The White FenceNo. 77

November

2017

ISSN 1913-4134 N E W S L E T T E R O F T H E T A N T R A M A R H E R I T A G E T R U S T

Tantramar Heritage Trust29B Queens RoadP.O. Box 3554

Sackville, NB E4L 4G4

(506) 536-2541tantramarheritage@gmail.com.

heritage.tantramar.com

Tantramar Heritage Trust, Inc.

Executive Directors 2016-2017President Barbara JardineVice-President Geoff MartinSecretary Rebekah CantTreasurer Paul Bogaard

Staff MembersExecutive DirectorKaren ValanneBookkeeperSandra Niles

Editorial-Dear friends,

Back in the early 1970s, I took a course at Mount Allison University’s BiologyDepartment entitled (if I remember correctly) “Land-use Ecology” taught by Dr. Hinrich Harries. On one of theSeptember field trips to the “TantramarMarsh” (the area we all know as the“High Marsh Road”), Dr. Harries tookus over the covered bridge, along the roadto Midgic, and described what this areawould have looked like in pre-dykingtimes. He described an ancient landscapeof mudflats and brackish marshes thatfew of us could visualize. It did, however,open my eyes to the extensive changes tonatural landscapes wrought by mankindto “tame” nature and make it “useful.”And useful it was! Substantial financialreturns came to those farmers who harvested the bountiful hay crops of thearea in the late 18th and 19th centuries.Dyking also created an important dryroadway towards Jolicure and NovaScotia. The changes also brought aboutother, perhaps unexpected, uses. Neverdid I consider this expansive and uniqueagricultural area as a fishing ground.

But Colin MacKinnon, over the next fewpages, will tell you so! Colin’s articleabout fish weirs in this newsletter displayshis diligence at uncovering importantdetails about natural habitats (in this casethe Tantramar’s “high marsh”) and theformer human use of these areas. I warnyou: it is very detailed. But at my firstreading, I found myself totally absorbednot only in Colin’s findings but also theprocess he followed to discover the largelyunknown activity of weir fishing alongthe Tantramar and Aulac Rivers, thosetidal rivers which wind through the vastdrained marshland still known today asthe High Marsh. So read on and, throughColin’s admirable efforts, discover ourancestor’s past activities in areas that arenow buried under pasture, hay fields and,in places, deep mud. And, I hope that,like me, you will be thoroughlyenthralled. But most importantly,

Enjoy,

Peter Hicklin

In Search of the Fish Weir Lotpage 2

Taste of Historypage 8

Chert bifaced kniferecovered from theupper Tantramar.Although suitable for multiple uses, the thin and serratedblade could havebeen used to processfish (ColinMacKinnon photo).

Page 2 The White Fence

In Search of the Fish Weir LotBy Colin M. MacKinnon

Some time ago, while researching an unrelated topic, I inadvertently

stumbled on a local place-name thatwas unknown to me. This happenedwhile I was going over some old deedsand one of the documents mentioneda place on the Tantramar called the“Fish Weir Lot”. To aid in fleshing out the location of this parcel and toprovide a historical context to this fish

weir within the changing landscape of the Tantramar Marsh, I presentbelow a number of interconnectedtopics.

The “Fish Weir Lot” was firstencountered in a land transfer fromReuben Wheaton to Thomas S.Wheaton signed on 16 July, 1890.The parcel was described as follows:“all that certain piece or parcel ofmarsh land situated in Sackville

aforesaid and known as the Fish WeirLot so called and bounded as follows,Easterly by lands belonging to the estateof the late George Anderson, Southerlyby the Dixon Ditch, so called, westerlyby lands of Jesse Ayer and northerly byCommons Ditch, so called, and containing by estimation fourteen acresmore or less” (Land Registry Office,Book U5, No. 58359, Registered 17July 1891).

