The New Brunswick and Canada Railway and Land Company was chartered in or prior to 1856 by Act of the

New Brunswick Legislature The New Brunswick Legislature is the legislature of the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Today, the legislature is made of two elements: the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick, and the unicameral assembly called the Legislative Assembly of N ...

. In that year, it took over the St. Andrews and Quebec Railway Company, which had been formed in 1836.traingeek.ca: "New Brunswick Railway History"
/ref> It acquired 10,000 acres for every mile built of a railroad between

Fredericton Fredericton (; ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The city is situated in the west-central portion of the province along the Saint John River, which flows west to east as it bisects the city. The river is the do ...

and

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, – 'Three Rivers') is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada, at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

; in other words, 1.6 million acres in total. The railway was leased to the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canadi ...

when the NBCRLC ran into financial difficulties, but its control remained of the land, which was leased in exchange of stumpage to various timber companies. The company was granted lands, among others, in the

Restigouche River The Restigouche River (french: Rivière Ristigouche) is a river that flows across the northwestern part of the province of New Brunswick and the southeastern part of Quebec. The river flows in a northeasterly direction from its source in the App ...

, the

Miramichi River The Miramichi River is a river located in the east-central part of New Brunswick, Canada. The river drains into Miramichi Bay in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The name may have been derived from the Montagnais words "Maissimeu Assi" (meaning Mi'km ...

and the

Tobique River The Tobique River (pro. Toe-Bick) is a river in northwestern New Brunswick, Canada. The river rises from Nictau Lake in Mount Carleton Provincial Park and flows for 148 kilometres to its confluence with the Saint John River near Perth-Andover. Th ...

watersheds, and it maintained a staff in

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of Ki ...

to oversee stumpage on its lands. When, during World War II, the British owners decided to sell, the firms that held leases were asked to buy them by general manager W. E. Golding, but all refused for one reason or another. In January 1942 Fraser Companies of

Edmundston Edmundston is a city in Madawaska County, New Brunswick, Canada. On 1 January 2023, Edmundston will expanded, annexing the village of Rivière-Verte and parts of the local service districts of the parish of Saint-Jacques and the parish of Sai ...

bought 85,652 acres on the

Green River Green River may refer to: Rivers Canada * Green River (British Columbia), a tributary of the Lillooet River *Green River, a tributary of the Saint John River, also known by its French name of Rivière Verte *Green River (Ontario), a tributary of ...

for $3.50 per; while in March 1942 D'Auteuil Lumber Co. bought 40,000 acres in the region of St. Francis for $3.42 per; in 1943, Fraser Companies paid $3.18 per acre for a 627,840-acre tract; close to 176,000 acres were sold a month later on the Restigouche for $4.03 to an Irving company; again a month later, 30,248 acres were sold at $2.18 per to Flemming and Gibson, who had been the lessees of the tract in counties Victoria and Carleton. Yearly taxation at the time was $2 per acre. Then, some time prior to March 1945, the company, with its remnant 698,000 acres, was bought outright by Irving for $1.2 million. The net cost to him per acre was $1.50.

References

Bibliography

* {{cite book , last1 = How , first1 = Douglas , last2 = Costello , first2 = Ralph , title = K.C. – the biography of K.C. Irving , date = 1993 , publisher = Key Porter Books , place = Toronto Defunct New Brunswick railways