Molus River, New Brunswick

Molus River is a fresh water tributary of the Richibucto River, located in Weldford Parish, Kent County, New Brunswick, Canada. Epsikitiáskuk is what the Mi’kmaq people called the river.

The most likely source for the name Molus is from the Acadians and the French influence. The word “moluёs” is French for a tidal flat mussel, a type of shellfish commonly found on muddy beaches along the Main Richibucto River. The Cyrillic letter ‘ё’ could easily have been dropped. For a period from about 1850-1900 there was some confusion on maps and the name was often spelled Moulies River, moulies is a type of coal shale. This could also be an orgin for the name. As another of the tributaries of the Richibucto River is known as the "Coal Branch." There is also an old oral tradition that the river was named for a Henry Molus, an early settler or explorer in the area.

Until 1819 the river was "at the center of the Indian Reserve" when it was opened to British subjects for settlement. The community of Molus River, a farming and forestry community, now takes its name from the river. The first European settlers of the south side of the Molus River were 1821: Thomas Phelan (Whalen), John Phelan, Patrick Phelan. By the 1830s the north side was also opened and the Warman family settled here. Other settler names: Olsen, Dargavel, Stevenson, Millar, McPherson, Ward, and Harnett. The community reached its height in the late 1800s. By 1900 the community was in decline, the virgin forest of white pine and maple had been stripped from the land to supply the ship-building community down river at Kingston (now Rexton).