Miramichi

Miramichi is a town of 17,500 people (2016) in the Miramichi River Valley, and the largest town in northern New Brunswick.

Understand
Miramichi is a sprawling municipality formed by the merger of the towns of Newcastle and Chatham with three villages. The two town centres are across and down the river from each other, about 13 km (15 minutes by car) apart.

Miramichi bills itself as "Canada's Irish Capital", and is home to an annual Irish festival. It is one of the most Irish cities in Canada.

The Miramichi area’s economy is primarily focused on mining, fishing and forestry. Other sectors include: tourism, customer contact centres, manufacturing, and the provincial and federal government. The service sector is the city's largest employer.

History
Long prior to European settlement, the Miramichi region was home to members of the Mi'kmaq First Nation. Following the European discovery of the Americas, the Miramichi became part of the French colony of Acadia. By about 1740 French villages were well established on Miramichi Bay at Bay du Vin and Neguac.

The French and Indian War erupted in 1754. During the war many Acadian homes were destroyed by the British, and their residents were deported. Some Acadians, however, remained and escaped British attempts at deportation. They eventually established (or re-established) a host of small Acadian communities along the northern and eastern coasts of present-day New Brunswick.

The remaining Miramichi settlement was burned to the ground by the British in 1760. The French North American colonies were ceded to the British in the 1763 Treaty of Paris. Scottish settlers obtained a large grant encompassing much of the Miramichi region in 1765. Following the American Revolution some Loyalist families moved to Miramichi, and competition for the best lands escalated tensions between the early Scottish and new Loyalist settlers.

The Irish began arriving in Miramichi in numbers after 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic War, and with a few exceptions ceased coming to the area before the great Irish famine of 1847. Most arrived form the ports of Belfast and Cork each of which had strong commercial ties with Miramichi. Like the Scots they came on timber ships. By the 1870s the Irish were well established in Miramichi and by this decade less than 20% of them were recent immigrants. They represented 40% of the population of the region, spread fairly evenly over the entire Miramichi watershed.

The thin, acid soils of the Miramichi were not conducive to agriculture; thus, the lumber industry and Atlantic salmon fishery were the mainstays. A shipbuilding industry was established in 1773, largely to facilitate overseas lumber exports, including masts for the British navy, and to provide winter employment for the men.

As the shipbuilding, masting and lumber industries waned, pulp and paper production eventually replaced lumber exports as the mainstay of the area's economy. In the mid 20th century, an air force base, CFB Chatham, became the cornerstone of Chatham's economy. The discovery of base metal deposits and the development of Heath Steele Mines, 60 km to the northwest, allowed Newcastle's economy to diversify and strengthen through the 1960s. The mine and air force base had both closed by 1999 as the mine's ore body was depleted. The forest industry is the dominant player in the city's economy today.

By car
Miramichi is 140-150 km northwest of Moncton via Highways 11 or 126, 80 km south of Bathurst on Highway 8, and 172 km north of Fredericton on Highway 8.

By bus

 * Operates a route between Campbellton and Moncton including stops in Dalhousie, Bathurst, Miramichi, and Moncton Airport. Travel time to Miramichi from Bathurst is 50 minutes, from Campbellton is 2 hours, and from Moncton is 2 hours.
 * Travel to Miramichi from the following destinations involving same day transfers is as follows:
 * From Edmundston (10.5 hours), Fredericton (6.75 hours), Halifax (6 hours), and Saint John (7 hours) with a transfer in Moncton.
 * From Charlottetown (5 hours) with transfers in Amherst and Moncton.
 * From Antigonish (7 hours), North Sydney (9.75 hours), Sydney (10.5 hours) with transfers in Truro and Moncton.

By train

 * Train operator:
 * Operates The Ocean route between Halifax and Montreal, including stops in Moncton and Sainte-Foy (near Quebec City). Operates three trips per direction per week. A shuttle between train stations in Sainte-Foy and in Quebec City is available for The Ocean trains, but must be reserved in advance.

By plane
The nearest major airport is at Moncton.

Buy
Miramichi offers two downtown districts, a number of malls including Northumberland Square, Bridgeview Plaza, Chatham Shopping Centre, Douglastown Plaza, Miramichi Mall, and box stores along Douglastown Boulevard.


 * Historic Chatham Business District focused on the Water Street area.
 * Newcastle Business District — visit the Farmers Market every Friday.