[ganong] origins of SETTLEMENTS IN NEW BRUNSWICK 1 7 



h. Land Animals. The extensive forests of New Brunswick oi'ig- 

 inally were inhabited by great numbers of the most vailua])le wiUl 

 *animals of the cool temperate zone, the great moose, tog-ether with tlie 

 caribou, the Virginia deer, the beaver, the black bear and the principal 

 minoT fur-bearing animals, and grouse, pigeons and other game birds. 

 Tjike the forests themselves, these animals were so evenly distributed 

 that while they had an important part in making })ossi!)le the early 

 settlement of the Province, they scarcely aiïected the distribution of 

 ^settlements, excepting in so far as the fur trade tended to locate itself 

 at the geographic foci of the rivci- systciiK-. The many lakes, streams 

 'and lagoons also maintained an abundant life of water-fowl, which 

 'aided much in favouring early settlement. With the advance of settle- 

 ment, however, and the development of agriculture, the value of the 

 Vild animal life has proportionally lessened, though in recent years 

 it is rising again into importance through its attractions to foreign 

 'sportsmen, a fact bringing en.v iron mental into contact with sociological 

 ■phenomena. 



/. Mineral Products. 2\o\v Brunswick is very i)oor in known 

 mineral resources; and settlement,. therefore, has been little atfected by 

 this factor. Although numerous valual>le minerals occur widely scat- 

 tered in the Province, and many attempts have been made to find 

 'them in paying quantities, and although some ore deposits (antimony 

 'at Prince William, manganese at i\farkham ville, iron at Jackson town), 

 liave been worked for a time, there is not in profitable operation to-day 

 in Xew Brunswick a single mine of any of the metals. Thin seams of 

 'coal occur at many points in central and eastern Xew Brunswick, and 

 are profitabl}' worked on a small scale by local residents. But they are 

 not of sufficient value or extent to have determined any distinct coal 

 mining settlements, though attempts are now being make to work them on 

 a scale, which, if successful, will result in distinct si.'ttlements. For a 

 time the coal-like substance, albertitc, was profitably mined at Albert 

 'Mines, but the suppl}' is exhausted. Of equal or greater value are the 

 fine gypsum deposiits which occur at the Petitcodiac, where they are 

 worked, adding to the considerable settlement at Hillsborough, and 

 other smaller deposits are worked locally on the Tobique. The granite 

 •in the two great granite belts of the Province, but especially in the 

 southern, is of fine quality and colour, so that it is profitably worked 

 at Spoon Island on the St. John, and especially near St. George, the 

 prosperity of which latter village is now dependent upon it. The sand- 

 stones of the eastern and northern coas>ts are of fine grade and were 

 formerly worked at the head of the Bay of Fundy. as Ihcy still are on a 



Sec. II., ir04. 2. 



