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Maps, plates, charts, etc., mey be filmed at different reduction ratios. Those too lerge to be entirely included in one exposure ere filmed beginning in the upper left hand corner, left to right and top to bottom, as many frames es required. The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre film6s A des taux de r6duction diffArents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clich*. 11 est fiimt A partir de I'engle supMeur geuche, de gauche A droite. et de haut en has, an prenant la nombre d'images n6cessaira. Les diagrammes suivants lllustrent la mAthoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 "lONTREAL:" AMD <( THE OTTAWA:" TWO LECTURES DELIVERED BEFORE THE MECHANICS INSTITUTE OF MONTREAL, IN JANUARY, 1868 AND 1864. BT THOS. C. KEEPER, CIVIL ENGINEER. ■«i«« ^ ^^/i^^ ^ ^lif^fit m ti* MONTREAL: • / NTED BY JOHN LOVELL, ST, NICHOLAS STREET, 1864. MONTREAL. Ladies and Gentlemen, In selecting the name of your beautiful City for the ^ubject of my remarks to you this evening, I feel some ec- tively, because a propeller from Cleveland to Ogdens- burgh will carry — at eight miles the hour — the load of five canal boats, which move only about 2| miles the hour. Now, it is in our power by constructing a canal, to enable that propeller to proceed directly into Lake Cham- plain instead of stopping at Ogdensburgh, and thus save two transhipments and their accompanying damage and detention — and in so doing, to raise the stock of our St. -^ "f il MONTREAL. Lawrence Canals to fully doiiblo their present value, nnd bring one of the greatest enrrents of eommeree within our reach. As an instance of the etTect of having and of not having an interest in this Western trad<' — it is sufli- cient to refer to the fact — that the tolls ree(-ough Montreal, whereas in the other, it would stop at Longueuil, making that point quite as efficient a rival as Caughnawaga. So also with the down trade, I mean that intended for Lake Cham- MONTREAL. ,-r .5 a plain — supposing that you could induce it to undergo 90 feet of unnecessary lockage — it would either descend by the ra))ids direct to Longueuil, or if it passed down the Canal, it would do you no niore good, than it would do to Beauhamois or Cornwall. The same arguments which are used for the CInunplain Canal will apply to the improvement oi' the rapids, between Coteau du Lac and Montreal, — with this addi- tional consideration, that the whole benefits of this expen- diture would tell upon both the Sea and the inland trade of this City. Wh(in we reflect that our largest Mail Steam- ers every day descend from Prescott to tide water with- out passing through a Canal or Lock, it is wonderful that we should not sooner have inquired into the (causes which prevent all boats, freigh* as well as passenger craft, descending by the river, and thus reduce the time and cost of bringing cargoes to the seaports. I can speak from personal knowledge when I say that the impedi- ments to this unrestricted navigation of the ra[)ids, by all boats which may reascend the Canals, are utterly insig- nificant when compared with the eilbct to be produced by their removal. The improvement of the ^apids and the construction of the Ship Canal to Lake Champlain are works of the very first importance, and would })roduce greater results from the expenditure recpiinjd, than any other works in the country, perhaps upon the Continent, and certainly are more worthy of the consideration of the Legislature than such speculations as the Sault Ste. Marie Canal. We have now taken acursory view of some of the leading enterprises which Montreal should promote in order that she may build up her commerce upon a more solid and enduring foundation than one based upon commercial legislation. Legislative measures are certainly the cheap- est modes of relief, but when they are contested so as to partake of the character of class legislation, they are ropes of sand. Nothing can be more dangerous,— nothing more hostible to the best interests of this City can be 1 5 i I i '■' i ! ,!^ 14} 1 i itJ u LECTURE ON it devised — than the attempt to confer by temporary Acts of Parliament commercial advantages upon the seaports at the ex})ense of the inland ones. To engage in a war with U])per Canada njjon these points would be to alien- ate vonr best customer. You cannot fail to be as unsuccessful in result as you would be unjust in position. The constitution of the United States prohibits tlie levying of greater duties at one port in the Union than at another. Goods entered at Cliicagovia Montreal, are liable to no more duty than those entered at New York. Instead, therefore, of attempting to force the trade of Upper Canada by Legislation, through the St. Lawrence, invite, coax, not only this trade but that of the whole North West through this river, by making it as free as the Ocean. Then you will make Oswego, Cleveland and Chicago, Hamilton, Kingston and Toronto, Inland Sea})orts, if I may use the term, and unite them with you in one com- mon bond of interest. This indifference upon the subject of the free naviga- tion of the St. Lawrence is in the Lower Provinces, at least, almost criminal. Upper Canada, with the power of selecting New York or Montreal, can aftbrd to neglect this question. The Lower Province, which will be the greatest gainer by th(? measure, appears to attach a value to the monopoly she possesses, whereas it is a positive curse to her. Sam Slick tells us of a bear which hav- ing seated himself upon the moving log in a saw-mill, and becoming annoyed with the encroachments of the saw, embraced it with a characteristic hug until it tut him through, tumbling a hairy slab of bear's meat on either side of the saw log. Now all parties must admit that the commercial |)osition of the Lower Provinces is chiefly to be maintained by an increase of Shipj)ing. It is wise then to ^' hug " a system which discourages an increase of Shi pping, and wh ich is cutting us in two. Have you any thing to fear from a crowd of American merchantmen in the St. Lawrence ? Why not cxclud«j the travellers of that country from our Hotels and Steamers ? There is as M' MONTREAl.. u much reason in the one course as in the other. Canada East is Commercial, Canada West is Agricultural; if like the Northern and Southern States they clash, — the Union Act may like the U. S. Senate maintain equality of representation in the face of inequality of population, but this will only be submitted to upon the basis of per- fect commercvial equality. Upper Canada will, ere long, possess double the population of the Lower Province, and and will certainly claim equal rights. But there is an interest growing up in this country which will inevitably overpower all others, and overturn any unequal legislation bearing upon the Inland trade. The Railways cannot go to sea. The surplus of this country has for more than one-third of the year no other market, nor any other outlet to a market, than that to be found in or through New York and New England ; and it f^annot be supposed that this great interest will consent to be debarred from the international trade inland, even if the people who were supplied by it were content to submit to so short-sighted a policy. 1 have alluded to a question of public policy because it is one which most deeply concerns your welfare. Montreal, while she should never forget her interests as a seaport, should also recollect that these interests depend on her ability likewise to maintain an inland trade. If you are enabled to overcome the deep tide water advan- tages of Quebec, for transhipment between the Ocean and the Lakes, it will be because you possess other advantages which Quebec does not which will enable you to comptUe successfully with her. The ability to bridge the River, the large surronnding area of fertile and populous country, the junction of the Ottawa with the St. Lawrence, the proximity of New England w4th her millions of consumers, and of the West with its rapidly increasing millions of producers for whom you may become the successful caterers, — these conditions will enable you, by the aid of Railways, to bring about a con- centration of trade and travel here which is impossible at I i LECTURE ON Quebec. But if by a mistaken policy you spurn tlie inland trade, which is always here always increasing, and fall back solely upon the fluctuating and uncertain trade by sea, prospering chiefly from the negative fact that ships come here when they can find nothing better to do el^'^wliere, you will, like Ephraim, be "let alone." Before we ask Upper Canada to import through our ware- houses, we should satisfy her of our ability to discharge the responsibilities we would assume. How would you supply from the Ocean your Western nursery in winter ? Not through the United States, for of course Uncle Sam would not be long in bottling as up in the route for which we had evinced so strong a predilection ; nor could we complain, after discriminating against him, if he should withdraw the bonding and warehousing privileges by which we make use of his seaports when our own are useless. How then is Montreal to provide an outlet for her young and rising family in Western Canada during the five mortal months of winter? Echo answers — Halifax and Quebec Railroad \ It is a wiser as well as a more honorable policy to endeavour to better ourselves by legitimate means rather than at the expense of others, and experience has shewn that in free countries no other course can be depended on. I do not pretend to say that diflerential duties in favor of thci St. Lawrence will not grant advantages to Montreal which she does not now possess, but I do believe they will bring with them disadvantages more serious ; that while we grasp at the shadow we will lose the substance. I would prefer directing your attention to enterprises the beneficial effect of which can neither be conferred upon you nor taken from you by legislation, and which, if they do not make you friends, will at least not add to your enemies, and will be equally useful and indispensible to you under any system of commercial legislation. Of what use would diflerential duties and increased trade be to you unless your Harbour be enlarg- ed, — unless vessels of deeper draught can come to your ir !