12 THE NATURALIST OF THE ST. CROIX 



the state map — eleven of the lakes and ponds being 

 located in New Brunswick. The Indian name Schoodic, 

 which denotes in the native tongue "low, swampy 

 ground" is applied to the St. Croix in general, includ- 

 ing its chains of lakes and streams. The entire system 

 of rivers, streams and lakes forming the St. Croix is, in 

 fact, an attenuated combination of the lakes ; while 

 by some the St. Croix has been termed "a lake in 

 motion." 



For about ten miles above tide water at Calais the 

 river has an average width of 500 feet ; its annual dis- 

 charge is estimated at 44, 800, 000, 000 cubic feet; the aver- 

 age fall to tide water is about 300 feet, or 6.5 to the mile 

 and the land bordering the river and its tributaries is to 

 a large extent low, preventing excessive rises upon the 

 river itself — conditions which, according to the report 

 on the Hydrographic Survey of the State, ' ' places the St. 

 Croix at once and without controversy in the foremost 

 position of the large rivers of Maine as a manufacturing 

 stream." The same authority, in 1869, says that "four- 

 fifths of the basin area of the St. Croix are covered with 

 forests which consist largely of heavy, valuable timber." 



A region of country possessing so many natural advan- 

 tages for business early attracted the attention of set- 

 tlers. The forests of beautiful timber were waiting to 

 be transformed into merchantable lumber; the numer- 

 ous falls invited the erection of dams and the building 

 of mills, while tide- water at the upper arm of Passama- 

 quoddy bay, which has a rise and fall at Calais and St. 

 Stephen of twenty-five feet, making the river navigable 

 twice every twenty- four hours for the largest vessels, 

 brought these crafts there from many parts of the world for 



