I think it is because of the PQ imposed mergers back in 2002, but I am still not 100% which municipality I slept last night! It was written Cabano in various places, but on Google Maps it seemed to be part of Témiscouata-sur-le-Lac.
As today was a nominal rest day, I slept in late, had breakfast and did some shopping. I then headed to Fort Ingall, a reconstructed minor British fieldwork which was occupied from to 1839 to 1842 during the Aroostock War. Like the Pig War, it was largely about bickering where the border between the British Colonies and the United States actually was. The area hadn’t been surveyed when the treaty had been written and consequently the wording was vague. No one in any government had bother to conduct a proper survey so it was inevitable that various parties would come into conflict. A Lieutenant Ingall, aged 44, was sent with a detachment of soldiers of the 24th regiment of foot and their wives and children to build and man the outpost on Lake Temiscouata which was part of the line of communication between the Maritimes and the Canadas. That fact that he was 44 and only of Lieutenant is testament that Lt. Ingall was poor for an officer (commissions were purchased at the time), but the fact that he was trusted with commanding the outpost suggests that he was viewed a fairly competent. The information at the site states that the fieldwork was very well made and sited. Once the Webster-Ashburton Treaty was signed, the outpost was abandoned, scavenged for timber, burned and almost forgotten before being excavated in the late 1960s and then reconstructed.
For something currently run by a local organization, it is quite impressive. I understand that during the summer, there are costumed reenactments complete with Brown Bess muskets being fired. There is however, a certain amount of sloppiness in the displays. For one thing, the artifacts are numbered in a way that doesn’t follow the natural path of the human eye. As well, a coin featuring King George III is listed as dating from 1738-1820. George III only became king in 1760. Also, the officer’s quarters has letter addressed to so-and-so in “Bas-Canada”. British officers would have written “Lower Canada”.
The Petit-Témis South of Cabano runs along the shore of Lake Temiscouata. Cottages were in evidence on either side of the bike path depending on the particular geography of the spot. It gave me a suggestion of what the Massawippi Valley rail bed would have been like if it had been converted to a bike path between North Hatley and Ayers’ Cliff. There were a fair number of cyclists out to enjoy the sunny, if chilly, Saturday. Too many of them were on electric bikes.
The latter raises a question for me. The signs at the access points for Le Petit Témis forbid motorized vehicles. At what point do electric bikes become forbidden?
Anyway, on past Degelis and along to the border with New Brunswick. This is next to the Edmundston airport most of whose runway is in Quebec. That explains why there was an Avro Lancaster Mk 10 on display near the highway there for many years.
Another mystery explained was the variability in the distances to Edmundston displayed on signs on the Petit Témis. Simply put, Edmundston goes on for a long time so defining where it begins is a subjective matter. The rail trail portion ended more or less when rails reappeared, in the form of an Irving liquid natural gas facility which was unloading a tanker car.
(For the benefit of some of my readers, the Irving family pretty much runs New Brunswick with some input from the McCains.)
Edmundston gives off a vibe that says to me blue-collar town circa 1960. When I got to my downtown motel, one of the first things I did was reset the time on my watch and my bike computer. New time zone don’t you know?
No comments:
Post a Comment