Canada and the British immigrantWeaver, Emily P. (Emily Poynton)
History
Canada and the British immigrant
Weaver, Emily P. (Emily Poynton)
Canada -- Description and travel; Canada -- Economic conditions
Spruce is exported as “deals” and boards, and is used for railway
sleepers, fence posts, and building materials, as well as for pulpwood;
but fir, tamarac, maple, elm, birch, ash, butternut, poplar and hemlock
also abound, and serve many useful purposes.
One great advantage of New Brunswick as a lumbering region is that its
rivers everywhere form excellent waterways, down which the logs can be
“driven” to market. The St. John and its tributaries drain nearly
one-half of the province, and the Miramichi has a “watershed embracing
about five thousand square miles.” Most of the forest exports go to
Great Britain.
The lumbermen work in gangs of fifty or more, living in log camps built
in the forests. The work is heavy, the life is rough, and accidents are
somewhat frequent. For instance, when the logs going down stream get
caught at some point and form a “jam,” it is often a risky business to
“break” it; but work in the woods is healthy, and the lumbermen are well
fed. In fact, the cook in a lumber camp is a most important functionary.
Fishing is another old industry in New Brunswick, which has a sea-coast
of about six hundred miles. Considerably over twenty thousand persons,
including lobster canners, are employed. In 1909-10 the herring fishery
proved most valuable of all. Next in order came the catches of lobsters,
sardines (said to be equal to the Norwegian sardines), smelts (of which
enormous numbers are caught in the Gulf of St. Lawrence), cod and
salmon, which are exported fresh and frozen, smoked, salted or pickled.
A variety of other fish are taken in smaller quantities.
Owing to ice the Gulf fisheries cease during the winter, but those of
the Bay of Fundy are carried on all the year round. The old-time oyster
fishery has suffered here, as in the neighbouring provinces; but steps
are being taken to preserve and increase the productiveness of the
fisheries, as of the forests, and to educate the fishermen. With the
latter object, the Dominion government a few years ago brought to Canada
“a Scottish expert,” in the curing of herrings, “with a steam trawler
and crew complete,” and with a view to the former they established
several hatcheries of young salmon and lobsters, from which 122,000,000
of the last-named were distributed in a single season.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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