Aftermath of the Devils Fire was documented
quite well by Sir Howard Douglas, then Lieutenant Govenor of New Brunswick and Major General in Command of the British
in Atlantic Canada and Bermuda. His journals were official and assumingly factual in their content and evidence.
Sir Howard Douglas was a kind of heart person and was said to
be very approachable. His intent was to at least try to make aqquiantance with most of his areas settlers and their communities.
Having been appointed in 1824, his tenure here was interupted
by the Great Fire of 1825. After dealing with a similar scene of destruction in Fredericton, he assembled a platoon to
travel the route of the fire to Miramichi. His accounts of this sad journey tell of...........
"The landscape was
blackened to shades of charcoal with hues of gray ash
as the only highlight. No green needles of conifer, no brightly
painted Maple leaves, all was dark and grey.
Black spires of the once majestic Pine, standing silent now, no
branches to sing on the gentle breeze. Only tall pointed spears of bleakness were here now."
Rivers and streams left exposed to the hot rays of the sun soon
disappeared. The hurricane winds that had fed the flames of the original fire carried on for a day and a half after the blaze
had raced through the valley. It had a sweeping effect on the landscape by carrying most of the ash skyward and out to sea.
What Sir Howard
Douglas found as he and his troops travelled the Miramichi River Valley was discouraging. All of the land he viewed in passing
was charred from the fires flames. The settlements were gone. Only smouldering ruins of many homes and livestock and
the occasional standing chimney were noted.
Although Fredericton itself suffered from the fire, it's revenge
seemed overwhelming in the Newcastle Parish. More than two hundred people perished here and he arrived to witness the smouldering
ruins of a once proud thriving community. Only twelve of the once two hundred homes were still standing. Gretna Green lost
sixty four of it's seventy houses and other structures. Losses on the North bank of the river were; People 200 to 300, buildings
600 and 875 cattle.
The Spruce and Pine stands of the community were also gone.
On October 8, 1825 the British Government informed the Legislative
Assembly of New Brunswick that the losses due to the fire would not be aided or compensated for by the Crown.
Abandoned
by the Crown he represented, Sir Howard Douglas pleaded for aid and assistance poured in from throughout the eastern
seaboard. Much of the aid coming from Montreal, Quebec, Halifax, Boston and New York.
Howard Douglas himself delved into his own pockets to provide
for the devastated community. He personally provided; 1000 barrels of flour, 500 barrels of pork and 1700 British pounds worth
of blankets and garments, all drawn from his personal finances.
Pleading for aid Sir
Douglas also solicited more than 40,000 British pounds in personal donations from Great Britian and the colonies in Upper
& Lower Canada and the United States. His visit to the Miramichi and his personable contributions to the people of the
area were cause enough to rename the community of Gretna Green to honor his name,to Douglastown, now part of the amalgamated
City of Miramichi.
The year of 1825 saw Great Britian in a
depression. Prices for timber were dropping and demand was low.
The salvage efforts of the industrious Alexander Rankin proved to pay off and many area homes and out buildings were quickly
rebuilt. Shipbuilding had also commenced at once with many shipyards alive with workers along the rivers banks.
The local economy bounced back with the eagerness of the Scot's to achieve. The forest itself was also said to revive itself
in haste. In the intern, many woodsmen travelled to the Saint John River Valley and the woods of Maine for the next few winters.
But, in general, the stubborn nature of the community and the
desire to rebuild despite the lack of government support was the reason for such a quick resurgence.
Mother nature was also kind, 1826 saw scattered fires throughout the County of Northumberland. These fires of 1826 were in
areas unscathed by the Great Fire of 1825. Douglastown was a bustle of activity and Newcastle boomed in the rebirth. New homes
and businesses, new mills, wharfs and holding boomsetc. Had been built so; the economy had survived along with the spirit
of the community. "The Devils Fire" was quickly forgotten as newspapers of the year 1826 report a memorial service held in
Chatham. No mention of any similar memorials in future papers published in the area.
The crown lands commissioner of the time, Ian Baillie, downplayed
the great fire so as not to dissuade Scottish settlers from moving to the St. John River and the western counties of the province.
All agree as to the damage and range of the fire as destroying 6000 square miles of the province.
