Nelson River

“ In the valley of the Saskatchewan there are large areas of rich soil formed principally by the river itself, which has brought down an enormous amount of silt from the upper part of its valley. The western part of the valley of Nelson river is covered by a thick lacustral deposit which reaches west to Burntwood lake and east to the channel of Nelson river. In this area good soil is found in almost every part and where drained would no doubt make fair farming land. ”

“ Having been put up very comfortably at the Empire Hotel, Lyell, we pursue our journey to Nelson along the left-hand side of the Buller River. The road here is cut out of the side of the hill, and immediately below him the traveller beholds the surging waters of the largest river on the West Coast of this island. Our horses instinctively seem to know the result of a false step or a capsize over the side. ”

“ In 1821 a ship full of Swiss sailed for Fort York on Hudson's Bay, and late in the fall the party reached the Red River after a toilsome journey up the Nelson River and across Lake Winnipeg. Being artisans and city-dwellers they were unable to endure the rough agricultural labors in the bleak north. Cold, floods, grasshoppers, and uncongenial neighbors rendered the location unpleasant.504
Travellers from the south brought news of a better locality, and towards this place there soon began a movement which, while not great in any one year, was long continued. ”

“ The route from Nelson, after leaving the level country where more receptions were held at wayside townships, was along the steep rocky upper gorge of the Buller river, a clear stream which flows in a series of cascades through a narrow winding cleft in the mountains. The slope on either side is covered with dense forest of [77] tree ferns and birches, broken by areas where the undergrowth has been cut down and fired. ”

“ Some three thousand deer of several different kinds crossed the Nelson River within a month. "Fresh venison," writes Macdonell, "was so plenty that our men would not taste salt meat. We have all got better since we came to Hudson Bay."
But as in all far northern climates the heat70 was great in the months of May and June, and Governor and Colonists became alike restless to start on the inland journey.
The passing out of the ice in north-flowing rivers is always wearisome for those who are waiting to ascend. ”

“ It is the northernmost high land from Sydney to the Heads of Port Stephens from which it lies north-east 6 leagues. The intermediate space being a sandy beach. The tides both in the harbour and entrance runs very strong, and in some places not less than four miles an hour and sometimes from four to five. The ebb in general is much stronger than the flood: 9 3/4 hours in the harbour makes high water full and change, and rises six feet perpendicular where the Lady Nelson anchored, and four feet when she was higher up the river. ”

“ When, however, the Lady Nelson sailed to the Hawkesbury in September to load the settlers' grain and to bring it to Sydney, Grant appears to have been still on board her, as he was enjoined to ensure her safety at that place by Governor King. "You are not to leave the vessel yourself or suffer any other person to leave her while in the river nor let any strangers or visitors go on board...Your board netting is to be kept up while in the river." ”

“ This is necessitated by the fact that the Kootenai River, which enters the Columbia just below Robson, has a descent from Nelson of over two hundred feet. The railroad follows the Kootenai, which almost rivals the Columbia in magnitude. We pass the Bonnington Falls, the noblest waterfall on the entire system of Columbia’s tributaries, with the exception of the Great Shoshone of the Snake.
Reaching Nelson, the metropolis of this entire lake country, we find a bustling, active, well-built little city of seven thousand people. The leading industries centring at Nelson are mining and lumbering. ”

“ Striking back through the marsh land, that lies between Hayes and Nelson Rivers, they camped for the first night on the banks of the Nelson. The next morning, Tuesday, the 7th of January, they were crossing the ice of the Nelson’s broad current when they suddenly felt the rocking of the tide beneath their feet, looked ahead, saw the frost-smoke of open water and to their horror realized that the tidal bore had loosened the ice and they were adrift, bearing out to sea. In vain, dogs and men dashed back for the shore. ”

“ On the 9th of April they reached an island in the river, called San Bartolomeo, which the Spaniards had fortified, as an outpost, with a small semicircular battery, mounting nine or ten swivels, and manned with sixteen or eighteen men. It commanded the river in a rapid and difficult part of the navigation. Nelson, at the head of a few of his seamen, leaped upon the beach. ”

