Telephone Poles in the Woods

It was the oddest thing to be way back in the woods and come across a clearing with a telephone pole standing in the middle of it. Just a single pole with the insulators still intact and a few inches of wire still attached. It was a telephone line going nowhere because there were no other poles visible in the thick woods surrounding the clearing. I first came across this years ago x-c skiing in the woods back of town. My skiing buddies and I figured it was a remnant of an old and long abandoned telegraph line that might have run between Saint John and Fredericton many years ago. We were partly right.

I got thinking about the poles again when I was out skiing this winter and came upon a number of them in a bog. They were standing almost upright and spanned one edge of the bog. Until then I had only seen a single pole in the woods. (I took photos of the poles in the bog and posted them at rivervalleyrambler.com)


Even with this new discovery the story behind these telegraph poles still remained a mystery until I met Richard Likely walking his dog one afternoon this winter. Richard knows the woods around Grand Bay-Westfield like the back of his hand. He’s been hiking and skiing these trails for many years. In fact he cut many of them. We got talking and I asked him about the poles. Not surprisingly, he knew quite a bit about them.

He said he heard the story from his father and from Ken Cox, the former head of NB Tel. He told me these mysterious poles were not for the telegraph, as I originally thought but for a special telephone line. According to Richard it dates back to the second world war when U.S. President Roosevelt was in regular communication with British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in London. Our own PM Mackenzie King felt left out of the loop so he ordered a special telephone line built from Ottawa to Cape Breton and then by underwater cable to London. The line was used during the war years and then abandoned.

I tried to research this telephone line on the internet but couldn’t find any mention of it. I did discover an interesting history of undersea cables. Apparently the first transatlantic cable ran from Newfoundland to Ireland and dates back to 1856. It operated about a month before it failed.

Richard Likely went on to tell me that after the war the telephone poles were in high demand by the locals. They’d cut them down and haul them out of the woods and take the wire as well. That’s why there are so few poles around today. Richard said his father told him that people would steal the poles but leave the cross-arms laying in the woods. This he said was a mistake because the 4 x 6 cross pieces were made of knot free BC fir that was far more valuable than the poles. People here didn’t realize it. He said in those days it was a big job hauling the poles out of the woods because there were no snowmobiles or ATV’s.


So that’s the story of the mysterious poles that appear occasionally in the woods around here. I got thinking it would be fun to try to follow the line but I’m not sure enough poles remain to do that. I attempted it this winter on skis but quickly lost sight of the next pole in the woods. The surrounding trees tower over the telephone poles now and make them difficult to spot. It would be an interesting adventure and maybe one day I’ll try it.

It’s still a mystery to me why a number of the telephone poles with cross arms still remain standing in this bog. I suppose when people were cutting them down and hauling them away, they couldn’t get at these poles very easily because of the water. Maybe they never thought of coming out in the winter when the ice would make the job much easier. Whatever the reason, it’s good that a little trace of this history still remains, hidden for the most part but a great delight to find.

Allen's Wall

(This is a column originally published in November, 1992. As far as I know, the wall is still there and still a mystery.)


It's not every day you go on an archeological expedition to the ruins of an old fort. It's even rarer if that fort is in your own backyard. But that's what happened one day this past summer on the Kingston Peninsula. Allen Gorham lead an expedition of sorts to the site of an old rock wall he's known about for years.

"When we were kids we came down here to play and look for Indian arrow heads and cannon balls and stuff." Allen says laughing, "Of course we didn't find any because we didn't even know what an arrow head looked like. But I've been told all my life that this wall is part of an old French fort."

The wall or fort or whatever it is stretches for about 200 feet through the woods at Gregory Point, just below Crystal Beach. It's about four feet high and three feet thick in most places and is made of field stones and boulders. It stands about a hundred feet from the waters edge, where the river bends and flows toward Westfield and Grand Bay. It's been here for a long time and yet few know of it's existence. But that could change.

Allen Gorham invited a special guest along on this expedition to the wall. He's Dr. Chris Turnbull, the Provincial Archeologist. Chris had heard about this rock structure before but never seen it. He was getting excited as he followed Allen along the beach and then through the woods toward the site. Dr. Turnbull has done this sort of thing before. He often gets asked by people to check out something on their property or an unusual structure they know about. In fact some of the most exciting archeological sites in the maritimes have been discovered this way.

