Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
1899 - Saint John

I want first to show you St. John Harbor. right hand, as we sail slowly up the river St. John, we see low, steep hills. On these hills is built the city of St. John . The houses are of gray stone, red brick , or wood painted a dark brown. Often a thick, gray mist hangs over the town, blotting houses and streets from sight ; but to -day the sunshine has burned away the mist, and you can plainly see the colors of the houses, the straight streets running up and down the hills, the jingling street cars, and the busy people.

Down by the wharves the city is busiest. Great steamers from all parts of the world lie near the wharves to take in their cargoes of lumber. site bank of the river is bordered with sawmills, whose shrill sound can be plainly heard. The harbor is filled with craft of every description . Sailing vessels are on all sides of us ; some moored, with their masts rising naked and bare ; others, under clouds of white or yellow canvas, scudding hither and thither. Here is a graceful yacht racing before the breeze, there a clumsy wood boat pushing obstinately on its way. Noisy red and white tugs rush madly about, pulling great steamers or heavy black scows after them.

Drawing nearer to the wharves, we see that they are covered with open cars laden with fragrant planks. Bundles of these are raised on derricks, and swung down into the hold of a great red steamer lying close at hand. You look at the name of the vessel : “ The Cadiz .” Black-haired, swarthy men are busy on her deck. She has come all the way from distant Spain, where the woods have been ruthlessly destroyed, to the rich forest lands of New Brunswick. Two scows, clinging to the side of a neighboring steamer, are shooting the lumber in with great rapidity.

With this scene before you, and with a remembrance of the line of sawmills on the north shore of the harbor, you can readily tell what two of the chief industries of St. John are. They are the sawing and the shipping of lumber. The lumber comes by river from the forests of the upper St. John.

When the tide goes out, the vessels in the slip, as the space between the wharves is called, are aground on thick, black mud. They appear very dejected as they lean far to one side, their ropes hanging dark and wet, and their canvas drooping in a melancholy way. Under any circumstances, the slip is a very picturesque place at low tide ; but if a mist has arisen, the scene is even ghostly. The black hulks of the vessels rise dimly through the cloud, and the rigging is very indistinct and shadowy. The noisy streets above are hidden in fog, and a deep silence rests upon the slip.

Much time in St. John is passed in going up and down hill. There are two or three streets that may be called level, but most of them rise at quite an angle from the water's edge. The horse cars toil persever ingly up these streets, and the citizens patiently submit to their daily joltings. It is said that one sure mark of the citizen of St. John is his excellent digestion. For this, people say, he has to thank the horse cars .

The World and Its People, Book IV, Our American Neighbors by Fanny E Coe, 1899, Page 31-32

Visit Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada
Discover the people who lived there, the places they visited and the stories they shared.