Page:The-new-brunswick-magazine-v3-n3-sep-1899.djvu/27

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WHERE IS RED HEAD?

The question that stands as the title of this paper may appear an exceedingly simple one to the average citizen of St. John. Almost any child will readily point to the familiar headland on the eastern shore of Courtenay Bay that has from time immemorial been known as Red Head. We have only to turn to Champlain's admirable chart of our harbor—made on the occasion of his visit in 1604 and published in 1612—and we find this well known headland clearly laid down as Cape rouge, or Red Cape.[1] Yet despite all this, the fact remains that in connection with the question "Where is Red Head?" a very serious controversy arose; lawyers of the keenest intellect and judges renowned for their ability and impartiality were called upon to exercise all their skill and learning to determine the answer to the apparently simple question—an answer, be it observed, that involved the legal title to thousands of acres of valuable property.

In a former number of the Magazine[2] an account was given of the curious lawsuit between James Simonds and his old partners Wm. Hazen and James White in the year 1792, in which the location of Red Head was the crucial point involved. Mr. Simonds wishing at that time to extend the bounds of the second grant (made to him in the year 1770) as far eastward as possible, in order to secure a larger portion of the Shebaskastaggan marsh,[3] claimed a red bank near

  1. ↑ The same name, its equivalent, occurs in later maps and the promantory was called Red Head by the English prior to the year 1757. Des Barres in his well known chart calls it "Des Barres Head."
  2. ↑ See "The Contes for Sebaskastaggan," in the July number of this Magazine.
  3. ↑ Shebaskastaggan, is the Indian name of the Marsh Creek; the Shebaskastaggan Marsh included all the marsh lands east of the city.
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