1758 to 1850
The Miramichi River valley initially became a refuge for Acadians fleeing the Great Upheaval in the Annapolis Valley, Tantramar Marshes and Ile-Saint-Jean following the Seven Years' War, however these families were soon forced to move to more isolated coastal areas to the northeast. Under British control, the area was part of the Colony of Nova Scotia from 1756 to 1784 but was largely forgotten. Some settlement trickled from the Loyalist refugees flooding the Saint John River valley to the south and west, however it was only after the Colony of New Brunswick was established in 1784 that colonial administrators looked favourably upon the Miramichi region.
The Highland Clearances and Britain's Industrial Revolution soon saw a Scottish migration into the Miramichi River valley, some of them demobilized veterans of the American Revolutionary War, and others directly coming from the Scottish Highlands. They were the first permanent English-speaking settlers and their early industriousness continues as a legacy to the various communities throughout the valley.
William Davidson was among the first Scots, arriving in 1767. English settlers were present too, as evidenced by the Anglican Churches established throughout the valley. Acadians began to drift back into the area as early as 1769, settling the shorelands along the lower bay. A small number of United Empire Loyalists arrived, establishing themselves particularly in the upriver areas, where Squire Doak established the village of Doaktown. In 1825, a massive forest fire, called "The Great Miramichi Fire", burned 20% of New Brunswick's forests, leveling several communities in the central part of the colony including Newcastle and Douglastown.
Large numbers of Irish arrived in the Miramichi River valley, both before and after the Great Famine of Ireland (1845-1849). Middle Island, in the inner bay of the estuarine portion of the Miramichi River, served as a quarantine station. Though some Irish immigrants farmed, especially in Barnaby River, St. Margarets and Sevogle River, many were drawn to the established towns and villages, perhaps because the Scots and English had taken up the best land.
Trade with Britain and the West Indies was a cornerstone of the Miramichi River valley economy throughout a large part of the 19th century. An important export up until the 1850s was Eastern White Pine trunks which were used as masts on Royal Navy vessels. Fur was an early export to European markets and later exports included lumber, pulpwood, and pit props for Welsh coal mines. The United States began to replace Britain as the most important market for the Miramichi River valley after the 1850s. Salmon and forest products found a market in Boston, MA, with these commodities being shipped by schooner, with rum and molasses being common return cargoes.
1867 to present
The National Policy of Sir John A. Macdonald's Conservative government after Confederation in 1867 was not to the advantage of Miramichi lumbermen and fish buyers. The high tariff walls designed to protect Ontario manufacturers meant higher prices for imports, and tariff barriers on exports to the United States.
The National Policy is believed to be a contributing factor in explaining the long Liberal predominance in Miramichi elections, and the prominence of lumber and fish merchants and business leaders among Liberal MPs and Senators in the Parliament of Canada and Members of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick. Notable among these are Senators Jabez Bunting Snowball, a lumber merchant and shipowner from Chatham, NB, and Percy Burchill, a lumber merchant from Nelson-Miramichi, NB; Members of Parliament included W. S. Loggie, a fish and general merchant from Chatham, NB, Richard Hutchinson, a lumber merchant from Newcastle, NB, and John Maloney, a lumber merchant; Members of the Legislative Assembly included W. Stafford Anderson, a lumber merchant from Newcastle, NB, whose daughter Margaret Anderson served in the Senate.
Sawmills were a typical Miramichi industry from colonial times, but pulp mills were established at both Newcastle and Chatham in the late nineteenth century and, though the Chatham mill is long closed, the one in Newcastle continued in operation until recently. Fish packing remained important until recent times, with Loggieville and Escuminac being two sites. For many years, pit props were exported to the Welsh and English coal mines, though the volume suggests that many ended up in British pulp mills.
During the 1870s and 1880s, railways were built to the Miramichi River valley, beginning with the Intercolonial Railway in 1875, which crossed the Southwest and Northwest Miramichi Rivers at tidewater just upstream from Newcastle on its way between Moncton, NB and Bathurst, NB. This section of the Intercolonial formed part of the Halifax, NS to Rivière-du-Loup, QC main line and was purposely routed along the eastern shore of New Brunswick for military purposes, to keep it away from the border with the United States.
The Northern and Western Railway (later the Canada Eastern Railway) was built in the mid-1880s from Fredericton to Boisetown where it then ran along the Southwest Miramichi River through Chatham to terminate at the port at Loggieville, intersecting with the Intercolonial at Nelson. The line was purchased several years later by the Intercolonial and part of the line between Renous-Quarryville and Nelson was rerouted. A passenger train on this route was given the informal nickname, the "Dungarvon Whooper".
Oceangoing steamships and motor vessels regularly visited ports along the river until fairly recently. The decision by the federal government to concentrate all ocean shipping activities in northern New Brunswick at the port of Belledune, NB in the late 1980s and early 1990s led to a decision by the mid-1990s to discontinue dredging at the entrance to Miramichi Bay. This has led to significant silting of the navigation channel although some ships still call at the ports of Chatham and Newcastle.
The Miramichi River valley is home to about 45,000 people, mainly of mixed Irish, Scottish, English, French and Mi'kmaq descent. Traditionally, the shores of the estuarine portion of the Miramichi River valley were predominantly Acadian fishing communities, whereas Chatham was an Irish community and Newcastle and many towns upriver were Scottish communities. Over the past 100 years or more, Acadians have been migrating into the amalgamated city of Miramichi and surrounding areas. The "English speaking" community (of Irish, Scottish or English descent) and the "French speaking" community (of Acadian descent) have witnessed much intermarriage between the two groups in the last 80 years and relations are generally good.
There has been little immigration to the Miramichi River valley since the Irish Famine, producing a particular personality among Miramichiers who are regarded as friendly, but with a touch of reserve, generous, but also very independent, and with a wry sense of humour, especially in evidence when someone is suspected of "putting on airs". They are passionately attached to their valley.
Another factor that united Miramichiers of all ethnic backgrounds was the shared experience of two world wars. Casualties were especially heavy in the First World War, when just about every street in the towns throughout the river valley had men killed or returned wounded and/or shell-shocked. During the Second World War Miramichi River valley soldiers went ashore on D-Day with the North Shore Regiment and went through the heavy fighting in northern France, Belgium, and the Netherlands. Others served with the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Royal Canadian Navy.
