Bridging Saint John Harbour
By Harold E. Wright and Joseph Goguen
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About this ebook
Harold E. Wright
Harold E. Wright has written several books about Saint John. He is widely recognized for his heritage acumen and his unparalleled collection of period photographs of the city. His coauthor Joseph Goguen is a teacher of English as well as a tour guide, leading students and special interest tours around Canada and the United States.
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Bridging Saint John Harbour - Harold E. Wright
Resources.
INTRODUCTION
For a millennia, the indigenous peoples used the Bay of Fundy and the Saint John River for traveling, fishing, and trading. Some 100 billion tonnes of water flows in and out of the bay on an average tide, twice a day, creating rip currents, swirling whirlpools, and a tidal range reaching 16 metres at the head of the bay. Portuguese explorer Estavan Gomez is believed to be the first European visitor who, in 1535, identified a river on the east coast as the Rio de la Buelta
(River of the Return). In 1604, Mi’kmaqs gathered on Ouigoudi (Navy Island) where they watched a foreign-looking ship enter the harbour on June 24, St. Jean de Baptiste Day. Aboard was Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Monts, and Samuel de Champlain. After charting the harbour and making note of the Reversible Falls Rapids (this is one of the earliest names of the falls, but for consistency with modern usage, we will use the word Reversing), they sailed down the bay.
This introduction to the white man set up a trading system that lasted well into the 19th century, which included LaTour’s and, later, the pre-Loyalist trading posts at Portland Point. In 1783, some 14,000 American Loyalists arrived at the mouth of the Saint John River, founding the towns of Carleton and Parrtown, which amalgamated in 1785 as the City of Saint John. Saint John’s North End, then called the City of Portland, amalgamated in 1889. It is in Portland that all of our five harbour bridges are located.
Seaborne commerce became the mainstay of the local economy. Fish, furs, masts for the Royal Navy, livestock, grains, and other foodstuffs were traded, and shipbuilding began. The Saint John River provided the highway into the New Brunswick hinterland.
The city was divided by the harbour and the river, which made all manners of communication difficult. In June 1785, city fathers gave licenses to a Mr. Place and a Mr. Falconer to operate as ferrymen across the harbour. The harbour ferry Victoria was built in 1839, and this established a ferry system that carried people, goods, and animals across the harbour until 1954. The only thing missing was a bridge.
Although previous attempts at a bridge were unsuccessful, William K. Reynolds did succeed in the early 1850s at building a suspension bridge at the Reversing Falls Rapids. Later, this was followed by a rail bridge and then the idea to build a second bridge across the harbour over Navy Island. That dream bridge took almost 100 years to realize.
During the 19th century, Saint John became a major immigrant port of entry, with immigrants and mariners passing through the Partridge Island quarantine station during the 19th and 20th centuries. Saint John eventually became known as the Liverpool of America,
as it developed into the fourth largest shipbuilding centre in the world. The shipyards around the harbour launched an average of two ships every week. This was the golden age
of shipbuilding.
The 1867 Canadian Confederation had a tremendous negative impact on our local economy. The focus of the national economy shifted from the Maritime provinces into the central part of the country. Saint John endured over the next several decades, both from the effect of the national railway system and such catastrophes as the June 20, 1877, great fire. The prophecy that from these very ashes and ruins a brighter, a more glorious and more prosperous city will arise
came true because, within five years, the city was rebuilt.
Saint John pinned its hopes for continuing prosperity on the port. In the 1880s and 1890s, the Canadian government was using Portland, Maine, as Canada’s winter port. This changed in 1896 when Saint John was designated as Canada’s winter port. Goods from across the country now went through Saint John’s ice-free harbour during the winter port season.
Over the next 20-plus years, harbour facilities improved and were expanded. The increase in grain shipments, due to the development of rail links with western Canada, created a need for a grain elevator. The first grain elevator was built on the west side in 1893, and a second elevator followed on the east side. Port activities were described as the waterfront was not a pretty place, but it was busy, where ships from all over the world came to load and unload in the winter port... [and the] Saint John longshoremen were more honest than those anywhere else, and more efficient.
The harbour ferry service continued, but there was still a demand for a second bridge across the harbour.
In 1915, a new bridge was built at the Reversing Falls Rapids. A few years later, a new rail bridge was put in place. In 1923, the country’s largest dry dock opened in Courtney Bay. A few years later, in June 1931, a large part of the west side port facilities burned. Quick federal aid to rebuild the port saved the city’s economy, and in 1934, the Navy Island Terminal was created. A new coastal ferry, the SS Saint John, as well as a new harbour ferry, the Loyalist, began their service. Coupled with the new Millidgeville Airport, Saint John could now service its national and international customers by land, sea, and air.
World War II brought economic prosperity, which continued into the 1950s and 1960s. There were many changes in the physical appearance of Saint John. Veterans’ housing was