Figure 1. Portion of the Grant map of 1791 showing the many parcels of land on the upper Tantramar Marsh between the Great Bridgeand Sunken Island. Salient features: “High Marsh Road” [Solid dark line] and adjacent 4-acre lots, A. Outlet to “Rush Lake” entering“Dead Creek”, B. The 14-acre lot situated on a creek, C. “Fish Weir Road” and “Dixon Ditch” and D. “Commons Ditch” (Top of map is oriented north). (1791 Sackville township map, Mount Allison University Archives, donated by Richard “Dick” MacLeod)

Tantramar Heritage Trust Page 3

Jolicure), all situated within theTantramar Marsh, have vanished.These were filled in by the techniquecalled tiding, or warping, whichturned wetlands into arable land.

At this point it is worth taking a short diversion to explain how thistechnique works. Simplistically,strategically designed and positionedchannels are dug such that duringhigh tides, the silt-laden waters of thebay are allowed to flow into low-lyingareas and lake basins. Once the veloci-ty of the water has slowed, the load of suspended sediments precipitates out.Over a series of very high tides, ashallow lake could be, in this manner,completely filled in. Before the creation of larger aboiteaus and tidalgates at the mouth of the rivers serving to impede tidal flow, this tiding process was used to rejuvenatefields on the dykelands. TolarThompson (c.1780-1846) is largelycredited for refining and applying thistiding technology in the Sackville areaalthough the idea was published in theFarmer’s Calendar in 1804 under thetitle “Warping” (Arthur Young Esq.,Secretary to the Board of Agriculture,London, pages 389-395) and datesback to c.1730 in Rawcliffe, Yorkshire(and possibly earlier). The canal thatbears his name can be located by travelling about 2.7 km east of thecovered bridge on the High MarshRoad. This large ditch is reached justprior to passing the barn owned bythe Tantramar Heritage Trust. Onceyou get to the culvert that crossesTolar’s Canal at a slight rise in theroad bed, the centre of the remnantsof “Rush Lake” is situated about 1 kmalong this ditch, north of the road.

Details in the wording on early marshmaps often provide hints at where tid-ing took place. While some channelsare described as drainage ditches or

improvements to render them productive. In the pre-dyking era,this “high marsh” would have beendominated by the saltmarsh cordgrassSpartina patens that is only floodedonce or twice a month by the higherhigh tides. Today we have the HighMarsh road. It would also be thistype of higher elevation “patens saltmarsh” that would typically bethe first (and easiest) to be dyked byearly Acadian farmers.

Situated perpendicular to the HighMarsh Road from Tolar’s Canal to the Great Bridge (Wheaton coveredbridge), were a series of long andnarrow, four-acre lots (see Figure 1),these parcels being within the bestmarshlands for agriculture. Betweenthese small lots and the “floatingmorass” (bogs and lakes) to thenorth, were two tiers of these largerlots that were of less value. Althoughthese are labeled on the map as“Twenty one acre Marsh lots”, theactual size appears to vary; again, thismay have been an attempt to equalizethe value of adjacent parcels. OnFigure 1, I have noted the locations of the “Commons Ditch” and “Dixon Ditch” as well as the outlet to “Rush Lake” and the only 14-acre lot (actually 13.9 acres) that was situatedbetween these two ditches asdescribed in the deed. The mapdepicts a portion of a creek runningthrough this specific parcel. Couldthis be the “Fish Weir Lot” men-tioned in the Thomas S. Wheatonpurchase of 1891?

Frequent travelers of the High MarshRoad may be confused by my refer-ence to “Rush Lake” as no such bodyof water by that name exists theretoday. Likewise, other water basinssuch as the original “Goose Lake”(not the one on the road to Midgic)and “Long Lake” (not the one in

Presumably there was a fish weir onthis parcel. It would have consisted ofa series of vertical wood pickets,intertwined with brush or netting (as there are not many stones on themarsh) that were imbedded into thesides and bottom of a creek. Oftenthe best place for such a weir wouldhave been at the head of tide or at anatural restriction in the river. Theweir would direct the intended fishinto an area where they would be concentrated and thus easier to catch.The fishermen could have used seineor gill nets but dip nets, still used onthe Tantramar today, were more likely if the targeted species wasGaspereau. This parcel has been frustratingly hard to pinpoint andalthough I had heard about the otherfeatures mentioned on the Wheatondeed such as the “Dixon Ditch” and“Commons Ditch”, I was uncertain as to their exact locations. Further-more, the dyking and draining of the marshlands over the past few hundred years and the in-filling ofmany lakes has dramatically changedthe landscape of the Tantramar, farmore than many people realize.

