Misplaced Pages

#955044

62-536: The Webster–Ashburton Treaty following the Aroostook War established a border between New Brunswick and Maine following 130 km (80 miles) of the river, while a tributary forms 55 km (35 miles) of the border between Quebec and Maine. Maine communities along the river include Fort Kent , Madawaska , and Van Buren . New Brunswick settlements through which it passes include, moving downstream, Edmundston , Fredericton , Oromocto , and Saint John . It

124-615: A hydroelectric dam was built at Grand Falls , followed in 1955 by the Beechwood Dam and the Mactaquac Dam in 1965. Large reservoirs were created behind the dams. Construction of the latter two dams has caused a severe decline in migrating Atlantic salmon , and resource authorities have developed fish ladders and other measures to try to revive the migration. The forested areas of the Maine North Woods where

186-651: A tidal estuary . Tributaries in this section include the Nashwaak and Nerepis rivers and Belleisle Bay . The final tributary, the Kennebecasis River , is a fjord with a sill, or rise in depth near the mouth of a fjord caused by a terminal moraine . From the Grand Bay (New Brunswick) , the waterway becomes narrower and deeper forming a gorge where at the Reversing Falls incoming tide forces

248-412: A binding decision. The Treaty of Paris had established the 45th parallel as part of the northern boundary of modern-day New York and Vermont. Most of that portion of the boundary had previously been surveyed in the early 1770s, but the survey line was inaccurate. Since " Fort Blunder "—an unnamed U.S. fort in what is now part of northeastern New York—had been constructed north of the actual 45th parallel,

310-699: A due west course to the river Mississippi ..." In fact, a course due west from the Lake of the Woods never intersects the Mississippi. The Anglo-American Convention of 1818 defined the boundary about Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains. This 1842 treaty reaffirmed the border and further defined it by modifying the border definition to instead read as: ... at the Chaudiere Falls, from which

372-569: A lower elevation where the fields were fertilized by the floodwaters. The Wolastoqiyik identified themselves as inhabitants of the river their canoes traveled for hunting, fishing, and trading. Archaeological evidence is that the Wolastoqiyik had economic and cultural ties with large portions of North America from their country's homebase within the Dawnland. Early 16th century fur trade with French fishermen encouraged increased interest in

434-554: A narrow band of unfavorable terrain for construction of a road to connect Atlantic Canada to Quebec through the winter months when ice closed the Saint Lawrence. Canada chose to interpret the treaty's intention as keeping the entire Saint John drainage basin under Canadian control. Surviving Acadian and Wolastoqiyik refugees continued to resist British rule while moving upriver to the Acadian Landing Site west of

496-752: A slaver from a third country. The treaty, therefore, had only a minimal effect for the time in reducing the trans-Atlantic slave trade. As a result of the Webster–Ashburton Treaty of 1842, the United States ceded 5,000 square miles (13,000 km ) of disputed territory to the British / Canadians along the American-claimed northern Maine border, including the Halifax–Quebec Route, but kept 7,000 square miles (18,000 km ) of

558-671: A thousand by 1612, but the fur traders' contribution to the First Nations gene pool would provide some disease resistance. No pure blooded Wolastoqiyik or Passamquoddy survived the 20th century. When the Europeans arrived into Wolastokuk, the homeland of the Maliseet Nation and Saint John River basin, they found the locals hunting, gathering, and farming near the banks of the river. Rivalry between English and French fur traders pre-dated colonization of North America. Ouigoudi

620-511: Is an area of rolling hills and soils that are the most fertile and heavily farmed in New Brunswick. Soils are fine, loamy , and well-drained glacial tills overlaying limestone and sandstone . The climate here is drier and warmer than surrounding regions. The lower basin, 140 kilometres (90 miles) to Saint John Harbour on the Bay of Fundy , consisting of lakes, islands, wetlands and

