| Lost Land of Moses: The Age of Discovery on New Brunswick's Salmon Rivers Contributor(s): Thomas, Peter (Author) |
|
 |
ISBN: 0864922930 ISBN-13: 9780864922939 Publisher: Goose Lane Editions OUR PRICE: $17.96 Product Type: Paperback Published: April 2001 Annotation: In the 1830s, fly-fishing for salmon was popular among the English leisure classes, but in New Brunswick, natives and settlers alike caught their dinners more efficiently with nets and spears. However, when British officers from the garrisons ventured into the woods with the local natives, the situation began to change. Moses Perley, a lawyer with many business and political interests and a gift for contagious enthusiasm, popularized the gentlemanly sport of salmon angling in his home waters. Between 1839 and 1841, his articles in the London Sporting Review described canoe trips into the New Brunswick interior with Micmac or Maliseet companions. He recommended such adventures to any young man "blessed with youth, health, and an ardent temperament, " and British and American anglers rose to his challenge. Soon, sojourns in the wilderness became organized adventures. Steamships brought fishermen (and sometimes their wives and children) to the mouth of the Restigouche or Nepisiquit, and by 1876, the Intercolonial Railway delivered them almost to the salmon pools. In 1879, the Governor General of Canada, the Marquis of Lorne, and his daring wife, Princess Louise, spent two glorious weeks on the Restigouche, complete with vice-regal retinue and carpeted tents. Moses Perley didn't foresee the results of luring anglers to New Brunswick's teeming rivers. Salmon waters began to be leased, and only wealthy people could fish them. Rich sportsmen founded clubs, built expansive camps, and hired wardens to patrol the pools. By the 1880s, the native guides had been reduced to mere servants. The legacy of that period is with us today. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Sports & Recreation | Fishing - History | Expeditions & Discoveries - History | Canada - General |
| Dewey: 799.175 |
| LCCN: 2002489685 |
| Physical Information: 0.7" H x 6.02" W x 8.26" (0.74 lbs) 254 pages |
| Themes: - Cultural Region - Canadian - Geographic Orientation - New Brunswick |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: In the middle of the nineteenth century, most of New Brunswick was pristine wilderness. But by the end of the century the map of eastern Canada would be changed forever by the sport of salmon angling, and by the adventurers, gentlemen, rakes, and royalty, who were drawn together in their lust for the finest of fish. In Lost Land of Moses, Peter Thomas recounts the dramatic changes that occurred between 1840 and 1880, as strenuous wilderness idylls became the Victorian equivalent of adventure tourism. To illustrate his story, he has chosen more than fifty engravings, cartoons, maps, and photographs from archival collections and 19th century books and magazines. Moses Perley was a New Brunswick lawyer with a gift for contagious enthusiasm. Between 1839 and 1841, he published a series of articles in the British magazine Sporting Review describing his canoe trips with Mi'kmaq or Maliseet companions. The articles inspired a generation of young adventurers to visit New Brunswick. Soon, these young British gentlemen were joined by the rich and famous, as steamships brought fishermen right to the rivers, and needs were supplied by professional outfitters. In 1879, the Marquess of Lorne, then Governor General of Canada, and his daring wife, Princess Louise, spent two glorious weeks on the Restigouche, complete with a vice-regal retinue, a houseboat called Great Caesar's Ghost, and carpeted tents. The New Brunswick salmon waters were open for business. Many of the consequences of this influx were dire. Leases were let on the rivers, allowing only wealthy people to fish them. They founded clubs, built expansive camps, and hired wardens to patrol the pools. Most troubling of all, by the 1880s, the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet, at first respected as knowledgeable guides into their own territory, had been reduced to being perceived as mere servants. Moses Perley never foresaw the changes that large numbers of visitors would bring to New Brunswick's teeming salmon rivers. Lost Land of Moses reveals the consequences of his crusade to lure fly fishermen to New Brunswick. For good and ill, the legacy of those forty years is with us today. |
Contributor Bio(s): Thomas, Peter: - Peter Thomas, a devoted fly fisherman, was also the author of three books of poetry. Among his prose works are The Welsher, a novel, and Strangers from a Secret Land, about Welsh settlement in Canada, which won the Welsh Arts Council's annual award for a work of non-fiction. |