After a careful examination of the wall, Chris Turnbull admitted he's never seen anything quite like this before. "The problem is that forts usually aren't just simply long walls like this, they're small enclosed areas." he said. "And French forts in particular are usually very small structures." He believes it's of European origin because native societies generally didn't build rock walls like this but he can't understand why it would be built here.

"Archeologists of course deal in probabilities and it certainly is a rock wall, it was put together by people for some reason but as to exactly when and for what reason we'd have to undertake some digging along here to uncover some artifacts." said Dr. Turnbull. "People have been living in a disposable mode for a long time and that disposal is the stuff we use to date things."

This expedition has been a great success for Allen Gorham. He's been assured by the expert that his mystery wall is indeed authentic and historic but to find out any more is going to take some digging both in the ground and in the archives. And Dr. Chris Turnbull promises this will happen at some point but he can't give Allen a date. That' OK though. The wall's been here for many years. It and Allen can wait a little longer.

For now this stone structure is being officially called "Allen"s Wall". "I'll go for that." Allen says with a hearty laugh. "I'll finally have something named after me."

Historical Westfield

(Here's another column from the summer of 1992. It's about a summer project collecting the history of Westfield back in the days when there was a separate Village called Westfield. I don't know if Susanne ever got that book together. I do know that history is being made this weekend in Grand Bay-Westfield with the opening of the new River Centre at Brundage Point. Hope you plan to take in the activities.)


Susanne Sutton, like other university students, is doing some traveling this summer. But her traveling is taking her back in time. She's riding on the memories of others, back to the early days of her community. Susanne is the official historical researcher for the Village of Westfield. This is the first time the village has ever hired anyone to research it's rich heritage. And it's turned out to be a great summer job for Susanne.

"It's a very humbling experience because I've been living here for 20 years and I thought I knew quite a bit about the village but I don't know anything." says Susanne. "What I know is a drop in the bucket.

It's that desire to know more and that natural curiosity that makes her perfect for this job. Susanne has always been interested in history and heritage. In high school she wrote a short history of the village as part of an exchange program. This summer she's building on that early interest with her job as historical researcher. Susanne is busy meeting residents and recording their personal stories and memories on audio tape. She's also collecting old photographs and
other objects of historical significance. Right now all her time is consumed by just gathering this material. She'd like to compile it into a written report or book but doesn't think she'll have the time this summer.

"I feel like it's my baby now." Susanne says with a smile, hoping that a way will be found for her to finish what she started this summer.

Susanne knows about the official, recorded history of the village. Indians inhabited the area first followed by French traders and then the Loyalists arrived. The very first Loyalist settler was Henry Nase of New York. Others soon followed like John Coffin who was a General in the British army and a member of the Legislative Assembly. The Parish of Westfield was established in 1786.

But it's the personal history that Susanne enjoys the most. There are few written records so Susanne depends on the stories and memories of residents, passed on by word of mouth. By far the biggest story in the villages past is the great fire of 1921. Everything in Westfield is dated pre or post fire. It covered a huge area from Ononette to way up the Nerepis. A few people have their own memories of the fire but many others know of it only through their own family stories. Some people even have mementos, like the woman who cherishes a side board that was saved from the flames by being thrown in a marsh.

Susanne has also collected a lot of information about the Maple Inn. This place has special memories for many people in Westfield. It was an old fashioned Inn overlooking the Nerepis. Isabel Norman owned and operated it and she had guests who stayed every summer as well as
boarders. The Maple Inn closed in the late 1950's. In her research, Susanne has come to know the people involved. She has many old photographs of the place and the people. History has come alive for her.

Some of the best stories Susanne hears she can't use. "People say if you turn off the tape recorder I'll tell you a real good one." Susanne says laughing. "I love those stories but I'm not including them because people have asked me not to."

This summer job has taken over Susanne Sutton's life. She lives here so she's immersed in it all the time. Susanne looks at her village differently now. She sees old buildings and knows something about their past. She can see things that others can't because she's aware of what used to be. "The more you find out," she concludes, "The more you realize there is to find out."