682-491: Is lowest in the autumn, and considerably higher than average during the spring freshet at 6,800 m/s (240,000 cu ft/s). In early spring, upper sections of the river can experience ice jams causing flooding. In the lower sections in the broader floodplain, flooding may occur during late spring from the volume of water which must make its way through the narrow gorge at the Reversing Falls. Legally, all of

SECTION 10

#1732764708956

744-695: Is regulated by hydro-power dams at Mactaquac , Beechwood , and Grand Falls, New Brunswick . Samuel de Champlain visited the mouth of the river on the feast day of John the Baptist in 1604 and renamed it the Rivière Saint-Jean or Saint John River in English. Many waterways in the system retain their original pre-European names. The Maliseet call it the Wolastoq, meaning bountiful and good and seek to restore this name. The headwaters are in

806-579: Is the only place in Atlantic Canada where Appalachian Hardwood Forest is found. Plants rare for the province include wild ginger , black raspberry , wild coffee, maidenhair fern , showy orchis and others. This forest type, also known as the Saint John River Valley Hardwood Forest, once spread of much of the area and has been reduced to less than one percent of the land area because of human activities. This

868-689: The Ashburton House , and also home of the British legation (future elevated / renamed embassy ), facing on historic prominent Lafayette Square , two blocks north of the White House in the federal national capital city of Washington, D.C. . The townhouse has since been designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark , on the lists maintained by the National Park Service of the United States Department of

930-586: The Congress of the United States ) at the old smaller United States Capitol in Washington), the native Ojibwa nations around about the south shore of Lake Superior, ceded land to the United States in the subsequent Treaty of La Pointe . However, the news of the ratification of the British-American international treaty did not reach either of the two parties further west, involved in negotiating

992-683: The Gulf of Saint Lawrence , the Saint John offered one of the best transportation corridors for First Nations refugees to retreat from the English colonization of North America's Atlantic coast. About a thousand Wolastoqiyik sheltered a hundred Acadian families retreating up the Saint John to avoid the Acadian Expulsion as the St. John River Campaign killed livestock and burned Acadian settlements as far upstream as Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas. While

1054-805: The New England/Acadian forests of Maine and Quebec, including the Southwest , Northwest , and Baker branches, and the Allagash River flowing into New Brunswick at Edmundston where it is joined by the Madawaska River . The middle section runs from the confluence of the Aroostook and Tobique rivers, flowing southeast to Mactaquac Dam. Other tributaries in this section include the Meduxnekeag River . This area

1116-517: The Oregon question , although the issue was discussed in negotiations. Article 10 of the Webster–Ashburton Treaty identified seven crimes subject to extradition: "murder, or assault with intent to commit murder, or piracy, or arson, or robbery, or forgery, or the utterance of forged paper." It did not include slave revolt or mutiny. In addition, the United States did not press for the return or extradition of an estimated 12,000 fugitive slaves who had fled

1178-716: The West African coast by warship squadrons of both the United States Navy and the British Royal Navy . It formalised levels of co-operation that had briefly existed in 1820 and 1821. It fell short of providing greater co-operation in suppression of the slave trade; there was, for instance, no mutual right for the two countries to inspect vessels flying each other's flag even when the United States flag / colours were being flown fraudulently by

1240-701: The British government later abandoned, as they no longer served a defensive purpose. The border between Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods in the Great Lakes region needed clarification because the faulty Mitchell Map used in the negotiations for the Treaty of Paris (1783) , was inadequate to define the border according to the terms of that British-American treaty. Ambiguity in the map and treaty resulted in Minnesota 's Arrowhead region being disputed between

1302-593: The Commissioners traced the line to the most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods, thence, along the said line to the said most northwestern point, being in latitude 49°23′55″ north, and in longitude 95°14′38″ west from the Observatory at Greenwich; thence, according to existing treaties, due south to its intersection with the 49th parallel of north latitude, and along that parallel to the Rocky Mountains ... The Webster–Ashburton Treaty failed to deal with