■; Iv Ik p MONTREAL. 27 i .-. wharves ? It is more profitable, therefore, to direct our attention to objects which we cannot dispense with, and which will be far more efficient means of attracting and securing the trade and sympathies of Upper Canada and the West than engaging in a stmggle in which we can obtain nothing permanent but the ill-will of those whom it is our interest to conciliate. The very agitation of schemes which, however mistakenly you may consider it, are yet sincerely looked upon in Upper Canada as an attempt at a sort of commercial robbery, will drive West- em Canadian merchants in disgust to New York. This is not a question between Free Trade and Protection, — neither of which systems as a whole are suitable for us any more than that the same food would assimilate in the digestive organs of the infant and the full-grown man. This is a question between the inland and the seaports — the former seventy in number, the latter only two, — a question which it is proposed to settle not by fair and honourable commercial rivalry but by coercive legisla- tion. There are other subjects of interest which time will not allow me to enter upon, significant of the future that is in store for Montreal. The water power of the St. Lawrence capable of driving its millions of spindles will sooner or later be celled into activity. Our magni- ficent rapids cannot much longer be allowed to flow use- lessly to the sea — the admiration of travellers — the toys and playthings of romantic maidens — the gigantic rock- ing horses of annual flocks of tourists who come and go as regularly as the wild geese. There are also minor wants but not less important, to be noted. The health of the City calls for an efficient system of drainage and sewage, for which the topography is most favorable. You have perhaps escaped the cholera at the expense of one-third of the City in ashes. ) -e is the only thorough scavenger for a city badly drai^^ed : and it is perhaps fortunate that the same poverty which causes our early towns to neglect their drainage also ^4i i •i I 28 LECTURE ON builds of combustible materials, thus providing the future fuel for the purifying process. Your physical wants provided for, the moral ones come next, although some philosophers— forgetting that the gospel was not preached to the poor until the lepers were cleansed, tlio dead were raised, the blind received their sight, i:.e lame walked, and the deaf heard, — would reverse this proposition. You need a Public Library. This City is certainly deficient in this important respect. You also need an Alms House — a public receptacle for beggars- where the idle may be made to work and the impotent be cared for. Our door bells are ever on the ring — our house- maids ever on the run to answer the calls of shivering wretches — and who shall discriminate between the w^or- thy and the unworthy ; — we can refuse non'^ , for we may " entertain angels unawares." And having done our duty may we not also enjoy ourselves — may we not combine the useful with the ornamental, and while yet the City is young, before it numbers its hundreds of thousands, set aside public lunofs to let in the light and air of heaven amonj? our thickening streets — lay off" Parks and Gardens to give new attractions to the stranger, — new recreations to the toil-worn citizen. Cannot Nuns' Island be secured as a Water Park for the future use of the City ? Should not the vacant fields on either side of St. Catherine Street between Philip's Square and the Protestant Orphan Asylum, be laid out as a park beiore they arc built over — where the pure air and the constant breeze drawn round the head of the Mountain may be enjoyed by a few minutes' walk from the busy haunts on either side of McGill Street. And the long- talked-of Boulevard ? Will not Montreal avail herself of the magnificent features of the Mountain to have a drive where the tired mechanic may sport his cab or sleigh with wife and baby alongside the gay turnout of the merchant prince, or the high official ? Will she not covet I MONTREAL. 29 an attraction which few cities in America can and none have availed themselves of. Would it not arrest for a day the tribe of pleasure-seekers who seem to be the legi- timate descendants of the famous — Mynherr von Slam, The richest merchant in Rotterdam, — and who seem to have inherited his cork leg. May it not be even possible that the facilities afforded by Rail- ways will induce many of the wealthy idlers who con- gregate in New York and Boston to visit us during the winter, to wrap themselves in our furs and enjoy that abundance of snow, that keen exhilirating atmosphere which they so much prize " down south," and of which we have perhaps a surplus. In conclusion, permit me again to vindicate tl'e pro- priety of the topics brought under your notice this even- ing. Is there not a marked change in the general appre- ciation of what are called public improvements ? Is not the English tongue rapidly girdling the earth ? Cali- fornia and Australia, — and who is not interested in them — who has notfriends there, — having in the duly appointed time revealed their hidden treasures, America has opened up the Isthmus of Daricn while England is breaking through that of Suez. America is agitating a Railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific, — England one from the British Channel tc the Ganges, from Calais to Calcutta, passing through Constantinople and the valley of the Euphrates, with a station at Antioch and a junction to Jerusalem. In the Ohio basin, in the Mississippi valley, on the Atlantic slope of the AUeghanies, throughout Western Canada, from the Sagi-enay to Panama, from Halifax to San Francisco — everywhere one subject, the making of Railways, rules the public mind. Shall we alone fold our arms until the question is put, why stand ye here all the day idle ? What other city of this popu- lation has not made, or is not now undertaking all the practicable routes within her reach ? Practical mechanics is the hand-maid of Science. The ^ 30 LECTURE ON ^l! 11 Printing Press has distributed the hoarded lore of Time. The civilization of a country is but another term for the Arts and Sciences of that country. The Ancients were the fathers of Astronomy, of Mathematics and Sculp- ture : — in Euclid, in Archimedes, they had their Bacons and Newtons but they had not their Watts and their Arkwrights — nor was the world then ready for them. One great civilizing engine the Romans understood and employed — perfect roads. The spread of Christiani- ty, the first great moral revolution applied to the earth, devolved upon that age and that empire which alone of all previous ages and empires possessed the capabili- ties for giving effect to the Divine injunction, — " Go ye into all lands preach the Gospel to every creature." The broad, hard inimitable highways which radiated from ancient Rome into every conquered Province between the Pillars of Hercules and the banks of the Euphrates were garrisoned up to the very borders of that barbarian cloud which hung for centuries over the Roman frontier. These great arteries worked by the heart of the then mistress of the world pent up the flood of barbarism until Christianity had taken root, until it alone survived the wreck and tri- umphed over those fierce intruders who had just broken the secular power of hitherto invincible Rome. Constructed to convey the mail clad cohorts, the relent- less Eagles, and the swift vengeance of the Roman Senate into revolting provinces, these noble roads were in the providence of God made the efficient and indeed the indispensable means of waging a spiritual warfare, and bore with jealous care the swift footed messenger of the Gospel of peace beyond the lofty Alps and the far distant Pyrenees. And may not we be entering upon those latter times, when many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall increase ? and may not the vast, the almost incre- dible extension of the Railway system, the Electric Tele- graph, and the Ocean Step mer over all the Christian Earth, be a forerunner, — a necessary and an indispensa- ble forerunner— to that second great moral revolution, the i MOirTREAL. 31 ■■■!j,» Millenium, — " when the sword shall be beaten into a ploughshare and the spear into a pruning hook ; — when nation shall not rise up against nation, neither shall there be war any more." — It may be a heresy — but is there not reason for a belief that the regeneration of the dark cor- ners of the earth is to be accomplished, not through the pulpit alone, nor by sectarian schools, — nor yet the phi- losophy of ehea,p literature — nor by miracles — but by a practical elevation of the people, to be brought about by a rapid development of Commerce and the Arts. Igno- rance and prejudice will flee before advancing prosperity. Wherever a railway breaks in upon the gloom of a depressed and secluded district, new life and vigour are infused into the native torpor, — the long desired market is obtained — labour now reaps her own reward — the hitherto useless waterfall now turns the laboring wheel, now drives the merrier spindle, the cold and hungry are now clothed and nourished ; and thus are made sus- ceptible converts to a system the value of which they are not slow to appreciate. The pulpit will have then its grateful listeners, the school its well filled benches, — the stubborn opponents of wordy philosophy will then sur- render to a practical one the truth of which they have experienced. Let then the bigot, the theorist, and the agitator ply their unprofitable trade, — let them lay the flattering unc- tion to their souls that they alone are engaged in the high and holy cause of moral elevation. Let them commis- serate the apparently low aims, the ceaseless toil and drudgery of the practical mechanic ; — but know for a cer- tainty that bigotry and intolerance j agitation, and the highest order of speculative philosophy have existed in the midst of starving and uneducated masses ; — that it is the Steamboat and the Railroad which has peopled the recent wilderness of the North West— and