Specific areas — ’Spruce’ (the particular species is rarely named) was recorded at a large number of specific places on the island (Figure 1-2): along the coasts of Lots 1, 2, 3, 28 and 301°“; on a sand spit west of Malpeque Bay, probably the Conway Sand Hills of Lot 11‘“; along the northern border of Lot 12106; in Lot 13: on the eastern part of the lot‘°7, in a 'swamp’ in the centre of the lot‘°8, and at Low Point on the shore of Malpeque Bay1°9; in Lot 10, near Robb’s Creek”°; in the Charlottetown area”‘; in the New London area‘”; near an early mill site at Stanhopem, and at another spot on Lot 34, seemingly along the Hillsborough River‘”; at Mount Stewart, on the north side of the Hillsborough River”; in Lot 62, along the shore to the west of Wood Islands“; on the south side of the Pinette River (probably its North Branch)“6; on parts of Point Prim“6; in Lot 65, at the ’Fort Farm’ on the site of Fort Amherst“6; in Lot 15, ”westward of Fifteen Point””7; in the isthmus between Richmond and Bedeque Baysm’ in Lot

11: generally“, and on the eastern part of the lot,

1°“ Holland 1765: October - (in the table attached to his map).

"’5 Curtis (1775). The “fir trees” that Curtis recorded on the coastal sand-dunes west of Malpeque Bay could only have been white spruce

”6 Mollison 1905. 107 Morris 1769; Gray 1793. ‘08 Gray 1793.

‘09 Gesner 1846.

110

Seymour 1840.

1“ Patterson 1770; Chappell 1775-1818 (Chappell used wood of 'black spruce' in 1779, and of ‘spruce' in 1781); MacGregor 1828; [Bain] 1883; Ward 1887 (the trees that Ward observed were in Victoria Park and may well have been planted). [Watson] (post 1904) recorded that red spruce was common in Charlottetown Royalty West.

”2 Chappell 1775-1818 (14 April 1778) — in his mention of spruce he said that he was “over the water” at the time, which may mean across New London Bay from Elizabethtown; [Lawson] 1877-1878 - he was retrospectively referring to the forests at the time of settlement.

113

Lawson post 1777. PARO Map 0,737E (a map of unknown date but clearly early) shows a mill near the mouth of what is now

Bells Creek).

“4 Stewart1783. ”5 MacGregor1828. “6 Selkirk 1803.

“7 Gesner1846.

“8 [Lawson] 1877-1878 — he was referring retrospectively to the

forests at the time of settlement.

165

and along the boundary line with Lot 12119; in the Kildare area of Lot 3 (black spruce), and at another spot in the same lot”°; and in parts of Lots 43 and 5612‘; at Springfield in Lot 67‘”; at Rustico, near the water in the vicinity of Anglo Rusticom; in the Brackley Point area at the time of settlement”“, and a century later, on the road between Charlottetown and Brackley Point‘zs. Then, evidence given to the Land Commission of 1875 recorded the occurrence of spruce in specific parts of Lots 7, 9, 10, 13 and 16126; at two places in Lot 28127, along the Afton Road and elsewhere in Lot 36‘”, and along the coast and a river in Lot 24129. Spruce was also noted by Johnstone (1822) and MacGregor (1828) as a colonizer of the area of the French fires in the north-east of the island. Finally, Gesner (1846) recorded what appears to have been post-glacial fossil spruce trees in old peat below the tide level at 'Gallows Point’ (now Gallas Point) in Lot 50, as well as in the peat layers of the Black Banks of Lot 11.

Tree sizes — The evidence indicates that there was wide variation in the sizes of the island’s spruce

“9 Craswell 8. Anderson c. 1856. 12° Land Commission 1860. Martin Foley of Lot 3 stated to the Land Commission that there were “large black spruce swamps" in the “reaf’ of his farm. The map of Lake (1863) shows a house marked “M. Foley" on the western side of the road that runs to the shore from Central Kildare [modern name: O'Rourke Road. Route 162]. From the Prince Edward Island Road Atlas (Anon. 1976), it appears that a marsh or swamp occurs on what would have been the ‘rear‘ of Foley’s farm. Another Lot 3 farmer (John McKay) told the commission that he had wanted to harvest "20 tons of spruce logs" on his farm, but could not get a permit from his landlord.

121 Land Commission 1860: evidence of T. H. Haviland.

‘22 Bain 1868-1884 (in 1873). ‘23 Anon. 1877. ‘2‘ [Lawson] 1877-1878.

‘25 Macoun1894. ‘26 Land Commision 1875: Lot 7 (evidence of John Cocheran and Amos McWilliams); Lot 9 (evidence of Robert Holton); Lot 10 (evidence of James Gregg); Lot 13 (evidence of George Bollum and Samuel Ramsay); Lot 16 (evidence of Donald Campbell and John Ramsay).

‘27 Land Commision 1875: evidence of Donald McFarlane and John D. Muttart (Lot 28), concerning two small areas of poor land near Carleton Point on which spruce occurred.

123 Land Commision 1875: evidence of Alexander McLean and Archibald Carmichael.

”9 Land Commision 1875: for the coast of Lot 24: evidence of William S. McNeill; and for the river: evidence of Joseph Doucette (his phrase “second growth of spruce fronted the river; north end of the lot" — must mean the Hunter River.