Page:The-new-brunswick-magazine-v3-n5-nov-1899.djvu/33

Although the people living in the vicinity commonly refer to the place as an old French fort, both the Block house and battery at Worden's are comparatively modern. They were constructed during the war of 1812. This is convincingly proved by an old document^[1] entitled a "Report of all the Barracks, Batteries, Block Houses and other Government Buildings in the Province of New Brunswick in the year 1825." This return mentions "Worden's Battery and Block House, 30 miles from St. John," gives the date of its erection as 1813, and reports its condition at that time (1825) as "in ruins."

Mr. W. H. Smith when a boy remembers to have met on the river boats on several occasions small detachments of the Royal Artillery, who were sent up from the garrison at St. John at intervals for the purpose of overhauling and cleaning the guns then planted upon the battery. According to Mr. Worden the guns were removed some years ago and taken to St. John.

There is said to have been in the early days of the century a semaphore telegraph erected near the site of the Block House. It was the desire of the Duke of Kent to establish a telegraph system of this nature between Halifax and Fredericton, to be eventually extended to Quebec, messages being sent by means of signals repeated from hill to hill. Bald mountain in Queen's County and a hill back of Milkish were stations on this line of communication.

But it is time to explain the origin of Nid d'Aigle, or the Eagle's Nest.

Dr. W. F. Ganong in his Place-Nomenclature of New Brunswick, p. 257, observes that the name Nid d'Aigle, applied to this locality, first occurs in Bellin's