# Historic Highways of America/Volume 7/Part 2/Chapter 2

CHAPTER II
NEW ENGLAND–CANADIAN PORTAGES
THE territory lying between the St. Lawrence River and the Atlantic seaboard offers an unexcelled field for the study of portage paths and their part in the history of the continent. The student of this branch of archæology finds at his disposal the admirable studies of Dr. William F. Ganong, which cover an important portion of this field. From these studies (the best published account) the following general statements concerning Indian routes of travel are very enlightening:
"The Indians of New Brunswick, like others of North America, were, within certain limits, great wanderers. For hunting, war, or treaty making, they passed incessantly not only throughout their own ​territory, but over that limit into the lands of other tribes. The Indian tribes of Acadia have never, within historic times, been at war with one another, but they joined in war against other tribes and mingled often with one another for that and other reasons. In facilities for such travels our Indians were exceptionally fortunate, for the Province is everywhere intersected by rivers readily navigable by their light canoes. Indeed I doubt if anywhere else in the world is an equal extent of territory so completely watered by navigable streams, or whether in any other country canoe navigation was ever brought to such a pitch of perfection or so exclusively relied upon for locomotion. The principal streams of the Province lead together curiously in pairs, the country is almost invariably easy to travel between their sources, and a route may be found in almost any desired direction. . . No doubt, an Indian in selecting his route of travel to a given point, where more than one offered, would average up, as a white man would do, the advantages and drawbacks of each for that particular season, taking account ​of the length of the routes, amount of falls and portaging, the height of the water, etc., and his decision would be a resultant of all the conditions and would be different in different seasons. It is not easy to understand why so many routes from the St. John to Quebec were in use, unless some offered advantages at one time, others at another. Between the heads of the principal rivers were portage paths. Some of these are but a mile or two long—others longer. Some of these portages are still in use and uninfluenced by civilization. A good type is that between Nictor Lake and Nepisiguit Lake, which I have recently seen. The path is but wide enough to allow a man and canoe to pass. Where it is crossed by newly fallen trees the first passer either cuts them out, steps over them, or goes round, as may be easiest, and his example is followed by the next. In this way the exact line of the path is constantly changing though in the main its course is kept. No doubt some of these paths are of great antiquity. Gesner states that one of the most used, that between Eel River Lake and North Lake, on the ​route from the St. John to the Penobscot, had been used so long that the solid rocks had been worn into furrows by the tread of moccasined feet; and Kidder quotes this and comments upon it as probably the most ancient evidence of mankind in New England. A somewhat similar statement is made by Monro as to the Misseguash–Baie Verte portage. I have seen something very similar on the old portage path around Indian Falls on the Nepisiguit, but I am inclined to think it is the hob-nailed and spiked shoes of the lumbermen which have scored these rocks, and not Indian moccasins and it is altogether likely that this explanation will apply also to the case mentioned by Gesner, whose over-enthusiastic temperament led him into exaggerated statements. In New Brunswick the lines of regular travel seem to have followed exclusively the rivers and the portage paths between their heads, and there is no evidence whatever of former extensive trails leading from one locality to another through the woods, such as are well known to have existed in Massachusetts. The difference in the distribution and navi​gability of the rivers amply explains this difference. It is not, of course, to be supposed that the Indians never departed from these routes; in their hunting expeditions they undoubtedly wandered far and wide, and especially in the valleys of the smaller and navigable brooks. Moreover, they undoubtedly had portages used only on rare occasions, and also at times forced their way over between streams where there was no regular route, but in general the main rivers gave them ample facilities for through travel from one part of the Province to another, and they had no other method. The birch canoe was the universal vehicle of locomotion to the New Brunswick Indian; it was to him what the pony is to the Indian of the West.