SECTION 20

#1732764708956

1364-574: The First Nations while King Philip's War encouraged the Wolastoqiyik to join the Wabanaki Confederacy in military action against New England . French colonists populated the lower river valley as part of Acadia , with Fort Nashwaak in present-day Fredericton, Fort Boishebert at the confluence of the Saint John and Nerepsis rivers. In the French seigneurial system lands were arranged in long, narrow strips, called seigneuries, along

1426-604: The Interior . To make the controversial treaty more palatable and popular in the United States, Secretary of State Webster released a map of the Maine–Canada border, taken from the beginning national archives and files at the United States Department of State offices, which he claimed that earlier famous American founding father and negotiator / diplomat of Benjamin Franklin (c.1705/1706-1790), of Pennsylvania had drawn of

1488-486: The Saint Croix treaty boundary where they were joined by other Acadian refugees who had fled to Quebec. Large numbers of people began settling the area in the early 1800s, mostly Scottish and Irish, and by the end of the 1850s much of the central Saint John valley had been cleared of old-growth forest for farming. Before the advent of railways, the river was an important trade route, including timber rafting . After

1550-632: The U.S. going north and reached British territory in Canada . While agreeing to call for a final end to the slave trade on the high seas, Secretary Webster and Lord Ashburton agreed to pass over the Creole case of 1841 in the Caribbean Sea , which was then in contention. In November 1841, a slave revolt on the American merchantman brig Creole, part of the coastwise slave trade , had forced

1612-460: The United States wanted to follow the old survey line, and the Webster–Ashburton treaty incorporated this change, leaving the half-finished fort on U.S. soil. Following the signing of the treaty, the U.S. resumed construction on the site. The new project replaced the aborted 1812-era construction with a massive third-system masonry fortification known as Fort Montgomery . This treaty marked

1674-423: The Webster–Ashburton Treaty of 1842 which allocated the north bank of the Saint John west of the Saint Croix to Canada in exchange for some territory further west. Today's Trans-Canada Highway follows the route of the proposed English road along the north bank of the river through the disputed portion of the drainage. Most of the Saint John drainage on the disputed south bank became Aroostook County, Maine , where

1736-528: The banks of the river. However this was not practical given the seasonal flooding, and the Acadians moved to higher ground. The Wolastoqiyik became steadfast allies of the Acadians through the subsequent French and Indian Wars ; and their Saint John River valley became the last holdout of Acadian refusal to declare allegiance to the British monarchy. As the longest river between the Chesapeake Bay and

1798-719: The border to give the United States a little more land to the north. It also resolved issues that had led to the Indian Stream dispute as well as the Caroline Affair . The Indian Stream area was assigned to the United States. The Webster–Ashburton Treaty failed to clarify ownership of Machias Seal Island and nearby North Rock , which remain in dispute. Additionally, the signing of the treaty put an end to several building improvements planned for Upper Canadian defense forts such as Fort Malden in Amherstburg , which

1860-542: The border. The treaty clarified the channel that the border would follow between Lake Huron and Lake Superior, awarding Sugar Island to the U.S. Another clarification made in this treaty resulted in clarifying the anomaly of the Northwest Angle . Again, due to errors on the Mitchell Map, Treaty of Paris reads "... through the Lake of the Woods to the most northwesternmost point thereof, and from thence on

1922-666: The close of the war keeping the Saint John River in Canada while the Penobscot River was allocated to Massachusetts. The Treaty of Paris (1783) defined the eastern boundary of Massachusetts as a line drawn due north from the source of St. Croix River to the drainage divide of the Saint Lawrence River. Persistent hostilities with the Wolastoqiyik had prevented the English treaty signatories from mapping

Saint John River (Bay of Fundy) - Misplaced Pages Continue

1984-559: The community of Mactaquac . The park was created in the 1960s during the construction of the Mactaquac Dam . It contains a golf course , campground , two beaches , hiking trails , and cross-country skiing trails in the winter. There are activities such as kayaking, hiking, cross-country skiing, swimming and fresh water beaches. This New Brunswick location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This Canadian protected area related article

