The Dyke Lands
E. L. Eaton
The Nova Scotia Historical Quarterly
Volume 10, Numbers 3 & 4, December 1980.
The visitor entering Nova Scotia for the first time by rail or highway
is likely to be impressed by the tremendous expanse of low, level land,
reclaimed from the sea, visible on either side, nearly as far as the
eye can reach. A generation ago the area was dotted with plain,
square, weathered barns, used as temporary storage for hay. Most
of these have now disappeared, although a few remain, facing in every
possible direction.
The boundary between the province of New Brunswick and the province of
Nova Scotia is the Missaquash River, a small, sluggish stream, flowing
from east to west and emptying into the head waters of the Bay of
Fundy. This is flanked by two other tidal streams of importance
which help to drain the area; the Tantramer River, the larger of the
two, is entirely in New Brunswick, and the LaPlanche River in Nova
Scotia.
Also flowing into the Bay of Fundy, in its upper reaches, are dozens of
other streams, large and small, each possing an area of tidal
land. Among the largest of these are the Annapolis, Cornwallis,
Canard, Habitant, Gaspereau,Avon, St. Croix, Kennetcook, Shubenacadie,
Salmon, Hebert, and Maccan in Nova Scotia; the Aulac, Petitcodiac and
Shepody in New Brunswick, Although few of them had been accurately
measured at the time, an Early estimate placed the total area as
about 90,000 acres. 4
Modern surveys by the Maritime Marsh
Reclamation engineers have established the area as somewhat larger.
In New Brunswick the largest tracts are near Sackville, Dorchester and
Moncton, a distance of about 50 miles. In Nova Scotia the
individual tracts are smaller and are found from Amherst to Lower
Granville, a distance of some 200 miles by the curved shore line.
A few small bits of marsh have been reclaimed in Prince Edward Island
but are regarded as of little present value.
Warren 8 describes the
Bay of Fundy
as being "a long, trumpet shaped body of water, possessing probably the
most remarkable tides in the world. The Bay has a length,
including Chignecto Bay and Cumerland Basin up to Amherst, or through
Minas Channel and Basin, of about 150 miles; its width diminishes from
about 50 miles wide opposite the international boundary to about 30
miles where the Cobequid Mountains cleave the waters to form the two
converging arms, that of Chegnecto Bay and Cumberland Basin on the
north, and that of Minas Basin and Cobequid Bay on the east. The
Bay lies in the northeastly and southwesterly direction, between walls
increasing in height toward its head, and the two tapering arms serve
to lengthen and intensify the trumpetlike character. The
prevailing winds are the southwesterly. Like the tides, every
southerly wind takes the course of the Bay, is condensed and
concentrated and exercises a marked effect on the vegetation."
He quotes borings that show a depth of the marsh accumulations of 80
feet at Aulac, 12 feet at Moncton. Other sampling has found 150 feet
1/2 mile "offshore at Forbes Hill on Aulac Ridge." In other areas
the deposited layer is much less, zero, in fact, where the shore line
of the marsh begins.
The geological origin of the marsh lands is described 3 as "built in a
subsiding basin out of inorganic red mud brought in from the sea by the
rush of tides"-- probably no part of which has been built from the
detritus brought down by rivers, nor has vegetation, either marine or
land, helped any appreciable extent to build them. The difference
between high and low tides is normally from 40 to 50 feet. 9
It is stated 4
"a typical marsh area contains 15 percent clay, 70
percent silt loam and 15 percent sand. This makes a fine-textured
soil that drains poorly, but it has no stones or compacted layers to
obstruct ditching machinery." It is regarded 6 as some of the
most
fertile soil in the region. Experience indicates its use is
limited by susceptibility to frost in late spring and early fall.
The
French Era
History records that Port Royal, on Annapolis Basin, was founded by
Champlain in 1605 and almost immediately came under English
attack. It was captured by Captain Samuel Argall of Virginia in
1613 and a Scottish settlement was established by Sir William
Alexander. The treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye in 1632 returned the
country to France and the Scottish settlement was erased.
Development was again begun by The Company of New France and between
1632 and 1637 sixty families from LaRochelle, Saintonge and Poitou,
where dykes were familiar, were settled in the Port Royal area.
The erection of dykes seems to have started immediately. The
first pemanent settlement in what is now Kings County dates from 1673,
when three families, Theriot, Landry and LeBlanc, moved to Minas, a
general term covering the area from Blomidon, around the south side of
Minas Basin, probably to near Burlington, Hants County.
