2019 New Brunswick - part 14, St. Martins: Fundy Trail drive, the "why," portable saw mills - Travel With Us

Little did we know that we’d learn the “why” behind the huge tide differences happening here in Fundy Bay; we had learned about the mechanics, but now we get to see what really happens. Along the way on the drive we saw a suspension bridge, a portable saw mill from when the timber industry was in full swing, and how the industry affected those who worked in it. Let’s go for a drive.

Welcome to this 6326-acre park featuring a 19-mile parkway hugging the southern coast of New Brunswick. This is one of the last remaining coastal wilderness areas between Florida and Labrador.

Whenever we start exploring, we rarely know what we’re going to see. The views along this trail are amazing.

These edges of land with coves between them reminded us of the “battleships” that we saw on the painted rocks boat ride out of Munising in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on a trip we took a year ago. This was the name the locals gave to the formations since they looked like battleships all in a row.

first stop – Fuller Falls

We walked down these cable stairs; we’ve never seen stairs like these before.

Here’s a closer look at the cables between the steps; wonder if it’s easier to maintain the stairs?

A nice couple joined us on the platform so they took this picture of us and the falls instead of having to try getting a selfie

And this is our view looking toward the bay.

And of course what goes down has to come up, so we hiked back up the stairs to our car.

moose info we always wanted to know

A little ways down the road, we saw this sign and learned so much more about moose. This world’s largest deer are most active at dusk and dawn, can move easily on land and in water, can run through the fores at speeds up to 34 miles per hour, and have been clocked swimming at 6 miles per hour. Moose consume up to 66 lbs of twigs, leaves, and plants daily.

The bull’s rack of antlers grows and sheds annually to help him when fighting other bulls in the fall for the females’ attention. The female’s energy goes toward producing rich milk for her calf. A calf must grow quickly since moose don’t rely on camouflage to escape predators: they run or swim. Young moose are major pray of wolves and bears. (Oh my)

While our next stop actually includes a look at the timber industry and a suspension bridge, I’m going to continue with our drive along the Bay of Fundy. We’ll come back to the bridge and the lumber mills later in this post.

Long Beach

We first looked down at this beach from the road.

Then we saw this building and a road getting to it. That’s where we want to go.

Let’s look at the bay first, and then we’ll look at the signs explaining what we’re seeing.

1st view from Long Beach observation deck. That’s a long ways to the water!

Barney called his sons while walking on the ocean floor! Can barely see the water from this perspective.

Here’s a look back at the observation deck and the visitors center building (on the left).

This is one of the lovely bluish-green rocks on the beach with this white strip of quartz around it.

Interesting story: When we were looking at the beach and tides at St. Martins, a number of people from a tour bus we’re walking around and looking down. We asked our server at lunch what they were doing. She said that the tour guide tells them that these are “wishing” rocks. If you find one, you make a wish and keep it. When the wish comes true, you pass the rock onto someone else so they can make a wish.

Barney found this small rock for me, and I still have to come up with the wish I want to make.

Bay of Fundy info: the “why” of the tides

Here’s the story. The amount of water that flows in and out of the bay is equal to the water in all rivers on our planet! And this happens 4 times a day: 2 times in and 2 times out.

At the opening the bay, the tides have a difference of 20 feet. Where we are now on the Fundy Trail, the difference is 30 feet. Where we going next is 40 to 43 feet!

The largest tides in the world are because of 2 factors: the funnel factor and the length of the bay. First the funnel factor. The bay’s base, opening, is wider than its tip so as the 160 billion tons of seawater moves into the bay, it is forced into a tighter and shallower area. With nowhere to go, the water piles up on itself.

The other factor is the *length of the bay*. The bay is the right length for the tide to go in and come out in about 12 hours and 26 minutes, about the same amount of time before the tidal cycle restarts.

Therefore, as 1 tide is exiting the bay, the next one is trying to come in. The 2 collide and amplify each other (known as the seiche effect). Also, because of the moon and son, the water levels can rise and fall as much as 53 feet during a single cycle.

horizontal and vertical tides

The coastline affects the tides too. At places like where we are, the water recedes horizontally until the beach extends about 1/3 of a mile into the bay. In narrow inlets, vertical tides occur due to a smaller version of the funnel effect. When the tide enters, it is forced to pile up on itself causing vertical differences like we’ll see at our next location.

name “Bay of Fundy”

Samuel de Champlain was the first to name this bay on a map during his 1604 expedition. The translation of the name he called it was French Bay but was later changed. The thought is that the word “Fundy” came from the French word *Fendu*, which means “split,” and the bay does split New Brunswick from Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island.

Now we know the “why” of the Bay of Fundy!

wild flowers

Around the visitor building were some lovely wild flowers.

Aren’t they lovely? Now back to the the suspension bridge and a portable saw mill.

suspension bridge

The bridge is on the other side of this highway bridge.

This bridge spans the Big Salmon River and provides a way for hikers to cross.

The bridge has some great supports but can only handle 10 people.

We’re ready to start crossing this 275-foot bridge.

portable saw mill and the lumber industry

Big Salmon River was one of the most important and prosperous lumbering communities along the coastline. William Davidson built the first sawmill in 1845. The lumber here was of top quality with much variety. It supplied the needed parts for ships built during the golden age of sail (last half of 1800s) for the over 500 sailing ships built in nearby St. Martins and was one of the world’s biggest suppliers of pulpwood for the paper industry.

During the timber boom, over the years 4 saw mills were located along the bay. Of these, 3 were destroyed by fire, and 1 was swept out to the water after a big storm. So the lumber owners got smart and started building portable saw mills that could be moved to where the trees were being cut. At the height of the work being done, 30-some families lived in this area, and around 300 men came in to work during the warmer weather when the mills were turning out the lumber. These portable mills provided work to the residents and profits to the owners into the 20th century.

sawmill’s operation

When logs arrived at the sawmill, they were stacked on a skidway to go to the “canter-man” who rolled the logs one at a time onto the carriage for the “dogger-man” who positioned the logs for the saw.

For accurate sawing, it was critical that the log stayed stationary and didn’t shift around even a little.

The mill’s byproducts were slabs and sawdust. Slab wood was often burned in the boiler to create steam power to the sawmill. If the sawmill had a lathe saw, the slabs were cut into lathe wood and sold to consumers for a variety of uses. Sawdust was sold for spreading on floors in outbuildings, to pack and preserve ice blocks for ice boxes, and sometimes for bedding for animals. Owners of portable sawmills knew thay had to find a market for these waste byproducts.