New Brunswick - Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island - page 245

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MOOSE ON THE LOOSE
Every year, there are around 300 collisions involving moose on the roads in New
Brunswick. These accidents are almost always fatal for the animal and about five
people a year die this way. Eighty-five percent of moose-vehicle collisions happen
between May and October, and most occur at night. Slow down when driving after
dusk and scan the verges for animals, using your high beams when there is no on-
coming traffic. High-risk zones are posted.
SAINT JOHN
POP 70,500
Saint John is the economic engine room of the province, a gritty port city with a dynam-
ism that's missing from the demure capital. The setting is spectacular - a ring of rocky
bluffs, sheer cliffs, coves and peninsulas surrounding a deep natural harbor where the
mighty Saint John and Kennebecasis Rivers empty into the Bay of Fundy. It can take a
bit of imagination to appreciate this natural beauty, obscured as it is by the smokestacks
of a pulp mill, oil refinery and garden-variety urban blight. The city is surrounded by an
ugly scurf of industrial detritus and a tangle of concrete overpasses. But those who push
their way through all this to the historic core are rewarded with beautifully preserved red-
brick and sandstone 19th-century architecture and glimpses of the sea down steep, nar-
row side streets.
Originally a French colony, the city was incorporated by British Loyalists in 1785 to
become Canada's first legal city. Thousands of Irish immigrants arrived during the potato
famine of the mid-1800s and helped build the city into a prosperous industrial town, im-
portant particularly for its wooden shipbuilding. Today, a large percentage of the popula-
tion works in heavy industry, including pulp mills, refineries and the Moosehead Brew-
ery.
Downtown (known as Uptown) Saint John sits on a square, hilly peninsula between
the mouth of the St John River and Courtenay Bay. Kings Sq marks the nucleus of town,
and its pathways duplicate the pattern of the Union Jack.
West over the Harbour Bridge (50¢ toll) is Saint John West. Many of the street names
in this section of the city are identical to those of Saint John proper, and to avoid confu-
sion, they end in a west designation, such as Charlotte St W. Saint John West has the fer-
ries to Digby, Nova Scotia.