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The Miramichi River is a Canadian river located in the central-eastern part of the province of New Brunswick. The river flows through Miamichi Valley whose territory roughly corresponds with Northumberland County.
Rising in the uplands of northwestern New Brunswick, Canada, the Miramichi flows eastward for 217 kilometres to its broad estuary, emptying into Miramichi Bay, a part of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
The country the Miramichi drains is heavily forested, with settlements tending to cluster along the rivers. There is some farming, particularly dairy, but in general the acidic soils and the climate have not favoured agriculture. People in rural areas often maintain small gardens for their own use.
Toward the Gulf, the land is somewhat low lying, having once been submerged. Sandstone rock underlays the topsoil and is frequently found along the river banks. The interior of the province once was the site of high mountain ranges (part of the Appalachian Mountains) now almost completely eroded.
The river and its estuary once supported an extensive fishery, especially of salmon, shad, gaspereaux and smelt. In the estuary, lobster are harvested especially off Neguac on the north coast and off Hardwicke, Baie Ste. Anne and Escuminac on the south coast. The oysters are of very high quality, but little exported. Sadly, overfishing and pollution have depleted most fish stocks. The commercial salmon fishery along the river was closed in the 1960's. It was salmon as well as lumber that formed the bulk of the exports in colonial days. Farming was not as important historically, being used more for subsistence. Potatoes, turnips, oats, and wheat were common crops.
Blueberries, strawberries and raspberries commonly grow wild as well as cranberries in wetter areas. These were important supplemental foods in colonial times. Fiddlehead fern greens, now a gourmet food, grow in certain areas though the locations tend to be carefully guarded secrets. The greens traditionally accompanied fried wild salmon steaks.
In early days deer, moose, ducks, brant and geese were plentiful, with caribou migrating through the area seasonally. Plentiful stocks of deer remain, and a fair population of moose. Caribou are a long faded memory, gone with the 8 gauge shotguns used to bring them down. Hunting of deer, partridge, ducks and geese is still permitted, with an annual draw for moose hunting permits.
Black bear are relatively common. Other predators include red foxes, bobcats, mink, fishers, weasels and skunks. Porcupines and beaver are somewhat plentiful. Coyotes, unknown in colonial times and as late as the 1970's, have moved in, perhaps to replace the long extinct local wolves. The coyotes appear to be of a larger variety than commonly seen in western Canada and constitute a threat to domestic animals.There is debate as to the reliability of reported sightings of the Eastern Cougar, with a tentative concensus emerging that perhaps a remnant population of this elusive beast survives.
The river has historically been important for navigation and oceangoing steamers and motor vessels regularly visited ports along the river until recently. The decision by the Federal Government in the 1980's to discontinue dredging the bars at the entrance to Miramichi Bay has led to significant silting and ships of a draught which regularly frequented the wharves of Chatham and Newcastle can no longer clear the mudbanks downstream.
Miramichi Bay is an area of captivating beauty. Pleasure craft are common sights on its waters in the summer. The relaxed pace of life, friendly people, spectacular sunrises and sunsets ( the river flows from west to east), seabreezes and abundant birdlife attract summer cottagers. The bay is separated from the Gulf of St. Lawrence proper by several low lying islands. They are uninhabited and face the full force of ocean gales. Portage Island is the largest. It was cut in two by a heavy storm in the early 1950's. Harbour seals are relatively common, and characteristic birds are herring gulls, the common tern (pictars to use the old Scottish word), the great blue heron (commonly called " crane" in the Miramichi), the common loon, and cormorants (called "black shag" locally), with kingfishers, plovers, snipe and killdeer along the shore.
The Miramichi region was settled after the Seven Years War by Acadians and by Scottish lumbermen. They were the first permanent European settlers. Large numbers of Irish arrived, both before and after the Potato Famine of the 1840s.
