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Stage 1 Historic Resources Assessment of Goose Arm Proposed Cottage Development 

Marianne P. Stopp 
 
INTRODUCTION

This report presents the results of a Stage 1 Historic Resources Impact Assessment of cottage development areas in Goose Arm, western Newfoundland. The cottage developments are situated along the head of Goose Arm, both on the coast and somewhat inland. The Goose Arm development areas are presently accessible via a rough logging road running west from Deer Lake. Alternatively, one could reach Goose Arm by boat from the Bay of Islands (Figure 1).

The following paragraphs describe the study area, the field methodology, the results of the Stage 1 field assessment, with an evaluation and discussion of the results.
 
 

Figure 1. Goose Arm Surveyed Areas.

DESCRIPTION OF STUDY AREA

As an arm of the Bay of Islands, Goose Arm is within the tidal zone and consequently lacks a beach margin at high tide. The shore rises steeply from the water for roughly 1.5 metres. Goose Arm Brook North and the wider Goose Arm Brook converge approximately two kilometres inland, and flow into Goose Arm from the northeast. These two waterways create a considerable area of silt deposition at the head of Goose Arm.

As the presence of the logging roads suggests, the hinterland of Goose Arm is dense boreal forest. The shoreline of Goose Arm is wooded with somewhat more bog immediately inland along the north shore. The general landscape of the proposed cottage areas is one of disturbance due to quarrying, gravel dumping, and bridge and access road construction. It is unclear whether the shoreline at the head of Goose Arm was as silted prior to logging. Topographic maps from the 1970s show boom piers across the northwest half of Goose Arm––there is no sign of these today. The water systems flowing into Goose Arm are all controlled by small dams while the hinterland has undergone extensive logging operations. All of these factors, mechanical equipment disturbance, river dams, and interior logging, have contributed towards a landscape which undoubtedly reflects little of its prehistoric aspect.

METHODOLOGY

Access to the cottage development areas (labelled A, B, C, E, F, G, H, I by the Department of Environment and Lands) in Goose Arm was via the lumber road. Each cottage development area was visually surveyed and subsurface surveyed where feasible. The entire shoreline of the head of Goose Arm was checked, from William Wheeler Point along the south shore to the unnamed point just southwards of Northwest Cove on the north shore (and opposite William Wheeler Point).

RESULTS AND EVALUATION

The results of the Stage 1 testing are summarized in Table 1. No evidence of cultural material was found. As the information in Table 1 indicates, the majority of development areas (A, C, E, F, G, H, I) have been severely impacted by road development, grading, fill dumping, and cabin development.

Previous archaeological work in the vicinity includes two surveys at Old Man's Pond, approximately seven kilometres southeast of the head of Goose Arm (Renouf 1991, Schwarz 1992). Neither survey recovered any evidence of cultural resources. Archaeological survey has, however, located cultural material at the mouth of Middle Arm, Bay of Islands, of which Goose Arm is an extension. The Parke's Beach site contains extensive Groswater and Middle Dorset components (Reader 1996, 1997). The Parke's Beach site clearly indicates that the Middle Arm-Goose Arm waterway was inhabited by prehistoric peoples.

CONCLUSIONS

The use of the coastal area by prehistoric peoples in the Middle Arm-Goose Arm waterway is evidenced by the Parke's Beach site. Given the disturbed nature of the study area, it is difficult to interpret whether prehistoric land use was restricted to the outer coast, or whether the area around the mouth of the Goose Arm Brook was also once occupied.

In closing, surface and sub-surface testing of the head of Goose Arm yielded no evidence of cultural resources. All but one of the cottage development areas were extensively disturbed due to mechanical earth moving during the original construction of the logging road. The logging road has in turn made the area amenable for cabin development. Although cabin development itself does not as a rule result in extensive areal disturbance, ancillary developments such as access routes, particularly when built for logging trucks, do cause considerable ground disturbance. It is entirely possible that logging access routes elsewhere in the province will in time provide the impetus for further developments such as cabins. With this in mind, it is recommended that the development of logging access roads be carefully considered as potential areas for Stage 1 assessments.

Table 1. Description of Cottage Development Areas A, B, C, E, F, G, H, I, and of Goose Arm Shoreline 

REFERENCES
 

Reader, D.
1996	"Archaeological Investigation Along the North Shore of the Bay of Islands, Newfoundland, 1995." On file at Culture and Heritage Division, Department of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
1997	"Archaeological Excavations at Parke's Beach, Bay of Islands, 1996: Groswater, and Dorset Palaeoeskimo and Beothuk Components." On file at Culture and Heritage Division, Department of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Renouf, M.A.P.
1992	"Results of Phase 1 Historic Resources Impact Assessment, Old Man's Pond, Western Newfoundland, 31 July and 4 August, 1991." On file at Culture and Heritage Division, Department of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.
Schwarz, F.
1992	"Report on the Results of a Stage 1 Historic Resources Impact Assessment of Old Man's Pond, Western Newfoundland." On file at Culture and Heritage Division, Department of Tourism, Culture, and Recreation, Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.