by granting facility of access and by securing a reward to labor, have diffused a degree of comfort and prosperity, unprece- dented in history. Every new manufacture, every new r. ' 32 LECTURE ON ir ii ) '' machine, every mile of railway built is not only of more practical benefit, but is a more efficient civilizcr, a more speedy and certain reformer, than years of declamation, agi- tation, or moral legislation. And shall not the mechanic, ever the pioneer of progress, lift up his eyes from the work bench and look ahead ? Has he, the humble instrument in a mighty n^volution, no right to think on such ihiufi's ? " Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn !" I venture to believe that, as mechanics we may devote some moments to a consideration of the tenden- cies, the })rospects, and the utility of the great enter{)rises, which give character to the age, and in the execu- tion of which we are in a greater or less degree the agents — that this feeling of being useful in onr day and generation will while away with a diminish(;d degree of weariness the many hours of labor — that as you ply the busy hammer or wield the heavier sledge some of you may dream that you are fast driving nails into the coffin of prejudice, of ignorance, of superstition and national animosities ; that as you turn down the bearings or guide the uncn-ing steel over all the 500 j)arts of a locomotive engine, fancy will picture you cutting deep, and smooth, and true, into obstacles which have so long separated one district, one family, one people from another — and that you may exult in the reflection that those huge drivers will yet tread out the last smouldering embers of discord, that those swift revolving v/heels — by practically anni- hilating time and space and by re-uniting the scattered members of many a happy family — will smooth the hitherto rugged path, fill up the dividing gulf, break through the intervening ridge, overcome or elude the ups and downs of life's chequered journey, and speed the unwearied traveller upon his now rejoicing way. Montreal, January, 1853. >v i i : '■\.-JS^mi THE OTTAWA. Ladies and Gentlemen, I have selected for this evening's lecture one corner of Canada more on account of its obscurity than for its prominence^ — a district of whijh I will venture to say Canadians, generally, know less than of many foreign countries, — one which few have ever seen, and which very few have examined. The reason of this ignorance is soon explained. Many persons have supposed that Bytown, the capital of the Ottawa, was so named because everybody gave it the go-by; and indeed the whole Ottawa valley, an ofl-shoot from that of the St. Lawrence, is so removed from the trunk line of travel that it has escaped the eye not only of Canadians proper, but of those indefatigable and 'through by daylight' tourists who " see Canada " from Niagara to Quebec in thirty-six hours. The requisites for an examination of the Ottawa are : — a strong constitution, and a still stronger digestion, — the stomach of a locomotive and the appetite of a saw-mill, — abilities to ride without a saddle, — to walk after as well as before dinner, — to paddle a bark canoe, run a rapid, and swim when your canoe is swamped in a " cellar," or riddled on a rock. You must be able to eat salt pork and petrified biscuit, and drink tea which would peel the tongue of a buffalo ; or if you can get far enough away, and are something of £ J' i 41 I I Si LECTURE ON H a vegetarian, you may try trij)e de roche with Labrador tea for an alterative. If you " tho' hating punch and prelacy," are yet like tho Puritan divine, "Who followed after Timothy and took a little wine, it must be high wines, 40 o. p., condensed for conveni- ence of portaging, and in color and in character veritable blue ruin. If a teetotaller, when you havn't time, or wood, or dry weather enough to make a Molly of your- self and " put the kettle on," you have the limpid waters of the Ottawa conveyed to your mouth in the " gum dish," a tin receptacle for a mixture of rosin and tallow where- with the seams of your bark canoe are payed, or — as I have seen some voyageurs do — in a well-worn shoe, another instance of the universality of the adage, " there's nothing like leather." If you would sleep on a swelter- ing night in June, nothing short of chloroform will render a novice insensible to the melody of those swamp sere- naders, the mosquitoes, or the tactics of their blood- thirsty ally, the black fly, who noiselessly fastens upon your jugular while the mosquito is bragging in your face. Two remedies are at your service, either of which some pers( rs will be found captious enough to consider worse than the disease. The first cure is the one applied to hams — smoke yourself until your eyes are like burned holes in a blanket, and until you have creosote enough in your mouth to cure a toothache. The second is to smear all your assailable parts with Canadian balsam, until after a nighf s tossing in your blanket, you have wool enough on your face and hands to make you look as well as feel, — decidedly sheepish. But do not consider me as desiring in the slightest degree to damp the ardour of any enthusiastic Tourist up the Ottawa. I am only relating the experience of the improvident or reckless traveller — and such are the well-known characteristics of human nature that the slight inconveniences I have hinted at will only inflame the zeal of romantic youths and maidens bent upon " see- i! THE OTTAWA. 36 ing tho elephant." If you store well your hampers and take camp followers enough to carry thorn, and if you don't lose them by upsetting your canoe in a rapid, you may avoid the pork, &c. — and if you are expert at throwing a stone or a fly, you can bring down a partridge, or bring up a trout for an occasional change of diet. Where cooking utensils are necessarily limited, the fish, flesh and fowl, — or, speaking more precisely, the trout, pork and partridge are sometimes boiled together in the solitary pot ; but a more commendable course is to fry the fish and grill the others. Expedition is the maxim of all sylvan cookery, and as plucking the feathers off a partridge would be too great a tax upon the time and patience of the voyagenr^ the method most in vogue is to run your hunting knife round his throat and ancles and down his breast, when taking a leg in each hand, and pressing your thumbs into his back, you pop him out of his skin as you would a pea from its pod. Then make a spread-eagle of him on a forked twig, the other extremity of which is thrust in the ground, and after wrapping a rasher of bacon around his neck and under his wings, as ladies wear a scarf, you incline him to the fire, turning the spit in the ground, and you will have a result such as Soyer might be proud of. When your other avocations will not afford time even for the skinning process, an alternative mode is to make a paste of ashes and water, and roll up your bird therein with feathers and all the appurtenances thereof, and thrust the perform- ance in the fire. In due time on breaking the cemented shell, (which is not unlike a sugared almond,) the feathers, skin, &c., adhere to it, and you have the pure kernel of poultry within. With this imperfect allusion to some of the peculiari- ties of the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties, I pro- ceed to my subject ; and first I would mention that a gentleman in every way well qualified for the task, (Mr. Turner,) has, I understand, spent some time upon the Ottawa for the express purpose of giving to the public i J 36 LGCTURB ON / i : 1 , I Mi ill 1 aulhcntic information about that interesting region — and a description oC its great feature, the luir' er trade. He has been aided by the Government and has had access toofiicial documents ; his worli, therefore, when published cannot fail to b(! a vahiable addition to the literature of the country. My own knowledge of the Ottawa is, I regret to say, inferior to my opportunities being derived from frecjuent trips in summer and winter upon the main stream — while in cnarge of the Government works for the improvement of the timber navigation — to a distance of about 300 miles, and upon a few of the principal tributaries — some of which are 200 to 300 miles in length ; as well as from explorations of the settled por- tions of the country in relation to roads and bridges. ■ The present seems to me a favorable time for turning our eyes toward this terra incognita. Magnificent schemes of railway development are on iooX ; no less than five char- tered Companies are struggling for the honor or the profit of building Railways for the Ottawa. Capitalists with no end or beginning of money are scufliing over stock books for the control of the direction, or are sympathising with municipalities in order to relieve them of their bonds ; last of all, the province, suffering from a pletliora of the public purse, is beginning to canal the Ottawa in the middle, in order that it may be compelled to work out at both ends, and thus effectually secure the reduction of the inflammatory symptoms in the Treasury, just as a physician gives you ipecacuanha in order to starve you into a cure. The Ottawa River from its confluence with the St. Lawrence to its source, like the latter, consists of a series of wide expanses, or lakes, connected by rapids of greater or less length. It has about twenty first class tributaries besides a greater number of inferior ones ; each of these tributaries has its numerous branches, and these last their forks ; and, as the sources of the greater num- ber of the tributaries, branches and forks are upon nearly the same elevation with that of the parent stream, (which THE OTTAWA. is about seven hundred feet above tide water) you can form some idea of the countless number and variety of the cataracts, chdtes and rapids — falling from fork to branch, from branch to tributary, and from this last to the main river, through varied geological formations and amidst every variety of scenery — which characterize the broad valley of the Ottawa. The main stream is supposed to run about six hundred miles, and its longest branches about half this length. Though shorter than many