swamp

Tantramar historic dike system an engineering masterpiece, historian says

Tantramar historic dike system an engineering masterpiece, historian says

Driving along the back roads of the Tantramar marsh on the border of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, you can witness a vast expanse of grass and farmland — but that wasn't always the case. The only reason that area of the Isthmus of Chignecto looks the way it does is because of an engineering marvel that dates back almost 400 years to the 1630s. James Upham, a Moncton historian and educator, says the dikes and aboiteaux built by the Acadians are what made the roads, railways and communities along the marsh possible.

A century of water: As Winnipeg aqueduct turns 100, Shoal Lake finds freedom

A century of water: As Winnipeg aqueduct turns 100, Shoal Lake finds freedom

The taps to Winnipeg's drinking water were first turned on in April 1919, but as the city celebrated its engineering feat and raised glasses of that clear liquid, another community's fortunes suddenly turned dark. Construction of a new aqueduct plunged Shoal Lake 40 into a forced isolation that it is only now emerging from, 100 years after Winnipeg's politicians locked their sights on the water that cradles the First Nation at the Manitoba–Ontario border. "The price that our community has paid for one community to benefit from that resource, it's just mind-boggling," said Shoal Lake 40 Chief Erwin Redsky.