"The labour of crossing the portages was always severe, but the Indians took, and take, it philosophically, as they do everything that cannot be helped. While canoe travel in good weather, on full and easy rivers, is altogether charming, it becomes otherwise when low water, long portages and bad weather prevail. We obtain vivid pictures of its hardships from ​the narratives of St. Valier, and from several of the Jesuit missionaries. Since many of the portage paths are still in use by Indians, hunters, and lumbermen, their positions are easy to identify, and many of them are marked upon the excellent maps of the Geological Survey. Many others, however, have been long disused, and have been more or less obliterated by settlement, or by roads which follow them, and these are not marked upon our recent maps. I have made a special effort to determine the exact courses of these portages before they are lost forever, and where I have been able to find them by the aid of residents I have given them on the small maps accompanying this paper. All portages known to me are marked upon the map of New Brunswick, in the Pre-historic or Indian period accompanying this paper, and their routes of travel are in red on the same map. The lines show how thoroughly intersected the Province was by their routes. This map does not by any means mark all the navigable rivers, but only those which form parts of through routes of travel. The relative importance of routes I have ​tried to represent by the breadth of the lines, the most important routes having the broadest lines. Many of the most ancient portages had distinct names but I have not recovered any of these. Kidder gives as the ancient Indian name of Eel River–North Lake Portage the name Metagmouchchesh (variously spelled by him), and I have heard that more than one was called simply "The Hunters' Portage" by the Indians, possibly to distinguish the less important ones used only in hunting from those of the through routes. When Portages are spoken of at this day they are usually given the name of the place towards which they lead; thus, a person on the Tobique would refer to the portage at the head of that river as the Nepisiguit, or the Bathurst Portage, and on the Nepisiguit, he would speak of it as the Tobique Portage. This usage seems to be old and perhaps it is widespread. Thus Bishop Plessis, in his journal of 1812, speaking of the portage between Tracadie and Tabusintac Rivers (the latter leading to Neguac), says (page 169): 'We reached a portage of two miles which the people of Tracadie call the Ni​gauek Portage, and those of Nigauek the Tracadie Portage.'
"The situations of many of the old portages are preserved to us in place names. Thus we have Portage Bridge, at the head of the Misseguash; Portage Bank, on the Miramichi, near Boiestown (not on the maps); Portage River, on the Northwest Miramichi, also as a branch of the Tracadie, also west of Point Escuminac, and also south of it; Portage Brook, on the Nepisiguit, leading to the Upsalquitch; Portage Lake, between Long and Serpentine Lakes; Portage Station, on the Intercolonial Railway. Kingston Creek, at the mouth of the Belleisle, was formerly called Portage Creek. Anagance is the Maliseet word for Portage; and Wagan and Wagansis, on the Restigouche and Grand River, are the Micmac for Portage, and a diminutive of it."
The chief routes of travel were along the sea-coasts and up and down the valley of the St. 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. Lawrence near Quebec."
Under the system of the St. John–Restigouche portage Dr. Ganong thus describes the Grand River–Wagan path:
"This was the most travelled of all routes across the Province. The Grand River is easy of navigation up to the Wagansis (i.e., Little Wagan), up which canoes could be taken for some two miles. A level portage of two or three miles leads into the Wagan (Micmac O-wok-un, 'a portage') a muddy, winding brook, which flows into the Restigouche, which to its mouth is a swift but smooth-flowing stream, unbroken by a fall, and almost without rapids. The total fall from the portage is not over 500 feet, and ​hence it is far easier to ascend than the Nepisiguit, and consequently was the main route across from Bay Chaleur to the St. John. For the upper waters of the St. John a route from the mouth of the Nepisiguit by Bay Chaleur to the Restigouche and thence to the St. John would be both considerably shorter and much easier than by the Nepisiguit–Tobique route.
"This portage is marked on Bouchette, 1815, Bonner, 1820, Lockwood, 1826, Wilkinson, 1859, and the Geological Survey Map. On Van Velden's original survey map of the Restigouche, 1786, a 'Carrying-place across the highlands' about nine miles is given, doubtless a portage directly from Wagan to Grand River. This route was taken by Plessis in 1812, (Journal, 267), by Gordon (p. 23), who fully describes it, and by many others. It is said in McGregor's British America, 1833 (II., 66), that the courier then travelled up this river with mails for New Brunswick and Canada, evidently by this route. Formerly the alders which blocked the Wagan and Wagansis were cut out by travellers, and even by workmen paid by the Provincial ​Government (as I have been told), but since a road has been cut within a few years from the St. John directly through to the Restigouche at the mouth of the Wagan, this route is no longer used, and probably is now practically impassable."
