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82-650: The New Brunswick Railway was also a historic Canadian railway operating in western New Brunswick . Its headquarters while an operational railway were in Woodstock . It was acquired by the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1890 and its operations and name were subsumed by the CPR. The NBR was maintained by CPR as a non-operating holding company for its land and property in New Brunswick; this company

164-658: A fur trade network along the Saint John River . With the onset of the Anglo-French War (1627–1629) , de la Tour was issued a charter to govern Acadia. In 1629, Acadia was officially returned to France. As such, a new wave of French settlers arrived in Port-Royal to revitalise the colony, including Isaac de Razilly , a new governor of Acadia , and Charles de Menou d'Aulnay , his cousin. de Razilly and de la Tour's charters conflicted with each others', but

246-639: A sawmill. Afterwards, the family continued to acquire businesses and substantial wealth, eventually becoming the richest family in the province. Today, Irving is considered by many to exert a monopoly over New Brunswick. Towards the early 20th century, the economy began to improve somewhat. The railways and tariffs fostered the growth of new industries in the province such as textile manufacturing, iron mills, pulp and paper mills , and sugar refineries. However, many of these eventually failed to compete with their competition in Central Canada. Unemployement

328-715: A settlement on Saint Croix Island . It was quickly abandoned due to difficult living conditions and moved to Acadia's capital, Port-Royal . There, the Micmacs helped the French survive. In 1626, Port-Royal was destroyed by the British. The British conquered Acadia shortly after and held it until 1629. James VI and I , King of Scotland, renamed it "Nova Scotia" in English. The Micmacs helped all French survivors, including Charles de Saint-Étienne de la Tour . Together, they established

410-735: A stronger desire to build up trade within British North America. A Fenian raid in 1866 also increased public support for a potential union. On 1 July 1867, New Brunswick joined with Nova Scotia and the Province of Canada (now Ontario and Quebec) to create the Dominion of Canada. Though Confederation brought into existence the Intercolonial Railway in 1872, new barriers undermined traditional trade relations. In 1879, John A. Macdonald 's Conservatives enacted

492-635: A survey in 1866 for a railway line extending from his mill facilities in South Devon at the junction between the Nashwaak and Saint John Rivers opposite Fredericton , north to Edmundston to service timber lands which he leased from the Crown. A charter for the railway was received from the provincial government in 1870 and the New Brunswick Land and Railway Company was formed. Part of

574-824: A written record, there is a lack of knowledge of the history of the area before the arrival of European explorers. At the time of European contact, inhabitants were the Micmac of New Brunswick's eastern coast, the Maliseet of the Wolastoq valley, and the Passamaquoddy of the St. Croix River valley. Many tribal placenames originate from their Eastern Algonquian languages , such as Aroostook , Bouctouche , Memramcook , Petitcodiac , Quispamsis , Richibucto and Shediac . The first documented European exploration of New Brunswick

656-551: Is French speaking . New Brunswick is home to most of the cultural region of Acadia and most Acadians . New Brunswick's variety of French is called Acadian French . There are seven regional accents. New Brunswick was first inhabited by First Nations like the Mi’kmaq and Maliseet . In 1604, Acadia , the first New France colony , was founded with the creation of Port-Royal . For 150 years afterwards, Acadia changed hands multiple times due to numerous conflicts between France and

738-686: Is bordered by Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to the west. New Brunswick is about 83% forested and its northern half is occupied by the Appalachians . The province's climate is continental with snowy winters and temperate summers. New Brunswick has a surface area of 72,908 km (28,150 sq mi) and 775,610 inhabitants (2021 census). Atypically for Canada, only about half of

820-568: Is owned by the Irving Group of Companies . The province's 2019 output was CA$ 38.236 billion, which is 1.65% of Canada's GDP . Tourism accounts for 9% of the labour force either directly or indirectly. Popular destinations include the Hopewell Rocks , Fundy National Park , Magnetic Hill , Kouchibouguac National Park and Roosevelt Campobello International Park . On 1 January 2023, local government of New Brunswick restructured

902-532: Is the third-least populous province. The census also recorded New Brunswick as being the fourth-most densely populated Canadian province, with 10.9 people per square kilometre, behind Ontario , Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island . As of September 2024, the population is estimated to be 854,355. 3 ft 6 in gauge railways Railways with a track gauge of 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) were first constructed as horse-drawn wagonways . The first intercity passenger railway to use 3 ft 6 in