One of the earliest detailed maps of the Tantramar, the SackvilleTownship grant map of 1791 (Figure1), hints at the pre-dyking history ofthe marsh based on the way landswere allocated. When the English settlement era land grants were laidout, there was a serious attempt for anequitable distribution of marshlandsuch that everyone would have a fair share of productive lands.Generally, the more valuable soils onthe “high marsh” were divided intovery small parcels (4 acres) so morepeople could have an equal share; thesurrounding, comparatively larger,lower elevation waterlogged landsrequired more work and considerable

Page 4 The White Fence

four hundred tons of hay. So deep wasthis lake, the old men who rafted timberover it say that their 24 feet pole wouldnot reach bottom in many places. In thedays of the first settlers of Cookville thisand other lakes formed the only highwayfrom Cookville to Sackville, and manywere the adventures of the old settlers asthey paddled their canoes across theselakes to get the necessaries of life. Onone occasion the late John Lund whilethus engaged was overtaken by a greatgale on Long Lake, his canoe upset, hissupplies lost and he only saved his life byswimming to the island and remainingthere until found” (Winnie E.Thompson, circa 1902 in ChignectoPost, 13 Feb., 1933).

As you can see from the above observations with the ditching anddraining of the dykelands and loss ofmany bogs, lakes and fens on theTantramar through tiding, tracingexact locations of long forgottenplaces (not to mention place names)can be problematic. Thus, my firstclue to the location of the “Fish Weir

As the process and ultimate landscapechanges at “Long Lake” would besimilar to the environs following theloss of Rush Lake, it is worth notingin more detail: “When TolarThompson contemplated and succeededin digging his canal into Long Lake anda branch to Log and other Lakes he didso against the most bitter opposition. Hewas most firm that by draining theselakes and carrying in the tides of theBay of Fundy they would all becomemarsh.

As evidence whether he was right or not,visit Indian Island and there you willsee a barn of 75 or 80 tons capacitybelonging to Albert Fawcett (see Figure4). This island is situated about thecentre of Long Lake some ten miles upthe Tantramar River. Although stillcalled Long Lake it is no longer thelarge body of deep blue water that itonce was but a beautiful meadow ofwaving grass producing from three to

vent ditches, others are labeled as“tide feeder streams”. It is these “tidefeeders” (such as Tolar’s Canal) thatwere purposely built to bring the silt-laden waters of the bay inland.However, many of these structures,such as Tolar’s, served a dual purposeand also facilitated drainage of thesurrounding agricultural lands.

Although the details on the in-fillingof “Rush Lake” are brief, the follow-ing short accounts, written around1902 by Winifred E. Thompson (who was likely a relation to TolarThompson), provides us a glimpseinto Tolar’s work at Rush lake as wellas nearby “Goose Lake”; I assumethat these descriptions were writtenby Winifred E. (Thompson)McLellan (1882-1919), the wife of J. A. MacLellan. Her account reads as follows:

“The first great canal he [TolarThompson] projected was the TolarCanal, which ran from the TantramarRiver to Rush Lake, a distance of twomiles, and drained the commons and thelakes and bogs to the north and east.This was commenced in 1815 and by itabout 900 acres of bog and lake weremade marsh, and hundreds of acres oneither side of the canal were drainedand made valuable. The next great workTolar Thompson undertook was theGoose Lake Canal. No sooner was thiswork done than the tide rushed in andbegan to rapidly fill up the lake andmust have reclaimed 1,000 acres of lakeand bog and greatly improved hundredsof acres of marsh adjoining this canal.”(Winnie E. Thompson, circa 1902 inChignecto Post, 13 February, 1933).