2046-542: The disputed wilderness. In addition, the United States received 6,500 square miles (17,000 km ) in compensation with the compromise of further west on the Minnesota – Canada border, which included the Mesabi Range of mountains, west of Lake Superior . Shortly after the advice and consent process with the ratification of the Webster–Ashburton Treaty by the United States Senate (upper chamber of

2108-591: The end of local confrontations between lumberjacks (known as the Aroostook War ) along the Maine border with the British colonies of Lower Canada (which later became Quebec) and New Brunswick. The newly agreed border divided the disputed territory between the two nations. The British were assigned the Halifax–Quebec road route, which their military desired because Lower Canada had no other connection in winter to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The treaty adjusted portions of

2170-440: The flow of water to reverse against the prevailing current. A wedge of salt water, below a surface covering of fresh water, extends upriver to the 10 metre (30') shallows at Oak Point beyond which it cannot advance. The drainage basin is 55,000 square kilometres (21,000 sq mi), of which 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 sq mi) is Maine. The average discharge is 1,100 m/s (39,000 cu ft/s). Water flow

2232-551: The international border be fixed at the 45 degrees north parallel of latitude , but the border is in some places nearly 0.8 km ( 1 ⁄ 2  mi) north of the 45th parallel. The treaty was signed by US Secretary of State Daniel Webster , and British diplomat Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton . An arbitration of various border issues in the East before King William I of the Netherlands in 1831 had failed to yield

2294-529: The lake at the site of Fort William up the Kaministiquia and Dog Rivers to Cold Water Lake, crossed the divide by Prairie Portage to Height of Land Lake, then went west by way of the Savanne, Pickerel , and Maligne rivers to Lake La Croix, where it joined the present international border. The Mitchell map had shown both of those routes, and also showed the "Long Lake" route between them. Long Lake

2356-530: The lake") in modern Duluth, Minnesota , proceed up the Saint Louis and Embarrass rivers, across the height of land , and down Pike River and Lake Vermilion to the Rainy River . To counter this western route, the U.S. side advocated for an eastern route, used by early French explorer Jacques de Noyon in 1688, and the later a well-used fur traders' route after 1802. This way headed north from

2418-734: The land cession. The Grand Portage Band of natives was mistakenly omitted from the Ojibwe treaty council. In addition, the Grand Portage Band was misinformed on the details of the old Treaty of Paris of 1783, 59 years earlier; they believed that the border passed through the center of Lake Superior to the Saint Louis River, placing both Isle Royale and their band to be located in British territory. The Treaty of Paris back then specifically noted in its text, that Isle Royale

2480-871: The river downstream of a point between Fredericton and Mactaquac Provincial Park is considered tidal. The river is mostly calm, except for waterfalls at Grand Falls and at the Beechwood Dam. With the water flow in the spring being six times the average rate, the valley has always been prone to flooding in the spring. Surface runoff from heavy rainfall is the main cause of flooding, and can be exacerbated by ice jams , high tides, and rapid snowmelt . Floods have been documented for more than 300 years. Flooding has occurred in Edmundston, Grand Falls, Perth-Andover, Hartland, Woodstock, and most severely around Fredericton and Saint John. Major flooding occurred in 1923, with water 8 metres (26') above normal winter low. In 1936, high temperatures quickened snowmelt, and heavy rain raised

2542-425: The river headwaters including a road from Lac-Frontière, Quebec to build the isolated Eagle Lake and West Branch Railroad in 1927 and the Nine Mile Bridge over the river in 1931. The lower river has been developed for agriculture and industry. Francophone Quebecers moved into the northern river valley. In the interwar period , many older farms were abandoned due to urbanization, and allowed to reforest. In 1925

