North Shore

“ And beyond the men-of-war, and across the wide stretch of harbour, there are the blue-grey shores of Neutral and Mosman Bays, the rugged heights of Cremorne and Bradley, all dotted with embowered villas, half-hidden cottages, and covered with a haze like a bloom.
And over all a cloudless sky, pale-blue and distant, with an unveiled sun that shines down its vivid light on land and sea. It is such a view as fairyland might offer, and the artist with his crude pigments and paints abandon in despair as hopeless of depiction. ”

“ I was in the society of gentlemen whose lives had been passed in all portions of the great north, on the frozen shores of Hudson’s Bay, in the mountain fastnesses of the Chipewyan range, or midst the savage solitudes that lie where, in long, low-lying capes, and ice-piled promontories, the shore of America stretches out to meet the waves of the Northern Ocean. ”

“ The anchorage in this bay, as I have before observed, is extensive, and the passage into it easy; there is a cluster of rocks, which lie south-south-east, about two cables length from a little bare island on the north shore, on which the sea frequently breaks very high; but if you keep Cape Banks open, you will avoid them; both shores are bold to, till you come thus high. A little above Point Southerland (south shore) is another patch of rocks, which, to avoid in turning, keep the land below this point open. ”

“ And when the mind wearies of the green foliage, the bright-hued flowers, and landscape of ever-varied plants, there is the sea. Farm Cove the bay is called. Trim yachts are anchored there, the warships of the nations lie at friendly anchorage, and from time to time over the blue water the music of their bands is wafted, or the shrill pipe of the boatswain’s whistle. Clean, dainty ships that bask there in the bright sunshine on the lazy tide, as though peace on earth and sea was decreed for evermore. ”

“ The Shore high and bold, to Northward a Number of Reefs of Rocks lying out a great Way into the Sea, in the Southern Part of the Bay many Islands and two Inlets. Sixty Islands of Ice of large Dimensions in Sight. In the ascending this Heighth, saw many Moose Deer Paths, Tracts of other Animals; and in the Ponds Trouts of about ten Inches in Length. On the Shores few Fowl but Ducks, and a Plenty of Muscles. The Weather very warm and pleasant. The Schooner's People found a Barrel, a Hogshead Stave, and a Piece of hewed Wood, on which it was conjectured that this was no unfrequented Harbour. ”

“ Lawrence, the tide rises and falls nearly up to Montreal, a distance of about 800 miles from the general shore-line. Still farther north are Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay, which, although but imperfectly explored, seem to be an example not only of the drowning of a river-valley, but of the largest part of a river-basin. The geography of the arctic archipelago fringing the north shore of the continent also suggests that a strongly stream-cut plateau has there been deeply submerged. ”

“ With the North Shore road completed and in actual operation, many persons living to the eastward, especially in Huntington, began to encourage the directors to extend the road along the north shore as far east as Northport. In 1867 the Long Island R.R.'s North Shore Branch ended at Syosset, and the present Oyster Bay Branch at Glen Cove; the desire of these eastern communities for railroad contact with the outside world is therefore understandable. ”

“ Starting southward down the coast of Hudson Bay on the 13th of September, with the weather beautifully calm, we made a capital run past a rocky coast, skirted by a succession of shoals and reefs, and at night camped upon the shore about twelve miles north of Marble Island, whose snow-white hills of quartzite could be distinctly seen on the horizon. ”

“ The soundings, as far as they could be examined, were very regular, with a bottom of slimy sand; the depth, for a considerable extent round the middle of the bay, is from thirteen to fourteen fathoms. The west side, and the head of the bay, is a white sandy beach; the eastern shore is bold and rocky. There is a small ledge or shoal in the middle of the entrance, bearing about south from the second point on the north shore, on which there was conjectured to be twenty feet water*. ”