American rivers — few can vie with it in average breadth, or in the volume and purity of its dark but transparent waters. Unlike ordinary rivers, the higher you ascend it the wider it becomes ; this description applies to it for two hundred and eighty miles. Two hundred miles above its mouth it contains an Island over twenty miles long and from five to ten miles in breadth ; and fifty miles farther, another of about the same dimensions ; beyond this it nms for about twenty-five miles at the base of a chain of mountains, with a breadth exceeding a mile, and a depth of over one hundred fathoms. At its mouth the Ottawa forms the Island on which this City stands and completely encircles us so that, although we are upon the St. Lawrence, not a drop of its blue water washes our shore from Point Claire to Bout de PIsle, a distance of forty miles. Not a fourth part of the waters of the Ottawa enters the St. Lawrence above us, yet this is sufficient to drive the latter to the south shore — whilst the remainder, passing behind us, forms a very largo Island in what is strangely called the Little River. Departing from the St. Lawrence, by Lake St. Louis, we pass into the Ottawa by the rapids of St. Anne, alluded to in Moore's Canadian Boat Song, and after passing a few picturesque islands and a veritable ruin, that of the Chateau Brilliant or old Fort Senneville, a relic of the Indian wars, we immediately encounter the beautiful Lake of Two Mountains, where the once powerful and warlike Iroquois have buried the hatchet with their Algonquin foes, both tribes now occupying a !|: 56 LECTTTRE OS 1 i ij I ■ single village — divided only by a street, — and worshipping the Great Spirit under a common roof. The passage between Lake St. Louis and that of the Two Mountains is effected by a lock at St. Anne, of the same dimensions as those upon the St. Lawrence Canals, that is, forty- five feet in width. This lock has a depth in it of six feet at low water, but, most probably for the purpose of giTarding against the grounding of any vessel in the lock, where there is no room to spare, the Board of Works have taken the precaution to leave shoals both above and below it, on which there is a depth of only two and a half feet at lowest water. Upon these shoals there is ample room and verge enough for all lazily dis- posed craft to rest, or scrape the barnacles off their bottoms. At the head of the Lake of Two Mountains there are but few miles of river proper before we are brought up, at Carillon, by the Rapids of the Longue Sault, some twelve miles in length. These are surmounted by three distinct canals, an effort of the Imperial Govern- ment, — the two lower of which have locks of thirty- three feet in width, but the upper one, of only twenty- four. This useful provision serves to prevent the passage of any boat which might be too large to get through the forty-six locks of the Rideau Canal, between Kingston and Bytown, all of which are thirty-three feet in width. From the head of the Longue Sault Rapids at Grenville, to Bytown, the Ottawa is without lakes and is navigable for boats with about five feet draught at lowest water. This portion of the river is forbidding to the tourist in consequence of local phenomena. Six large tributaries firom the north and two from the south pour their freshets into this reach, and swell the volume of the main stream to a height of twenty feet or more before it can be dis- charged by the rapids of the Longue Sault. The conse- quence is that the interval lands are subject to inundations which, although fortunately not of duration long enough to destroy the forest trees, effectually prevent settlement or cultivation. THE OTTAWA. 39 Arriving at Bytown, the traveller is at once struck with the total change of scene. Waterfalls, cascades, rapids and whirlpools, bold cliffs overlooking square miles of variegated forest, and picturesque islands revealing here and there a placid pool, or shiny thread of intermediate water, charm and rivet the beholder ; whilst works of art of no mean order, happily as well as usefully situated, give life and vigor to the scene. The most interesting because the most unique of the passing scenes is the descent of timber in the latter part of May through the slides, which are artificial rapids under due control. The rude and insecure manner in which the sticks of timber are retained in a crib, although sufficient to carry them in safety through the navigable rapids, forbids the attempt to pass them down the cMtes or higher falls. At these places, therefore, the perpendicular falls are converted into inclined planes, in which broad wooden troughs are placed, sufficient to admit a crib of timber twenty-four feet wide and carrying water enough to float it down, so that the lumberman is subjected to no more detention or expense here than at a navigable rapid. Before the construction of slides the rafts were broken up into their original elements, and stick by stick were consigned to the tender mercies of the chMe. A certain percentage was left stick- ing in tbf! clefts of the rock ; what came through was more or less damaged by abrasion and was caught in a boom below the fall and then re-rafted. This process was repeated at every point where there was not a crib navigation ; and you can form some idea of the value of the slides from the fact that lumbermen were detained two and three weeks, and lost ten per cent, of their tim- ber, at points where the detention now is not as many days, and the loss, nothing. Two years were required to bring rafts to market which now reach it in one, while many which could not get into Quebec in time for the Fall fleet now reach it so as to load the Spring Sliips. Bytown is the head of navigation on the Ottawa : there are two lakes higher up upon each of which a steamer is LECTURE OWr .1 i* } i plying, but these boats are confined to the levels in which they were launched. The first of these lakes approaches within six miles of Bytown and is about eighy feet above the level of the Ottawa at the latter place. It extends upwards about thirty miles when it is terminated by the Chats Rapids, — a crescent-like dam of primitive rock stretching across the Ottawa nearly three miles in extent — over which the river breaks at high water in more than thirty independent chtites of every conceivable form ; some divided by large rocks, others arched over by the leaning forest trees under which the white foam of the rapid plays in lively contrast to the dark green foliage above, the whole presenting a scene of picturesque beauty to which the oldest voyageurs are not insensible. The Chats falls and rapids, three miles in length, unite the Chaudiere and Chats lakes, the latter fifty feet above the former. It is upon these two lakes luat the steamers before mentioned are plying ; the connection between them, over the Chats portage, is maintained by a railroad which is one of the curiosities of the Ottawa. The prin- ciple of construction was probably derived from an early edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, viz., that a railway should be straight and level. The high water level of the upper lake was made the starting point, and, inasmucr as the difference of level between the two is fifty feet, the terminus at, or rather over the lower lake was correspond- ingly exalted. This slight inconvenience is overcome by a winding apparatus for hoisting the pork and flour from the lower steamer into the cars, whilst for the accommoda- tion of the live freight, pigs and passengers, a convenient staircase is provided. Tlie route of the railway where not in swamp is generally upon a solid foundation of granite rook, tlie profile of which is similar to that of a camel's back. As earth of any kind is a rarity and tim- ber a drug — in order to fill up the valleys a vegetable embankment is resorted to, consisting of hemlock logs built up after the manner of an Ohio corn-crib, or that of a cnnntry residence for pigs. The motive power employed THE OTTAWA. 41 is— horses, the track— single, the weight of rail— consider- ably under the Grand Trunk standard, and the speed — decidedly safe. Whatever its engineering merits, this pioneer railway is a great boon to the traffic, and a hem- lock monument of the enterprise of the Ottawa, for it has cost as much as an equal number of miles of the Caughnawaga road. The steamers which support this Railway are sub- stantial and commodious vessels, built of iron, and make three trips per week. The upper steamer ascends the Ottawa as high as Portage du Fort, six miles above the head of the Chats Lake. Passengers, leaving Bytown early in the morning, cross the Suspension Bridge and, after driving over seven miles of excellent road, breakfast on board the first steamer at Alymer, and arrive at the Chats before noon : — transferred to the Railway, and thence to the upper steamer, on board of wliich dinner is served, they reach Portage du Fort sometime before night. Although it has not yet been found necessary, in order to supply the demands of commerce, to run the steamers on the Chats and Chaudiere Lakes twice a day, or even once a day — or to lay down a second line of rails over the Chats Portage, the Province has determined to con- struct a grand canal on the scale of the St. Lawrence navigation, and £50,000 has been appropriated to com- mence with. No provision having been made for connect- ing the Chaudiere lake with Bytown — another six or seven miles of canal and sixty feet of lockage must be con- structed before any of the expenditure can be made avail- able ; and not only the Grenville, but the Carillon and Chute a Blonde Eau Canals must be enlarged before the full benefit can be reaped. The object of this expenditure can only be to give an outlet to the commerce of the Chats lake — a sheet of water something less than thirty miles in extent — upon which one boat cannot find em- ployment half her time. The whole population of the Ottawa above the Chats is under 20,000 ; — there are no agricultural exports to bring out — and all the imports . I . .,1 li I n f \\ II ] V ( ! \ A o II LBCTURiJ ON are now borne by a tri-weekly steamer. A Railway is under contract from Brockville to