Saint John River
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 Saint John River inFredericton, NB | |
 The course of the Saint John River | |
| Etymology | Feast Day ofJohn the Baptist Bountiful and good / the beautiful river |
| Location | |
| Countries | |
| Provinces | |
| State | Maine |
| Cities | |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Saint John Ponds |
| • location | Somerset County, Maine,United States |
| • elevation | 360 m (1,180 ft) |
| 2nd source | Little Saint John Lake |
| • location | Saint-Zacharie,Quebec,Canada |
| 3rd source | Lac Frontière |
| • location | Montmagny Regional County Municipality,Quebec,Canada |
| Source confluence | |
| • location | Aroostook County, Maine,United States |
| • coordinates | 46°33′47″N69°53′06″W / 46.5630°N 69.8850°W /46.5630; -69.8850 |
| Mouth | Bay of Fundy |
• location | Saint John,New Brunswick,Canada |
• coordinates | 45°16′N66°4′W / 45.267°N 66.067°W /45.267; -66.067 |
| Length | 673 km (418 mi)[1] |
| Basin size | 54,986 km2 (21,230 sq mi) |
| Discharge | |
| • average | 990 m3/s (35,000 cu ft/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Tobique River,Jemseg River,Belleisle Bay,Kennebecasis River |
| • right | Allagash River,Aroostook River,Nerepis River |
| Designations | |
|---|---|
| Official name | Wolastoq National Historic Site of Canada |
| Designated | July 19, 2011 |
| Reference no. | 18954 |
TheSaint John River (French:fleuve Saint-Jean;Maliseet-Passamaquoddy:Wolastoq) is a 673-kilometre-long (418 mi) river flowing within theDawnland region from headwaters in theNotre Dame Mountains near theMaine-Quebec border through westernNew Brunswick to the northwest shore of theBay of Fundy. Eastern Canada's longest river,[2] itsdrainage basin is one of the largest on the east coast[3] at about 55,000 square kilometres (21,000 sq mi). This “River of the Good Wave” and its tributarydrainage basin formed the territorial countries of theWolastoqiyik andPassamaquoddy First Nations (named Wolastokuk and Peskotomuhkatik, respectively) prior to European colonization, and it remains a cultural centre of theWabanaki Confederacy to this day.
TheWebster–Ashburton Treaty following theAroostook War established a border between New Brunswick and Maine following 130 km (81 mi) of the river, while a tributary forms 55 km (34 mi) of the border between Quebec and Maine. Maine communities along the river includeFort Kent,Madawaska, andVan Buren. New Brunswick settlements through which it passes include, moving downstream,Edmundston,Fredericton,Oromocto, andSaint John.
It is regulated by hydro-power dams atMactaquac,Beechwood, andGrand Falls, New Brunswick.
Samuel de Champlain visited the mouth of the river on thefeast day of John the Baptist in 1604 and renamed it the Rivière Saint-Jean or Saint John River in English.[4][5] Many waterways in the system retain their original pre-European names.[6] TheMaliseet call it the Wolastoq, meaningbountiful and good and seek to restore this name.[7]
The headwaters are in theNew England/Acadian forests of Maine and Quebec,[8] including theSouthwest,Northwest, andBaker branches, and theAllagash River flowing into New Brunswick atEdmundston where it is joined by theMadawaska River.
The middle section runs from the confluence of theAroostook andTobique rivers, flowing southeast to Mactaquac Dam. Other tributaries in this section include theMeduxnekeag River. This area is the only place inAtlantic Canada where Appalachian Hardwood Forest is found.[9] Plants rare for the province includewild ginger,black raspberry, wild coffee,maidenhair fern,showy orchis and others.[10] This forest type, also known as the Saint John River Valley Hardwood Forest, once spread of much of the area and has been reduced to less than one percent of the land area because of human activities.[11] This is an area of rolling hills and soils that are the most fertile and heavily farmed in New Brunswick. Soils are fine,loamy, and well-drainedglacial tills overlayinglimestone andsandstone.[11]
The climate here is drier and warmer than surrounding regions.
The lower basin, 140 kilometres (87 miles) toSaint John Harbour on theBay of Fundy, consisting of lakes, islands,wetlands and atidal estuary. Tributaries in this section include theNashwaak andNerepis rivers andBelleisle Bay.
The final tributary, theKennebecasis River, is afjord[12] with a sill, or rise in depth near the mouth of a fjord caused by aterminal moraine. From theGrand Bay (New Brunswick), the waterway becomes narrower and deeper forming a gorge where at theReversing Falls incoming tide forces the flow of water to reverse against the prevailing current. A wedge of salt water, below a surface covering of fresh water, extends upriver to the 10 metres (33 ft) shallows atOak Point beyond which it cannot advance.[13]
The drainage basin is 55,000 square kilometres (21,000 sq mi), of which 20,000 square kilometres (7,700 sq mi) is Maine. The average discharge is 1,100 m3/s (39,000 cu ft/s).[1] Water flow is lowest in the autumn, and considerably higher than average during the springfreshet at 6,800 m3/s (240,000 cu ft/s).[13] In early spring, upper sections of the river can experience ice jams causing flooding. In the lower sections in the broader floodplain, flooding may occur during late spring from the volume of water which must make its way through the narrow gorge at the Reversing Falls.