Of the St. John–St. Lawrence system Dr. Ganong describes seven routes; we use his own words:
Touladi–Trois Pistoles Portage
This was one of the principal routes from the St. John to Quebec. It led through Lake Temiscouata by the Touladi River to Lac des Aigles, thence to Lac des Islets, thence by a short portage path to the Boisbouscache River and down the Trois Pistoles. This route is described in Bailey and McInnes' Geological Report of 1888, M, pages 26, 28, 29, where it is called "one of the main highways . . between the St. John River and the St. Lawrence."
Ashberish–Trois Pistoles Portage
Another route from Temiscouata to Trois Pistoles was by way of the Ashberish River. This portage is marked on Bouchette, 1831, and is mentioned by him in ​his Topographical Dictionary, and by Bailey in his 'St. John River' (page 48). It was by either this or the last-mentioned route that Captain Pote was taken to Quebec in 1745, as he describes in his Journal, but the description is not clear as to which route was followed. The compass directions and the portages and lakes mentioned by him would rather indicate the Ashberish route, though the editor of the Journal sends him by the Lac des Aigles. This route is shown on the Franquelin–DeMeulles Map of 1686, with the continuous line used on that map for portage routes, and it is probably this route that is marked on Bellin of 1744, and on many following him.
Temiscouta–Rivière du Loup Portage
As early as 1746 a portage path was projected along this route where now runs the highway road. A document of 1746 (Quebec MS. IV., 311) reads, "Nous donnons les ordres nécessaires pour faire pratiquer un chemin ou sentier d'environ 3 pieds dans le portage depuis la Rivière du Loup à 40 lieues audessous de Québec jusques au Lac Témisquata d'ou l'on va en canot par la ​rivière St. Jean jusqu'à Beaubassin, et ce pour faciliter la communication avec l'Escadre et pour y faire passer quelques détachement de françois et sauvages s'il est nécessaire." Whether or not this path was made we do not know. In 1761 this route was examined by Captain Peach (as a map in the Public Record Office shows), and about 1785, a road was cut along it as a part of the post route from Quebec to Nova Scotia. From that time to the present it has been much travelled, and is often referred to in documents and books.
St. Francis–Rivière du Loup Portage
The exact course of this portage I have not been able to locate, but it probably ran from Lake Pohenegamook to some of the lakes on the La Fourche branch of the Rivière du Loup. The Indian name of the St. Francis, Peech-un-ee-gan-uk means the Long Portage [Peech, long, oo-ne-gun, a portage, uk, locative). The first recorded use of this portage is in Le Clercq in his "Établissement de la Foi." He states that about 1624, Rècollet missionaries came to Acadia from Acquitaine, and thence went ​to Quebec in canoes by the River Loup with two Frenchmen and five Indians. It is first shown roughly on a manuscript map of 1688, very clearly on Bellin, of 1744, and on several others following him, and on Bouchette of 1815. It is mentioned in a document of 1700 (Quebec MS. V. 348) as four leagues in length. It was by this route St. Valier came from Quebec to Acadia in 1686 or 1687, and a very detailed account of the difficulties of the voyage is given in his narrative. He states that he travelled a short distance on the Rivière du Loup and Rivière des Branches and a long distance on the St. Francis. This route he describes as shorter but harder than that ordinarily used.
On the unpublished DeRozier map of 1699 two portages are shown in this region, one from some branch of what is apparently the St. Francis to the Trois Pistoles, and one from another river to the westward of the St. Francis, perhaps from Lac de l'Est, to the Rivière du Loup, but they are given too inaccurately to admit of identification.
Between the Temiscouata and St. Francis ​basins are several portages; one from Long Lake at the head of the Cabano to the St. Francis, and another from Long Lake to Baker Lake; and there are other minor ones, all marked on the Geological Survey map.
