[ganong] historic SITES IN NEW BRUNSWICK 263 



bird's-eye view, has been left ns by Champlain ; and following him, it has 

 often been described by local historians. Politically Dochet Island is now a 

 part of Maine, but historically it belongs to ancient Acadia, whose heir was 

 Nova Scotia and later, in this part, New Brunswick. The situation of St. 

 Croix Island is perfectly well known, and there is not the slightest question 

 as to its identity ; Champlain's map alone, if all other evidence failed, would 

 locate it with absolute certainty. Late in the last century remains of the 

 buildings were found in explorations made to settle the identity of the island 

 in connection with the question of the identity of the St. Croix of the 

 boundary disputes, but every trace of these ruins has long since disappeared. 

 But as to the exact site of the settlement on the island, and the changes 

 that have occurred in the island itself since DeMonts' settlement, there is 

 some error prevalent. The place is of such great historic interest that some 

 examination of these questions will be of value. 



Dochet Island, the Isle Saincte Croix of Champlain, lies in the St. Croix 

 river opposite the village of Red Beach, Maine. It is a small island of less 

 than 400 yards long and a little over 100 yards wide, with an area of about six 

 acres, (see Map No. 15). It is highest along the western shore, which is 

 precipitous, rocky, wooded with small trees, and some forty feet high, the 

 highest point on the island, at X on map No. 15, not exceeding 50 feet.' It 

 slopes down to sea level towards the w-est. At the lower end is a high ter- 

 race of sand and clay ending in steep bluffs, beyond which are two densely 

 wooded isolated knolls. Near its highest part are the several buildings of a 

 United States Light Station, where lives the light-keeper and his family, the 

 only residents of the island. Most of the island is an open pasture with 

 small bushes here and there, though to the northward of the buildings is a 

 good fenced garden. The central part of the island is now a series of bare 

 rocky ledges, with some soil between, whose limits are shown on the accom- 

 panying map No. 15. No doubt in earlier times these ledges were, in part 

 at least, covered with soil and trees. 



In addition to Champlain's map of the island (Map No. 1.3), there is 

 extant one made by Wright in 1797 (Map No. 14). In June, 1898, I made a 

 survey of the island with compass and tape, and prepared the map given 

 herewith (Map No. 15).* A comparison of the three of 1604, 1797, 1898, 

 shows the following facts : The island has washed away very little if any at 

 its upper end, but a good deal at the lower end. The knoll on which 

 DeMonts' cannon were mounted, now a densely wooded mound, was then 

 continuous with the sand bluff of the main island ; it had become separated 

 in 1797, and now is cut off by a considerable interval of low beach. The 

 cove near the chapel on Champlain (curiously less pronounced on Cham- 

 plain than on Wright) has, since 1797, deepened until it has cut through the 

 bluff, thus separating another knoll, which now stands out by itself con- 

 nected with the sand bluff only by a low narrow ridge of sand, hardly higher 

 than the beach. This very considerable removal of sand is said, however, 

 not to be entirely the result of the action of the waves, but partly to the 

 removal of many scow-loads to the mainland for building purposes. The 

 site of the chapel has undoubtedly been washed away, and at least a part of 

 the burial ground. Indeed th e land in this part of the island has washed 



1 Though the angles and measurements were carefully taken, the outline is not strictly accurate, 

 for I found subsequently tliat my compass gave for some directions considerable error, due to the nickel 

 with which it was plated. 



Sec. II., 1899. 18. 