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984-628: Is used to distinguish it from other narrow gauges. In Japan the 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ) gauge, along with other narrow gauges, is referred to as kyōki ( 狭軌 ) , which directly translates as narrow gauge , to differentiate it from the Shinkansen lines. It is defined in metric units. It is commonly referred to as 三六軌間 ( 36 gauge ) , which derives from the 3 ft 6 in. Similar, but incompatible without wheelset adjustment, rail gauges in respect of aspects such as cost of construction, practical minimum radius curves and

1066-518: The Bay of Fundy 's tides, and by tightly knit independent communities, because they were often neglected by French authorities. During the 1690s, in King William's War , attacks were launched from the Saint John valley by Acadian militias onto New England colonists. This would create a deep English hostility against the French presence in the region. From the 1600s to mid-1700s, Acadia

1148-597: The Isthmus of Chignecto . In an effort to limit British expansion into continental Acadia, the French built Fort Beauséjour at the isthmus in 1751. From 1749 to 1755, Father Le Loutre's War took place, where British soldiers fought against Acadians and Micmacs to consolidate their power over Acadia/Nova Scotia. In 1755, the British captured Fort Beauséjour , severing the Acadian supply lines to Nova Scotia, and Île-Royale. Continental Acadia thus came to be incorporated into

1230-624: The Italian campaign in 1943. After the Normandy landings they redeployed to northwestern Europe, along with The North Shore Regiment . The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan , a training program for ally pilots, established bases in Moncton, Chatham , and Pennfield Ridge , as well as a military typing school in Saint John. While relatively unindustrialized before the war, New Brunswick became home to 34 plants on military contracts from which

1312-700: The National Policy , which called for high tariffs and opposed free trade , disrupting the trading relationship between the Maritimes and New England . The economic situation was worsened by the Great Fire of Saint John of 1877, the decline of the shipbuilding industry, and the US Panic of 1893 . Many experienced workers lost their jobs and had to move west or to the United States. In 1871,

1394-548: The New Brunswick Land and Railway Company changed its name to the New Brunswick Railway Company . That same year the 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) narrow gauge lines from South Devon to Edmundston as well as the line from Aroostook to Caribou were converted to 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,435 mm ). The following year on July 1, 1882, the NBR acquired control of

1476-480: The New Brunswick and Canada Railway (NBCR) under a 999 year lease. The NBCR traced its history to the St. Andrews and Quebec Railway (SA&Q) which had a charter to build from Passamaquoddy Bay at St. Andrews north to McAdam and on to Quebec City across much of what is now northern Maine ; construction plans in the 1840s from southwestern New Brunswick to Canada East halted due to uncertainty over

1558-601: The Philippines , Taiwan , and Queensland (which has the second largest narrow gauge network in the world) in Australia. There are approximately 112,000 kilometres (70,000 mi) of 1,067 mm gauge track in the world, which are classified as narrow-gauge railways . This gauge is sometimes called Cape gauge , named after the Cape Colony in what is now South Africa, which adopted it in 1873. "Cape gauge"

1640-624: The Temiscouata Railway . The southern section of the main line ran along the east bank of the Saint John River from South Devon northwest to Keswick where it headed inland (north) away from the Saint John River and followed the Keswick River to Barton before heading west to Millville and northwest to East Brighton and Hartland where it again followed the east bank of the Saint John River. This section

1722-675: The World Wide Fund for Nature lists the Acadian Forest as endangered. Following the frequent large scale disturbances caused by settlement and timber harvesting, the Acadian forest is not growing back as it was, but is subject to borealization. This means that exposure-resistant species that are well adapted to the frequent large-scale disturbances common in the boreal forest are increasingly abundant. These include jack pine , balsam fir , black spruce , white birch , and poplar . Forest ecosystems support large carnivores such as

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1804-473: The bobcat , Canada lynx , and black bear , and the large herbivores moose and white-tailed deer . Fiddlehead greens are harvested from the Ostrich fern which grows on riverbanks. Furbish's lousewort , a perennial herb endemic to the shores of the upper Saint John River, is an endangered species threatened by habitat destruction, riverside development, forestry, littering and recreational use of

1886-437: The de Havilland Mosquito . In 1988, citing declining traffic, CPR grouped all of its lines east of Montreal into a new internal marketing and business unit called Canadian Atlantic Railway (CAR). Also beginning in 1988 and extending through to 1993, CAR began the process of abandoning much of the trackage of the former NBR system, citing declining traffic and bridges at Woodstock and Perth-Andover which were washed away in