“ The work of the party embraced a survey of the north shore of Lake Athabaska, Chipman, Cochrane, Telzoa or Dubawnt, Thlewiaza, Kazan and Ferguson rivers, in whole or in part, Chesterfield inlet, and the shore of Hudson bay from Chesterfield inlet to Churchill, as well as a line overland in winter, from Churchill to York Factory, and another from Churchill to Split lake. ”

“ I have seldom seen anything more brilliant than the phosphoric gleaming of the waves when darkness closed in. The boats seemed to cleave a flood of molten silver; and the spray, dashed from their bows before the fresh breeze, fell back in glittering showers into the deep. It was a cold night; and, when we at last made the land, cliffs faced with everlasting ice obliged us to run on for a couple of leagues before we could take the shore with safety. This is indeed a bold coast. ”

“ The north shore, from Cape Froward to Port Gallant, forms a straight line, with scarcely a projection or bight; but on the opposite side there is a succession of inlets, surrounded by precipitous mountains, which are separated by ravines. The northern shore is of slate; but the other is principally of greenstone, and its mountains, instead of running up into sharp peaks, and narrow serrated ridges, are generally round-topped. The vegetation on both sides is almost equally abundant, but the trees on the south shore are much smaller. ”

“ In clear weather the north shore is visible from the point of the south shore nearest Big Island.
Below this detroit the shores recede so as to form a small shallow lake, about twenty-four miles long, by from four to twelve miles broad, near the north-west end of which we encamped, in latitude 61° 15' N., longitude 117° 6' W. This spot may be considered as the commencement of Mackenzie River. The ground is very swampy, and nourishes willows only; but inland, at a short distance from the beach, grow plenty of the spruce-fir, poplar, aspen, and birch trees ”

“ Their camp was pitched on the south shore of Hudson’s Bay, many leagues to the west of Rupert House, not far from the Moose River. Looking north was the wide expanse of the bay, dotted with sterile islands here and there; to the east were the barren steppes of Labrador, and all round them the calm, incisive air of a late September, when winter begins to shake out his frosty curtains and hang them on the cornice of the north, despite the high protests of the sun. ”

“ The first, on the southwest shore, turns to the northwest a long mile distant, eventually disappearing in two big inlets, which are situated on the same shore, four leagues away from the opening which communicates with the first bay. If one goes a league and a half from the northwestern end of the inlet running farthest to the north, he rounds a point and discovers toward the west-northwest a spacious sound. ”

“ In view of restocking the barren areas through cultural methods, the north shore possesses two advantages over the south shore: it has a larger natural supply at present, which will make restocking easier; it has larger areas of flats, which can be made to produce twenty times the normal yield of the south shore flats. ”

“ We, however, advanced with spirit, all hands being in eager expectation respecting the great northern land, which seemed interminable. Along its distant shore the beams of the declining sun were reflected from a broad channel of open water; while, on the coast we were tracing, the ice still lay immoveable, and extended many miles to seaward. As we drew near in the evening an elevated cape, land appeared all round, and our worst fears seemed confirmed. ”

“ The shores are generally covered with bushes and pine trees, are hilly, and afford a pleasing prospect. At the village of Shoreham, twelve miles above Crownpoint, on the eastern shore of Vermont, we left the Phœnix, which went twenty miles further to Whitehall, the southern point of Lake Champlain, and landed to see Lake George, which is celebrated for its romantic situation and shores. Sir Michael and Lady Clare continued with us, and resolved not to part from us till we arrived at Albany, after which they would travel to Boston. ”

“ The Northern and Westward Part of America is also mountainous, and high Ridges of Mountains were seen from the Head of Wager Bay on the opposite Shore of what appeared to be a Lake; therefore there must be Lakes and Seas to Westward, Reservoirs for the melting Snows and Rains, also some Outlet or Channel to carry off the great Quantities of Ice also formed in those Parts; and with which Barnarda's Account is consistent, and the greatest Reservoir and Discharge seems to be to the Northward by that North-east Part of the Tartarian Sea. ”