Winifred provides additional observa-tions in greater detail, probably fromfamily tradition, on the draining andtiding that occurred on “Long Lake”on the main Tantramar River (seeFigures 2 and 3).

Figure 2. Map of “Long Lake” completedby the Commissioner of Sewers (AlbertCahill and W. B. Fawcett) in 1895. A copyof that map, shown here, was prepared by R.A. MacNaughton, 14 April, 1928. Notethat the “CANAL” is now part of the upperTantramar River and old “Long Lake” isnow called the “Long Lake Marsh”.

Figure 3. Aerial photograph showing theapproximate outline of the original “LongLake”, on the Tantramar River. This area isnow a hay field.

Tantramar Heritage Trust Page 5

Lot” was somewhat contradicted bythe second and considerably earlierreference I encountered. In 1789,Nehemiah Ward sold marsh land (onoath of Phineas Ward) to WilliamEasterbrooks for 8£. The transfer wasdescribed as follows: “One Lot ofmarsh bordering Northerly on theFishwear Pond (sic) and Southerly onthe road at the head of the four acreLots and drafted with number fifteenand likewise all that part of lots No. 15and 21 that lays on the North side ofthe Pond or Rush hole. All the afore-mentioned parcels of land laying on thenorth side of the main road that leadsthrough the Great Marsh.” Signed 5February 1789 by Nehemiah andSusannah Ward and witnessed byPhineas Ward and Nathaniel Phinney(1798, Book B1, No. 877, page 254,Registered 27 March 1799).

This deed is interesting in that priorto 1800, there was a commonlyknown place called the “Fish WeirPond” and this was presumably adjacent to, or even considered partof, a wetland called “Rush Hole”. I believe this is an early reference

for what was collectively, and later,called “Rush Lake”. Jumping ahead to 1966, when the Government ofNew Brunswick was securing landfor the Community Pasture, situatedimmediately north of the High Marshroad, there were a number of landtransactions. One of these govern-ment acquisitions was from EleanorBrooks of Middle Sackville, ParcelNo. 2, and was described as follows:“Bounded on South west in part by theFishwear Road so called and in part bylands of Vendor, formerly known as A.B. Copp estate; On the North east byCommons Ditch so called; on the southeast by lands of David Oulton formerlyVernon Copp. Containing by estimation21 acres more or less”. (WestmorlandCounty, Deed Registry No. 272354,Page 762, 4 May 1966).

With this third document, I have nowconfirmed the existence of a “FishWeir Road”, “Fish Weir Pond” and a“Fish Weir Lot”. Clearly there wasonce an important fishing site thatwas accessed by the “Fish Weir Road”.This fishing location (or locations)was (were) also somehow associated

with “Rush Lake” (Fish Weir Pond).In Figure 5, I attempt to delineatethese places, along with other salientfeatures, that are mentioned in thevarious parcel descriptions. Althoughsome of the detail is speculative,many of the old tidal creeks that onceconnected the main Tantramar Riverwith inland lakes, such as “RushLake”, can still be traced on the land-scape using early aerial photographs(Figure 5). Surviving lakes, such as thethree Jolicure Lakes (Large/Big, Longand Front) support a diversity of fishspecies. Frequently-encountered fishare freshwater species such as Brooktrout, White Perch, Yellow Perch and Brown Bullhead as well as thecatadromous American Eel andanadromous Gaspereau (also known asAlewife). It is probably the harvestingof Gaspereau that was most likelyassociated with activities at the fish weir.

Spring fishing for Gaspereau from theTantramar and Aulac Rivers, althoughstill practiced today, was once farmore commonplace. As an example, a farming family’s typical fishingdiversion for Gaspereau is wonderful-ly preserved in the diary of EdwardAnderson of Coles Island in 1875:

Wed., 12 May – Forenoon making scoopnet, got it done at noon. Bliss got 32 fish.Albert ploughing for Ed Kinear.

Thurs., 13 May – Sharp claps of thunder this morning. George Beal hadhorse killed by the lightning. Boys got170 fish at Etter Abito [Aboiteau].