Saint John River (Bay of Fundy) - Misplaced Pages Continue

2604-420: The river headwaters. Aside from ambiguity as to which tributary might be considered the source of the Saint Croix River, the Saint John River does not flow directly south as might have been assumed from knowledge of the better mapped Hudson and Connecticut Rivers . Of greater concern to Canada, however, was discovery of how close the drainage divide was to the south bank of the Saint Lawrence, leaving Canada with

2666-463: The river rises is mostly uninhabited. The Northwest Aroostook, Maine unorganized territory has an area of 2,668 square miles (6,910 km) and a population of 10, or one person for every 267 square miles (690 km). Increasing recreational use of the upper river encouraged designation of the Allagash Wilderness Waterway and recognition that the river supports plant communities seldom seen elsewhere. Spring snowmelt causes scouring ice jams along

2728-558: The ship to call at the port of Nassau in the Bahamas . British / Bahamian colonial officials eventually emancipated all 128 slaves who chose to stay in Nassau, as Britain had already abolished slavery in its colonies, effective seven years before in 1834. The United States initially demanded return of the slaves and then compensation. A settlement was made in 1855 as part of a much larger claims treaty of 1853, which covered claims by both nations dating back to 1814. The treaty laid down minimum levels of joint anti-slaving naval activity off

2790-414: The smaller tributaries and headwaters where scarcity of edible prey kept population density low. After spending the winter hunting and trapping in the interior, the villages of Ouigoudi at the mouth of the river and Aukpaque at the head of navigation were summer gathering places accessible to European fur traders. Fur traders brought European diseases reducing the estimated Wolastoqiyik population to less than

2852-436: The state of Maine obtained independence from Massachusetts in 1820, Maine lumbermen encouraged Acadian refugees to form the independent Republic of Madawaska , and began diverting the Saint John headwaters into the Penobscot River so log driving could float timber harvested in the upper Saint John watershed to Bangor sawmills. These provocations encouraged clarification of the disputed Canada–United States border boundary by

2914-408: The territory. It showed contested areas of that time during the original 1783 Paris Treaty negotiations largely resolved in favor of the United States. Mactaquac Provincial Park Mactaquac Provincial Park is a Canadian provincial park with an area of 5.25 square kilometres (2.03 sq mi). It is located on the Saint John River 15 kilometres west of Fredericton , New Brunswick in

2976-554: The town of Madawaska still shares the Acadian French dialect with Edmundston across the river. Historic isolation has helped preserve the dialect. The Allagash River and Baker Branch of the Saint John River upstream of Madawaska flow through the sparsely populated Maine North Woods . These black spruce forests were a primary source of pulpwood for Maine paper mills through the 20th century. Distance from Maine cities encouraged landowners to employ Quebec lumberjacks . Édouard Lacroix developed innovative transportation methods for

3038-441: The two nations years later, and previous negotiations had not resolved the question. The treaty had the border pass through Long Lake , but did not state that lake's location. However, the map showed the lake flowing into Lake Superior near Isle Royale , which is consistent with the Pigeon River route. The British, however, had previously taken the position that the border should leave Lake Superior at Fond du Lac (the "head of

3100-405: The unexpected death of his running mate and predecessor, William Henry Harrison , who had only served a single month in office. The Daniel Webster – Lord Ashburton negotiations and new drawn-up 1842 treaty resolved many of the issues of the recent border conflicts and skirmishes between Americans and New Brunswickers in the Aroostook War of 1838–1839. It arose from disputes and controversies over

3162-427: The upper river and those living along the coast and tidal estuary. The Passamaquoddy hunted sea mammals along the northwest shore of the Bay of Fundy while speaking a mutually intelligible dialect with the Wolastoqiyik who were inland hunters along the upper Saint John River and its tributaries. The Wolastoqiyik dealt with freshets by having their village above the floodplain , for example Meductic , while cultivating at

