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As a counter-move the French built the great fortress of Louisbourg and its building incited the Acadians on the mainland to be more independent of, if not more hostile, to the British. The French garrison at Louisbourg, too provided the main market for the farm produce and the cattle of the Acadians. There were complaints that at times they refused to sell to the garrison at Annapolis Royal so intent were they that Louisbourg should be supplied. It was there that they obtained gold and silver, which money, according to tradition, they buried in fear always of the day of their removal. But the shipping of contraband cattle and produce to Louisbourg by an all water route from the main Acadian settlements was attended with the peril of its being intercepted by British men-of-war on the long voyage around Cape Sable. To overcome this danger an alternative and safer route via Cobequid and Tatamagouche was adopted. Their produce and cattle the Acadians
gathered at Cunard, and these they shipped by boat to Chiganois* or
Isgonish, the largest Acadian settlement in Cobequid near the mouth of the
Isgonish River. From there, a portage led up the river and over the summit
of the Cobequid Range till the sources of the French and the Waugh’s
Rivers were reached. Then, the portage followed either one or both of
these rivers, down to the tidal waters at Tatamagouche. There, sloops,
shallops and schooners were loaded with the cattle and produce and usually
in safety made the voyage to Louisbourg. The portage from Isgonish to
Tatamagouche had other uses as well. It formed a connecting link between
these settlements, otherwise isolated, and was also a necessary part of
the communications between the Acadian settlements on the mainland and
those in St. John’s Island (now Prince Edward Island). Back |