R.W. Starr, in a paper "The French in Kings County," read before the
Nova Scotia Fruit Growers Association in 1890, states that some of the
first land to reclaimed was on Sheffield Creek, a tributary which
enters the Canard River from the north. Here a relatively short
dyke and small aboiteau took in some 40 acres. He describes the
remains of a pretentious house close by. Apparently encouraged by
the success of this modest venture, other dykes were steadily added
aong the other tributaries and main channel of the Canard River, the
Cornwalles, the Habitant, the Pereau, the Gaspereau, the Avon, the St.
Croix, the Kennetcook, and the most compact area of all, the Grand
Pre. On the north side of the Bay large areas at Ninudie,
Amherst, Sackville and Dorchester were also taken in.
The Acadian plans, although demanding much patience and skill, were
extremely simple and practical. Dykes were first erected along
the sides of the stream, confining the sea to a narrow channel.
After this an aboiteau would be thrown across the mouth of the
stream. In other cases, as the Grand Pre, small areas would be
enclosed, hastening the accumulation of fresh material farther out,
which, in turn, would also be taken in. Viewed from the air,
these early dykes, many now used as roads, are not unlike in appearance
the annual growth rings on the shell of an oyster.
An aboiteau or sluice, in its simplest form, was merely a wooden
culvert, sometimes hewn from a single log, with a hinged gate at the
outer end, placed in the bed of a stream, and covered to the level of
the dyke, Marsh mud in notoriously slippery and alternate layers
of brush and mud gave much needed internal support. This
reinforcing not only helped to withstand wave action but permitted much
narrower and steeper dykes than the three-to-one slope familiar to
construction workers.
The building of the dykes was an interesting process and rarely
required the moving of material more than a few feet. First, the
exact loction was carefully chosen and measured off. It must
provide fine, water resistant mud for the main structure and tough
sedge sods for the exposed surface. The sod from under the base
of the dyke was next removed and piled on the land side of the dyke,
where it would be available later to lay up against that side.
This left bare mud on which the fresh mud would be piled and the two
would "marry", preventing any seepage or leak when the dyke was
finished. Next. on the seaward side, a ridge a foot or so in
width was left undisturbed, at the "toe" of the dyke, to prevent the
heavy, wet material from slipping. Just beyond this the dyke pit
was opened, which would provide the material for the dyke and also sods
for the facing. Cutting the facing sods was a fine art, usually
done by two men working in unison with spades. They were cut to
the correct angle to comform to the slope of the dyke, standing one on
another, fitting closely on the edges. When completed a living
face of tight sod was presented to the sea. The final step was to
drain the dyke pit as an accumulation of water so close to the dyke
could cause the collapse of the dyke. Marsh mud would then accumulate,
and eventually the dyke pit, where it would be availabe for future
repairs.
Even with the best of care, severe storm action in summer or drifting
ice in winter could damage the fact of the dykes. The continual
attention needed to keep them in repair ensured that the dyking skills
of the parents would be passed on to the younger generations.
That present day farmers have no monopoly on advice from ill-informed
advisers is shown by the quotation 6 of a navigator's report to the
French King in 1670 deploring that "On these dykes they raise with so
little labor large crops of hay, grain and flax, and feed such large
herds of fine cattle that an easy means of subsistence is afforded,
causing them altogether to neglect the rich upland." Obviously
this commentator never spaded marsh mud! However, this is a vivid
picture of the Acadian farm operation of the period. Homes were
built on high ground but the cleared land was rarely more than a garden
spot and the new settlers therefore interfered very little with the
native people. Undoubtedly this was one of the reasons for the
fine rapport so quickly established, and the larger supplies of food
may well have been shared with the Indians in periods when game was
scarce.
Early English Dykes
The New England Planters, the Yorkshire English, the Irish and German
settlers knew little about dyking. From the removal of the main
body of Acadians in 1755 to the cessation of hostilities in 1763 no
repairs seem to have been done to the dykes. Much was needed.
In their appraisal of the land the New England Planters recorded "dyke,
broken dyke, bad dyke and salt marsh." In the allocation a
bit of each went with each farm. Incidentally "bad dyke" referred
to poorly drained areas, only covered at very high tides, and
supporting an unattractive cover of stunted trees, alders,
viburnums, rushes, sedges and coarse grass.
