228 
BULLETIN OF THE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 
many other maps, though the river to which it becomes applied 
on most of them is the Little Southwest, and not the Northwest. 
On modern maps its lower course below Portage Brook is first 
shown, from a sketch, on Bonnor, 1820, but it is first laid down 
from survey on Lockwood's map of 1826. Above Portage River 
to near the South Branch it was first surveyed (and the country 
laid off in five-mile timber blocks) by Peters in 1836, and his plan 
is followed on Saunders’ map of 1842, with some extension at the 
headwaters on Wilkinson of 1859, and with further additions at 
the headwaters on Loggie of 1884. Loggie’s map was followed 
with but very slight changes by the Geological Survey map of 
1888, and this has remained the best down to the present. Parts 
of its branches, and many of the old timber lines have been re- 
surveyed in recent years by Hanson. No ‘map whatsoever up to 
the present has correctly represented the position of its source 
and the curious course of its upper valley, and these appear with 
approximate correctness for the first time on the map accompany- 
ing an earlier note, No. 77. 
The lower course of the river was early settled by the de- 
scendants of the Loyalist and Scotch settlers of the Miramichi, to 
whom some later immigrants have been added, and settlement has 
gradually extended up to the mouth of Portage River, and some- 
what above. Above that the river is, except for some five or six 
fishing and hunting camps, and a few lumber camps, an entire 
wilderness, abounding in all kinds of big game, while the river 
itself is one of the finest of salmon streams. Except at its head 
it flows through forested country, which has yielded great quan- 
tities of lumber, and lumbering is still actively carried on every 
year. 
Of literature, scientific or other, relating to the river, there is 
very little. Hardy’s “ Forest Life in Acadie,” (1869, page 240), 
refers to the excellent salmon fishing on it, and refers to a portage 
to the Nepisiguit, doubtless that by Portage River. Dashwood’s 
Chiploquorgan (1871, 60), seems to show that in 1863 he portaged 
from Kewadu Lake to this river, and descended it in part to New- 
castle. The geology of the river was studied by Ells, who in 
1880 (Note 77) crossed its headwaters, and the same year studied 
the lower river below the Winigut Lake Branch. His results are 
