A Fisheries Officer reports in 1882 of the pristine conditions

Britain appointed an officer to inspect the condition of the rivers in Nova Scotia in 1881 and 1882. The following report was written by Officer Fred H. O. Veith, Esq
(The photo in this article was taken on September 8th, 2007 directly in front of Lot 5 of the St Mary's Riverside Lots. It's truly stunning how clear the river is to this day.)

September 20th 1882
I procured a horse and wagon and drove today over the head of the East River St. Mary's. The place here is called the Garden of Eden, 22 miles from New Glasgow. I visited the Moose and Garden Rivers, and went some distance up them both. On the former, about 1 1/4 miles rom the point where it enters the Garden Lake is situated an old mill, owned by a Mr. Sutherland, in the dam belonging to which a pass about 12 feet wide has been cut, affording an ample passage.

The river above the place, for 6 miles, and below it to the lake, is remarkably clean, unpolluted water. The bottom is all that can be desired for salmon spawning grounds, being composed of white sand and fine gravel. I have never, during my inspection through the Province, seen any better. The bed of the lake is of similar formation, and the water so clear the bottom may be seen at the depth of many feet.

The Garden River, the other tributary, though not carrying such a volume of water, is also an excellent salmon-breeding stream, and I have no doubt that these and the Garden Lake, were formerly the nurseries of the east branch of the St. Mary's River for salmon and gasperaux, before Cameron's mill-dam (of which I shall write further on) had cut them off. Indeed, it is known that gasperaux penetrated up the Garden River into Burra's Lake, 6 miles from its junction with Moose River. Into Burra's Lake flow three good sized streams, and the lake itself has a bottom similar to that of the Garden Lake already described. From the junction of the Moose and Garden Rivers to the Garden lake is about 1 mile, and they, together from that point, form a good-sized stream.

The lake itself is about 2 miles in length and 3/4 of a mile in breadth, and from its course, joining the West River at Glenelg, in Guysborough County, and flowing onwards through it, into the Atlantic, compose the main river of St. Mary's, the third of importance in the whole Province of Nova Scotia.