New Brunswick Historical Tidbits

The Miramichi Fire

By Mitch Biggar

By 1824 the timber trade in Northumberland County had increased. Shipbuilding had also become a profitable industry. Some villages now had churches, schools, an almost one million English pounds had been invested in sawmills and wharfs.

Then came the dry summer of 1825. From October first to the fifth an extraordinary heat prevailed, caused by forest fires to the north and south. By October 7 th the whole Miramichi district seemed to be encircled by a fiery belt. By the 8th of October many villages were burned to the ground. Newcastle, Douglastown, Moorfield and many others were completely gone.

Statistics say that one hundred and sixty people died in the fire, nearly 300 were badly burned or injured and two thousand were left homeless. The news of the fire had reached far and wide and donation of money came from Saint John, St. Andrews, Richibucto, Shediac, Bathurst, Halifax, Lunenburg, Pictou, Yarmouth, NFLD, and PEI.

This page was designed by Irene Doyle September 1999