1968-412: The hamlet of Sainte-Anne as the provincial capital. Sainte-Anne was later renamed Frederick's Town (and then later Fredericton ) after the third son of George III . In total, it is believed that around 14,000 loyalist refugees came to New Brunswick. However, 10% eventually returned to the United States. In 1785, Saint John became New Brunswick's first incorporated city. Economically, New Brunswick

2050-515: The 1780s and 1790s, some Acadians returned to Acadia, and discovered several thousand English immigrants, mostly from New England, on their former lands. In the late 1700s, the British began to make efforts to colonise the region, mostly by importing colonists from New England. Before the American Revolution, these colonists were called planters . After the revolution, the colonists were called loyalists , because only those loyal to

2132-609: The 1860s, the notion of unifying the maritime colonies of British North America was being increasingly discussed. This was due to multiple factors. For example, some felt that the American Civil War was the result of a weak central government and wished to avoid the same fate. Some also wanted to increase trade between the colonies, and be less economically tied to the US. In 1864, the Charlottetown Conference

2214-592: The Albert oil shales of southern New Brunswick. Eventually, sea water from the Panthalassic Ocean invaded the basin, forming the Windsor Sea. Once this receded, conglomerates , sandstones , and shales accumulated. The rust colour of these was caused by the oxidation of iron in the beds between wet and dry periods. Such late Carboniferous rock formed the Hopewell Rocks , which have been shaped by

2296-497: The Bay of Fundy, and on the west by the US state of Maine . The southeast corner of the province is connected to Nova Scotia at the isthmus of Chignecto. Glaciation has left much of New Brunswick's uplands with only shallow, acidic soils which have discouraged settlement but which are home to enormous forests. New Brunswick's climate is more severe than that of the other Maritime provinces, which are lower and have more shoreline along

2378-615: The British colony of Nova Scotia with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Following this, the British, unsatisfied with the Acadian's surrender because they refused to pledge allegiance, turned to capturing and exporting Acadians en masse, an ethnic cleansing event known as the Deportation of the Acadians which was ordered by Robert Monckton . From 1755 to 1763, 12,000 Acadians out of 18,000 were forcefully deported to various locations around

2460-572: The British crown settled in Nova Scotia. In 1766, planters from Pennsylvania founded Moncton , and English settlers from Yorkshire arrived in the Sackville area. In the 1770s, 10,000 loyalists settled along the north shore of the Bay of Fundy. In 1783, both Saint Andrews and Saint John were founded. Loyalists who received land allocations around the St. John River valley, the Bay of Fundy or

2542-656: The International Boundary at Vanceboro -St. Croix, CPR gained trackage rights from the Maine Central. CPR sought, and was given, a lease on the New Brunswick Railway for a period of 990 years beginning on July 1, 1890, resulting in a mainline from Montreal to Saint John and the feeder network of NBR branchlines to St. Stephen and St. Andrews as well as Fredericton and the upper Saint John River valley. This development gave CPR access to

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2624-586: The Miramichi highlands south and east, leaving them as erratics when the ice receded at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation , along with deposits such as the eskers between Woodstock and St George, which are today sources of sand and gravel. At the 2021 Canadian census , New Brunswick had a population of 775,610, a 3.8% increase since the 2016 Canadian census . As one of the four Atlantic Provinces which are Canada's least populated provinces, New Brunswick

2706-461: The NTR closely paralleled Canadian Pacific's original NBR narrow gauge line between Cyr (just north of Grand Falls ) to Edmundston, along the east bank of the Saint John River. In the 1930s, CPR abandoned a 26 mi (42 km) section of the former NBR between Cyr and Iroquois (approximately 1 mi (1.6 km) east of Edmundston) and used trackage rights over Canadian National Railways , which

2788-464: The NTR had been merged into in 1918. Following its acquisition of the NBR in 1890, CPR undertook several expansions to the system. These were acquired by the CPR as separate companies and were not merged with the NBR company: In the 1940s, CPR sought to reduce non-railway properties in New Brunswick and entered into an agreement with industrialist K.C. Irving , whereby the entire NBR was sold to his forestry subsidiary J.D. Irving Limited . CPR leased