Arnprior— a port on the Chats lake, and another is chartered from Bytownto the same point. If these roads are made the steamers cannot be sustained on their present route— but must succumb to the ignoble fate of (luondam favorites, and tow rafts. Suppose that the navigation of the Ottawa is improved by canals so that boats may pass up from By- town to the Chats lake— at a cost to the Province of some £400,000, what public benefit commensuratii with such an ouday can be counted upon? The Railways will take up all that is to be taken up— and what is there to bring down ? One article only — sawn lumber ; square timber will never use the canals so long as the slides exist. If the Chats lake can be reached by boats, un- doubtedly the owners of water power on the Mississippi, Madawaska and Bonnechere rivers — as well as at Por- tage du Fort, and perhaps higher up, would erect saw mills and ship their lumber. In this the river would have the competition of ihe Railways whenever the mills were nearer to the latter than the Ottaw^a. In winter, spring and autumn the canal would be " no where" as the jockeys say, and the railways must then do the whole business. There are saw mills on the Quio, (a tributary entering a little below the Chats,) the deals from which run through the slides at Bytown ; and new mills are in progress at the Chats, below the proposed canal, the manufacture of which must reach a market through these same slides. If the slides can pass deals at all, they certainly can do it more speedily and economically than any locks, and the question suggests itself, What use is there for a canal at all? But if a canal be justifiable upon any ground. . — why not begin at the beginning ? Afti^r the deals have passed the proposed Chats Canal, they must run the Bytown slides : why not begin the Canal at Bytown and extend upwards to Aylmer ? for then all the djcals manufaiCtured, THE drtAWA. 43 by the Chats water power cotdd go to market in boats. Fitzroy Harbor would then be a " harbor," and the County of Lanark could reach this point as conveniently as that of Amprior; thus this one canal would be an outlet for the most important part of the district above Bytown. The saw mills would of course be placed as near the Ottawa as possible, but as the timber on the banks of the latter has been removed many years since, the logs must be obtained oh the tributaries many miles distant from the mills, and be brought down by water. Now if a Saw-log can be brought down the tributary, d fortiori^ as mathematicians say, it can be continued on down the main stream. Hundreds of thousands of these logs we know have been taken from the Ottawa to Quebec, 'the logs, therefore, may be brought to points on naviga- ble water below Bytown at a nominal expense, where they can be sawed and shipped ; and I submit, respectfully, that Mahomet should come to the mountain — the saw log be brought to the head of navigation, instead of the head of navigation being moved up to the saw-log. Doubtless, it would be an advantage to the Upper Ottawa to have the logs sawed at home, but if this principle is followed out we must not only canal the Ottawa but also canal every tributary of the Ottawa. The Railway, however, will cause the erection of saw mills, and, as a mere financial question, it would be far wiser for the Province to undertake to pay the extra cost of transportation by, railway to a navigable point, of all lumber which would be shipped from the Upper Ottawa, than build the canals; for, if a toll is put on the canal to make it productive, the railway will be the cheaper route. But it may be presumed that it is the intention of the Province to open the Ottawa throughout, from tide water to Lake Huron, — and that, as a highway for Western trade, the artificial navigation of the Ottawa may be defended. If the Ottawa were rendered navigable for craft which navigate the Western Lakes, there is no. Iftll 1^' |y* \ ■'; •IS ':. i i ..« ;?/ If, '5 ■■' 14 LECTURE ON I! f i s ; i ' i.f ! r doubt that it would secure a share of that great trade, — but even in that case the great amount of lockage, and its attendant risks, the isolation of the route, and the shortness of the navigable season in high latitudes and elevated waters, would neutralize the saving in distance. A cargo detained by accident on the St. Lawrence route has the choice of many markets — but imprisoned by accidents to locks or dams in the Upper Ottawa, it is valueless. There are, however, physical obstacles, to the navigation of the Ottawa for lake draught, such as rocky shoals, and its improvement on any other scale will end in failure as complete, but far more disastrous to us, than that of the Rideau. The Rideau Canal, with a local trade and the chance for the through traffic, does not pay expenses, — although nearly twenty years in operation. We now refuse to take it off the hands of the Imperial Government as a gift, unless accompanied by a hand- some bonus in the shape of more convertible property — lands. The lateral canals of the State of New York do not yield a nett revenue. The Genesee Valley Canal, although traversing one of the finest agricultural districts of ihc United States, is a dead failure. It is only where there is a heavy traffic and where long lines of com- munications are opened up without trans-shipment, that Canals can be expected to pay a dividend or compete with railways. But to show that an Ottawa route by water communication to the West, is not only uncalled for, but indefensible, it is sufficient to allude to our St. Lawrence Canals which do not pay two per cent, on a cost of a million and a third ; — what then is to be expected from a rival route which must cost four or five mil- lions? If the Grenville Canal were enlarged and the water deepened at the St. Anne's lock, the Ottawa would receive an immediate and substantial benefit, and some- tliing would be undertaken with a prospect of completion. But it requires no prophet to forsee the result of our madcap expenditure at the Chats. .;>' ■:■ ^ into flat bottomed boats, — to the slow but certain influence of a " white ash" breeze. Few who have ever had the good fortune to make a trip on the " George Buchanan," when the subsiding waters for the first time of the season encouraged her daring skipper to brave the terrible chute can have forgotten the excitement of the scene. As she neared the dreaded channel, the passen- gers gathered in clusters on the forecastle — the fireman selected his choicest fuel — the engineer screwed up his slackening bolts and greased his ricketty bearings — the captain stood by his bell. By judicious steering and hard paddling the lower current was surmounted, and the little craft glided into the eddy which led up to the very vortex of the rapid ; suddenly the engine ceased its revo- lutions — an ominous silence reigned throughout the boat, as taking advantage of the eddy which bore her slowly up to the scene of her laurels or her shame, the boiler gathered steam for the approaching contest. The engineer rolls up his sleeves — the fireman pokes the fire — the captain eyes his enemy — and when the friendly eddy is exhausted nervously rings the bell for " full steam." The engineer throws off" the eccentric and seizes a lever in each hand — for full steam cannot be depended upon from the wabbling shaft or crazy eccentric : — as the cylinders are charged, a cloud of steam fills the waist of the boat, looming through which a spectral figure is seen frantically working the steam port valves as if life depended on the result. If the feat is performed and the little boat has secured a safe position above the rapids — the captain comes down from his perch — the fireman pops up through his hatch, and the engineer rushes out from his misty den, when, looking back with grim satis- faction on the vanquished waters, mutual congratulations; are exchanged on the forecastle. But far be it from me, at least, to disparage the George Buclianan : and all the recollections of an Ottawa rapid are neither pleasing nor humorous* I ;|' y : U I J X •If it '.i i : 1% 11 ■ n 48 LECTURS OH Hi ! nil ' 1 ! s* I! There is no flock, however watched or tended But one dead Iamb is there ; There is no fireside, howsoe'er defended, 13ut has one vacant chair ; The air is filled with farewells to the dying, And mournings for the dead, — and so it is with the Ottawa — there is scarcely a rapid the white swells of which have not proved a wind- ing sheet for the bold voyageur^ or reckless lumberman ; there is scarcely a portage, or cleared point, jutting out into the river where you do not meet with wooden crosses, on which are rudely carved the initials of some unfor- tunate victim of the resistless waters. And it was owing, under Providence, to the circumstance of the George Buchanari^s being unable to ascend the Chenaux, that I escaped, when — in running that rapid during a heavy snow storm late in a November afternoon, my canoe was sunk, my bowsman drowned, and the rest of our party — rescued from a rock, upon which we should have frozen in a few hours, by a boat sent from the little steamer which had anchored under the islands — were made the welcome and thankful guests of her kind hearted captain. The loss of life by drowning on the Ottawa is often fright- ful. In a prosperous year about ten thousand men are afloat on the loose timber, or in frail canoes, and as many as eighty lives have been lost in a single spring. The strongest swimmer has in broken water no more chance than a child. Some of the eddies in high water become whirl-pools, tearing a bark canoe into shreds and engulf- ing every soul in it. From the " Chenaux," or " Snows," as the lumbermen call the rapid, the river is navigable as far as Portage du Fort, a distance of six miles. Here the highlands close in upon both sides, and many beautiful islands are encountered, one of which is remarkable as having every tree upon it blasted by lightning, an effect ascribed to the presence of magnetic ore which has been found in considerable quantities on the adjacent shore. Portage du Fort is the present head of steam navigation on the THE OTTAWA. 