# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/New Brunswick

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​NEW BRUNSWICK, a province of the Dominion of Canada, lying between 45° 2′ and 48° 3′ N . and 63° 46′ and 69° 3′ W. Its length from N. to S. is 230 m., its greatest breadth 190 m., and it has a seaboard of about 550 m.
Physical Features.—The surface is generally undulating, but in the north and north-west of the province are many ranges of hills from 1000 to 2000 ft. in height, rising in Bald Mountain to 2400 ft. These elevations are an extension of the Appalachian Mountains and traverse the province from the state of Maine. This whole section of the province is densely wooded. The southern region embraces the district along the Bay of Fundy. Its coast is rocky and bold and interrupted by ravines. Inland the numerous rivers, flowing through the soft sandstone and conglomerate rocks, have cut broad valleys, the soil of which is extremely rich and fertile. Along the shores on the east coast, and for some miles inland, the country is flat and composed of mosses and marshes, but beyond that distance it rises into gently sloping hills, which extend as far as St John. New Brunswick is a network of rivers, bays and lakes, several of which are navigable for vessels of large tonnage. The principal rivers are the St John, Miramichi, Restigouche, Saint Croix, Petitcodiac, Richibucto and Nipisiguit. The St John, which is famous for its scenery, rises in the state of Maine and is over 450 m. in length. It is navigable for vessels of moderate tonnage from St John on the Bay of Fundy to Fredericton, a distance of about 88 m., but steamers of light draught ply as far as Woodstock, 65 m. farther, and during the rainy season boats go as far as Grand Falls, a cataract 70 or 80 ft. high, 225 m. from the sea. Among the many lakes which it drains is Grand Lake, 20 m. long, and varying from 3 to 9 m. in breadth. The Miramichi flows N.E. into a bay of the same name. It is 225 m. long, 7 m. wide at its mouth, and navigable as far as Nelson (46 m.). In the spring and autumn small steamers and barges go much farther up. With its branches it drains a fourth of the province. A large lumber trade is done in this district, and many saw-mills are driven by the river. The Restigouche forms the north-east boundary of the province, is 100 m. in length and flows into the Bay of Chaleur. It is composed of five main branches, its name signifying in Indian “the river which divides like the hand.” Large vessels may safely navigate it 18 m. from the bay. With its tributaries it drains over 4000 sq. m. of fertile and well-wooded country. The St Croix separates New Brunswick from the state of Maine at its south-west angle. Its source is a chain of lakes called the Chiputneticook. The Petitcodiac is navigable for 25 m. for ships, and schooners of 80 tons burden may proceed to the head of the tide, 12 m. farther; it empties into Shepody Bay. The Richibucto discharges into the Gulf of St Lawrence. The Nipisiguit and Tobique (a tributary of the St John) in the N. are in much repute among anglers.
The coast-line of New Brunswick is indented with numerous fine bays and harbours. The Bay of Fundy is an arm of the sea separating New Brunswick from Nova Scotia and terminating in two smaller bays, Chignecto Bay and the Basin of Minas. Its length up to Chignecto Bay is 140 m. and its extreme breadth 45 m. It is noted for its high tides, which rise about 30 ft. at St John and over 50 ft. at the head of Chignecto Bay. At Bay Verte, 14 m. distant, on the opposite side of the Isthmus of Chignecto, the tide rises little more than 4 or 5 ft. The Bay of ​Chaleur, which has several excellent harbours, is over 90 m. in length and from 20 to 25 m. in breadth. The other inlets of consequence on the east coast are Miramichi, Richibucto, Buctouche, Cocagne and Shediac Bays; on the south coast are Passamaquoddy Bay, St John Harbour and Chignecto Bay.
At the mouths of the rivers are in nearly every case excellent harbours. To the province belong the islands of Campobello and Grand Manan, at the entrance of the Bay of Fundy, from both of which important fisheries are carried on.
Geology.—Along the Bay of Fundy, for about 30 m. inland, is a band of hard Cambrian and Cambro-Silurian rocks, with smaller areas of Devonian, Huronian and Laurentian. The city of St John is built upon very hard Cambrian slates, in which interesting fossils are found. North of this belt grey sandstones and conglomerates of Carboniferous age occupy a triangular area, the apex of which is near Oromocto Lake, the south side extending to Nova Scotia and the north-west side to Bathurst. Along the western border this area is 400 to 600 ft. high, but near the coast it is low and flat. “The Carboniferous area of New Brunswick is continuous across the isthmus [of Chignecto] with that of Nova Scotia, so that from Miscou on the Bay of Chaleur to Sydney on the Atlantic coast of Cape Breton, the whole coast of the Gulf of St Lawrence is bordered by coal-bearing rocks” (S. E. Dawson, North America, London, 1897). North-west of the Carboniferous a belt of 40 to 50 m. wide is occupied by Ordovician and pre-Cambrian formations, with large masses of intrusive granite. The Ordovician is composed of schistose, micaceous, and foliated slates and quartzites, in places highly altered and disturbed. The pre-Cambrian rocks consist of very hard crystalline reddish felsite, chloritic quartzites, and felspathic and micaceous schists. The whole of this region is rugged and broken into numerous ranges of hills. The remainder of the province to the north-western boundary is occupied by Silurian rocks, mostly calcareous slates and shales associated with beds of limestone. The whole province has been mantled with ice in the Pleistocene period, and boulder-clay and later modified deposits occupy the surface. Marine clay and sand containing fossil shells are found along the coast.