2870-514: The Northumberland Strait became dissatisfied with being governed from Halifax because it was so far away. Therefore, on 18 June 1784, the British government created a new province for them: New Brunswick. New Brunswick was formed from the partition of Sunbury County from the remainder of Nova Scotia. In that same year, New Brunswick formed its first elected assembly. The first governor was Thomas Carleton , and, in 1785, he chose

2952-544: The SA&;Q declared bankruptcy and its assets and charter were purchased and reorganized as the New Brunswick and Canada Railway with track extended north to Richmond Corner near the newly defined border. Although the NBCR intended to complete construction across Maine to Quebec City, it would never extend beyond Richmond Corner due to the political situation in the United States during the 1860s ( American Civil War ) as well as

3034-545: The Saint John River at Newburg where it joined a new line being built from the NBCR at Debec via Woodstock where it crossed to the east bank of the Saint John River and on to Hartland . The final major expansion of the NBR took place in 1883 when it acquired the European and North American Railway 's (E&NA) "Western Extension" and the Fredericton Branch Railway . The "Western Extension" line

3116-609: The United Kingdom, which usually relied on the Baltic Sea for supplies, to import timber from its North American colonies. This stimulated the lumber trade in New Brunswick, as well as in Lower Canada . Between 1805 and 1812, New Brunswick annually exported 100,000 tons of squared timber. In 1819, the number exceeded 240,000 tons, and in 1825 exports reached their highest level at 417,000 tons. This also resulted in

3198-623: The United Kingdom. From 1755 to 1764, the British deported Acadians en masse, an event known as the Great Upheaval . This, along with the Treaty of Paris , solidified Acadia as British property . In 1784, following the arrival of many loyalists fleeing the American Revolution , the colony of New Brunswick was officially created, separating it from what is now Nova Scotia . In the early 1800s, New Brunswick prospered and

3280-807: The bedrock in the west and north derives from ocean deposits in the Ordovician that were subject to folding and igneous intrusion and that were eventually covered with lava during the Paleozoic , peaking during the Acadian orogeny . During the Carboniferous period, about 340 million years ago, New Brunswick was in the Maritimes Basin , a sedimentary basin near the equator. Sediments, brought by rivers from surrounding highlands, accumulated there; after being compressed, they produced

3362-548: The charter provided for additional timber land based upon construction performance, thereby making Gibson one of the largest landowners in the province. The route was envisioned to eventually extend further north along the Madawaska River and Lake Témiscouata to the Saint Lawrence River at Rivière-du-Loup ; however, the company never built beyond Edmundston, leaving this connection to be completed by

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3444-521: The coat of arms was assigned. In 2005, the Court of Queen's Bench approved a ruling allowing for the legalization of same-sex marriage . At the beginning of 2023, the provincial government implemented a local governance reform , reducing the number of entities from 340 to 89. Roughly square, New Brunswick is bordered on the north by Quebec, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the south by

3526-428: The early 20th century, the CPR's ex-NBR system interchanged with other railways at the following locations: The following narrow gauge locomotives were operated on the NBR until conversion to standard gauge in the early 1880s. New Brunswick New Brunswick is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada . It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces . It

3608-629: The east or the Bay of Fundy to the south. These watersheds include lands in Quebec and Maine. The highest point in New Brunswick is Mount Carleton , 817 m (2,680 ft). New Brunswick and the rest of the Maritime Peninsula was covered by thick layers of ice during the last glacial period (the Wisconsinian glaciation ). It cut U-shaped valleys in the Saint John and Nepisiguit River valleys and pushed granite boulders from

3690-626: The emergence of a shipbuilding market. These industries were then bolstered by the Canadian–American Reciprocity Treaty of 1854, and demand from the American Civil War of 1861 to 1865. St. Martins became the third most productive shipbuilding town in the Maritimes and produced over 500 vessels. From 1800 to 1851, New Brunswick's population grew from 25,000 to 200,000, and it saw large-scale immigration from Ireland and Scotland. In 1848, responsible home government

3772-416: The entities (admin level 4) throughout the province. The previous 340 entities were replaced by 77 local governments and 12 rural districts. New Brunswick was named in 1784 in honour of George III , King of Great Britain , King of Ireland , and prince-elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation (until 1806) in what is now Germany. Upon its split from Nova Scotia , it

3854-403: The extreme tidal range of the Bay of Fundy. In the early Triassic , as Pangea drifted north it was rent apart, forming the rift valley that is the Bay of Fundy. Magma pushed up through the cracks, forming basalt columns on Grand Manan . New Brunswick lies entirely within the Appalachian Mountain range . The rivers of New Brunswick drain into either the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to

