GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY OF THE TOBIQUE. IQ' 



ARTICLE I. 



NOTES ON THE GEOGRAPHY AND NATURAL 

 HISTORY OF THE TOBIQUE. 



BY GEOFFREY STEAD, C. E. 



The Tobique Valley seems to be a "terra incognita" to 

 many people in St. John and the southern part of this pro- 

 vince. From a summer's stay on the river, I am able to give 

 a short account of its Geography and Natural History. 



The Tobique is one of the larger left-hand branches of the 

 St. John, having a basin of 1,500 square miles. It enters the 

 latter river about twenty miles below Grand Falls, and nearly 

 opposite Andover. Its course for the lower twelve miles is 

 about westerly, above which it bends nearly parallel to the 

 St. John, so that after ascending the Tobique twenty-five 

 miles we are nearer Grand Falls than at the mouth of the 

 river. 



The course of the valley of the Tobique beyond the lower 

 twelve miles is, though very crooked, about north-north-east 

 till the Forks are reached — fifty-four miles from the mouth. 

 Here the river divides ; the two branches shortly sub-dividing 

 to form four large streams. The chief of these — the right 

 hand branch — rises in several large lakes, draining parts of 

 Northumberland and Victoria Counties, and flows north- 

 westerly to the Forks. The left branch, or Little Tobique, 

 rises at Lake Nictor, in Restigouche, quite close to the head- 

 waters of the Nepisiquit. 



The course of the river at the Forks is peculiar. The two 

 branches come together from different ends of the same 

 valley. There is a sudden break in the ridge which forms 

 one side of the valley, and through this the waters escape 

 which form the main river, flowing in a course at right 

 angles to the direction of the branches. 



