire of 1825, which reduced almost every thing else it contained to ashes; even in the churchyard I observed, three years afterwards, marks of that terrible conflagration. A new church, court-house, gaol, and many private buildings, have been since built. It is much to be regretted that the houses, stores, and wharfs, which are now scattered in four different places, each claiming the designation of a town, were not all built in one convenient place, where, together, they would now form a town of some consequence in extent; and where the operations of commerce would be carried forward with much greater convenience. A little above Newcastle, and a short distance below the confluence of the two great arms of the river, lies Beaubair's or Frazer's Island, where there are stores, and a ship-building establishment. On the banks of this river and its great branches, there is yet but a thinly scattered population, who employ themselves chiefly in hewing timber during winter in the woods, and in rafting it down the river in summer, to where the ships load. Fertile tracts of intervale, and excellent uplands, abound along its banks and in the extensive upper country, watered by its numerous streams, which are capable of most profitable cultivation; but the lumberers, who compose probably more than half the population, are neither from habit nor inclination likely to become constant or skilful farmers; which accounts for the cultivation of the soil having been so long neglected. The depression, however, in the value of timber, which took place in 1826, and the poverty and distress occasioned by the fire the preceding year, drove the actual settlers to the cultivation of the soil for the means of subsistence; and since that time they have devoted their attention nearly with as much industry to agriculture as to the timber business.* * On coming down the south-west branch, in the autumn of 1828, from where the road from the River St. John joins the Miramichi, about eighty miles above Chatham, I was astonished at the unexpected progress made during so short a period in the cultivation of the soil. |