[ganong] 



HISTORIC SITES IN NEW BRUNSWICK 



247 



River, the continuation of the Petitcodiac, is not navigable, the portage 

 path crossed from the Washademoak, about two miles above Nevers Brook, 

 to the main Petitcodiac, which it reached about five miles below Petitcodiac 

 Station. It was hence about twelve miles long, one of the longest of the 

 important portages in the Province. Its route, as given by a resident,^ is 

 shown on the accompanying Map No. 7. I presume its course is only 

 approximate ; indeed, I have been told by an Indian chief that it started 

 off near Salisbury — considerably farther down the river. 



Upon Bellin's maps of 1755 and 1757 this portage is shown, though 

 erroneously marked as ending at the River Chiaministi (Salmon River), and 

 it is called " Portage a beau Soleil." The reason for this name is given by 

 Captain Pote in his most valuable 

 Journal. He crossed this pointage in 

 1745, on the way from Beaubassin to 

 Quebec, and says of it ^ : " This Day 

 whent up a River about 6 Leagues To 

 a Carrying place . . . and Stopped 

 at a mans house. Named bon Soliel, 

 this man Treated me, with much 

 Cevility . . . and acquainted me 

 that his house, was ye Last'french 

 house I Should meet with. Till I arriv- 

 ed to ye River of Saint Johns." In 

 his " bon Soliel " we recognize a cor- 

 ruption of Beausoleil, a well-known 

 Acadian name. Pote states that the 

 portage was eight leagues long. Curi- 

 ously, he calls the Washademoak the 

 Petcochack. He describes fully his 

 route to the St. John. This portage is 

 also referred to in a document of 1756 

 given by Rameau de Saint Pere ^ : 

 "Remonté ladite rivière [i.e., the 



Petitcodiac] environ deux lieues, fait ensuite le portage nommé Ouaigesmock, 

 aussi de six lieues, jusqu' à une autre rivière qui doit être celle de Chiamaristi. ' ' 

 Ouaigesmock is no doubt Washademoak. This portage is also marked on 

 Montresor's map of 1768, and is correctly made to empty into the Jedem- 

 weight (Washademoak). The lake there shown one league from the Petit- 

 codiac is no doubt the crossing of the North River. It is also marked on 

 Morris of 1749, Mitchell of 1755, Bonnor of 1820, Baillie and Kendall of 1832. 



The ending of the portage on Bellin at Salmon River instead of at 

 the Washademoak is perhaps to be explained by the presence of a former 

 portage from the Washademoak to Cumberland Bay, on Grand Lake. In 

 this case but a small distance would have been travelled on the AVashade- 

 moak River before leaving it for the path to Grand Lake. The route of this 

 portage, as given me by a resident < is from three miles northeast of 

 Coles Island straight through to Cumberland Creek, four miles from the bay. 



^ Mr. J. Lounsberry, of Lewis Mountain. 



* Journal of Captain William Pote, Jr., p. 52. 



3 Une Colonie féodale, II., 373. This interesting document it given in full in one of Parkman's M«. 

 Tolumes on Acadia in the Library of the Massachusetts Historical Society. 



* Mr. John Moser, of Canaan Forks. 



Sec. IL, 1899. 17. 



Map No. 7. The Petitcodiac- 

 Washademoak Portage. 



