46 bulletin of the natural history society. 



5. — On the Heights of New Brunswick Hills. 



Read April 6th. 1897; re-written April, 1898. 



In the summer of 1896, I climbed two of the best-known and mo?t 

 accessible of the higher hills of the province — Squaw Cap in Resti- 

 gouche, and Mount Pleasant in Charlotte. Later I sought information 

 about their heights, but found, wit h surprise, that for neither was it accur- 

 ately known ; and later inquiry showed that this is true as to the 

 heights of most New Brunswick hills. Indeed, nobody knows positively 

 where the highest point in New Brunswick lies, much less how high 

 it is. 



It is generally stated that the highest point in the province is Big 

 Bald Mountain, at the head of the Lower South Branch of Nepisiguit ; 

 but this, if not an error, is at least not proven. It rests solely on the 

 authority of the Geological Survey map, which marks that mountain 

 as 2,700 feet, the greatest height marked anywhere in the province. 

 But this height appears to be a compiler's or copyist's mistake, for 

 Dr. R, W. Ells, in his Geological Report (for 1881, D, 35) describing 

 that region, estimates Bald Mountain at 2,500 feet — not 2,700 — and 

 he has recently had the kindness to write me that his estimate really 

 was as given in his report, and that he does not know how the greater 

 height came to be placed on the map. No other officer of the Geologi- 

 cal Survey has been there, nor are measurements by anyone else known. 

 He says, however, that he thinks Bald Mountain " the highest land 

 in Northern New Brunswick — at least as far as I have travelled." 

 The Geological map marks in that region " Peaks rising to 2,600 or 

 2,700 feet," which, of course, is so stated to include the height given 

 to Bald Mountain. We must, therefore, consider that it is far from 

 settled whether or not Bald Mountain is the highest in New Brunswick. 

 If this measurement of 2,500 feet by Dr. Ells is correct, there is 

 another higher peak in the province, namely, Bald Mountain, beside 

 Nictor Lake, which is given on the Geological map as 2,537. This 

 must therefore stand as, for the present, our greatest known height. 

 It is not likely that any point in the province will reach 2,800 feet. 

 Who will be the first to demonstrate the highest point in New Bruns- 

 wick 1 



It will be of interest to note some heights elsewhere, for comparison- 

 The highest in the world is Mount Everest, 2!»,000 feet ; in Europe, 

 Mount Blanc, 15,730 feet; in England, Scawfell, 3,208; in Wales, 

 Wyddva, 3,571 ; in British America, St. Elias, 18,086 ; in the Tinted 

 States, Blanca Peak, 14,463 ; in New Hampshire, Washington, 6,290 ; 



