Pugwash River Pugwash River The Pugwash River is a river in Nova Scotia, Canada. It flows north into the Northumberland Strait in the village of Pugwash An 1845 account said, "Pugwash Bay is one of the finest harbours in the county; the shore is so bold that vessels of 500 tons burthen may lie at all times in safety within twenty yards of it : above the channel, which is not more than a quarter of a mile wide, it becomes a beautiful basin, into which the Pugwash river discharges itself. According to "Sailing Directions for Nova Scotia, Bay of Fundy, and
Pugwash River for tbe water, when I saw it, was thick with sawdust and buckwheat shells. McArthur's dam is without a ladder." In 1891 the Pugwash fisheries overseer A.M. Wills reported that the smelt fishery in his division was almost a failure. The run was abundant but the fish were too small for market. His report noted, "The main abuses to the fisheries were caused by mill refuse, old trees and sawdust. All the oysters taken in this division were caught in Pugwash River. and men who were raking there reported acres of grounds in the river so covered with sawdust they