The Acadians who chose to accept the terms of English rule and remained
behind after the expulsion were soon employed in the repair work and,
under their guidance, the new settlers gradually acquired the necessary
skills. For the most part the English were content to
restore the lands previously reclaimed by the French, but there were
two notable exceptions.
About 1815 a farmer of Upper Sackville, New Brunswick, Toler Thompson,
began to reclaim a large area of swampy ground by the English method of
"warping." In doing this he opened a canal of some 2 1/2 miles in
length from the Tantramar River to Rush Lake, draining the fresh water
and allowing the sea to enter with its heavy load of silt. Within
a few years the swamp was covered with several inches of marsh mud,
bringing it up to the general marsh level. Dykes were then
erected to exclude the sea and bountiful crops were produced.
Over the years, however, as the organic layer decayed and settled, silt
accumulated, as it always does, in the channel outside the dykes,
interfering with the drainage, the quality of crops deteriorated, and
eventually much of the land was abondoned.
The other large undertaking was on the opposite side of the Bay, at the
mouth
of the Canard River. The French had previously taken in some 1800
acres along this river and its tributaries by the installment plan
earlier mentioned. The new plan would add nearly another square
mile, without any of the tedious, intermediate steps. It would
require a mile of new dyke, including two small and one large
aboiteaux. It was a costly and nover-to-be-forgotten
experience. Tradition says that of every ten loads of material
nine washed out, and the cost far exceeded the wildest estimate.
When it came time to repay the borrowed money most of the farmers saw
their farms sold by the sheriff.
The work was begun in 1815 and the last gap closed in 1823. This
was the signal for a general celebration but that night a severe storm
and high tide washed out the new work and daylight saw the sea again in
possession. At that point the provincial government came to the
rescue with a grant of £800 and the final closing was in
1825. The total cost was £20,708 for which 538 acreas were
reclaimed, a price of over $150 per acre. No further public
money was spent for the next centruy and a quarter, and mainenance
costs were the lowest per acre on this, the Wellington Dyke, of any
body of the entire region.
The Great Saxby Tide
No story of the dyke lands is complete without a reference to the Great
Saxby Tide, This disaster occurred on October 5, 1869, and was named
for an English naval astronomer who had predicted extremely high tides
for the northern hemisphere at that period. What he had not
foreseen was that the time of high water in the Bay of Fundy would
coincide with the peak of a vicious, southerly hurricane which would
drive the waters of the Bay to a crest several feet above the
dykes. Neither side of the Bay escaped inundation and the back
flow of the receding waters tore large sections from the dykes.
On the uplands the gale uprooted orchard and shade trees and flattened
numerous buildings. The intensity of the storm prevented the
rescue of animals grazing on the low land, many were drowned and there
was some loss of human life. Apparently the animals themselves
became confused and exhausted before they could swim to higher land.
During the weeks of fine fall weather which followed, some breaches
were repaired. Others remained open to the sea over winter or
longer and it was several years before the salt was washed from the
soil and the normal level of crop production restored. Old timers
still recall, with awe, grim family stories of the event.
Modern Dyke Reclamation
The Ninteenth Century saw a dramatic change in North American
agriculture. Through no fault in management, in place of being
the most productive and cheapest source of animal fodder on the eastern
half of the continent, the dykes completely lost their economic
advantage. The congested settlements of the east burst their
bounds and the great central plains of Canada and the United States
were opened for agriculture. Among the newcomers from northern
Europe was a man by the name of Grimm who settled in Minnesota.
He brought with him a few seeds of a new forage crop, alfalfa.
Although the plant had long been known around the Mediterranean and the
Spanish had introduced it at an early date to California, it never
survived beyond the warmer regions of the continent. But Grimm's
alfalfa was winter hardy. It was soon found to be adaptable to
relatively dry land, and, being a legume, was able to gather nitrogen
from the air by means of the symbiotic bacteria on the roots,
furnishing a larger yield of fodder much richer in protein. The
miracle crop spread rapidly through the middle west of the United
States and to the limestone soils of Ontario. It could only be
grown on the acid soils of the Maritimes after the application of
massive quanties of lime. Beef production became steadily less
competitive and Ontario meat flooded the markets at a much lower
price. As the Twentieth Century came in, motor vehicles replaced
horses as the common means of urban transportation and this very
substantial market for hay was lost. Hundreds of acres of
excellent dyke land were not mowed. The movement of young people
from country to town was rapidly accelerated, competent labor became
less available and dykes became neglected. As the cost of repairs
exceeded the value of the crops grown, many areas were abandoned to the
sea. Others were offered for sale to any person who would pay the
taxes.
