Saint John River

“ Wild fowl of all kinds abounded along the marsh, and interval lands of the St. John, and the river itself—undisturbed by steamboats and unpolluted by saw mills—swarmed with fish. And so those soldier-traders lived on the spoils of forest, ocean and river, a life of careless freedom, undisturbed by the politics of the world and little crossed by its cares. Within the fort, Lady la Tour led a lonely life, with no companions but her domestics and her children, for her lord was often away ranging the woods, cruising on the coast, or perhaps on a voyage to France. ”

“ A document of the year 1695 [94] shows that their claims to land on the St. John river were rather extravagant and hardly in accord with the terms 251 of their concessions. Louis d’Amours, sieur de Chauffours, claimed as his seigniory at Jemseg a tract of land extending two leagues along the St. John, including both sides of the river two leagues in depth. He also claimed another and larger seigniory, extending from a point one league below Villebon’s fort at the Nashwaak four leagues up the river with a depth of three leagues on each side. ”

“ In this situation we left the river, and for a straight course steered by a compass thro’ the woods, [138] encamping out several nights in the course, and went as far as the Oromocto, about seventy miles up the river, where is a block-house, a British post.” “The St. John is a fine river, equal in magnitude to the Connecticut or Hudson. At the mouth of the river is a fine harbor, accessible at all seasons of the year—never frozen or obstructed by ice.... There are many settlers along the river upon the interval land, who get their living easily. ”

“ He also encouraged the Acadians of the peninsula to withdraw to the river St. John so as not to be under British domination, pledging them his support and stating that Father Loyard, the Jesuit missionary, should have authority to grant them lands agreeably to their wishes.
Lieut. Governor Doucett, of Nova Scotia, complained of the aggressive policy of the Marquis de Vaudreuil, asserting that he was entirely mistaken as to the ownership of the St. John river, for it was “about the centre of Nova Scotia;” ”

“ John River is the chief member of that great system of lakes and rivers that has won for this province the distinction of being “the most finely watered country in the world.” It is one of the most delightful waterways known, and it is questionable whether any part of America can exhibit greater beauty than that seen in a cruise over its entrancing waters. Steamers may navigate a hundred miles from its mouth, and canoes may go up another hundred miles without other obstruction than an occasional rapid. ”

“ John River—the latter routes being of most importance.
"Of all Indian routes," writes Dr. Ganong, "in what is now the Province of New Brunswick, the most important by far was that along the River St. John. This river was, and is, an ideal stream for canoe navigation. It not only has easy communication with every other river system in this and the neighbouring provinces, but it is in itself very easy to travel. . . The St. John rises in Maine and its head waters interlock with those of the Penobscot, and with the Etechemin flowing into the St. ”

“ While the first recorded exploration of the southern shores of New Brunswick is that of de Monts and Champlain in 1604, there can be little doubt that European fishers and traders had entered the Bay of Fundy before the close of the 16th century and had made the acquaintance of the savages, possibly they had ventured up the St. John river. The Indians seem to have greeted the new-comers in a very friendly fashion and were eager to barter their furs for knives and trinkets. ”

“ John river region should be left undivided and in possession of its native inhabitants. As early as the year 1716 the Marquis de Vaudreuil had stated to the French government: “The English wish to seize upon the lands that the Abenakis and Indians of the River St. John occupy, under the pretext that this land forms part of Acadia ceded to them by the king. The Indians so far from withdrawing on this account have answered that this land has always belonged to them, and that they do not consider themselves subjects of the French, but only their allies.” ”

“ The houses had been burned and the cultivated land was fast relapsing into a wilderness state. Nevertheless the early English settlers reaped some advantage from the improvements made by the Acadians, for we learn from Charles Morris’ description of the river in 1768, that at the site of the old French settlement at St. Anne’s Point there was about five hundred acres of cleared upland in English grass from whence the inhabitants of Maugerville got the chief part of their Hay for their Stock. ”

“ John’s is a magnificent river, winding, widening, and wandering, now through low-lying marshy lands, now through fine forests of live oaks, festooned with Spanish moss, or decorated with graceful vines, twisting and curling fantastically round them, alternated with tangles of cypress, sweet gums, and stately palm; through wild savannahs, and groves of shining orange-trees, and here and there past pretty villages and beautiful homes with blooming gardens reaching down and drooping their rich blossoms over the water. ”

“ While the presence of young children in their homes may have served to enliven the situation of Saint John’s pioneer settlers it added greatly to their anxiety and distress in the ensuing war period. More than this the absence of church and school privileges was becoming a matter of serious consequence to the little community at Portland Point and their friends across the harbor. We shall in the next chapter say something of the religious teachers who endeavored to promote the spiritual welfare of the inhabitants upon the St. ”

“ ST JOHN, a river of New Brunswick, Canada, rising in two branches, in the state of Maine, U.S.A., and in the province of Quebec. The American branch, known as the Walloostook, flows N.E. to the New Brunswick frontier, where it turns S.E. and for 80 m. forms the international boundary. A little above Grand Falls the St John enters Canada and Hows through New Brunswick into the Bay of Fundy at St John. ”

“ He cared little for the dignity or honor of his position provided he could use it for his own benefit. He established a small settlement at the River St. John and engaged in fishing and trading. Many complaints were preferred against him by rival traders. They alleged that he encouraged the English to fish on the coasts, granting them licenses for the purpose, that he traded with them in spite of the king’s prohibition; also that he robbed and defrauded the savages. ”

