[ganong] origins of SETTLEMENTS IN NEW BRUNSWICK 107 



(J. Environmental Factors. 



These have remained practically unchanged from the preceding 

 periods to the present, and hence need no special consideration here. 

 The lumber trade has continued the greatest industry outside of agri- 

 culture, with the fisheries second, and no new industries of importance 

 have arisen, nor have any new mineral deposits of importance been 

 discovered. At the opening of the period all of the good lands on the 

 sea-ooasts and the principal rivers had been taken up, and tJie new 

 settlements have had to be formed on the backlands. Further, the good 

 backlands having for the most part already been taken up in the more 

 accessible southern part of the Province, the new settlements, as our 

 Map Xo. 12 shows, have been formed for the most part in the vicinity 

 of the North Shore and of the Upper St. John, a fact correlated Avith 

 the growth of population in the northern and eastern counties during 

 this period. The present condition of settleîment is approximately 

 represented by the Map Xo. 12, although this does not bring out the 

 continuous settlement along many of the high roads, nor the filling in 

 between the older settlements which has occurred, in this period. 

 Nevertheless, in a general way, it represents correctly the proportions 

 of settled and unsettled land. It will be noted that there exist in the 

 Province siom'e four unsettled areas. First, there is a small area in 

 St. John and Albert, along the Bay of Pundy; this is a rocky plateau 

 not profitable for cultivation. Second, there is a very irregular area 

 in the south-western part of New Brunswick, included largely in the 

 rocky Southern Highlands; this contains but little land capable of 

 cultivation which is not already cultivated, and little expansion of settle- 

 ment in this area is likely. Third, there is a great area in east central 

 New Brunswick, which is in part vacant because of its boggy or sterile 

 character, and in part because settlement has not yet reached its interior 

 parts. Fourth, there is the great northern wilderness occupying all 

 the north central and north-western part of the Province, extending 

 into Quebec. All the central part of this area, including the Central 

 Highhnds, is not capable of profitable cultivation. But its north- 

 western part, beyond the Tobique and Upsalquitch, is good land. That 

 it is not occupied is due to three causes: (1) its most accessible part 

 is held by the New Brunswick EaOway Company, which does not permit 

 settlement; (2) its interior parts through their remoteness and difficulty 

 of access have not yet been reached; (3) the country is mostly so 

 elevated that under this latitude it suffers from early and late frosts, 

 which will greatly impede its settlement. 