“ The initial meeting of the Board of Directors was held on July 16, and at a subsequent meeting held August 29, 1863, a committee was appointed with power to obtain a new survey of the route with maps of the same, and estimates of the cost of the proposed road. The legal organization of the company was perfected on September 23, 1863. The road was to be known as the "North Shore R. R. Company" and its backers included many of the most prominent names in North Hempstead Town, such as Messenger, Mitchell, Willets, Bell, Mott and Udall. ”

“ There are practically no rocks on our Southeastern coast, so that we must imagine ourselves now somewhere in New England—let us say on the southern shore of Rhode Island. All along the north side of Long Island Sound, about Buzzards and Narragansett bays, and then from Boston Harbor right up to Labrador, the shore is rock, with many headlands, reefs, and islets, separated by shallow coves or by swift tidal runways. ”

“ From this I form my judgment of the direction of this Coast, which is nearly South-South-East 3/4 East and North-North-West 3/4 West, and must be nearly a Strait Shore. In about the Latitude 35 degrees 45 minutes is some high land adjoining to the Sea; to the Southward of that the land is of a moderate heigth, and wears a most desolate and inhospitable aspect. Nothing is to be seen but long sand Hills, with hardly any Green thing upon them, and the great Sea which the prevailing Westerly winds impell upon the Shore must render this a very Dangerous Coast. ”

“ A glance at a map of North America must impress one with the belief that the Pacific coast with its great extent of harbourless water-front is far less favourable to the growth or ideas, institutions, and industries than the deeply indented Atlantic shore-line. From the Isthmus of Panama to the State of Washington there is, as we have seen, but one harbour of the first class, the estuary of the Sacramento, and one of the second or third class, the estuary of the Columbia. From Puget Sound northward harbours are numberless. ”

“ At the bend of the Peace River, where a lofty ridge runs out from the southern side, and the hills along the northern shore rise to nearly 1000 feet above the water, stands the little fort of St. John. It is a remote spot, in a land which is itself remote. From out the plain to the west, forty or fifty miles away, great snowy peaks rise up against the sky. To the north and south and east all is endless wilderness—wilderness of pine and prairie, of lake and stream—of all the vast inanity of that moaning waste which sleeps between the Bay of Hudson and the Rocky Mountains. ”

“ In gales of wind from the eastward, coasting vessels sometimes seek shelter in Holy Island harbour, and find good anchorage before the town in three fathoms at low-water.
The Staples and Farn islands, with the rocks and shoals between them and Holy Island, render the in-shore navigation of the coast of Northumberland, from North Sunderland point to the mouth of the Tweed, extremely intricate and hazardous; and the corporation of the Trinity House, London, caution all masters of ships, and especially strangers to the coast, not to attempt sailing within those islands and shoals ”

“ If they sailed from Narraganset bay, or Buzzard's bay, or from any harbor on that coast, east of Long Island, they would in the course of twenty leagues at the furthest, in an easterly direction, have reached the easterly extremity of the peninsula of Cape Cod, and keeping close to the shore would have been forced for one hundred and fifty miles, in a northerly and west of north direction, and thence along the coast of Maine northeasterly a further distance of one hundred and fifty miles, and been finally locked in the bay of Fundy. ”

“ You may pass on either side, but the south side is fairest for going up the south-west arm; keep mid-channel between the island and south shore: this shore is so bold that you may run within two cables length of it. In your way up you will perceive a branch on the north side, which runs up north-west; when thus high, you are above a bank or middle ground, on which the least water is 16 feet; you may, by keeping near the shore, pass on either side of this shoal, which has gradual soundings to it; the south side has most room and deepest water ”

“ The north or main shore, the whole length of the harbour, is a clay bank from twelve to twenty feet high, and rising gradually behind, apparently good land, and fit for settlement. The water is rather shoal near the shore, having but one fathom depth at one hundred yards distance, two fathoms at two hundred yards; and when I sounded here, the waters of the Lake were very high. There is good and safe anchorage everywhere within the harbour, being either a soft or sandy bottom. The south shore is composed of a great number of sandhills and ridges, intersected with swamps and small creeks. ”