The most spectacular break was at Canning, Nova Acotia, where, on
September 4, 1944, the dyke in the middle of the village went out,
sweeping away the main highway bridge and its approaches in the rush of
water. Hundreds of acres of land were flooded and the salt water
was found in many back yards to the great amazement of the
owners. This was a convincing argument for the needed major
replacement on the Canard River where several times as much land and a
dozen highway bridges were involved.
At this point govenments, hitherto largely unconcerned with what was
happening, suddenly awoke to the fact that not only were large areas of
the most valuable land disappearing with alarming rapidity, but if
ordinary people should become short of food, someone would be held
responsible. In short, it became popular to do something.
New aboiteaux were constructed to the Habitant River near Canning and
on the Canard River during 1945 and 1946, with substantial government
support. Both employed new techniques, subsequently of great
value elsewhere.
The Marshland
Rehabilitation Act
In 1948 this special statute was passed by the federal government,
followed by enabling legislation in New Brunswick and Nova
Scotia. 1 5 Under this plan
the federal government undertook to
restore and maintain the protective works; the province the large
drainage channels; the owners the smaller ditches. The preamble
provided, for the first time, a standard definition of terms.
Hitherto the word "dyke" had several uses; as a noun it referred to the
embankment which excluded the sea and also to the land after it had
been taken in; as a verb it meant the erection of the embankment.
"Marsh" also was confusing. In Cumberland and Annapolis it
usually referred to any land below the tide level, while in Kings marsh
only existed outside the protected area. The common terminology
is in general use.
The federal government withdrew from the program in 1966, and dykes
were gradually turned over to the provinces as they were brought up to
standard. The final transfer was in 1970.
The Engineering Division of the Nova Scotia Department of Agriculture
and Marketing gives the area of protected marshland in Nova Scotia as
approximately 44,000 acres, New Brunswick 37,000 acres, potential marsh
not yet dyked 10,000 acres. There are 150 miles of dykes with
around 250 aboiteaux of various sizes, with one, two or three
barrels. The largest aboiteau is on the Great Village Marsh in
Colchester County, Nova Scotia, 142 feet long, a 12.5' x 10'
sluice with two barrels. It is built of reinforced concrete.
During this thirty-year period of active government support, a
completely fresh pool of engineering skills has developed. Hand
labor has been replaced by drag lines, bull dozers and pile drivers;
wood by metal and concrete; brush and mud by stone rip-rap.
Standardization of sluice gates assures that replacements are quickly
available, and year-round access roads permit rapid movement of repair
machinery in an emergency. In fact, a thoroughly new era in dyke
building has come.
Nothwithstanding all this "the treachery of the sea" remains.
There are very few major repairs or renovations that fail to provide
some element of surprise, often at the least expected moment.
Those involved say this is some of the fascination of the work.
Land Use
When the New England Planters came in 1760 they brought with them their
own Town or Township form of local government. One of the first
peices of general legislation in Nova Scotia was "An Act of Common
Fields." As applied to dyke lands, the proprietors in any
conveniently bounded area were enabled to act as a corporate body in
things of mutual concern, electing their own officers, collecting their
own taxes, and making their own bylaws. Since the dyke land was
primarily used as a source of fodder for animals, naturally the main
concern was for roads, fences, dates when animals might or might not be
permitted to graze, and distinguishing marks for the animals.
Here again the term "dyke" was confusing. For example the
Wellington Marsh Body, along the Canard River, contained, according to
a meticulous survery in 1983, 2,463.104 acres. Five highways cut
across and the river splits it lengthwise. Small creeks, flowing
into the river, make additional barriers. Thus within the
Wellington Marsh Body are a number of "common fields", each a separate
entity. They carry such names as Long Dyke, Union Dyke, Middle
Dyke, Kempt Dyke, Bowen Dyke, and many "private" lots, in other words
divided from the larger areas by individual fences. In 1893 the
Bowen Dyke contained 421.340 acres, divided into 88 lots, with an area
from 1 acre to slightly more than 11 acres. The number of owners
is now reduced, with a consequent increase in the size of the holdings,
although for the most part the old boundary lines remain. The
essential difference between these common fields and other farm land is
the lack of internal fences. There is one boundary fence, within
the common field. Boundaries are often little more than a vaguely
visible plow furrow, the general recognition of whick speaks volumes
for the fairness of all concerned, during the past two centruies.