49 "I Ottawa. A few miles above this point the river, for a dis- tanee of about twenty-five miles, is divided ])y the Cahimet Ishind, into two channels. In one of these, tlie northern channel, called the " Calumet Chenail," Ihe fall is concen- trated so that it is navigable for the greater portion of its length, wliile the southern or Rocher Fendu Chenail is interruj)ted by scattered rapids. From ihe \umd of the Calu- met Chiltes to Portage du Fort, the river has a descent of over one hundred feet ; a portage road seven miles in length evades all the obstructions, and the voyageur is again embarked in his canoe — in which he may continue about forty miles before he is arrested by rapids. The Ottawa River from Portage du Fort to the head of the Calumet Falls is exceedingly beautiful. The Rocher Fendu Lake — where the two channels whicli form the Calumet Islands reunite — surrounded by lofty banks and enriched by numerous thickly wooded islands — which offer just sufficient obstruction to produce a ripple in each narrow pass, and, farther on, a beautifully marbled surfaice which ladies would pronounce a veritable mo^ — has been compared by enthusiastics to Avoca : — " The vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet" To the quiet picturesque beauty of this scene the wild grandeur of the Calumet affords an admirable contrast. Here the Ottawa leads off the dance with a furious leap, dashing against the granite rocks until the dark water is converted into a caldron of milk-white foam, fearful yet fascinating to look upon, — then, as if ashamed of its im- petuosity, it descends by a succession of aqueous ter- races, in deep and stately volume, and winds up with a reeling rapid at the foot. Until the last two or three years the Calumet was the route of the Upper Ottawa lumbermen and the voyageur^ but recently an overland route has been established by an energetic forwarder, to Pembroke, the principal point on the Allumette Lake, which reduces the distance to about one-half of that of the circuitous route by the river. This route leaves the Ottawa upon the south shore opposite Portage du Fort, and G I; i . •I 'I l> II ! i II u 50 LECTURE ON ^i' I . ! 1 I- n I (li by moans of a plank road commnnioates with Mnskrat Lako, on ul.ioh soniclliing inlendcd for a sUuimer is plannd, ^\lli('ll descending this lake and its outlet approaches williin a few miles of Pembroke. Pembroke is a thriving settlement at the lower end of Upper Alliimette Lake, about eighty miles above Bytown by land route but nearly one hundred by the river. A portion of the Allumetle Lake is discharged by a narrow channel on the north which thus forms the Allumette Island, The voijagrurs embark in their canoes at the liead of tlu; Grand Calumet Falls, and shortly after passing the upper end of the Island of that name, enter Coulonge Lake — a beautiful sheet of water partially encircled, in the back grounfl, by an amphitheatre of hills. Here is Fort Coulonge, at the mouth of the tributary of that name, which is the first post of the Hudson Bay Company on the Ottawa above Lachine. Leaving the Coulonge Lake we ascend the river, with bold bluflfs and a beautiful grove of Norway pines on our left, and soon reach the lower point of the Allumette Island, where the lumber men for Pembroke and the Pittowawa turn to the left and portag- ing Paequet rapids, pass through the lower Allumette Lake — carry their canoes over the Allumette rapids, and thus reach Pembroke. The voyageur and lumbermen for the "Deep River," however, continue on northward of Allumette Island, and dragging up the Isleltes rapids make their first })ortage at Culbute — forty miles from the Grand Calumet — where the canoes are lifted over a natural wall of rock, when they are again loaded for another forty miles of uninterrupted navigation. Passing up the Culbute Chenail and sheltered by the numerous islands with which the Upper Allumette Lake is studded, the canoes escape detention from the wind and sea of the Pembroke route, and reach Fort William, the second post of the Hudson Bay Company. Fort William is at the foot of the "Deep River," a portion of the Ottawa so called, because rafts with 100 fathoms of chain have been unable to find anchorage in it. This remarkable reach of the I,'! THE OTTAWA. M M Ottawa resembles the Sagiienay. About a mil(^ in width, with high but sloping and well-wooded banks on the south, and a bold, naked eliain of rocks rising 600 to 800 feet over the water on the north shore, it is so straight that a eannon ball, if projeeted with sufli«'ieMt foree, would follow the iec for the whole distance of liv; erience, and a capital of £1,000 or so, and are wise enough to make no more timber than you can get to market without the aid of suppliers, you are on the high road to fortune, and your success is certain. But the rock on which many a lumberman has split, or techni- cally speaking, the "jam" on which he has been" picked up " is, a rule of three estimate of his profits. If he has been fortunate enough to clear £500 from one raft made with borrowed money, he undertakes two or three the next year, in the hope of doubling or trebling his profits. He thus doubles his liabilities, and sooner or later the supplier has him. I. SI i! \i\ 1, 1 •n ■>i }! i 66 LECTURE ON .^M -m V Having secured the limits and established the credit, the n«'xt step is to despatch a canoe with half a dozen men and some scythes to cut the wild hay on the Beaver meadows, and secure it during the low water season,— to be afterwards hauled, when the meadows are frozen, as winter provender for the teams employed in draw- ing the timber. No timber limits are without water — for it is by water alone that the timber can reach its market, and wherever there is or has been water, there you are sure to find Beaver meadows. Beaver meadows are small prairies overflown by every freshet, composed of deep beds of vegetable matter and detritus, over which there is no other vegetation than a coarse grass which horned cattle tolerate but which few horses approve of. They are evidently formed by ancient Beaver dams, the ponds above which have in time become silted up, inasmuch as they form cesspools arresting all the materials brought down by water in hilly districts. The Beaver thus crowded out of one pond forms a new one in a new locality, and thus the frequency of these meadows — one or more of which is found upon almost every stream which is not too large for a Beaver's engineering resources. One cannot fail to be struck with admiration and astonishment on visiting the haunts of the beaver, nor can we wonder that the red men should place him at the head of animal creation, or make a Manitou of him, when Egypt, the mother of the Arts, worshipped such stupid and disgusting Deities. Whether you call it instinct, or whether it is to be called reason, one thing is certain, that if half of humanity were as intelligent, as provident, as laborious and as harmless as the beaver, ours would be a veiy different world from what it is. The beaver is the original lumberman and the first of hydraulic engineers. Simple and unostentatious, his food is the bark of trees and his dwelling — a mud cabin the door of which is always open but under water — conditions which secure retirement and are favourable to THE OTTAWA. 67 • i cool contemplation. The single object of his existence being to secure bark enough for himself and family, one would suppose there would not be much difficulty in that; — but as neither beaver nor any other animals, except man, are addicted to works of supererogation, we may be sure that the former in all his laborious arrange- ments — and those too which alter the face of nature to such an important degree — does no more than is absoh ely necessary for him to do. Cast in an inhospitable climate, nearly the whole of his labor is for the purpose of laying in his necessary winter supplies, and water is the only medium by which he can procure and preserve these. Too highly civilized for a nomadic life he builds perma- nently, and does not quit his habitation until driven from it, like other respectable emigrants, by stern necessity. We cannot better illustrate the habits of this interesting animal than by accompanying a beaver family, on some fine evening in May, in search of a new home. The papa beaver, with his sons and sons-in-law, wife, daugh- ters and daughters-in-law, and it may be grand children, sallies forth " prospecting" the country for a good location — i. e. a stream of easy navigation, and having an abun- dant supply of their favorite food, the silver birch and poplar, growing as near the river as possible. Having selected these " limits," the next step is to place their dwelling so as to command the greatest amount of food. For this purpose they go as far below the supplies as the character of the stream will permit. A pond of deep still water being an indispensible adjunct to their dwell- ing, this is obtained by the construction of a dam, and few engineers could select a site to produce the required result so efficiently and economically. The dam and dwelling are forthwith commenced, the materials em- ployed in both being sticks, roots, mud and stones, the two former being dragged by the teeth, the latter carried between the four paws and the chin. If the dam is extensive, whole trees are gnawed down, the largest of which are of the diameter of an ordinary stove pipe, the H •i' I! ' '( i ■i < -: LECTURE ON t Stump being left standing about eighteen inches above the ground, and pointed like a crayon. Those trees which stand upon the bank of tiie stream they contrive to fall into the water as cleverly as the most experienced wood- man : those which are more distant, are cut up by their teeth into pieces which can be dragged to the wator. These trees and branches are floated down to the site of the dam, wliere they are dragged ashore and placed so that the tops shall be borne down by the current, and thus arrest the descending detritus and form a strong and tight dam. Critical parts are built up " by hand," the sticks and mud when placed receiving a smart Y\o\ r from the beaver's tail, just as a bricklayer settles lus work with the handle of his trowel. The habitation or hut of the beaver is almost bomb-proof j rising like a dome from the ground on the margin of the pond, and sometimes six or eight feet in thickness at the crown. The only entrance is from a level of three or four feet under the water of the pond. These precautions are necessary, because, like all enterprising animals, the beaver is not without enemies. Th^ wolverine, who is as fond of beaver tail as an old nor'wester, would walk ir*o hJs hut, if he could only get there, — but having the same distaste for water as the cat, he must forego the luxury. It is not, however, for safety that the beaver adopts the submarine communication with his dwelling, although it is for that he restricts himself to it. The same necessity which compels him to build a dam, and thus create a pond of water, obliges him to maintain com- munication with that pond when the ice is three feet thick upon its surface. Living upon the bark of trees, he is obliged to provide a comparatively great bulk for his winter's consumption ; and he must secure it at the season when the new bark is formed and before it com- mences to dry ; he must also store it up where it will not become frozen or dried up. He could not reasonably be expected to build a frost-proof house large enough to contain his family supply, but if he did, it would wither, I « M THt OTTAWA. 