36 FRANCIS PEA BODY, 



North bank rises more abruptly to 150 or 200 feet, and from that 

 undulates on towards Bathurst. The soil, resting on a sandstone 

 foundation, is light and friable but fairly productive. 



The river at this time of which we would treat abounded with 

 fish and the woods wi'h game, and in fact they do so still. The 

 forests were unbroken, and consisted of birch, beech, mai)le. 

 spruce, fir, and hemlock, but, best of all, with a magnificent 

 growth of majestic stately pine, suitable for masts for H. M. 

 largest men-of-war In fact, about the first English 

 settler on the river was Wm. Davidson, who located here express- 

 ly for that purpose, viz., to procure masts for the navy. He lies 

 buried at Wilson's Point, Newcastle, and his tombstone reads as 

 follows : 



"Sacred to the memory of Wm. Davidson, Esq., Representative 

 for the County of Northumberland, Province of New Brunswick, 

 Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, Contractor for masts for 

 H. Majest.y's Navy. He died on the 17th of June. 1790, aged 50. 

 He was one of the first settlers on this river, and greatly instru- 

 mental in promoting the settlement. He has left a widow and 

 five children to deplore his loss." 



There were no roads at this time, but communication was car- 

 ried on by schooners and other vessels to distant ports, and 

 canoes to the handier settlements ; or the traveller went on foot 

 through the forest, or on horseback around the shore . 



The principal articles of trade were lumber and fish, and vessels 

 were built here on the shore bc^th for home trade and to sell. The 

 farms, when they began to turn their attention to agriculture, 

 were surveyed back from the shore one and three-eighth miles 

 with varying frontage, and what is now the town of Chatham was 

 in the hands of a few individuals. Through the kindness of Lieut. 

 Governor L. J. Tweedie I have had access to the oldest plan of the 

 place extant, I believe, and there I find the following : 



Lot No. 30. Peter Taylor, 166 acres. 



This, I find, is a mistake. It was Patrick Taylor, as the deeds 

 in possession of persons now living on the ground plainly show. 

 His property extended from Jno. Irving's line up a little across 

 Mcintosh St. , and he lived in a stone house back in the field op- 