Black River–Ouelle Portage
On some early maps, such as Bellin, 1744, the Ouelle is made to head with a branch of the St. John, which can be only the Black River. The Morris map of 1749 marks a portage from the St. John to the Ouelle, and has this statement: "Expresses have passed in seven days by these Rivers from Chiegnecto to Quebec." The exact route of this portage I have not been able to determine.
North-West Branch–Rivière du Sud Portage
This portage is first referred to in a letter of 1685 from Dénonville to the Minister: "Je joins a cette carte un petit dessin du chemin le plus court pour se rendre d'icy en huict jours de temps au Port Royal en Acadie, par une rivière que l'on nomme du Sud et qui n'est qu'a huict ou dix lieues au ​dessous de Quebec. On le ramonte environ dix lieues et par un portage de trois lieues on tombe dans celle de St. Jean qui entre dans la baye du Port Royal." This is probably the Grand Portage referred to by Ward Chipman in one of his letters of the last century.
St. John Lake–Etchemin Portage
Portages between these rivers are mentioned by Bouchette under "Etchemin" in his Topographical Dictionary. The river received its name from its use by the Etchemins (Maliseets and Penobscots) as a route to Quebec.
A large portion of the St. John Valley lies in the state of Maine and all that was true of New Brunswick, so far as early methods of locomotion are concerned, was and is true of Maine in a great measure. Maine, however, was not bounded on two sides by the ocean.
Both the Kennebec and Penobscot Rivers were ancient and important routes of travel between Quebec and the sea. Of the two the Penobscot was, perhaps, the easier to navigate but the Kennebec was the more ​important route. James Sullivan writing of the Kennebec in the last decade of the eighteenth century observes: "The Kenebeck . . receives the eastern branch, at fifty miles distance from Noridgewock. The main branch of the Kenebeck, winding into the wilderness, forms a necessity for several carrying places, one of which, called the Great Carrying Place, is five miles across, and the river's course gives a distance of thirty-five miles, for that which is gained by five on the dry land. At one hundred miles distance, or perhaps more from the mouth of the eastern branch, the source of the main or western branch of the Kenebeck is found extended a great distance along side the river Chaudière, which carries the waters from the high lands into the St. Lawrence. The best description of this branch of the Kenebeck, is had from the Officers who passed this route under the command of General Arnold, in 1775. . . The carrying place from boatable waters in it, to boatable waters in the river Chaudière, is only five miles over."
​Among the most interesting maps of the Kennebec–Chaudière route may be mentioned Montresor's map of 1761, "A Draught of a route from Quebec to Fort Halifax," in the British Museum. The route is there given as up the "Yadatsou Chaudiere or Kettle River." When Wolf River was reached it was ascended; then to "River Ahoudaounkese." Here was a portage of five miles to within about that distance of Lake Oukeahoungauta; portage of about one half mile to Loon Lake; thence into Moosehead Lake at the head of the east branch of the Kennebec. A portage could be made into the Penobscot; and at the southeastern extremity of Moosehead Lake are the words "Portage to the Penobscot." The return route was up the Kennebec to "The Great Carrying Place to River of Tewyongyadight or the Dead River." This was Arnold's route, already referred to by Mr. Sullivan. Ascending the Dead to "The Amaguntic Carrying Place" (a portage of about four miles) the route is marked to "the River of Mekantique" and through "The meadow of ​Mekantique;" thence through "Lake of Me' Kantique de St Augustin" and into the Chaudière.
Perhaps the earliest map showing a road throughout the Kennebec and Chaudière valleys is "A New Map of Nova Scotia & Cape Britain" (1755) in the British Public Records Office. The road bears the name "Kenebec Road."