59 and lose its nutriment ; therefore, he preserves it in water. But the most remarkable evidence of his instinct, sagacity, or reason, is one which I have not seen men- tioned by naturalists. His pond we have seen must be deep, so that it will not freeze to the bottom, and so that he can communicate with his food and his dam, in case of any accidents to the latter requiring repairs : but how does he keep his food — which has been floated down to his pond — from floating, when in it, and thus becoming frozen in with the ice ? I said that in gnawing down a tree the top of the stump was left pointed like a crayon : — the fallen tree has the same form — for the beaver cuts like a woodman, wide at the surface and meeting in an angle at the centre, with this distinction, the four legged animal does his work more uniformly, cutting equally all around the log — while the two legged one cuts only from two opposite sides. Thus every stick of provender cut by the animal is pointed at both ends, and when brought opposite his dwelling he thmsts the pointed ends into the mud bottom of his pond sufficiently firm to prevent their being floated out, at the same time placing them in a position in which the water has the least lift upon them ; while he carefully apportions his different lengths of timber to the different depths of water in his pond, so that the upper point of none of them shall approach near enough to the surface to be caught by the winter ice. When the familv are in comfortable circumstances, the winter supply nicely cut and stored away, the dam tight, and no indications of a wolverine in the neighbourhood, the patriarch of the hut takes out the youthful greenhorns to give them lessons in topographical engineering ; ar.d in order to try the strength of their tails encourages them to indulge in amateur damming. The beaver works always by night, and to " work like a beaver" is a signi- ficant term for a man who not only works earnestly and understandingly — but one who works late and early — a species of " mud-lark" not afraid of soiling his hands. if .1 . i 3 I •I I. I r. ! s 60 LECTUBE ON i;^if ^1 I From what has been said it will be readily seen that the maintenance of the dam is a matter of vital import- ance to the beaver. Some say that the pilot beaver sleeps with his tail in the water in order to be warned of the first mishap to the dam ; but as there is no foundation for such a cool assertion it may be set down as a very improbable tale. The Indians avail themselves of this well known solicitude to catch them : having broken the dam, the risk is immediately perceived by the lowering of the water in the hut — and the beaver, sallying forth to repair the breach, are slaughtered in the trenches. As the supply of food in the vicinity of the dam becomes diminished the beaver is obliged to go higher up the stream, and more distant from its banks, to procure his winter stores ; and this necessity gives rise to fresh displays of his lumbering and engineering resources. In consequence of the distance, and the limited duration of the high water period favourable to transport, the wood is collected into a sort of raft, which, a lumberman asserts, is manned by the beaver and steered by their tails, in the same manner as Norway rats are known to cross streams of water. When the raft grounds, forthwith a temporary dam is thrown across the stream below the " jam," by which the waters are raised, and the raft floated off, and brought down to the dam, which is then torn sud- denly away, and the small raft thereby flashed over the adjoining shallows. Numerous and interesting are the characteristics of this denizen of the Ottawa ; but if we pursue the subject anj farther we shall be as long in getting out of the woods as the stick of timber whose history we have undertaken to give. The beaver hay being secured and stacked at such an elevation as will prevent its being floated off by the au- tumnal rise of water, it is left there until the frost makes a smooth firm road upon which it can be hauled to the shanties. The hay cutters then proceed to the timber grove to make ready for the choppers, hewers and scorers, who i i !.■ i THE OTTAWA. ii follow later in the autumn, bringing with them sufficient supplies to last until the snow and ice give access, by the only possible road, to the scene of operations. Most lum- bermen deposit a stock of provisions during the winter to provide for the commencement of the following year's operations ; — these are left locked up in the shanties, sub- ject only to the risk of a fire in the woods, or the occa- sional investigations of the black bear, who descends by the chimney, eats all he can lay paws on, and like other people often finds it easier to get into a scrape than to get out of one, for on the arrival of the avengers he is des- patched, and made to supply the place of the provisions he has so feloniously appropriated. The " limits" being extensive — generally one hundred square miles, — experienced scouts, mostly Indians or bois brules (half breeds) are employed to seek out the groves. These men, of whom Cooper's " Leather Stock- ing" is a type, start out with their axes. guns, snow shoes and some pork and biscuit, — camp wherever night overtakes them, and explore the length and breadth of the limit, — or, the unconceded territory if in search of new ones, — examine the different streams and report upon their capabilities for floating out the timber, the facilities for hauling, and what stream is best to haul into. The country being unsurveyed, they, with the aid of native plumbago, rapidly delineate on a piece of birchen bark the relative positions of the different streams, lakes, por- tages and mountains, and groves of red or white pine — with a degree of accuracy, and due regard to proportion and distance, which in such self-taught draughtsmen is really marvellous. When the grove is selected, the shanty is commenced ; this is built of logs, nearly square, the fire being on a raised hearth, formed of clay enclosed in a singles frame of logs, and placed in the middle ; a longitudinal opening in the roof, over the fire, forms what serves for a chimney ; a double tier of berths all round the interior gives sleep- ing accommodation ; a wooden crane renewed when ii 7 fl w H If LECTURE ON . « ; .'I n iKIl Ml : i r bnrnt through, swings over the fire and suspends the family pot, tea and bake kettle. The fire, like that of a smelting furnace, is m^ver allowed to go out, and the tea kettl<^ sings perpetually over it. Without any appa- rent concert — by a sort of instinct— -one after another of the occupants of the surrounding bunkers awakes from his slumbers, turns out, throws a log on the fire, takes a few whiffs of his pii)e, eats about a pound of bread and pork, drinks something less than a quart of tea, and turns in again. Occasionally some troubled sleeper arises to join the fire- man, when a midnight confab is carried on, sometimes for hours, without remonstrance from the double tier of snor- ers. The morning toilet is simple and expeditious, con- sisting in drawing on the boots or moccasins — some long stretches, broad yawns, and a shake which a mastiff might envy ; after which a few whiffs from the pipe as a co?fp (Pappetity and our heroes are ready for breakfast. The shanties are conducted upon strictly temperance principles, a virtue which is the offspring of necessity : all the available means of transport to regions so difficult of access being required for the necessaries of life, — amongst which whiskey cannot be ranked — the philoso- phic children of the wood know that it is of no use to provide a store of grog unless they enjoyed the five sto- machs of a camel ; they therefore patriotically determine to do all their drinking in Quebec and Bytown, and en route to their winter homes ; and certainly many of them do contrive that their forced winter deprivation shall not have the effect of reducing their annual contribution to the excise below that of the rest of the population. And if there be any deficiency on this score, it is more than made up by their consumption of tea. Shanty tea is as unlike the delicate infusion over which ladies are said to imbibe such nice discrimination of character, as the oil of pepi>ermint is to the essence ; indeed it would be strange if throats which had been lubricated with Cana- dian brandy in summer, and cooled by winter exposure to a mountain atmosphere thirty degrees below zero, THE OTTAWA. II could tolerate the efleminate trash which we drink. Instead of an infusion, it is, like patent medecines, a double distilled, highly concentrated, compound extract of tlnvChinese shrub. It is, in fact, a lea soi4p^ and has been described by one of themselves as " strong enough to Hoat an axe." Like castor oil, it is " cold drawn," and then boiled — the process being to till the kettle with cold water, cram as much tea on th(i