REPORT OF COUNCIL. 
505 
overlying, bog, marl, and marsh deposits, will be included in recent 
deposits. 
Certain phenomena observed in Southern New Brunswick, involv- 
ing these deposits, indicate a differential sinking of the land in portions 
of the interior which are best explained as a warping of the earth’s 
crust. 
About twenty-five years ago, excavations of the marsh-mud in 
Harris’ Cove, fourteen miles from the mouth of the Kennebecasis 
river, were made for the purpose of obtaining fertilizer. It was found 
that for five feet below the present low water summer level of the 
river there were marsh surfaces, indicated by layers of partly decayed 
marsh grass, with roots and attached leaves. 
These marsh grasses could not have grown under present conditions, 
but must have flourished when the mud in which they grew was at a 
level considerably higher, relative to the water level of the river, than 
it is now. 
Two possible causes of this former condition of the Kennebecasis 
river may be suggested in explanation, one that the upper part of the 
river stood at a higher level relative to the lower part than it does now. 
The other is that there existed formerly a lower outlet of the river 
than the present one at the Falls of the St. John. 
The second possible cause of a lower outlet is not borne out by any 
indications of a lower discharge for the waters of the St. John since 
Post-Pleiocene time. Except the rock-bottomed passes of Drury’s Cove 
and the present outlet, all other possible passages are at present filled 
with Post-Pleiocene deposits. 
Even if the passage at the “ Falls ” had been lower in former 
times, it would not mend the matter, for at present the level of the 
water in St. John harbor at high tide is about six or eight feet above 
the summer level of the water in the Kennebecasis river. The only 
result, therefore, of a lowering of the barrier would be to flood the 
Kennebecasis marshes at high tide and prevent the marsh growth, 
even at the present level. 
With the opening of the barrier it would be necessary that there 
should come a reduction in the height of the Bay of Fundy tides, in 
order that the marsh-plants might flourish in Harris’ Cove five feet 
below the present summer level. Such an assumption is gratuitous, 
and without any evidence in fact. 
