NCC Magazinespring 2016

BOOTS ON
THE TRAIL
Crabbes River
Forest and river lead visitors down a path that links
the landscape with Newfoundland’s rich history
American bittern
The Newfoundland Railway had a brief
history, operating for a little less than a
century. Moving freight and passengers
across a largely unpopulated land, the railway
linked remote communities together.
The story of the Newfoundland Railway
cannot be told without emphasizing the role
played by railway contractor Robert Gillespie Reid
(1842-1908), a Scottish businessman. Founder of
the Reid Newfoundland Company, Reid owned,
operated and expanded the Newfoundland Railway
from 1889 until his passing. Reid was granted
a substantial amount of land in Newfoundland:
a subsidy of 5,000 acres (2,023 hectares) for each
mile of railroad operated.
On July 7, 1900, Reid granted, for the sum of one
dollar, a square mile of his land in Newfoundland
to Sir William Van Horne.
For more than 100 years, the plot of land that
Robert G. Reid granted to Van Horne remained in
the hands of his family; until recently.
CONSERVATION STATUS
A few years ago, the direct descendants of Sir
William Van Horne approached the Nature Conservancy
of Canada to discuss donating this historical
property for conservation. Located just west of
the T’Railway at Crabbes River, the property is
close to 610 acres (250 hectares) of forest divided
by a wide, meandering salmon river.
Although the main railway line across the
island was itself a major feat of engineering and
political optimism, train travel was replaced
by a cross-provincial highway and automobiles.
Eventually, the tracks were removed and the
railway was converted into an 883-kilometre-long
linear provincial park.
All that remains is the vacant rail bed, now
designated the “T’Railway,” which runs from
St. John’s to Port aux Basques .
GETTING THERE
Located off the T’Railway in St. Fintan’s,
approximately an hour and a half drive southwest
from Corner Brook on the Trans-Canada
CRABBES RIVER: NCC. AMERICAN BITTERN: ROBERT MCCAW.
6 SPRING 2016 natureconservancy.ca