Frid., 14 May – Ploughing and sowingsome. Milton and Bliss scoop fishing, got 165.

Mon., 17 May – Boys fishing in themorning.

(In: Marshlands: Records of Life on the Tantramar.http://www.mta.ca/marshland/ ).

Figure 4. Long Lake Marsh bridge over the upper Tantramar River and, in the background,presumably the same barn of 75 or 80 tons capacity (inset) which was situated on “IndianIsland” and was once surrounded by “Long Lake”. This island was a place of refuge for thenearly drowned John Lund while on a canoe trip to Cookville.

Page 6 The White Fence

Not too many years ago, one wouldfrequently see small and vaguely out-house-shaped buildings with slantedsides, leaking smoke. And if you didnot see the building, your nose wouldquickly alert you that someone was“smoking Gaspereau”. I suspect that,years ago, there was hardly a self-sufficient farm that did not have itsown smoke house. However, a drivingsurvey one Sunday afternoon revealedonly a few of these mundane buticonic structures remaining in theSackville area. The best survivingexample that Nancy and I could find(that has recently been torn down)

was situated on Church Street nearthe turn to the High Marsh Road thatwas once owned by William “Bill”Landry (Figure 6). Bill frequentlyfished and smoked Gaspereau with hisfriend Earl “Lovett” Carter (b. 1911)of Point de Bute. On more than oneoccasion, they were accompanied by“Montana Slim”, Wilfred “Wilf”Carter (1904-1996) when he was homevisiting family. Wilf (born in PortHilford, NS, with relatives in Pointede Bute NB) was a country singer andsongwriter who was often called thefather of Canadian country music.

Figure 5. Salient features and remnant tidal creeks (white lines) within the dykelands westof “Rush Lake” and immediately north of the High Marsh Road (Features annotated on a1953 aerial photograph).

Figure 6. A classic Gaspereau “smoke-house” that was once used by William“Bill” Landry of Upper Sackville. Sadly,this iconic, and increasingly rare, structurewas recently torn down.

Tantramar Heritage Trust Page 7

This wonderful little building was aprime example of “form followsfunction”. The builder was less concerned with exact measurementsthan following a proven design thatensured properly smoked fish.Construction of the smoke house was both basic as well as creative. As noted above, there was less regardby the builder for exacting measure-ments and having perfectly squarecorners than as to have a structure

that performed its intended function.The internal framing consisted offour vertical poles, one at each corner,roughly tapering from about 5 to 4inches in diameter, from bottom totop respectively. The poles were connected horizontally by a series of standard 2" x 4" framing with thevertical planking (1" thick boardswere used) attached to these. Theentire exterior was then covered withwooden shingles. The constructionwas presumably by prefabricating theskeleton for two walls (front andback) on the ground, and then stand-ing them up to be joined together atthe top. The boards that sheath thesmokehouse were scavenged fromwhatever was available. Some boardswere cut with a band saw while otherswere processed with a circular saw(Figure 7). Furthermore, some of thetimbers were rough sawn while otherswere planed and one charred boardwas likely saved from a previoussmokehouse that had been mostly lostto fire, a common fate to many of these buildings.

For hanging the fish, nails werespaced about every two inches alongthe horizontal boards that lined theinterior. There were enough nails onjust the back wall to accommodate thehanging of 150 fish. A possible lateraddition was the placement of aninternal skeleton of smaller poles,maybe 2" in diameter, to support alarger number of fish for drying. The small door (20" by 54") was barely large enough to step throughand was secured by two small steelhinges and a padlock hasp. For thoseof you who would like to build yourown smoker, the base was 8 x 8 feetsquare. All sides taper to a slantedroof that was about 4 feet square suchthat the front wall measures 10' 4"while the rear wall was 8' 8" high.The front side was about 15 incheshigher than the rear. The door framewas 2' 6" wide by 5 feet high while the actual door measured closer to 1' 10" by 4' 6".Pan-fried and smoked, Gaspereaumay be an acquired taste to some.However, many of us still appreciate afeed or two every year. It is importantto practice some careful observationswhen consuming Gaspereau as theyare a notoriously bony fish. Whereasfried trout can be de-boned in onesimple process, the consumption ofAlewife needs to be done methodical-ly otherwise one must contend with a number of tiny bones in eachmouthful; definitely not a fish to eat when in a hurry.