SECTION 50

#1732764708956

3224-606: The upper river leaving bedrock covered by thin, patchy acidic soil supporting one of the highest concentrations of rare plants in Maine including Clinton's bulrush , Dry Land Sedge , Mistassini primrose , Nantucket shadbush , Northern Painted Cup , and Swamp Birch . In 2011, the entire watershed was designated the Wolastoq National Historic Site, and is as the traditional territory of the Wolastoqiyik First Nation. [REDACTED] Media related to Saint John River at Wikimedia Commons Webster%E2%80%93Ashburton Treaty The Webster–Ashburton Treaty , signed August 9, 1842,

3286-399: The upstream Wolastoqiyik and their Acadian allies rejected both Canada and United States sovereignty after English victories in the French and Indian War, many Loyalist refugees from the American Revolutionary War resettled in Saint John at the mouth of the river and in Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas which was renamed Fredericton. The Saint Croix River formed the Atlantic coastal boundary at

3348-445: The vague indefinite terms and text of the old peace agreement of the Treaty of Paris of 1783 , which ended the American Revolutionary War . The provisions of the 1842 treaty between Britain and the United States included: The treaty also retroactively confirmed the southern boundary of the Province of Quebec that land surveyors John Collins and Thomas Valentine had marked with stone monuments in 1771–1773. The treaty intended that

3410-436: The water level to 8.9 metres (30'), about 7.6 metres (25') above summer level. Similar circumstances led to the same level of high water in the 1973 flood . Similar major flooding occurred again in 2018 and 2019. Since 2019, flooding has not been as severe. The severity and frequency of flooding is expected to increase, with climate change . It is predicted that New Brunswick's average temperature will increase by 5 C (9°F) by

3472-417: The year 2100, and that precipitation will increase. At the end of the last glacial period , following the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet about 13,000 years ago, the area was stripped bare of vegetation and soil. By about 10,000 years ago, Paleo-Indians probably occupied what is now New Brunswick. Although the basin has been subject to human influence for thousands of years, the Native American impact

3534-425: Was a treaty that resolved several border issues between the United States and the British North American colonies (the region that later became the Dominion of Canada ). Negotiated in the US federal capital city of Washington, DC , it was signed August 9, 1842, under the new administration of US President John Tyler , who as the former vice president , had just recently succeeded and became chief executive upon

3596-411: Was defensively fortified as Fort La Tour and Aukpaque became known as Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas when Acadian colonists settled the lower river valley. The First Nations regarded the fur traders more favorably than later settlers who started taking their land and preventing its historic use for subsistence. European colonists may have used fields and town sites prepared by the natives. Colonization pressure

3658-426: Was in the territories of the new United States to the south. Consequently, because of this misunderstanding / misinterpretation, a later Isle Royale Agreement was signed between the United States and the Grand Portage Band, two years later in 1844 as an adhesion / amendment to the Treaty of La Pointe , with other Ojibwa tribes reaffirming the treaty. Ten months of negotiations for the 1842 Treaty were held largely at

3720-442: Was less severe along the Saint John River where the cold water eddy of the Gulf of Maine kept the growing season shorter than Massachusetts and the Nova Scotia peninsula nearer the warm Gulf Stream . The earliest Acadians were descendants of the French sailors and shipwrights whose focus on fishing, trading, and boat repair rather than agriculture minimized land use conflicts. These Acadians maintained favorable relationships with

3782-425: Was minimal partly because of their small numbers, and partly because they practiced low intensity agriculture. Major disturbances did not begin until the early 1800s with the arrival of large numbers of Europeans. The eastern Algonquin languages had different dialects associated with each of the major river systems of New England and the Maritimes ; and there was often a linguistic bifurcation between residents of

SECTION 60

#1732764708956

3844-407: Was thought to be the Pigeon River (despite the absence of a lake at its mouth). The traditional traders' route left the lake at Grand Portage and went overland to the Pigeon, up that river and a tributary across the Height of Land Portage , and thence down tributaries of the Rainy River to Lac La Croix, Rainy Lake and River, and Lake of the Woods. This is finally the route the treaty designated as

#955044