The Hillsborough River, also known as the East River, is a Canadian river in northeastern Queens County,

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has several nicknames: "Garden of the Gulf", ...

History

Battle at Port-la-Joye

After the Siege of Louisbourg (1745) during

King George's War King George's War (1744–1748) is the name given to the military operations in North America that formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars. It took place primarily in t ...

, the New Englanders also captured Île Saint-Jean (modern Prince Edward Island). The New Englanders had a force of two warships and 200 soldiers stationed at Port-la-Joye.Havey. The French régime in Prince Edward Island, p. 119
See book
/ref> To regain

Acadia Acadia (french: link=no, Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. During much of the 17th and earl ...

, Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Roch de Ramezay was sent from Quebec to the region to join forces with the Duc d'Anville expedition. Upon arriving at Chignecto, he sent French officer

Charles Deschamps de Boishébert et de Raffetot Charles Deschamps de Boishébert (also known as Courrier du Bois, Bois Hebert) was a member of the Compagnies Franches de la Marine and was a significant leader of the Acadian militia's resistance to the Expulsion of the Acadians. He settled a ...

to Île Saint-Jean on reconnaissance to assess the size of the New England force. After Boishébert returned, Ramezay sent Joseph-Michel Legardeur de Croisille et de Montesson, along with over 500 men, 200 of whom were

Mi'kmaq The Mi'kmaq (also ''Mi'gmaq'', ''Lnu'', ''Miꞌkmaw'' or ''Miꞌgmaw''; ; ) are a First Nations people of the Northeastern Woodlands, indigenous to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as the no ...

, to Port-la-Joye. In July, 1746, the battle happened near Rivière Nord-est ("Northeast River", the present-day Hillsborough). Montesson and his troops killed or imprisoned forty New Englanders. Montesson was commended for having distinguished himself in his first independent command. According to the 1752 census, the

Acadians The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the de ...

arrived in Rivière Nord-est in 1750. The influential Acadian Joseph-Nicolas Gautier ''dit'' Ballair and his family moved from

Annapolis Royal Annapolis Royal, formerly known as Port Royal, is a town located in the western part of Annapolis County, Nova Scotia, Canada. Today's Annapolis Royal is the second French settlement known by the same name and should not be confused with the ne ...

to Rivière Nord-est, at the location known today as Scotchfort.Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online. Vol. 3. As well, Jean Pitre's family and many from the Henry family arrived from Maitland, in Hants County,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

, as part of the

Acadian Exodus The Acadian Exodus (also known as the Acadian migration) happened during Father Le Loutre's War (1749–1755) and involved almost half of the total Acadian population of Nova Scotia deciding to relocate to French controlled territories. The th ...

, to escape hostilities after the arrival of

Protestants Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

in Nova Scotia and the establishment of Halifax (1749).

Rivers and highways

From its source near the farming hamlet of Head of Hillsborough, in the northeastern part of the county, the river flows southwesterly, becoming a tidal

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime environm ...

Mount Stewart Mount Stewart is a 19th-century house and garden in County Down, Northern Ireland, owned by the National Trust. Situated on the east shore of Strangford Lough, a few miles outside the town of Newtownards and near Greyabbey, it was the Irish s ...

, which gradually widens from several dozen metres to approximately 1 km at its discharge point in

Charlottetown Charlottetown is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island, and the county seat of Queens County. Named after Queen Charlotte, Charlottetown was an unincorporated town until it was incorporated as a city in ...

Harbour. The river's total meander length is about , of which forms an estuary. The river was the 27th in Canada, and the first in Prince Edward Island, to be nominated to the Canadian Heritage Rivers System. The river's estuary fronts heritage agricultural communities, Acadian dykes, historic shipyards, and the Charlottetown waterfront, where the

Fathers of Confederation The Fathers of Confederation are the 36 people who attended at least one of the Charlottetown Conference of 1864 (23 attendees), the Quebec Conference of 1864 (33 attendees), and the London Conference of 1866 (16 attendees), preceding Canadian ...

landed. The river's freshwater portion flows through pristine forests and farming areas, as well as extensive wetlands. The river during its freshwater run resembles a typical stream in other Canadian provinces. The river was bridged by the

Prince Edward Island Railway The Prince Edward Island Railway (PEIR) was a historic Canadian railway in Prince Edward Island (PEI). The railway ran tip-to-tip on the island, from Tignish in the west to Elmira in the east, with major spurs serving Borden-Carleton's train fer ...

between Charlottetown and

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

on the massive

Hillsborough River Bridge The Hillsborough River Bridge is a bridge crossing the Hillsborough River (Prince Edward Island), Hillsborough River estuary between Charlottetown and Stratford, Prince Edward Island, Stratford in Queens County, Prince Edward Island. The current ro ...

, one of the longest railway bridges in eastern Canada, as well as one of the longest

narrow-gauge railway A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard-gauge railway, standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with Minimum r ...

bridges in the world, as well as on a much shorter crossing in Mount Stewart. The modern highway bridge was constructed adjacent to the railway bridge between Charlottetown and Southport in 1962 and was modernized and expanded in 1995. Additional highway bridges cross the river at Mount Stewart and at several points upstream. The river hosts a variety of recreational activities as well as

quahog The hard clam (''Mercenaria mercenaria''), also known as the round clam, hard-shell (or hard-shelled) clam, or the quahog, is an edible marine bivalve mollusk that is native to the eastern shores of North America and Central America from Prince ...

and

oyster Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...

fisheries. The river suffers from high

nitrate Nitrate is a polyatomic ion A polyatomic ion, also known as a molecular ion, is a covalent bonded set of two or more atoms, or of a metal complex, that can be considered to behave as a single unit and that has a net charge that is not zer ...

levels and

surface runoff Surface runoff (also known as overland flow) is the flow of water occurring on the ground surface when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other sources, can no longer sufficiently rapidly infiltrate in the soil. This can occur when th ...

from over-farming and excess

riparian zone A riparian zone or riparian area is the interface between land and a river or stream. Riparian is also the proper nomenclature for one of the terrestrial biomes of the Earth. Plant habitats and communities along the river margins and banks ar ...

development.

References

External links

Hillsborough River Association
{{Coord, 46, 22, N, 62, 47, W, type:landmark_source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title Rivers of Prince Edward Island Geography of Queens County, Prince Edward Island Canadian Heritage Rivers

History

Battle at Port-la-Joye

Rivers and highways

See also

References

External links