Chignecto Isthmus; First Settlers | Page 5

above the sea level.
The Tidnish River, and several streams emptying into the Bay Verte,
drain the Isthmus on its northern slope. The Missiquash and Tidnish
rivers, each for some part of its course, form the boundary between the
provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The tides at the head of
the Bay of Fundy rise to the height of sixty feet, or even higher, and are
said to be the highest in the world. The mud deposit from the overflow
of these tidal waters, laid down along the river valleys, is from one foot
to eighty feet deep, varying as the soil beneath rises and falls.
Between Sackville and Amherst there is an area of some fifty thousand
acres of these alluvial lands, reclaimed and unreclaimed. Some of this
marsh has been cutting large crops of hay for one hundred and fifty

years, and there is no evidence of diminished fertility, although no
fertilizer has been used in that time; other sections have become
exhausted and the tide has been allowed to overflow them. This
treatment will restore them to their original fertility.
Cartier was the first of the early navigators to drop anchor in a New
Brunswick harbor. This was in the summer of 1534, and the place was
on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, near the mouth of the Miramich River.
This was on the 30th of June. Landing the next day and finding the
country well wooded, he was delighted and spoke of it in glowing
terms.
The first white men to visit the Isthmus with a view to trade and
settlement came from Port Royal in the summer of 1612.
In 1670, Jacob Bourgeois, a resident of Port Royal, and a few other
restless spirits, were the first to make a permanent settlement. These
were followed by another contingent under the leadership of Pierre
Arsenault.
In 1676, the King of France gave a large grant of territory in Acadia to
a French nobleman, Michael Le Neuf, Sieur de La Valliere. This grant
included all the Chignecto Isthmus. Tonge's Island, a small islet in the
marsh near the mouth of the Missiquash River, is called Isle La
Valliere on the old maps, and was probably occupied by La Valliere
himself when he lived on the Isthmus.
From this date Chignecto began to take a prominent place in the history
of Acadia, and continued for a hundred and fifty years to be one of the
principal centres of influence under the rule both of France and Great
Britain.
It was here that France made her last stand for the possession of Acadia.
It was here that Jonathan Eddy, twenty years later, raised the standard
of the revolted colonies, and made a gallant but unsuccessful effort to
carry Nova Scotia over to the rebel cause.
From 1713 to 1750 was the most prosperous period of the French

occupation. The population increased rapidly for those times. The
market at Louisbourg furnished an outlet for the surplus produce of the
soil. The wants of the people were few. The Acadians were thrifty and
frugal, the rod and gun supplying a large part of the necessaries of life
in many a home. The complaint was made by those who at that time
were interested in the circulation of the King's silver that the people
hoarded it up, and once they got possession of it the public were never
allowed to see it again. The houses were small and destitute of many of
the furnishings their descendants now think indispensable, but perhaps
they enjoyed life quite as well as those of later generations.
Bay Verte at this time was a place of considerable importance. The
Abbe Le Loutre lived here a part of the time, and owned a store kept by
an agent. The trade between Quebec and Louisbourg and the
settlements on the Isthmus was carried on through the Port of Bay
Verte, and from there the farmers of Chignecto shipped their cattle and
farm products. The Acadians were quick to see the benefits that would
arise from reclaiming the rich river valleys, and they drew their
revenues chiefly from this land. They did not readily take to the cutting
down of the forests and preparing the upland for growing crops; they
were more at home with the dyking-spade than the axe. A description
of their methods of dyking and constructing aboideaux, written in 1710,
is interesting to those who are doing the same work now.
The writer of 1710 says: "They stopped the current of the sea by
creating large dykes, which they called aboideaux. The method was to
plant five or six large trees in the places where the sea enters the
marshes, and between each row to lay down other trees lengthways on
top of each other, and fill