Lost Land of Moses: The Age of Discovery on New Brunswick's Salmon Rivers

Richard Wilbur is the author of The Rise of French New Brunswick and
H.H. Stevens, 1878–1973, and the coauthor of Silver Harvest: The Fundy
Weirmen’s Story.

In this book, retired English professor Peter Thomas traces the
discovery of New Brunswick’s famed salmon rivers by wealthy English
and Americans who returned home to write about their experiences and to
encourage others to visit the sparsely settled 19th-century colony.
Moses Perley, a grandson of one of New Brunswick’s pre-Loyalist
settlers, wrote extensively and enthusiastically about the colony’s
untapped wilderness. In doing so, he helped to establish what would
become one of New Brunswick’s economic mainstays—tourism.

Thomas’s opening chapter covers Perley’s early years. Each of the
other 16 chapters is based on the writings of American and British
visitors. In his brief introduction, Thomas expresses the hope that his
book “will be read for its social and political commentary as much as
for its account of the angling exploits of yesteryear.” He achieves
that goal through commentary that deftly links 19th-century views (often
racist and class-ridden) with the New Brunswick of today. As early as
the 1890s, rivers like the Restigouche, Nespisiquit, and Matapedia were
rapidly becoming preferred territory “for the rich” as leases were
handed out to the highest bidders, while the people that Perley
extolled—the free-spirited and knowledgeable Aboriginals (the original
river guides)—were pushed aside as their reserves shrank.

Thomas’s book, which includes a selection of well-chosen
illustrations, is a valuable addition to New Brunswick historiography.