“ This was called "Nelson's Ferry." Nelson also lived in the colony on the east shore of the river opposite the Point and he had seven children. Only one of these, however, seems to have settled on the west side of the river. This ancient ferry is frequently mentioned in the Revolutionary annals; and Nelson's Point opposite Fort Arnold, afterward Fort Clinton, was regarded as a most important strategic point by Washington, which he carefully guarded.
Tradition has a pleasant little Highland "tea story" connected with this Gee family which may as well be perpetuated here. ”

“ Nelson. The land seemed to be barren rock. At camping places was neither fish nor fowl. The voyageurs took a reef in their belts and pressed on. Three beaver afforded some food on Steel River but “we are greatly fatigued,” records Hendry, “with carrying and hauling our canoes, and we are not well fed; but the natives are continually smoking, which I find allays hunger.” Pikes and ducks replenished the provision bags on Duck Lake beyond Steel River. Twenty canoes of Inland Indians were met at Shad Falls beyond Cree Lake, on their way to York. With these Hendry sent a letter to Governor Isham. ”

“ It was young and cheerful in its fresh green, with here a brown checkering of fallow, and there a white barn glistening in the sun, and orchards in the full glory of their blossom. Below us a stone mill grumbled over its unending task, and from the meadows came the blithe call of the killdee. It was all home to me from the fringing pines on the ridge-top, across the land to the mountains by the river, for on such a threshold one casts off fear. Danger might lurk about us in the shadows of the woods, but never out there in the broad day under the kindly eye of God. ”

“ We saw a lake trout at Nelson of a weight of twenty-two pounds. Ducks and geese and swan are common on the water, limitless grouse and pheasants are found in the woods, while deer, elk, and bear are common in the wild maze of mountains and cañons;—a sportsman's paradise.
Tourists taking the route eastward go from Nelson on the elegant steamer Kuskanook to Kootenai Landing and there take up again the railway route by the Crow's Nest. Such as desire to go to Spokane can leave the line at Curzon and go southward to a connection with the Spokane International. ”

“ The ferry over the Santee River, established and kept for several years by them, is still called Nelson's Ferry; and many of their descendants continue to live on both sides of the river. It is said that Lord Cornwallis, on his march into the interior, after the fall of Charleston, established his head-quarters at this ferry, at the house of the widow Nelson. ”

“ Soon, very soon, I was to go to that bustling, pushing town of Pittsburgh and with Penelope explore its wonders. We should ride behind the fastest pair of trotters in the State—his trotters; we should see the greatest mills in the country—his mills—where steel was worked like wax into a thousand giant forms; we should take long excursions on the river in a wonderful new boat—his boat— Why it would make a boy of him just to have us with him! ”

“ The pieces stood ranged in the order in which they had so often stood in battle, and the gray, thin fog rising slowly and silently from the river deep down between the cliffs, and wreathing the mountain-side above, might have been the smoke from some unearthly battle fought in the dim pass by ghostly guns, yet posted there in the darkness, manned by phantom gunners, while phantom horses stood behind, lit vaguely up by phantom camp-fires. ”

“ Gladys Todd from the shaded lamplight looked at me with a face clouded with displeasure. I, sitting on my spindly chair, very upright, heard the cryptic number three ringing in my brain. What was going to happen "at three"? At three to-morrow they would walk along the lane which wound around the town and down to the river. I thought of it now as "our lane," a sanctuary that would be desecrated by Boller's mere presence. The plausible theory became a fact. I must act, and act at once. For me to act was to avow my love. I must propose to Gladys Todd. ”

“ We turned our horses loose, and let them feed on the prairie.
The Prophet and Party Reach Tower Hill.
Saturday, 19.—This morning we struck our tents and formed a line of march, crossing Grand River at the mouth of Honey Creek and Nelson's Ferry. Grand River is a large, beautiful, deep and rapid stream, during the high waters of Spring, and will undoubtedly admit of navigation by steamboat and other water craft. At the mouth of Honey Creek is a good landing. We pursued our course up the river, {35} mostly through timber, for about eighteen miles, when we arrived at Colonel Lyman Wight's home. ”