No records exist as to the names of the deceased and
historians dispute these figures. Some say as many as 300 woodsmen
were not included in the initial death toll. If these figures were tallied with the township, the total loss of human
life would be more in the 600 range and not the reported two to three hundred.
Total estimated population of the time was thought to be approximately
2000 . So in per-capita the fire took one quarter of the lives that existed here in the Miramichi Valley.
Since the year of the great fire most of the lumbering has
been carried out in the Northwest portion of the county, where
the fire had only touched lightly thus leaving the old growth forest to regenerate that area naturally by seed. The slower
pace of the woodsmen's axes allowed the forest to rebound and soon all the devastation was but a history lesson.
2005
Miramichi
We still have many woodsmen within the county of Northumberland
and the modern mills are supplied with over one million cords of softwood per annum.
Tools of the traditional lumberjack, such as double bitted
axes and crosscut saws have been replaced by chainsaw and mechanical harvesters. The Museums are home to all the traditional
intruments of lumbering. The tools we have left behind.
Hardwood is also harvested today
for more than its traditional use of firewood for home heating. The hardwood fibre is also used in many modern manufacturing
processes such as oriented strand board and also used today in the raw paper market of pulp exports.
The Miramichi River Valley
has rebounded throughout its short history from
almost total devastation by the fire, to the more modern forms
of recession and government cutbacks in spending. The traditional lumber industry has evolved to the production of some goods
being manufactured here for export.
The Miramichi
Fire Song
Collected from
Jean MacDonald in 1953
by Dr. Helen Creighton,
Maritime Folksongs
It is the truth what I now tell you
For my eyes did partly see
What did happen to the people
On the banks of the Miramichi;
What did happen to the people
On the banks of the Miramichi.
On the seventeenth evening of October
Eighteen hundred and twenty-five
Thousands of people fell by fire
Scorched were those that did survive
Some said it was the sins of the people
And their sins rolled mountains high;
Which did ascend up to Jehovah
He would see and justify.
In order to destroy our lumber
And our country to distress
He sent the fire in a whirlwind
From the howling wilderness.
First on the Nor' West was discovered
Twenty-two there then did die,
After it had swept o'er the meadows
To Newcastle it did fly.
While the people were a-sleeping
Fire seized upon their town,
Fine and handsome were their dwellings
Soon they tumbled to the ground.
It burned three ships that were a-building
And two more at anchor lay,
Many that had seen the fire
Thought it was the judgement day.
Twelve more men were burned by the fire
In the compass of that town,
Twenty-five more on the water
In a scow upset and drowned.
A family below Newcastle
Were destroyed among the rest,
Father, Mother and three children,
One an infant at the breast.
Thirteen families were residing
Just out back of Gretna Green,
All of them were burnt by the fire,
Only one alive was seen.
Then it passed to Black River,
Wher it did burn sixty more
So it forced it's way with fury
Till it reached the briny shore.
Forty-two miles by one-hundred
This great fire did extend;
All was done within eight hours
Not exceeding over ten,
As I have spoke of things collective
Now I intend to personate
And speak of some of my aqquaintence
Of whom I was intimate.
A lady was drove to the water,
Wher she stood both wet and cold,
Notwhithstanding her late illnes,
She had a babe but three days old.
Six young men, both smart and active,
Were to work on the Nor' West,
When they saw the fire coming,
To escape it tried their best.
About two miles from where their camp stood
They were found each one of them
But to paint their sad appearance
I cannot do with pen.
To see these fine, these blooming youngmen
All lay dead upon the ground
And their brothers standing mourning
Spread a dismal scene around.
Then we dug a grave and buried
Those whom the fire did burn
Then each of us that are living
To our dwellings did return.
I heard the sighs, the cries and groaning
Saw the falling of the tears
By me this will not be forgotten
Should I live a hundred years.
Sisters weeping for their brothers,
Father crying for his son,
And with bitter, heartfelt sorrow,
Said the Mother, "I'm undone!"
It killed the wild beasts in the forests
In the rivers many fish
Such another horrid fire
See again I do not wish.
John Jardine? 1825 0r 1826?
These words I tinker
with are Copyright 2003 by
D.P. Stewart and Published by Barque &
Byte Publishing in Miramichi, N.B. Canada.
After extensive research and reading, History
has engraved itself with graphic images placed in my imagination. With words, I try to show you those images
that my mind has created for me. DPS