3936-413: The financial situation NBCR faced with the competing European and North American Railway project. The 1881 conversion of the NBR to standard gauge track, followed by the 1882 purchase of the New Brunswick and Canada Railway saw a 9.5 mi (15.3 km) section of the NBR's original narrow gauge line between Shewan and Hartland abandoned. A new line was built from Shewan west to the east bank of

4018-468: The gauge was nicknamed Blekinge gauge , as most of the railways in the province of Blekinge had this gauge. Colonial Gauge was used in New Zealand. In Australia, this gauge is typically referred to as narrow gauge in comparison to 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,435 mm ) standard gauge or 5 ft 3 in ( 1,600 mm ) broad gauge. In some instances, simply 3 foot 6 inch — or in rarer cases medium gauge —

4100-432: The government introduced free education, banning catechism , the cassock and French in public schools in the process. Though contested by the Acadians and the Irish, the law was deemed constitutional. Following a riot in Caraquet in 1875, and political pressure, the bans were lifted in 1877. The Irving Group of Companies , founded by the Irving family , officially began in 1881 in Bouctouche when James Irving bought

4182-465: The late 1870s and early 1880s. One of the first expansions was the acquisition of the Aroostook River Railroad which had built up the south bank of the Aroostook River from its connection with the NBR at Aroostook, New Brunswick to Caribou, Maine . This line was built between 1873 and 1876 and was leased to the NBR in 1878. As a result, Aroostook became a major division point for the NBR's northern system and had extensive yard facilities. In 1881,

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4264-447: The location of the Canada–United States border . The border was subsequently resolved in the Webster-Ashburton Treaty and the SA&Q began construction in the early 1850s, however, the delays saw the competitive advantage of St. Andrews disappear with the opening of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railroad in 1853 that connected the Canadian rail network at Montreal , Quebec with the Atlantic coast port of Portland, Maine . In 1856

4346-402: The moderating sea. New Brunswick has a humid continental climate , with slightly milder winters on the Gulf of St. Lawrence coastline. Elevated parts of the far north of the province have a subarctic climate . Evidence of climate change in New Brunswick can be seen in its more intense precipitation events, more frequent winter thaws , and one quarter to half the amount of snowpack . Today,

4428-473: The more numerous English speakers to the south. The population of French origin grew dramatically after Confederation, from about 16 per cent in 1871 to 34 per cent in 1931. Government services were often not available in French, and the infrastructure in Francophone areas was less developed than elsewhere. In 1960 Premier Louis Robichaud embarked on the New Brunswick Equal Opportunity program , in which education, rural road maintenance, and healthcare fell under

4510-421: The population grew rapidly. In 1867, New Brunswick decided to join with Nova Scotia and the Province of Canada (now Quebec and Ontario ) to form Canada. After Confederation , shipbuilding and lumbering declined, and protectionism disrupted trade with New England . From the mid-1900s onwards, New Brunswick was one of the poorest regions of Canada, a fact eventually mitigated by transfer payments . However,

4592-426: The population lives in urban areas - predominantly in Moncton , Saint John and Fredericton . In 1969, New Brunswick passed the Official Languages Act which began recognizing French as an official language , along with English. New Brunswickers have the right to receive provincial government services in the official language of their choice. About two thirds of the population are English speaking and one third

4674-400: The port of Saint John and until the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in the 1950s and subsequent expansion of government ice breaking services for shipping, Saint John would become CPR's winter port on the Atlantic coast when Montreal was ice-bound. In 1912, a section of the government-built and operated National Transcontinental Railway (NTR) opened between Moncton and Lévis . Part of

4756-584: The province has seen the highest eastward migration in 45 years in both rural and urban areas, as people from Ontario and other parts of Canada migrate to the area. As of 2002, the provincial GDP was derived as follows: services (about half being government services and public administration) 43%; construction, manufacturing, and utilities 24%; real estate rental 12%; wholesale and retail 11%; agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting, mining, oil and gas extraction 5%; transportation and warehousing 5%. A powerful corporate concentration of large companies in New Brunswick

4838-484: The province received over $ 78 million. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King , who had promised no conscription, asked the provinces if they would release the government of said promise. New Brunswick voted 69.1% yes. The policy was not implemented until 1944, too late for many of the conscripts to be deployed. There were 1808 NB fatalities among the armed forces. The Acadians in northern New Brunswick had long been geographically and linguistically isolated from