“ 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. ”

“ And yet, it may be that with all his faults the red man has been more sinned against than sinning.
Many years ago the provincial government sent commissioners to the Indian village of Medoctec on the St. John river, where the Indians from time immemorial had built their wigwams and tilled their cornfields and where their dead for many generations had been laid to rest in the little graveyard by the river side. The object of the commissioners was to arrange for the location of white settlers at Medoctec. ”

“ Some fifty miles west of St. John, the Peace River issues from the cañon through which it passes the outer range of the Rocky Mountains. No boat, canoe, or craft of any kind has ever run the gauntlet of this huge chasm; for five-and-thirty miles it lies deep sunken through the mountains; while from its depths there ever rises the hoarse roar of the angry waters as they dash furiously against their rocky prison. A trail of ten miles leads across this portage, and at the western end of this trail the river is reached close to where it makes its first plunge into the rock-hewn chasm. ”

“ Give orders for landing. Having got a body of about 700 Men on Shore, we march to the further end of the Village, being about a league. From whence, by the tracks we found, we judged that the Inhabitants had but lately retired and drove off their cattle. Here we found the Lime that had been taken in a schooner in the spring, which they had landed as our Pilots supposed to lighten the schooner, to get her higher up or to hide her in some Creeke—as they supposed that they would certainly have carry’d the Lime up to St. Anns would the depth of the River have admitted of it. ”

“ John river was an admirable situation for trade with the Indians, that the fishery in the vicinity was excellent, and that there was a large tract of marsh land, and lands that afforded great quantities of lime-stone adjacent to the Harbor of St. John, Mr. Simonds eventually gave the preference to those lands on account of their situation and the privileges attached to them, and having previously obtained a promise from Government of a grant of 5,000 acres in such part of the province as he might choose he with his brother Richard took possession. ”

“ John’s River. We were sent to them lately as a Committee of Council, by order of the Lieut.-Governor, to inform them that they could have no Grant of the Lands they were upon, and that they must remove therefrom, as these Lands were reserved by His Majesty for disbanded Troops. However, we are very apprehensive that their case must by some means or other have been misrepresented to the Lords of Trade, or not clearly understood.
They are chiefly American soldiers, officers or privates; they have sold their Farms in New England, and have transported themselves at their own expense ”

“ Not long after I saw one of my fellow-captives who gave me a melancholy account of their sufferings after I left them.
“After some weeks had passed,” Gyles continues, “we left this village and went up St. John’s river about ten miles to a branch called Medockscenecasis, where there was one wigwam. At our arrival an old squaw saluted me with a yell, taking me by the hair and one hand, but I was so rude as to break her hold and free myself. She gave me a filthy grin, and the Indians set up a laugh and so it passed over. ”

“ John. It is commonly reported that since they have lived there they have not engaged in clearing and cultivating their lands, that they have no cattle nor any other employment than that of a miserable traffic exclusively with the savages; and as his Majesty has been informed that the lands in those parts are the best in the world, watered by large rivers and in a situation more temperate and pleasant than other parts of Canada, the sieurs d’Amours must be compelled to establish themselves upon a better footing ”

“ Through this contracted pass the entire current of the vast St. John valley finds its outlet to the sea. When the ebb tide quickly empties the harbor below, the accumulated river waters cannot get into the gorge fast enough to reduce as rapidly the level of the broad basin above, and they consequently rush down, a cataract, swelling sometimes to ten or twelve feet at the upper entrance to the gorge, and make whirling, seething rapids below. ”

“ As to the canoes the men make it a play to carry them across.” 276 The Indians after a time became impatient and desirous to return. They represented to Allan that they had abandoned the fertile banks of the St. John, their cornfields and hunting grounds for his sake, and requested that the Americans would vigorously exert themselves to take possession of and fortify that river, promising that they would assist in an expedition to gain and hold it or lose their lives in the attempt. ”

“ In confidence of this, and being ourselves Soldiers, we apprehended we might with great safety prepare ourselves for settling the Lands we Petitioned for, and accordingly sold our Estates in New England, and have at near a Thousand Pounds Sterling expence Transported ourselves, Families and Stock, and are now Settled to the number of one Hundred persons, on St. John’s River seventy miles from the Mouth ”

“ John is the "reversible cataract" in the river, caused in the gorge just west of the city by the enormous tides of the Bay of Fundy. The great river above the city is a wide estuary, but before entering the harbor it is compressed into a short, deep and narrow gorge, barely one hundred and fifty yards wide in some places, and obstructed by several rocky islets. As this is the best crossing-place, two bridges are thrown side by 283 side over the chasm, one for a railway and the other for a street, resting upon the limestone cliffs a hundred feet above the water. ”

“ In the township of Conway, on the west side of St. John harbor, the settlers had been obliged to abandon their homes. Daniel and Jonathan Leavitt built small houses in Carleton near old Fort Frederick, where they were under the protection of Fort Howe. Messrs. Samuel Peabody, Gervas Say, Elijah Estabrooks, James Woodman, Thomas Jenkins, Zebedee Ring, John Bradley, John Jones and Peter Smith were so harrassed “by the continual robberies of the Rebel boats” that they were compelled to move up the river to escape the dangers of their exposed situation. ”