Legally, all of the river downstream of a point between Fredericton andMactaquac Provincial Park is considered tidal.[14]
The river is mostly calm, except for waterfalls at Grand Falls and at the Beechwood Dam.[1]
With the water flow in the spring being six times the average rate, the valley has always been prone to flooding in the spring.Surface runoff from heavy rainfall is the main cause of flooding, and can be exacerbated byice jams, high tides, and rapidsnowmelt.[15] Floods have been documented for more than 300 years.[16] Flooding has occurred in Edmundston, Grand Falls, Perth-Andover, Hartland, Woodstock, and most severely around Fredericton and Saint John.
Major flooding occurred in 1923, with water 8 metres (26 ft) above normal winter low. In 1936, high temperatures quickened snowmelt, and heavy rain raised the water level to 8.9 metres (29 ft), about 7.6 metres (25 ft) above summer level. Similar circumstances led to the same level of high water in the1973 flood. Similar major flooding occurred again in 2018 and 2019. Since 2019, flooding has not been as severe.
The severity and frequency of flooding is expected to increase,[17] withclimate change.[18] It is predicted that New Brunswick's average temperature will increase by 5 C (9 °F) by the year 2100, and that precipitation will increase.[19]
At the end of thelast glacial period, following the retreat of theLaurentide Ice Sheet about 13,000 years ago, the area was stripped bare of vegetation and soil. By about 10,000 years ago,Paleo-Indians probably occupied what is now New Brunswick.[20] Major disturbances did not begin until the early 1800s[11] with the arrival of large numbers of Europeans.
The easternAlgonquin languages had different dialects associated with each of the major river systems ofNew England andthe Maritimes; and there was often a linguistic bifurcation between residents of the upper river and those living along the coast and tidal estuary.[21] The Passamaquoddy hunted sea mammals along the northwest shore of the Bay of Fundy while speaking a mutually intelligible dialect with the Wolastoqiyik who were inland hunters along the upper Saint John River and its tributaries.[22] The Wolastoqiyik dealt with freshets by having their village above thefloodplain, for exampleMeductic,[11] while cultivating at a lower elevation where the fields were fertilized by the floodwaters.[23] The Wolastoqiyik identified themselves as inhabitants of the river theircanoes traveled for hunting, fishing, and trading.[21][11] Archaeological evidence is that the Wolastoqiyik had economic and cultural ties with large portions ofNorth America[24] from their country's homebase within the Dawnland. Early 16th centuryfur trade with French fishermen encouraged increased interest in the smaller tributaries and headwaters where scarcity of edible prey kept population density low.[25] After spending the winter hunting and trapping in the interior, the villages of Ouigoudi at the mouth of the river and Aukpaque at the head of navigation were summer gathering places accessible to European fur traders.[22] Fur traders brought European diseases reducing the estimated Wolastoqiyik population to less than a thousand by 1612, but the fur traders' contribution to the First Nations gene pool would provide some disease resistance. No pure blooded Wolastoqiyik or Passamquoddy survived the 20th century.[22]
When the Europeans arrived into Wolastokuk, the homeland of theMaliseet Nation and Saint John River basin, they found the locals hunting, gathering, and farming near the banks of the river.[26] Rivalry between English and French fur traders pre-dated colonization of North America.[25] Ouigoudi was defensively fortified as Fort La Tour and Aukpaque became known as Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas whenAcadian colonists settled the lower river valley. The First Nations regarded the fur traders more favorably than later settlers who started taking their land and preventing its historic use for subsistence. European colonists may have used fields and town sites prepared by the natives.[24] Colonization pressure was less severe along the Saint John River where the cold water eddy of theGulf of Maine kept the growing season shorter thanMassachusetts and theNova Scotia peninsula nearer the warmGulf Stream.[27] The earliest Acadians were descendants of the French sailors and shipwrights whose focus on fishing, trading, and boat repair rather than agriculture minimized land use conflicts.[28] These Acadians maintained favorable relationships with the First Nations whileKing Philip's War encouraged the Wolastoqiyik to join theWabanaki Confederacy in military action againstNew England.French colonists populated the lower river valley as part ofAcadia, withFort Nashwaak in present-day Fredericton,Fort Boishebert at the confluence of the Saint John and Nerepsis rivers. In the Frenchseigneurial system lands were arranged in long, narrow strips, called seigneuries, along the banks of the river. However, this was not practical given the seasonal flooding, and the Acadians moved to higher ground.[23] The Wolastoqiyik became steadfast allies of the Acadians through the subsequentFrench and Indian Wars; and their Saint John River valley became the last holdout of Acadian refusal to declare allegiance to the British monarchy.[29] As the longest river between theChesapeake Bay and theGulf of Saint Lawrence, the Saint John offered one of the best transportation corridors for First Nations refugees to retreat from the English colonization of North America's Atlantic coast. About a thousand Wolastoqiyik[30] sheltered a hundred Acadian families retreating up the Saint John to avoid theAcadian Expulsion as theSt. John River Campaign killed livestock and burned Acadian settlements as far upstream as Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas.[31]