4920-408: The railway tracks and other surface assets from J.D. Irving Ltd. which owned the land including the railway rights of way. In this fashion, Irving was able to secure some of the most extensive timber holdings in the province during a period at the beginning of the Second World War when JDI had entered into major contracts to supply wood veneer for defence contracts, particularly for construction of

5002-401: The request of the government of Richard Hatfield , this right became part of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms and therefore part of the Constitution of Canada . The flag of New Brunswick , based on the coat of arms, was adopted in 1965. The conventional heraldic representations of a lion and a ship represent colonial ties with Europe, and the importance of shipping at the time

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5084-425: The revenue gathering powers, the provinces had many expenditure responsibilities such as healthcare, education, and welfare, which were becoming increasingly expensive. The Commission recommended the creation of equalization payments , which were eventually implemented in 1957. After Canada joined World War II , 14 NB army units were organized, in addition to The Royal New Brunswick Regiment , and first deployed in

5166-428: The river to the site of present-day Fredericton . Other settlements in the southeast extended from Beaubassin , near the present-day border with Nova Scotia, to Baie Verte , and up the Petitcodiac , Memramcook , and Shepody Rivers. The descendants of Acadia's French colonists became the Acadians . Acadians developed a unique society characterised by dyking technology, which allowed them to cultivate marshes left by

5248-463: The riverbank. Many wetlands are being disrupted by the highly invasive Introduced species purple loosestrife . The deer population in the province has dropped by 70% since 1985. The widespread use of glyphosate may have contributed to this. Since 2014, the New Brunswick government has allowed forestry companies to harvest 20 percent more wood there than before. Bedrock types range from 1 billion to 200 million years old. Much of

5330-444: The sea level is about 30 cm (1 ft) higher than it was 100 years ago, and it is expected to rise twice that much again by the year 2100. Most of New Brunswick is forested with secondary forest or tertiary forest. At the start of European settlement, the Maritimes were covered from coast to coast by a forest of mature trees, giants by today's standards. Today less than one per cent of old-growth Acadian forest remains, and

5412-399: The sole jurisdiction of a provincial government that insisted on equal coverage throughout the province, rather than the former county-based system. In 1969 the Robichaud government adopted the Official Languages Act making the province officially bilingual and establishing the right of New Brunswickers to obtain provincial government services in the official language of their choice. In 1982 at

5494-445: The spring freshet and ice jams of 1987. CPR completely removed itself from operations east of Montreal in 1994 when CAR trackage was sold to shortline operators. The only remnant of the original NBR system is a short segment of trackage in Grand Falls, operated by Canadian National. J.D. Irving Ltd. continues to retain ownership of the NBR to this very day. The NBR functions in two different but inter-related ways: At its height in

5576-457: The two maintained an amicable relationship. In 1635, de Razilly died, triggering tensions between de la Tour, who governed from the Saint John valley, and d'Aulnay, who governed from Port-Royal. In the 1630s, this erupted into the Acadian Civil War . d'Aulnay managed to expel de la Tour in 1644. But, following d'Aulnay's death in 1650, de la Tour married his widow in 1653, essentially overturning his success. Over time, French settlement extended up

5658-408: The world, though 8000 died before arrival. The remaining 6000 Acadians escaped the British by fleeing North to the present Acadia , or to Canada . From 1755 to 1757, most Acadians were deported to the Thirteen Colonies . From 1758 to 1762, most were sent to France. Between 1763 and 1785, many deported Acadians relocated to join their compatriots in Louisiana . Their descendants became Cajuns . In

5740-473: Was a poor environment for agriculture and mining. Its fishery was also far inferior to that of Nova Scotia's. New Brunswick's forests were rich in wood, but as wood is a bulky and low-value commodity, accessible markets were limited. Essentially, in the late 1700s, New Brunswick was a peripheral corner of the British Empire and North American world. Geopolitical events in Europe would change this situation. In 1806, Napoleon Bonaparte 's continental blockade forced

5822-453: Was a shareholder with Gibson in the NBR and looked to extend the CP system to New Brunswick or Nova Scotia to gain access to ports in the Maritimes. Between 1886 and 1888, CPR built the International Railway of Maine , also referred to as the "Short Line", across a gap between Quebec's Eastern Townships and the Maine Central Railroad at Mattawamkeag, Maine (on the European and North American Railway "Maine" section). From Mattawamkeag to

