| Christmas Mountains | |
|---|---|
 North Pole Stream, a tributary to the Little Southwest Miramichi River in north-central New Brunswick, Canada | |
| Highest point | |
| Elevation | 750 m (2,460 ft) |
| Coordinates | 47°10′N66°40′W / 47.167°N 66.667°W /47.167; -66.667 |
| Geography | |
  Christmas Mountains Location in New Brunswick | |
| Location | Northumberland County, New Brunswick |
| Parent range | Appalachian Mountains |
| Topo map | NTS21O2Serpentine Lake |
| Climbing | |
| Easiest route | Hike |
TheChristmas Mountains are a series of rounded peaks in northernNew Brunswick,Canada, at the headwaters ofNorth Pole Stream and theLittle Southwest Miramichi River, west ofBig Bald Mountain, and south ofMount Carleton. The mountains, in part, separate theMiramichi River watershed from the watersheds of the Serpentine River and theNepisiguit River.
In 1964, Arthur F. Wightman named the range and peaks after noting that the previously unnamed peaks lay near the source ofNorth Pole Stream, hence this sub-range of theAppalachians has been named after the Christian holiday ofChristmas.
The ten peaks are:[1]
The eight latter names commemorateSanta Claus's reindeer as named in the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" byClement Clarke Moore. The poem reads in part:
With a little old driver so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles, his coursers they came,
And he whistled and shouted and called them by name:
NowDasher! NowDancer! Now,Prancer andVixen!
On,Comet! On,Cupid! On,Donder[2] andBlitzen!
To the top of the porch! To the top of the wall!Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!
Although a ninth reindeer was later added toSanta Claus' team in the popular 1949Christmas song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", no peak was named for Rudolph.[3][4][5][6]
Until the mid-1990s, the Christmas Mountains remained untouched by industrial forestry operations. AsCrown land, the New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources administered the property as part of a vast swath of forest across the north-central part of the province. With few roads leading into the area, the Christmas Mountains maintained anold growthAcadian forest that was unique to northeastern North America.
New Brunswick Department of Natural Resources leased the property comprising the Christmas Mountains to a U.S. owned pulp and paper companyRepap (the name is the word "paper" reversed). Repap began building logging roads into the region around 1995 and began an aggressiveclearcutting operation over the next several years, despite numerous vocal and radical protests by New Brunswick-basedenvironmentalists who feared the consequences ofhabitat destruction and the loss of theold growth forest. Despite the efforts, the Christmas Mountains old growth forest was largely logged by the end of the decade.[7][8][9][10]
