The Great Flood— the Great Flood—
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The Associates of the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick EEXEXEXXTRATTRATRRAA!!EXEEXEXXTRATTRATRRAA!! Spring 2003 ISSN 1201-8333 Number 16 TheThe GreatGreat Flood—Flood— 3030 YearsYears AgoAgo ThisThis SpringSpring P322-M42 The flood covered vast areas of farmland below Fredericton. OR PEOPLE LIVING in large storm system parked itself over Brunswick are substantial amounts the lower valley of the the watershed and began adding big of CBC Television footage of the St. John River, the spring amounts of rain to the meltwater. By flood as well as tapes of numerous of 1973 began routinely Sunday morning, when the storm CBC Radio reports. The broadcasts enough. Although more finally moved on, more than four include statements from Premier FF snow than usual had fallen inches of rain had fallen in parts of Richard Hatfield designed to in the river basin during the preced- the basin, and by then the St. John reassure an alarmed public and live ing winter, farmers on the rich flat- was in the midst of one of its great- reports from the Flood Control lands of the Maugerville-Sheffield est floods ever. Headquarters which the province’s area below Fredericton were It would also turn out to be the Emergency Measures Organization nonetheless able to start seeding best documented of the province’s hastily established in the New their fields by the second half of floods. In the holdings of the Brunswick Electric Power April. Then, on Friday, April 27, a Provincial Archives of New Commission’s building on King Street in Fredericton. The Archives Among places also has a large collection of flood residents had to photographs, a sampling of which flee was this 87-unit trailer appears on these pages, and records park at Lincoln. of provincial government depart- ments that were involved with the flooding and flood relief. Flooding occurred in several places along the St. John that spring—among them, Edmundston, Grand Falls, Perth-Andover, Hartland, Woodstock and parts of Maine. But by far the most dramatic effects were in the lower valley. In P296-21C Fredericton, the river level reached Lincoln. On the side of novelty, it evacuation from the various flooded 28.3 feet, or 25 feet above its normal provided the sight of canoeists pad- areas; it eventually numbered at least summer level. Water spilled into dling past the stately homes of 1450, of whom several hundred were older residential areas, lapped Waterloo Row and nearby streets, accommodated at CFB Gagetown and against newer subdivisions, and even sparked a rumour that an incor- the University of New Brunswick. welled up around public buildings. rigible angler had caught a fish on In an assessment of the flood It poured into the basements of the University Avenue. published the following year, the Lord Beaverbrook Hotel and the Larger drama took place downriver Inland Waters Directorate of New Brunswick Legislative in the Maugerville-Sheffield farm Assembly Building, where it threat- country, where the water’s sudden ened the destruction of valuable pub- rise surprised even people who were lic documents (see related story). It fairly accustomed to having the river forced the closure of the provincial wash over their lands in the spring. government’s principal office com- At first, many refused to budge, plex, the Centennial Building. Above despite the implorings of various the city, it swept over a million- public officials. “We hate to go away dollar fish hatchery at Mactaquac as long as we can make it here,” said and, at the other end of town, nearly one. “We’re not going to let every- P296-12C A man leaves his mobile home obliterated an 87-unit trailer park in thing go to hell.” But things almost in a trailer park at Lincoln. did, and it wasn’t until cat- tle were standing in water Environment Canada reported that in their barns that the more than 2200 homes and cottages farmers relented. As a and nearly 370 businesses along the result, the massive evacua- St. John River had been affected. tion of livestock mounted Total cost in the whole province was by military personnel, agri- estimated at almost $12 million. That culture officials and others included about $1.1 million in dam- became infinitely more ages on other New Brunswick rivers, difficult and dangerous. including the Restigouche, Miramichi Nevertheless, some 1200 and St. Croix. All of the rest was incurred on the St. John. In today’s P296-17C cattle, 400 hogs and 20 Soldiers and a farmer pull cattle horses were moved by dollars, it would amount to a loss of from the flood waters. barge and other river craft to higher at least $50 million. ground, with the loss of only six ani- Inevitably, there was a certain mals. There was also a large human 2 EXTRA!EXTRA! Spring 