5904-542: Was built between 1871 and 1873. The section from Hartland to Edmundston was much more difficult to construct and was built between 1871 and 1878. The line from Hartland north to Perth remained on the east bank of the Saint John River. At Perth it crossed to the west bank, bridged across the mouth of the Aroostook River , and continued to Grand Falls , where it crossed back to the east bank before continuing to Edmundston. The NBR system expanded significantly in

5986-604: Was built from 1865-1869 from South Bay on the west side of the Saint John River opposite Saint John to the International Boundary at St. Croix . The Fredericton Branch Railway was built from 1867-1869 from Hartt's Mills to Fredericton . Beginning in 1886, the Canadian Pacific Railway began looking to expand its presence east of Montreal . Typical of much of its expansion in southern Ontario , CPR looked to purchase or lease existing lines rather than survey and build itself. CPR president George Stephen

6068-763: Was constructed in Norway by Carl Abraham Pihl . From the mid-nineteenth century, the 3 ft 6 in gauge became widespread in the British Empire . In Africa it became known as the Cape gauge as it was adopted as the standard gauge for the Cape Government Railways in 1873, although it had already been established in Australia and New Zealand before that. It was adopted as a standard in New Zealand , South Africa , Indonesia , Japan ,

6150-436: Was granted. The 1850s saw the emergence of political parties largely organised along religious and ethnic lines. From the late 1700s to mid 1800s, Acadians became a minority, and they lived largely on the fringes of society, fearful of the English. They were mostly illiterate due to laws preventing them from opening schools. They were also not part of the economic boom, and had troubles asserting their land rights. During

6232-475: Was held to discuss a possible Maritime Union between Nova Scotia , New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island . However, the Province of Canada , caught wind of the conference and decided to send representatives to attend. They asked that the agenda be expanded to discuss a union that would also include them. In 1866, the United States cancelled the Reciprocity Treaty, leading to a loss of trade and

6314-728: Was high for a long time and increased during the Great Depression of the 1930s. By the end of the Great Depression, the New Brunswick standard of living was much lower than the Canadian average. In 1937, New Brunswick had the highest infant mortality and illiteracy rates in Canada. In 1940, the Rowell–Sirois Commission reported grave flaws in the Canadian constitution. While the federal government had most of

6396-462: Was initially named New Ireland; it was not long until the name was then changed to New Brunswick. The original Brunswick is known as Braunschweig , but also Brunswiek (in Low German ), and also Bronswiek (in the local dialect). Paleo-Indians are believed to have been the first humans on the land of New Brunswick, settling there roughly 10,000 years ago. Because their descendants did not leave

6478-514: Was made by Jacques Cartier in 1534, when his party set foot in Miscou and explored the coasts of Chaleur Bay . They made contact with aboriginals, who from this point on began to trade with Europeans. This also exposed them to Old World diseases. Acadia , a colonial division of New France covering the Maritimes , was founded in 1604 by Samuel de Champlain and Pierre Dugua de Mons with

6560-515: Was routinely a war zone between the French and the English and would often change hands. However, Acadia would definitively fall into British hands following Queen Anne's War , a conquest of most of the Acadian peninsula, formalized by the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713 . After the war, Acadia was reduced to Île Saint-Jean ( Prince Edward Island ) and Île-Royale ( Cape Breton Island ), with the ownership of continental Acadia (New Brunswick) being disputed between France and Britain, with an informal border on

6642-673: Was sold to industrialist K.C. Irving in 1941 that saw all land ownership including timber holdings and railway rights of way transferred to the Irving conglomerate. CPR leased the physical railway assets from NBR and retained the right to operate them until CPR abandoned operations in New Brunswick in late 1994. The original NBR lines in the Saint John River valley were built to 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) narrow gauge . These tracks were converted to 4 ft  8 + 1 ⁄ 2  in ( 1,435 mm ) in 1881. New Brunswick industrialist Alexander Gibson commissioned

6724-475: Was used in several English-speaking countries. The equivalent of Cape gauge is used in other languages, such as the Dutch kaapspoor , German Kapspur , Norwegian kappspor and French voie cape . After metrication in the 1960s, the gauge was referred to in official South African Railways publications as 1,065 mm ( 3 ft  5 + 15 ⁄ 16  in ) instead of 1067 mm. In Sweden,

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