So what of the “Fish Weir Lot”? Myown deductions, followed by talkswith Robert Estabrooks and DannyDoncaster confirmed the location ofthe “Fish Weir Road” (Figure 8).

This road departs from the GooseLake Road and is situated about 1 kmnorth of, and parallel to, the HighMarsh Road (Figures 1 and 5). It is

Figure 7. Interior view of the Landrysmokehouse. Note the many rows of nails, as well as suspended poles, where the fishwould have been hung.

Figure 8. The “Fish Weir Road” as seen looking east from the Goose Lake Road; what astory it could tell! The “Fish Weir Pond” (Rush lake) was situated over 2 km, heading east,down this road.

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ANNOUNCEMENT – FUNDRAISING SUPPER

A Taste of HistoryFriday, November 17, 6 pm

St. Ann’s Church Hall, Westcock NBCelebrating Sackville’s “Mr. Canadas”: Alex Colville, John Fisher and George Stanley

Catering by Lauri Ann Wesselby, (Sandpiper Catering)

(Menu: creamy autumn soup, tea buiscuits, maple bbq chicken, rice pilaf,fresh green beans and carrots, apple cheesecake, tea and coffee)

Cash Bar on site

and also

Canadian Classics Singalong Trivia

Tickets: $50 each (includes $25 tax receipt)Contact Karen at tantramarheritage@gmail.com or call (506) 536-2541

interesting to note that the westerncontinuation of the “Fish Weir Road”crosses not only the Goose LakeStream but also what was once the oldchannel of the Tantramar River. Thissame road reaches the uplands of theBrooks family farm where, in 1998, Ifound in the vicinity evidence of whatwas an early aboriginal camping areaand possibly a fish processing station(see page 1). Interestingly, the old “Fish Weir Pond”, mentioned in 1789,is presumably part of what was latercalled “Rush Lake” and is also at the“Fish Weir Road”. However, at thispoint, I still have not been able toconclusively identify the location ofthe “Fish Weir Lot”. It may be the 14-acre parcel marked “B” on Figure1 and bordering on the north side ofthe “Fish Weir Road”. Or the weirmay also have been located closer tothe junction of where the outlet for“Rush Lake” meets “Dead Creek”.This creek once partly encircled

Paunchy Lake and drained parts ofthe Jolicure Lakes and thus wouldhave been a prime location for catch-ing the Gaspereau moving into theseinland lakes to spawn [As an aside,according to Lorna (Bellamy) Etter,“Paunchy Lake” gained its namefrom waterfowl hunters and trapperswho noted the similarity with thespongy feeling of a paunch (stomach)of a moose, or cow, and the texture of the floating moss that surrounded the lake].

The fish weir would have beenaccessed from the “Fish Weir Road”(Figure 5). Also, as the “Fish WeirPond” was a name in common use by1789 it must have been in existencefor some time prior to this date. It isvery likely that this prime fishinglocation, situated at the head of tideand connecting to a number of inlandlakes, was also known to the earlierAcadian settlers as well as the region’s

earliest inhabitants: the Mi’kmaq ofthe Tantramar. It is interesting toimagine that the wooden remains ofthe fish weir are probably stillentombed within the silt-filled creekbed on the marsh and laying therenow, waiting to be discovered.

I would be most appreciative for anynew information or family traditionsregarding the “Fish Weir Lot” or anydetails on other poorly known place-names within the Tantramar.

AcknowledgementsA special thanks to the following peoplewho answered questions and shared their knowledge of old place names on the Tantramar: George Coombs(1955-2016), Danny Doncaster, Robert Estabrooks, Lorna (Bellamy) Etter (1925-2017), Mike Green, Jeremy Landry and Helen (Read) Locke.