The Miramichi River valley is home to about 45,000 people, mainly of mixed Irish, Scottish, English and French descent. A recent phenomenon has been a gradual drifting upriver towards Miramichi(city) of French speaking people from the bay communities such as Neguac, Baie Ste. Anne, Barryville and Escuminac. There has been much intermarriage between the two groups in the last 80 years and relations are generally good. Long residence together (there has been little inward migration since 1850) has produced a particular personality among the Miramichiers, friendly, but with a touch of reserve, generous, but also very independent, and with a wry sense of humour, especially deployed when someone is suspected of "putting on airs". They are passionately attached to their Valley.
Another factor which united the people was the shared experience of two World Wars. Casualties were especially heavy in World War One, when just about every street in the towns had several men killed and more returning physically or mentally damaged. Miramichi soldiers went ashore on D Day in 1944 with the North Shore Regiment and went through the heavy fighting in Normandy, Northern France, Belgium and Netherlands.
There is a significant native population of the Mi'kmaq nation, living in three areas, two upriver and one down on the estuary at Burnt Church.
Notable structures include the MacDonald Farm near the mouth of the Bartibogue River, a restoration of an original Scottish settler's home (stones from Scotland) and the impressive St. Michael's Basilica, located in the former town of Chatham, New Brunswick, now part of Miramichi city.
The name, possibly one of the oldest recorded Canadian toponyms of Native American origin, may derive from the Innu word for "land of the Mi'kmaq".
It has two main branches, the Northwest Miramichi River and the Southwest Miramichi River, as well as many smaller tributaries, four of which are described below.
The Bartibogue River
The Bartibogue flows into the waters of the Miramichi's estuary from the north some 7 miles below Chatham on the opposite side. It is tidal in its lower stretches. There is very little settlement along its banks, except for the hamlet of Russellville a few miles upstream, some cottages at its mouth and a sprinkling of houses some miles inland where the highway to Bathurst crosses it. There is good trout fishing on the Bartibog in places. The people settled in this area are largely descendants of Scottish Catholics and Protestants with a sprinkling of Irish. Some have intermarried with French people from further down the river.
The Little Southwest Miramichi River
The Little Southwest Miramichi is a tributary of the North West Miramichi and is somewhat thickly settled along its lower stretches. There is a Mi'kmaq settlement at Red Bank where the Little South West joins the Northwest Miramichi. The Little South West is a good salmon river and the are a number of fishing and hunting lodges along its banks. The peoples living in the area are of mixed Scottish and English origins and are largely Protestant with a good representation of evangelical Christians among them. Some commute to jobs in Miramichi (city) and others work in the woods or are involved in trucking, tourism or guiding. People in the area have a good work ethic and maintain ther homes very well.
The Napan River
This small tributary empties into the south side of Miramichi Bay some nine miles below Chatham. It is a small stream, but since it flows through a narrow, but fertile valley, farmland stretches along its banks from its mouth upriver for some 12 miles. The farms are not so well tended as in past years, but some farming still occurs. Since it flows just south of the city of Miramichi, many of the farms are used as country acreages by those who work in town. The historical population was mostly English and Scottish Protestant, with a few Irish Catholic farming families upstream, especially in the rural area called Wellfield. Farmers at the mouth of Napan River in days gone by maintained set nets on Miramichi Bay, supplementing their income from woodlots and farms by selling salmon and shad in spring and summer and smelts in the winter.
Barnaby River
This is the name of both a river and a rural area. Barnaby River is a small stream that winds it way through the forests of eastcentral New Brunswick, before emptying into the Southwest Miramichi some 8 miles above the City of Miramichi. It flows in from the south and parallels the direction of the main river for part of its course. It was here that the rural Irish settlement of Barnaby River spread along its banks for some distance. People earned a meagre living through farming, working outside the community and cutting pulpwood from their woodlots. Most farms in the Miramichi were from 80 to 120 acres in size, with the more prosperous ones often those downriver with rights to catch salmon in setnets. The Barnaby was too small to support such a fishery. However the people were thrifty and were very successful in launching their many children into the world. The community historically centered upon a Catholic Church, The Church of the Most Pure Heart of Mary, with a resident pastor.The resident pastor is, alas no more. Population has significantly declined over the past 50 years.
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