Among the Haldimand Papers in the British Museum is a most interesting "Journal from the last settlements on the Chaudiere to the first Inhabitants on Kennebec River kept by Hugh Finley, from the 13th of September that he left Quebec until the 30th that he arrived at Falmouth in Casco Bay in the P[r]ovince of the Massachusets Bay—1773." Finley had been appointed "Surveyor of Post roads on the Continent of North America" and, in view of the tedious length and the common retardments of the Lake Champlain route between Canada and New England, determined to explore the Chaudière–Kennebec route. Four Indian guides accompanied ​the surveyor, who were "to mark (as they should pass along in their rough way) the Path by which a good road might be cut." The last farm on the Chaudière was "52 Miles S. Easterly of Quebec." "The reaches in this river are long between rapid and rapid, but navigable for batteaus only." On the fifteenth the party had reached "Rapide du Diable;" seven miles further was "La Famine" River where were two huts. Four miles further they arrived at "des loups" River. This was the common upward route of travel as the upper Chaudière route was interrupted by ponds, swamps, etc. Concerning Indian maps Mr. Finley makes an interesting statement: "It is impossible to guess distances from an Indian draft, that people have no idea of proportion."
On the eighteenth the party encamped early in the afternoon "on purpose to pack up our Provisions &c in proper Packages to be distributed in proportional burthens to each of the party as we were next day to proceed thro the woods." Then came a desperate journey of nine miles in nine hours up steeps, over and under trees which ​tore the canoes and almost exhausted their bearers. At the end of two small lakes a half mile portage brought the travelers to another lake. "Half over this carrying place is the just hight of Land between Canada & New England," wrote Mr. Finley, "consequently the boundary line between the Province of Quebec and Massachusets Bay will be a line drawn half way between the Lake we just left and this Lake."
According to Finley this portage was ninety-six miles from Quebec and forty-six from the last house on the Chaudière—by the route he had traversed. He proceeded down the Kennebec, up the "Androcogkin" to Brunswick and across by land to Casco Bay.
It is clear that the route from Quebec to the Kennebec was by way of "des loups" River to Moosehead Lake—named, writes Finley, "from a very remarkable Mountain [on] the S side about nine miles down. the Indians say that it resembles a moose deer stooping." It is equally clear that the route from the Kennebec to Quebec was by way of the western branch, the Dead River and the Chaudière.
This route was made historic by Arnold's famous campaign of 1775 and has recently been described with intense feeling by Professor Justin H. Smith.
"Arnold's men found lower Dead River, as we can see from their journals, much as ​it now is. On both sides luxuriant grass covered the plain, or faded out in the reaches of poorer soil; tall evergreens, rather thinly planted, soughed and swayed above it; while here and there a glimpse could be had of goodly mountains, the confines of the valley." Professor Smith graphically describes the trials of those who traveled by water. Those who attempted to travel the "Kenebec Road" suffered even worse: "The land parties fared no better. It was impossible to keep along the river. Detours and wide circuits multiplied all distances. Swollen rivulets had to be followed up until a narrow place was found and a tree could be felled across for a bridge. Once, if not more than once, a party marched for miles up a stream only to discover that it was not Dead River at all. At night many of the men were unable to find the boats and had to bivouac as they could, without supper and without breakfast." At last the brave band neared the portage to the north-flowing waters. Despite their distressing fatigues "there was only one thought:" writes Professor Smith, "advance; and the army set for​ward as rapidly as possible on the twenty-fifth and longest portage, four miles and a quarter over the Height of Land. For once their misfortunes wore the look of blessings: there was little freight. The provisions weighed only four or five pounds per man. A large part of the gunpowder proved to be damaged, and was thrown away. . . The bateaux had broken up one by one, until some of the companies had scarcely any left. Morgan had preserved seven, and was determined on taking them across, for there was no other way to transport his military stores down the Chaudière; but resolution of such a temper was now beyond mere men. An attempt was made to trail the bateaux up a brook that enters Arnold Pond; but the attempt had to be given up, and each company, except Morgan's, took only a single boat over the portage.
