Twenty-Seven Years in Canada West | Page 9

the devouring element. Not so, however, in some parts of Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick, where extensive conflagrations often devastate
the country for miles round. Of such a character was the great fire at
Miramichi, which nearly destroyed Fredericton, and was attended not
only with an immense loss of property but with the sad loss of many
valuable lives. I will presently give in his own forcible and feeling
language the history of a lumberer who escaped from destruction after
being for some time in imminent peril of his life. He was one of the few
persons who had the good fortune of escaping the great conflagration in
Miramichi, which broke out in the October after my arrival, and excited
so much general sympathy. Fifteen of his comrades perished in the
flames.
The narrative which I introduce here, anticipating by a few months the
proper order of narration, was related to me by the man himself with
that native eloquence which often surprises, and always interests us in

the uneducated. The class to which he belongs is one peculiar to
America. Rough in manners, and often only half-civilized, the lumberer,
as an individual, resembles little the woodsman of other lands. He is
generally a Canadian Frenchman, or a breed between the Irish and the
native of the Lower Province. However, some Yankees may be found
among these denizens of the woods and wilds of Canada. The fearful
conflagration to which our poor lumberer nearly fell a victim, has been
thus ably described in M'Gregor's "British America." "In October, 1825,
about a hundred and forty miles in extent, and a vast breadth of the
country on the north, and from sixty to seventy miles on the south side
of Miramachi river, became a scene of perhaps the most dreadful
conflagration that has occurred in the history of the world.
"In Europe we can scarcely form a conception of the fury and rapidity
with which fires rage through the forests of America during a dry hot
season, at which period the broken underwood, decayed vegetable
substances, fallen branches, bark, and withered trees, are as
inflammable as the absence of moisture can make them. To such
irresistible food for combustion we must add the auxiliary afforded by
the boundless fir forests, every tree of which in its trunk, bark, branches,
and leaves contains vast quantities of inflammable resin.
"When one of these fires is once in motion, or at least when the flames
extent over a few miles of the forest, the surrounding air becomes
highly rarefied, and the wind consequently increases till it blows a
perfect hurricane. It appears, that the woods had been on both sides of
the north-west partially on fire for some days, but not to an alarming
extent until the 7th of October, when it came on to blow furiously from
the westward, and the inhabitants along the river were suddenly
surprised by an extraordinary roaring in the woods, resembling the
crashing and detonation of loud and incessant thunder, while at the
same instant the atmosphere became thick darkened with smoke.
"They had scarcely time to ascertain the cause of this awful
phenomenon before all the surrounding woods appeared in one vast
blaze, the flames ascending from one to two hundred feet above the
tops of the loftiest trees; and the fire rolling forward with inconceivable
celerity, presented the terribly sublime appearance of an impetuous
flaming ocean. In less than an hour, Douglas Town and Newcastle were
in a blaze: many of the wretched inhabitants perished in the flames.

More than a hundred miles of the Miramichi were laid waste,
independent of the north-west branch, the Baltibag, and the Nappen
settlements. From one to two hundred persons perished within
immediate observation, while thrice that number were miserably
burned or wounded, and at least two thousand were left destitute of the
means of subsistence, and were thrown for a time on the humanity of
the Province of New Brunswick. The number of lives that were lost in
the woods could not at the time be ascertained, but it was thought few
were left to tell the tale.
"Newcastle presented a fearful scene of ruin and devastation, only
fourteen out of two hundred and fifty houses and stores remained
standing.
"The court-house, jail, church, and barracks, Messrs. Gilmour, Rankin,
and Co.'s, and Messrs. Abrams and Co.'s establishment, with two ships
on the stocks, were reduced to ashes.
"The loss of property is incalculable, for the fire, borne upon the wings
of a hurricane, rushed on the wretched inhabitants with such
inconceivable rapidity that the preservation of their lives could be their
only care.
"Several ships were burned on shore, while others were saved from the
flames by the exertions of their owners, after being actually on fire.
"At Douglas Town scarcely any