“ The first objective of the expedition was Fort San Juan, a powerful work controlling the river of the same name, and thereby the only natural water transit between the sea and Lake Nicaragua. Upon the possession of this, as a position of vantage and a safe depot for supplies and reinforcements, Dalling based his hopes of future advance, both west and south. Nelson took with him forty-seven seamen and marines from his ship's company ”

“ Where land adjoining a freshwater river, or above tide-water, is described as bounded by a monument, whether natural or artificial, such as a tree or a stake standing on the bank, and a course is given as running from it up or down the river to another monument standing upon the bank, these words necessarily imply, as a general rule, that the line is to follow the river, according to its meanderings and turnings, and the grantee takes to the middle of the river. ”

“ I speak now of the free and unobstructed navigation of the river, and according to this general or public law, the right of navigation exists over every party of it. No principle is better settled or more generally admitted. ”

“ VII. The whole evidence shows that, nearly opposite Sands's Dock, only a mile and a quarter from the place of collision, the steamer, without any sufficient reason, commenced crossing gradually to the western shore, directing her course for Blue Point, till she passed the sloops Illinois and Exertion, when she bore further westward, till she came to the Temperance, where she straightened up the river till she passed the White House, when she bore rapidly to the west, endeavoring to cross the bows of the Hamlet, and in doing so ran on to the bowsprit and sunk her. ”

“ Second. Whether or not the evidence in this case shows that the bridge in controversy will, if erected, constitute a material obstruction and impediment to the navigation of the Hudson river for the vessels of the plaintiff, mentioned in the pleadings and proofs. ”

“ The Harrington lay at anchor at New Year's Isles for over two months, but could not trace the nationality of the vessel or her crew except in the language of the Harrington's captain, "one dead English cat." See Historical Records of New South Wales volume 4 page 780.)
6. THE LADY NELSON AND THE FRANCIS SCHOONER ENTERING HUNTER RIVER.
7. COAL HARBOUR (NEWCASTLE, NEW SOUTH WALES) , SURVEYED BY ENSIGN BARRALLIER IN 1801.
Coal Harbour and Rivers on the Coast of New South Wales. Surveyed by Ensign Barrallier, in His Majesty's Armed Surveying Vessel Lady Nelson: Lieutenant James Grant Commander. ”

“ Whether it be of the great rivers hurrying to the sea, or the white cascades or streams rippling fetlock-deep across the track, that voice of many glasses of water is always in one’s ears. There are times when the fierceness of the rivers fills one with a sense of impotence. A wide river-bed strewn with tree trunks and enormous boulders when the flood comes down—and they chafe and roll in wild turmoil—is an awesome enough sort of place. And the more you have to do with New Zealand rivers, the stronger becomes the awe in which you hold them. ”

“ The footsteps of a man were seen on shore, perhaps one of the Harrington's Lascars as the foot was measured and found very small. The shores of this island are bold rock and some dangerous reefs lie off it, one of which (a sunken one) we did not escape by 10 yards...Lady Nelson's Reef is east-south-east and west-north-west distance about 30 miles in Latitude 40 degrees 20 minutes 30 seconds south and Longitude by Time-keeper 145 degrees 40 minutes 53 seconds, it has many sandy bights in it where I would not scruple to anchor in south-south-west, south-east and east winds. ”

“ Native fires were seen burning on land. Next morning at six o'clock the Lady Nelson made sail and stood in shore, and as she made her appearance she was met by two native canoes, but perceiving that the coast was very rocky and a gale arising the commander stood to the westward, Tunitico then being east-south-east half a mile. At five o'clock in the afternoon he again endeavoured to anchor, and the Lady Nelson was brought to in a bay "in 15 fathoms of water, sand and shells." Five canoes came alongside, and as the Maoris appeared very friendly a boat-load of wood and of water was obtained. ”