"Even in this light order, the troops were hardly able to conquer the mountain. There was a trail, to be sure, and Steele's pioneers had bettered it; but a mountain trail, even when good, is not a highway, except in altitude. 'Rubbish' had been ​collecting here ever since creation, as it seemed to Morrison, and a handful of tired men could not remove it all in a few days' time. Ten acres of trees blown down across the path had to be left there. A wet place half a mile wide could not be rooted up. Rocks, dead logs, gorges, and precipices had to be stumbled over. The snow, hiding pitfalls and stones, betrayed many a foot into a wrench and a bruise. Those who carried the boats—and no doubt all carried in turn—suffered still more, for bateaux and carriers often fell together pell-mell down a slope into the snow. 'The Terrible Carrying-place'—that was the soldiers' name for it."
The portages between the Connecticut River and the Canadian waters were of great local importance during the Old French War and the Revolution; they were not as important to the country at large as those of the northeast. The two of special significance were routes to the St. Francis River, Lake Memframagog and Otter Creek (flowing into Lake Champlain). Fort Number Four "had been built by Massachusetts when it was supposed to be within ​its limits. It was projected by Colonel Stoddard, of Northampton, and was well situated, in connection with the other forts, on the western frontier, to command all the paths, by which the Indians travelled from Canada to New-England." This fort was on the celebrated highway from the Connecticut across country to Fort Edward on the Hudson River, so largely traveled throughout the period of military operations. In 1755 during Sir William Johnston's campaign against Fort Crown Point, New Hampshire raised five hundred men, under the command of Colonel Joseph Blanchard. "The Governor," writes Belknap, "ordered them to Connecticut river, to build a fort at Cohos, supposing it to be in their way to Crown Point. They first marched to Baker's-town, where they began to build batteaux, and consumed time and provisions to no purpose. By Shirley's advice they quitted that futile employment, and made a fatiguing march through the woods, by the way of Number-four, to Albany." ​The failure to capture Crown Point this year brought down a scourge of Indians upon New Hampshire, particularly from the St. Francis River, between which and the Connecticut there was "a safe and easy communication by short carrying-places." But the white men found this route ere long and themselves carried destruction up the St. Francis Valley.
When in 1759, General Amherst was preparing to complete Wolfe's victory by reducing the remainder of Canada, eight hundred New Hampshire men proceeded under Colonel John Goffe to Fort Number Four. "But instead of taking the old route, to Albany, they cut a road through the woods, directly toward Crown Point. In this work they made such dispatch, as to join that part of the army which Amherst had left at Crown Point, twelve days before their embarkation." This road was built over the portage to Otter Creek. It "began at Wentworth's ferry, two miles above the fort at No. 4, and was cut 26 ​miles; at the end of which, they found a path, made the year before; in which they passed over the mountain to Otter Creek; where they found a good road, which led to Crown Point. Their stores were brought in waggons, as far as the 26 miles extended; and then transported on horses over the mountains. A drove of cattle for the supply of the army went from No. 4, by this route to Crown Point." This carrying place is conspicuously marked on a Board of Trade Map of 1755 in the British Public Records Office and described "From Crown Point to Stephens Fort about 60 Miles N. 25° W nearly." Fort Stephens is placed on the "Konektikut or Long R" near the mouth of Black River. "A Survey of Lake Champlain" by William Brassier dated 1762 shows the line of this road southeast of Crown Point passing up Otter Creek. The legend reads "The Road was opened by the New Hampshire Regiments during the last War."
* ↑ A Monograph of Historic Sites in the Province of New Brunswick, Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada, vol. v, sec. ii, pp. 213–357.
* ↑ A Monograph of Historic Sites in the Province of New Brunswick, pp. 233–239.
* ↑ The History of the District of Maine, p. 32.
* ↑ Crown MSS., cxix, 25.
* ↑ Board of Trade Maps, vol. 24, no. 45.
* ↑ Add. MSS., 21, 686, pp. 47–54.
* ↑ The Century Magazine, vol. lxv, no. 4 (February, 1903).
* ↑ Belknap: History of New Hampshire, vol. ii, p. 290.
* ↑ Id., p. 291.
* ↑ Id., p. 294.
* ↑ Id., p. 303.
* ↑ Id., p. 305.
* ↑ Id., p. 305, note.
* ↑ Board of Trade Maps, vol. 24, no. 51.
* ↑ Crown Maps (British Museum), vol. cxxi, no. 18.
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