2003 Centre: The scene in front of the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly Building (P296-15C). Clockwise from top left: Rising waters spilled into the residential streets of Fredericton (P296-11C); in today’s dollars, the flood did more than $50 million in damage (P296-19C); large logs washed up against a road at Barker’s Point (P296-13C); this fish and chips stand on the Fredericton waterfront was among 370 businesses affected along the St. John. (P296-8C0). amount of finger-pointing during and couldn’t possibly mitigate a flood. even earlier flood, in 1923, while after the flood. In particular, criti- The dams, wrote Dineen, while valu- reaching a height of 26.4 feet at cism was directed at the New able for power generation “are of Fredericton, was estimated to have Brunswick Electric Power essentially no value in the control of caused $13.3 million in damages (in Commission over why the commis- a major flood.” 1973 dollars). But this estimate was sion had not done more to control So was the Great Flood of 1973 based mainly on newspaper reports, river levels with its dams, especially the largest ever experienced on the without much solid data, and is there- the new Mactaquac Dam. But a St. John? Almost certainly. In 1936, fore understandably suspect. Given report commissioned by the utility the water level at Fredericton actually the amount of development that and written by James O. Dineen, an rose to 29.2 feet, or nearly a foot occurred in the half century between engineer and one-time president of higher than the 1973 flood. (A plaque 1923 and 1973, including a good deal UNB, pointed out the river flows on the provincial government’s of it on the flood plain, it is difficult were so great (they reached nearly Departmental Building indicates the to conclude anything other than that 400,000 cubic feet, or 2.5 million high water mark of the earlier flood.) the more recent flood was not only gallons, of water going by every sec- But this resulted from an ice jam, and bigger but also costlier. ond) that the hydroelectric barriers the waters quickly subsided when the jam was released. Then again, an Number 16 EXTRA!EXTRA! 3 Impact of the Flood of 1973 on the Provincial Archives by Harold Holland By early Sunday morning, April was made on the radio for volunteers 29th, the river was flooding the to help salvage the remaining collec- HIRTY YEARS AGO, the downtown area and inundating lower tions from the bowels of the St. John River overflowed levels of most buildings. There was Legislative Building. Within the hour its banks and inundated not a formal disaster response plan in several dozen volunteers, wading much of downtown place, but Sandy DiGiacinto, through a couple feet of water, Fredericton immersing Registrar of the Supreme Court, arrived on the scene, and, by late TT 10,000 government publi- alerted Eric Swanick, of the evening, any collection that could cations of the Legislative Library, Legislative Library, of the rising possibly be retrieved was removed 3,000 rare volumes of the Provincial waters and the need to take action. and transferred to one of several dry Law Library and Barristers Society Preliminary efforts organized by Eric venues. All of the salvaged records Library, and over a million Swanick included filling postal bags and some of the books were sent to Provincial Government records of with sand and placing them in the the Provincial Archives for recovery. great legal, historical, and adminis- doorway to the basement of the Over the following days divers trative value. Such critical records as Legislative Building. This impeded retrieved a few more items but they adoption files and orders, divorce flow for a time permitting a great were all beyond salvaging. records, chancery matters and decree volume of material to be moved On the evening of the 29th, records were affected. upstairs. The Fire Department was Dr. George MacBeath, Deputy Head The afternoon editions of The also requested to pump water out of of Historical Resources Administra- Daily Gleaner of Friday April 27th the basement but soon abandoned the tion, called together at his home, and Saturday April 28th 1973, car- effort as there was too much water members of the agency’s senior staff ried no alerts to warn people of the for their pumps to handle. An appeal to develop a plan of action to save possibility of severe flooding over the following 48 hours in down- town Fredericton. So perhaps it is not too surprising that no effort was made to move these collections and records out of harm’s way. Article from Daily Gleaner, May 4, 1973 4 EXTRA!EXTRA! Spring 2003 the government records. He included or blotting paper. Stacks of about Harold Holland, the only conservator 15 cm in height were covered with a in the agency’s employ who was piece of plywood and weighted.