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Imperial Army officers and government officials
bring the British tradition of field sports to New Brunswick.
 hile there is a print
of British Army officers dropping fishing lines at the entrance
to the St. John River in the 1750s, the real advance of interest
in the rod and gun sports developed in the second quarter of the
nineteenth century. The growth of river steamer routes and the
road network gave better access to the northern part of New
Brunswick and the rich grounds of moose and Atlantic Salmon.
Officers and gentlemen followed and wrote about their
experiences in widely read tales of adventure.
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The Devil's Half Acre (detail),
from a watercolour attributed to Captain John H. Bland, 76th Regiment
(Duke of Wellington's) early 1850s. The location is the Restigouche
River and the inscription reads "...Eight salmon in one afternoon
at This stand".
(New Brunswick Museum, Webster Canadiana Collection, W6326)
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The last British garrisons left Saint John, Fredericton and
other stations in New Brunswick following Confederation in 1867.
They did so reluctantly for the province was a favourite posting
on their world tour of duty, free of tropical diseases, if not
mosquitoes!
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Officer of the 22nd Regiment and two
guides in a wooden dugout on the Miramichi (detail), 1867
(Provincial Archives of New Brunswick, P42/54)
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Crank fly wheel,
brass and ivory, Chevalier, Bowness & Son, London, about 1860
(The American Museum of Fly Fishing, Manchester, Vermont, 86.28.155)
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