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The Old Canada Road is a long-lost trail between the Canadian province of Quebec and Maine, in the northeast corner of the United States. Yes, it really was lost, and finding it again was a complex process that involved state-of-the-art technology. How the location of the road was pinpointed was very interesting, and I'll return to it as soon as I've given you a little background information. The road was begun in 1817, a few years before Maine even became a state. At the time, Quebec was a major market for livestock, crops, and fish, so a road to Quebec was seen by officials in Maine as necessary for trade. For about 20 years, the movement of people and goods was mostly from Maine to Quebec, but then the trend reversed as thousands of Canadians immigrated to Maine to escape poor crops, a lack of jobs, and the threat of disease. I think it was a cholera epidemic. Besides these negative reasons, major building projects in Maine also made the state very attractive for the Canadians who needed work. I should stress, though, that immigration during that period went in both directions. In fact, the flow of people and goods went completely unhindered. There wasn't even a border post until around 1850. The people of the time saw Maine and Quebec as a single region, mainly because of the strong French influence, which is still evident in Maine today. Eventually, the road fell into disuse as a major railway was completed. Finally people simply forgot about it and that's how it came to be lost. This brings me back to the original topic.
废弃已久的加拿大古路曾经是一条连接加拿大魁北克和美国东北部的缅因州的古老道路。它诚然早已踪迹全无,而寻找它则是一项需要动用顶尖科技的工程。如何确定这条古路的确切位置就很有意思。不过,在此之前,还是先允许我对它的背景知识做个介绍吧。这条路始于1817年,而几年后,缅因州才正式成立。由于那时的魁北克已经形成了繁荣的禽粮鱼类的市场。因此,缅因州的官员认为一条通往魁北克的道路显得尤为重要。此后的20年间,人员和货物的流动主要是从缅因州到魁北克。但是后来的日子里,这一趋势逐渐发生了改变。成千上万的加拿大人为了躲避饥荒、失业和疾病--我猜应该是霍乱,开始移民到缅因州。当然,除了这些消极的原因之外,还有积极原因,比如缅因州新兴的建筑工程也吸引了大量急需工作的加拿大人。需要强调的是,当时的移民流动是双向的。事实上,当时的人口和货物流动完全不受限制。直到1850年前后才出现了边境检查站。由于都受到法语的影响,当时缅因州和魁北克常常被看成一个独立的区域。而这一影响至今在缅因仍然非常明显。最终,随着主要铁路的建成,这条道路的作用日渐衰微,人们也渐渐将它忘却,最终它完全消失了。现在,还是让我们回到最初的话题吧。 ——译文来自: maggieliu621