September and October are the usual grazing months and "turning on day"
is still a big event. The hair is singed with a branding iron to
identify the common field in which the animals are turned loose.
The Bowen Dyke uses large "B," the Middle Dyke, "M," to mention only a
few.
A unique feature of the Wellington Dyke is the method of internal
taxation. It was early recognized that lots with better natual
drainage were more productive and had a higher sale value.
Following the 1893 survey, a committee of three men, familiar with dyke
land but having no interest in this tract, made an appraisal.
They selected what they considered the best lot along the entire river
and gave it a rating of 100 percent. The other lots were judged
against this standard, with the poorest lot rated only 8 percent.
From these figures was derived the term "Rateable" of "Qualified"
acres. A lot which measured 10 acres, qualifed at 50 percent, was
recorded as being 5 "Qualifed Acres." A 10-acre lot qualifed 25
percent would be only 2.5 qualified acres, and would pay only half the
tax of the better quality land. For many years this form of
assessment was accepted for all municipal and provincial taxes.
Recently a less wise assessment authority has imposed a uniform value
per acre on all lots, without regard to productive value. Within
the marsh body, internal taxes continue to be based on qualified acres.
Some other marsh bodies have attempted something the same by "making
the acres bigger" where the quality was definitely poor.
After hay and grain crops are removed, fall grazing is the custom on
many dyke lands. Within the Common Fields it is necessary to
decide how many animals each proprietor may turn on. The present
rules of the Bowen Dyke follow a very early pattern and are generally
representative of other Common Fields.
At the annual meeting a Clerk, a Brander, three Field-keepers and an
Auditor are elected. Among their other duties, the Field-Keepers
assess the amount of feed on each person's land. Experience has
shown that, on an averaage, aaaabout three acres is needed to feed one
cow for the months of September and October, but this varies widely
with the quality of the grass cover and the date of hay removal.
The appraisal is geven the name of "sizing" and is easured in "cows"
and quarterly fractions of cows. The owners may take up the feed
themselves or sell it to others. Traditionally people come from
long distances with animals to use the fall feed they have bought from
local owners. Current prices are about ten dollars per cow for
this period.
A precise table is used for animals of different ages, again expressed
in cows,
Cattle
|
Horses
|
3 years and up, except oxen
___1
|
3 years and up ______________ 1
½
|
2 years and under 3
__________ ¾
|
2 years and under 3 __________ 1
|
1 year and under 2
___________ ½
|
1 year and under 2 ____________
¾
|
Calves ____________________
¼
|
Under 1 year alone ____________
½
|
Oxen ____________________ 1
¼
|
Colt sucking dam _____________
¼
|
In some areas the present trend in land use is away from a grassland
economy and toward crops to be turned more directly into cash.
Canning peas and corn are among these. In a few places turf is
being systematically grown and removed for urban landscaping. In
some areas where land has been abandoned to the sea and reclaimed, it
has been expropriated and offered for sale in larger blocks 10.
References:
- An Act to Encourage the Development and
Rehabilitation of Marsh Lands. New Brunswick King's Printer, 1949.
- Early Agriculture in the Atlantic Provinces
by Howard Truman. Times Publication Co., Moncton, N.B., 1907.
- Environmental Change in the
Maritimes. Nova Scotia Institute of Science, 1975.
- Machines for Ditching Marshlands. Can.
Dept. Agr., Pub. 1195, 1963.
- The Marshland Reclamation Act and
Amendments. N.S. Dept. Agriculture and Marketing. Pub.
1017. 1951.
- Soil Survey Report of South Eastern New
Brunswick. H. Aalund and R.R. Wickland. Can. Dept. Agr. 1949.
- Soil Survey Report of the Annapolis
Valley. L.C. Harlow and G.B. Whiteside. Can. Dept. Agr. Tech.
Bul. 47. 1943.
- Tidal Marshes and Their Reclamation.
George M. Warren. U.S.D.A. Bul. 240.1907.
- Tide Tables. Dept. Marine and Fisheries.
1929.
- Valley Outlook. May 22, 1969.