While the upstream Wolastoqiyik and their Acadian allies rejected bothCanada andUnited States sovereignty after English victories in the French and Indian War, manyLoyalist refugees from theAmerican Revolutionary War resettled in Saint John at the mouth of the river and in Sainte-Anne des Pays-Bas which was renamed Fredericton.[29] TheSaint Croix River formed the Atlantic coastal boundary at the close of the war keeping the Saint John River in Canada while thePenobscot River was allocated to Massachusetts. TheTreaty of Paris (1783) defined the eastern boundary of Massachusetts as a line drawn due north from the source of St. Croix River to the drainage divide of the Saint Lawrence River.[32] Persistent hostilities with the Wolastoqiyik had prevented the English treaty signatories from mapping the river headwaters. Aside from ambiguity as to which tributary might be considered the source of the Saint Croix River, the Saint John River does not flow directly south as might have been assumed from knowledge of the better mappedHudson andConnecticut Rivers. Of greater concern to Canada, however, was discovery of how close the drainage divide was to the south bank of the Saint Lawrence, leaving Canada with a narrow band of unfavorable terrain for construction of a road to connect Atlantic Canada to Quebec through the winter months when ice closed the Saint Lawrence. Canada chose to interpret the treaty's intention as keeping the entire Saint John drainage basin under Canadian control. Surviving Acadian and Wolastoqiyik refugees continued to resist British rule while moving upriver to theAcadian Landing Site west of the Saint Croix treaty boundary where they were joined by other Acadian refugees who had fled to Quebec.[33] Large numbers of people began settling the area in the early 1800s, mostly Scottish and Irish, and by the end of the 1850s much of the central Saint John valley had been cleared ofold-growth forest for farming. Before the advent of railways, the river was an important trade route, includingtimber rafting. After the state of Maine obtained independence from Massachusetts in 1820, Maine lumbermen encouraged Acadian refugees to form the independentRepublic of Madawaska,[34] and began diverting the Saint John headwaters into the Penobscot River solog driving could float timber harvested in the upper Saint John watershed toBangor sawmills.[35] These provocations encouraged clarification of the disputedCanada–United States border boundary by the Webster–Ashburton Treaty of 1842 which allocated the north bank of the Saint John west of the Saint Croix to Canada in exchange for some territory further west.[36]
Today'sTrans-Canada Highway follows the route of the proposed English road along the north bank of the river through the disputed portion of the drainage. Most of the Saint John drainage on the disputed south bank becameAroostook County, Maine, where the town of Madawaska still shares theAcadian French dialect with Edmundston across the river. Historic isolation has helped preserve the dialect.[37] TheAllagash River andBaker Branch of the Saint John River upstream of Madawaska flow through the sparsely populatedMaine North Woods. Theseblack spruce forests were a primary source ofpulpwood for Mainepaper mills through the 20th century. Distance from Maine cities encouraged landowners to employ Quebeclumberjacks.Édouard Lacroix developed innovative transportation methods for the river headwaters[38] including a road fromLac-Frontière, Quebec to build the isolatedEagle Lake and West Branch Railroad in 1927 and the Nine Mile Bridge over the river in 1931.[39]
The lower river has been developed for agriculture and industry. FrancophoneQuebecers moved into the northern river valley. In theinterwar period, many older farms were abandoned due to urbanization, and allowed to reforest.[11] In 1925 ahydroelectric dam was built atGrand Falls, followed in 1955 by the Beechwood Dam and the Mactaquac Dam in 1965. Largereservoirs were created behind the dams. Construction of the latter two dams has caused a severe decline in migratingAtlantic salmon, and resource authorities have developedfish ladders and other measures to try to revive the migration.
The forested areas of the Maine North Woods where the river rises is mostly uninhabited. TheNorthwest Aroostook, Maineunorganized territory has an area of 2,668 square miles (6,910 km2) and a population of 10, or one person for every 267 square miles (690 km2). Increasing recreational use of the upper river encouraged designation of theAllagash Wilderness Waterway and recognition that the river supports plant communities seldom seen elsewhere. Spring snowmelt causes scouring ice jams along the upper river leaving bedrock covered by thin, patchy acidic soil supporting one of the highest concentrations of rare plants in Maine includingClinton's bulrush,Dry Land Sedge,Mistassini primrose,Nantucket shadbush,Northern Painted Cup, andSwamp Birch.[40]
In 2011, the entire watershed was designated the Wolastoq National Historic Site, and is as the traditional territory of the Wolastoqiyik First Nation.[41]
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