Westward Cork Migration by Sail 1815-1860 by John Sutton

PART II EMIGRANT PERSPECTIVE

1814. Treaty of Ghent. Established a peace that would persist despite BNA concerns of US expansionism. Transportation systems on both sides of the border were key to security and to developing economies. Since overland routes were prohibitively costly, the building of canals was accelerated to provide both American Powers secure access between the major rivers and lakes. The vulnerability of Canadian ship access to Lake Ontario via the upper St Lawrence, due to potential US attack, and the isolation of Lake Ontario from the upper Great Lakes due to a major height difference, eventually led to construction of the important Rideau and Welland Canals, both of which would provide jobs for Irish laborers. 1815. Napoleonic Wars Ends. The British demand for timber from BNA continued, promoting transatlantic merchant vessel sailings with outbound space at a reasonable price for emigrants. Summarizing; the territory of BNA at this time comprised the Provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, the Maritime Colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Cape Breton Island, St John’s Island (renamed Prince Edward Island in 1798), and Newfoundland and Labrador, all providing a broad spectrum of natural wealth, with waterways, forests, timber, coal, fertile farmland, wildlife, and mineral deposits, while the rivers, lakes, and sea permitted ease of travel and the transportation of furs, fish, timber and commodities. The major Canadian fur-trading company, the North West Company of Montreal, strongly competed with the Hudson Bay Company, which held a commercial monopoly by British Royal Charter for Rupert’s Land, north of the Laurentian Continental Divide that separates the Great Lakes and Hudson Bay watersheds. Fisheries thrived on the renowned coast of Newfoundland, the southwest coast of Nova Scotia and along New Brunswick’s Bay of Fundy. The Gaspé Peninsula at the confluence of the cold St Lawrence River and Gulf of St Lawrence also boasted fisheries rich in cod and salmon. Lumber camps flourished on the St John and Miramichi Rivers in New Brunswick and at Hull (later Gatineau) at the confluences of the Gatineau, Ottawa and Rideau Rivers. Abundant timber was ‘rafted’ down the Ottawa and St Lawrence Rivers to Quebec for shipbuilding and export. Farmland was sought on reasonable terms during the early 1800s, particularly in Upper Canada. Coal rich deposits at Joggins, Nova Scotia on the Bay of Fundy, and at Sydney, Cape Breton Island were mined for centuries, and coal from Grand Lake, NS (later NB) in the St John River Valley was shipped to Boston since the 18 th century. Such was British North America for the Irish emigrant of 1820, a large territory with a small population in need of settlers for farming, timber production and infrastructure development, and anxious about the intentions of an aggressive expansionist nation to the south. CHAPTER 1B EVOLVING CHANGES IN THE USA UP TO 1820 TERRITORY OF THE USA. After the Revolutionary War the Mississippi River was the western border of the USA as defined by the 1783 Treaty of Paris , but was soon expanded beyond towards the Pacific, causing concern for the residents of BNA. However, the north- south border between the USA and BNA was largely recognized by 1820, except for Oregon Country, and was surprisingly well respected throughout the nineteenth century.