Climate.—The climate, though subject to extremes, is healthy. The average mean temperature in summer is 60° F., and in winter 19° F. The average rainfall for thirty years (1875 to 1905 inclusive) was 32·6 in., whereas in the neighbouring province of Nova Scotia, with its larger coast-line, it was 39·6. The winters are severe, and snow falls to a great depth, but the harbour of St John is open throughout the year. During the period 1875–1905 the average yearly snowfall was 97·5 in., 20 in. more than in Nova Scotia. The autumn is delightful, especially during the "Indian summer," after the first frost, but before the weather has broken.
Area and Population.—Not including the territorial sea, the area of the province is 27,985 sq. m., of which 74 are water. It thus occupies an area rather larger than that of the mainland of Scotland. The population in 1901 was 311,120, and is practically stationary, there being little or no immigration, and a steady exodus to the United States and to the western provinces of the Dominion. The number of males slightly exceeds that of females. The bulk of the people are of English descent, the remainder Irish and French. The Scots, so prominent in nearly all the other provinces of the Dominion, are here less conspicuous. Of the original Indian inhabitants of the province, who were of Algonquian stock and divided into two tribes, the Micmacs and the Malicites, about 1700 remain many of whom have a greater or less proportion of white blood.
The capital is Fredericton, on the St John (pop. in 1901, 7117). The chief shipping and commercial centre is St John (pop. in 1901, 40,711). Moncton is a large railway centre (pop. in 1901, 9026). None of the other towns exceeds 5000 inhabitants. Owing to the large Irish and French element over one-third of the population belongs to the Roman Catholic Church. Campbellton (pop. 5000), a northern port on Chaleur Bay, with an important lumber trade, was destroyed by fire in July, 1910.
Administration.—The province sends ten senators and fourteen members of the House of Commons to the federal parliament. Since the abolition of the legislative council in 1892 the provincial legislature has consisted of lieutenant-governor and a legislative assembly. Though in this the members are nominally divided on party lines, the smallness of the population renders the division rather one of persons than of principles. Both city and county districts have an elective municipal system.
Education.—There is a good system of primary and secondary schools under provincial control. When in 1871 the system of free undenominational primary schools supported by the province was introduced, feeling rose so high among the Roman Catholics that rioting broke out and life was lost. In view of the provisions in the British North America Act for protecting the rights of religious minorities, the Roman Catholics sought to have the new system declared unconstitutional, but the case, after being carried to the judicial committee of the imperial privy council, was decided against them. In 1875 a compromise was arranged, by which practical though not theoretic satisfaction is given to that church. Renewed rioting broke out among the French Roman Catholics in 1890, but after some years the compromise of 1875 was confirmed. At Fredericton an efficient normal school for the training of teachers is maintained, and a school for the deaf and dumb. The lazaretto for lepers at Tracadie and the marine hospital at St John are supported by the Dominion. At Fredericton is a small provincial university, founded in 1800 and re-established in 1859; at Sackville is the university of Mount Allison College under Methodist control, and at Memramcook one, working chiefly among the French, is owned by the Roman Catholics. In all these an adequate training is given in law, theology and the literary subjects, but for science, whether pure or applied, most of the provincial students go either to the United States or to the universities of Upper Canada.
Either owing to the beauty of its scenery or to the excellence of its education New Brunswick has produced a school of poetry, headed by Charles Roberts, which is unique in the Dominion.
Agriculture.—The great predominance of the lumber industry has tended to keep agriculture in the background. There is also a steady flow of the most active young men to the greater opportunities offered by the Canadian and American west. Thus the area under crop tends slowly to decrease. Rather more than 6000 sq. m. is now occupied, of which about 1500 is under crop and about 700 used for pasture, the rest being for the most part still covered with forest. In all the river valleys, and especially on the fertile diked lands along the head of the Bay of Fundy, many rich and prosperous farms are found varying in size from 100 to 240 acres, and good crops of wheat, oats, buckwheat and all the staple grains and roots are grown. The raising of sheep and cattle, and the production of cheese and butter, are becoming industries of importance. A dairy school is maintained by the provincial government at Sussex (King’s county). Though no great development of agriculture is possible, a quiet, equable prosperity is attained by ​hundreds of farmers. Much crown land still remains unoccupied, and is sold by the provincial government on easy terms to bona fide settlers.
