Chignecto Isthmus; First Settlers | Page 6

the vacant places with mud so well beaten
down that the tide could not pass through it. In the middle they adjusted
a flood-gate in such a way as to allow the water from the marsh to flow
out at low water without permitting the water from the sea to flow in at
high tide." The writer adds that the work was expensive, but the second
year's crop repaid them for the outlay. This is more than can be said for
present-day experience in the same kind of work.
The land reclaimed on the Aulac was confined principally to the upper

portion of the river. The Abbe Le Loutre saw that the benefit would be
great if this river were dammed near its mouth, and he was at work at a
large aboideau, for which he had received money from France, when
the fall of Beausejour forever put a stop to his enterprise.
Wheat seems to have grown very abundantly on the marsh when it was
first dyked, judging from the census reports of those days and the
traditions handed down.
The old French maps of 1750 and earlier show settlements at
Beaubassin (Fort Lawrence), Pont a Buot (Point de Bute), Le Lac
(Jolicure), We-He- Kauk (Westcock), We-He-Kauk-Chis (Little
Westcock), Tantramar (Upper Sackville), Pre Du Bourge (Middle
Sackville), We-He-Kage (Amherst Point) and Amherst or Upper
Amherst, Vill-La-Butte, and La Planche. There were settlements also at
Maccan, Nappan and Minudie. The statement that the village of
Beaubassin, in 1750, contained a hundred and forty houses, and a
population numbering a thousand, seems improbable under the
circumstances.
Fort Lawrence, the site of old Beaubassin, contains to-day less than
forty houses, and not more than three hundred inhabitants, yet more
land is under cultivation now than in any previous time in its history. It
is highly probable that the whole population on the south side of the
Isthmus was reckoned as belonging to Beaubassin.
There is good reason for saying that the population of the district
embraced in the parish of Westmoreland, excepting Port Elgin, was
much larger from 1750 to 1755 than it has ever been since.
The Seigneur La Valliere was, no doubt, the most prominent man,
politically, on the Isthmus during the French period. He was appointed
commandant of Acadia in 1678, by Count Frontenac, and just missed
being made governor. He was a man of broader views than most of his
contemporaries. He encouraged trade, and was willing that others
beside his own countrymen should reap the benefits if they were ready
to pay the price. He anticipated the MODUS VIVENDI system now in
force between this country and the United States in dealing with the

fisheries, and instead of keeping a large fleet to patrol the coast and
drive the English from the fishing ground, he charged them a license
fee of five pistoles (about twenty-five dollars) for each vessel, thus
giving them a free hand in the business.
La Valliere's farm was probably on the island marked on the old maps,
"Isle La Valliere," and here he lived when not in other parts of the
colony on public business. He had a son called Beaubassin, who was
always ready to take a hand in any expedition that required courage and
promised danger. In 1703, this Beaubassin was the leader of a party of
French and Indians that attacked Casco and would have captured the
place but for the timely arrival of a British man-of-war.
On the 11th April, 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht was signed. This gave
all Nova Scotia, or Acadia, comprehended within its ancient boundaries,
as also the city of Port Royal, now called Annapolis Royal, to the
Queen of Great Britain. The English claimed this to include all the
territory east of a line drawn from north of the Kennebec River to
Quebec, taking in all the south shore of the St. Lawrence, Gaspe, the
Island of St. John, and Cape Breton. The French contended that Acadia
only included the southern half of the present Province of Nova Scotia.
Views so divergent held by the contracting parties to an agreement,
could scarcely fail to produce irritation and ultimately result in war.
In 1740, the Abbe Le Loutre, Vicar-General of Acadia under the
Bishop of Quebec, and missionary to the Micmacs, came to Acadia to
take charge of his mission. It soon became apparent that the Rev.
Father was more anxious to advance the power and prestige of the King
of France than he was to minister to the spiritual elevation of the
benighted Indians. The course pursued by the Abbe defeated the end he
had in view. His aim was to make Acadia a French colony; but in
reality he helped to make it the most loyal British territory in North
America.
The successful raid of