Forests.—Its great forests, through which flow numerous rivers with excellent harbours at or near their mouths, have long made New Brunswick a centre of lumbering. This industry has affected the whole development of the province, and the wilder and more unsettled life of its woodsmen contrasts with that of the farmer of Ontario or of the west. The most valuable and most widely-spread tree is the black spruce (Abies nigra), from which is made a yearly increasing quantity of wood-pulp for paper-making. The hemlock (Abies Canadensis), the cedar, birch, beech, oak, ash and many other valuable trees, are also widely spread. The chief ports for shipping are St John, at the mouth of the St John river, and Chatham, at the mouth of the Miramichi.
Though much remains, much has been destroyed by forest fires. To this day traces may be seen of the fire which in 1825 utterly destroyed hundreds of square miles of timber along the river Miramichi.
The same forests are also a paradise for sportsmen. The game laws are being made increasingly strict, and the province draws a large revenue from the sale of licences, extra fees being imposed on sportsmen from other countries. Moose (Cervus alces), caribou and deer may only be shot during about two months in the autumn, and the number allowed to each gun is strictly limited. In 1902 the provincial government set aside a large area of the highlands at the sources of the Tobique, Nipisiquit and Miramichi rivers for a national park and game preserve.
Mines and Fisheries.—The mineral wealth of the province is small, though gold, iron, copper, lead, zinc and plumbago have been worked on a small scale at various times. Coal seams are numerous, but are worked solely for local consumption. Albertite, a species of coal found in Albert county and giving a very hot flame, is now exhausted. Limestone and gypsum are extensively quarried near St John and in Albert county.
The fisheries, on the other hand, are extensive, though less so than those of Nova Scotia. This industry centres in the counties of Charlotte and Gloucester, herring, salmon, lobsters, sardines and cod forming the chief catch. The Restigouche and other rivers near the northern border are much frequented by anglers in search of trout and salmon.
Manufactures.—The chief manufactures, apart from the shipping of St John, are connected with lumbering and with agriculture. The making of paper pulp and of furniture is growing steadily in importance. Co-operation in the manufacture of butter and cheese has produced excellent results, and numerous cheese and butter factories are scattered through the province. In no sense, however, does New Brunswick play an important part in the manufactures of the Dominion.
Communications.—The rivers are still the main arteries of the province. The roads, though improving, are as a rule bad. The main railway system has since 1876 been that of the Intercolonial, owned and operated by the federal government, by which the province is linked to Nova Scotia on the E. and to the rest of Canada on the W. The Canadian Pacific and the Grand Trunk Pacific also run through the province, and by the Canadian Pacific and the Maine Central it has communication with the United States. Various lines of steamers run, chiefly from St John, to American and other Canadian ports.
History.—Until 1784 New Brunswick formed part, first of the French province of Acadia, later of the British province of Nova Scotia. The first settlement within its borders was made in 1604 by Pierre de Guast, sieur de Monts, with whom was Samuel de Champlain. Their colony at the mouth of the St Croix river was soon abandoned, but throughout the French régime the district was frequented by bands of fur-traders. In 1762 the first English settlement was made at Maugerville on the St John river, and in 1764 a body of Scottish farmers and labourers took up land along the Miramichi. On the 18th of May 1783 a band of American loyalists settled at the mouth of the St John. Thousands more followed, and in 1784 New Brunswick was declared a separate province. At first governed by a representative assembly and an irresponsible council, it obtained responsible government in 1847–1848, after a constitutional struggle in which no little ability was shown. In 1867 it entered without reluctance but without enthusiasm into the Canadian Federation. Its economic and educational history, both more important than its political, have been indicated in earlier parts of this article. (For the boundary dispute, see Maine.)
Bibliography.—Sir J. W. Dawson, Acadian Geology (edition of 1891), is the most easily accessible work on the geology of the province. Numerous studies have been published, chiefly by the Geological Survey of Canada, by L. W. Bailey, R. W. Ells, A. P. Low, and G. F. Matthew. Valuable papers on various provincial subjects have been published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada by W. F. Ganong. The provincial government issues a yearly volume of sessional papers; Acadiensis, a magazine published in St John, should also be consulted. The earliest account of New Brunswick is given by Nicholas Denys, Description géographique (published Paris, 1672; republished by W. F. Ganong with notes and introduction, 1908); there is no good modern history; R. Montgomery Martin, History of New Brunswick (1837); G. E. Fenety, Political Notes (1867); James Hannay, History of Acadia (1879), and Lives of Wilmot and Tilley (1907) may be consulted. (W. L. G.)