top as the cover can force in, and then place it on the fire ; as it is poured out, fri^sh additions of tea and cold water are added, as to a cupola, until it becomes necessary to cool oti' in order to remove the " slag." The tin basins out of which it is drunk are well greased by previous use for fried pork and pea soup, so that the tea does not adhere to the sides, a lubrication which probably prevents any corrosion. The taste of this tea is alkaline, and it has a decided cop- pery flavor, a strong imitation of that of the " native" oyster. An interesting metaphysical question presents itself in connection with this subject : strong tea is gene- rally presumed to be injurious to the nervous system ; indeed I have met ladies who have declared that they had lost their nerves from hard drinking — of tea of course — in consequence of which their daily exercise was in a rocking chair. Again it is known that where salt pork without vegetables is the principal food, that dreadful disease the scurvy is generated. Yet on the Ottawa there are thousands of men who drink their pound of tea per week, and some of them double this quantity, and eat salt pork four times per day ; and if you have any misgivings about the nerves of one of those fellows, just take hold of him and try to double up his back. My own theory is, that the tea acts as a sort of alcoholic cut to the fat pork, which latter in turn counteracts the ener- vating elTect of the " acid," by absorbing its deleterious properties. Every thing being prepared, the work of felling the trees is commenced. White pine is found in groves, many of the trees of which are unsound, although none ! ' I jr.i t .' ; M LECTITRE 0!f It i. ii i but a connoisseur would detect this failing ; the lumber- men, however, know the impostors by certain suspicious knots, aR readily as a detective discovers a mendx^r of the swell mob, and are careful not to the wastt; their strength on such gay deceivers. The best white pine is obtained on undulating ground, from isolated trees inter- mixed with other timber. Red pine, on the contrary, grows in unmixed groves, on level plains of great extent ; and I know of no more majestic or impressive spectacle in nature than one of those interminable groves of what is often, but improperly, called " Norway" pic". A level sandy plain, clean as a well kept park, stretches out before, behind and around you, out of which thousands of smooth straight reddish brown columns shoot up, forty to fifty feet in height, before a leaf or branch is seen — then, spreading out their magnificent evergreen capitals, they completely roof in one of the grandest of nature's temples. Between their well braced ix?destals you may gallop your horse in every direction, or drive a fancy sleigh or pony phseton without interruption frori underbrush, morass, or the trunks of fallen trees. Fire which has destroyed more white pine than the axe of the lumberman, can get no footing in the red pine plains ; here there is no under- brush, no fallen trunks, no deciduous hardwood, not even moss, to feed the devouring element. In ten thousand trees you will not see a diseased trimk, a decayed branch, or an up-rooted pine. In winter the scene is perfect — the milk-white floor, and the dark green ceiling upheld by thousands of copper colored columns — receding in beau- tiful perspective until lost in an imperfect and variegated horizon — afford a spectacle of woodland magnificence which even the Ottawa cannot surpass. The lumberman lays out a main road from the stream into which he hauls, through the heart of his grove, and if this is scattered, branch roads are required. A cheaper class of men, generally the ' greenhorns,' are employed as road cutters. Three men and a cook form a * gang ;'— two cut down the tree, line and scorv it, THK OTTAWA. 65 ihat is, split off the outer shibs so as !o make it fonr-sidetl — and the third, the hewer, who is an artist in liis way, •smooths it with the hroad-axe true and even as if phmed. In sqnarinjif lar^e Irees mneh of the finest timber is bloclicd off by the scorers and lost, ex(;(;pt to the bears, who come along the ensuing summer and give the blocks a skirl in th(; air, whereupon the bark cracks off by the fr.ii and the unfortmiate worms who have loosened it are con verted inio bears meat. These prompt handmaids of decay have a * harder time of it' in the forest than in the ground. If they discover an ex|)iring \rrr, they have hardly made themselves comfortable befon* the Wood- pecker is heard making frequent calls, which, however unwelcome, are persisted in with all the importunity of an unmitigated bore. If they take refuge under a score block Bruin plays skittles with their habitation — and they are done brown. As a track cannot be made to each tree whicl) has been cut, the sticks of timber are drawn to the main road ; this is called " straightening out," — and as horses are too restive for such work it is done by oxen. These pati<;nt useful brutes will wind between the trees up to their shoulders in snow, almost twisting their tails and necks off in obedience to the yells of their drivers : — the whole scene forcibly recalling to mind Longfellow's magnificent lines — Long ago, In the deer-haunted forests of Maine, When upon mountain and plain, Lay the snow. They fell — those lordly pines — Those grand majestic pines. Mid shouts and cheers, the jaded steers Panting beneath the goad, Dragged down the weary winding road Those captive kings, so straight and tall, To be shorn of their streaming hair, And naked and bare — , Tn feel the stress and the strain Of the wind and the reeling main, Whose roar Would remind them forever more Of their native for"^li ibey should not see again ! il' l! I li.^1,„JsM-SjsLliiL > i . 6G LECTURE ON t I ! i ■ ( J The timber is drawn out upon the ice the melting of which with that of the surrounding snow, in March and April, swells the volume of the stream sufficiently to float it into the larger branches and tributaries and thence into the Ottawa, provided the tide be taken at the flood. On the breaking up of the ice great activity is dis- played, and additional force is required for the start and the " drive." If the stream in which the timber is hauled out is not navigable for cribs, " driving" is resorted to — the loose sticks with the ' floats ' and ' traverses ' for rafting it are allowed to float down, followed by the lumbermen in canoes and along shore — whose duty it is to bring up the stragglers which may be loitering in an eddy, grounded on a shoal, or have been caught by an over- hanging branch. When crib navigation is reached a boom is raj)idly thrown across the stream, by which all the timber is stopped and formed into " cribs," containing about twenty pieces each. These are formed by placing two round logs, called 'floats,' about twenty-four feet apart, and bringing the squared timber between them ; across the whole, four or five rather large sized poles called " tra- verses" are laid and pinned at each end to the floats. The square timbers are thus enclosed and prevented from spread- ing, without being depreciated by auger holes or tree-nails. They are not, however, prevented from moving backw^ard or forward and thus escaping. To secure this, four heavy sticks called loading timbers — generally those which are too crooked to fit well between the floats — are dragged on top of the traverses and by their weight sink the floating timbers lower in the water ; the friction thus created against the under side of the traverses (arising from the floatation of the timbers which are in the water) eflectually prevents the latter from moving backward or forward, while the loading timbers are fairly shipped high and dry and have no tendency to move. In this simple manner, without any injury being done to the manufac- tured article, are formed the " cribs," one of which will carry all the provisions and many men in safety down any navigable rapid or crib slide. \\-* ■''' THE OTTAWA. 6t On many of the tributaries large lakes many miles in length and width must be passed ; where these occur all the timber must be formed into a raft containing generally about fifty cribs. The cribs are lashed toge- ther by means of ' withs ;' these are formed by taking young birchen trees about the size of whip stalks and fastening their butts firmly, by means of wedges, into an an auger hole bored into a stump or fallen tree, then com- mencing at the points and twisting them (just as but- chers make a screw propeller of an ox's tail when urging him into the slaughter house) until the whole of the fibre is separated and the twig becomes as pliant as a rope. These withs possess great strength — are easily replaced — and save the cost and transport of ropes or chains. The raft being ready, all hands, with provisions, cook and cookery, are embarked — the anchor and cable are ship- ped, and if the wind is fair, sail is set. If the wind is foul, patience and pork are required ; if it be calm, there is always some current through every lake and this will bring the raft through ; but if a head or side wind springs up when fairly out in the lake, the anchor must be thrown, else the raft would be blown ashore, or into some bay where it would be imprisoned for weeks. When the lake is crossed perhaps the character of its outlet is such that the raft must be broken up into single sticks, and " the drive" be again resorted to, until other points are reached where the boom, the floats and traverses, withs, sails, and anchors are successively required. The Ottawa, from Lake Temiskeamang to its mouth, is a crib navigation, but in this distance it is necessary to dissolve ihe raft into cribs about a dozen times in order to run the different rapids and slides. If the spring is cold and backward the snows melt gradually, and the water steals away without filling the streams sufficiently to bring out the timber. The whole year's labor is thus lost from the timber " sticking" as it is called, unless heavy rains should come to the rescue ; jJ II r n :i\ ( 't J '! I d -I * v igr j:.ecti)re oiv but even these may not occur until after the timber ha.^ been abandoned, and their effect may be over before it can again be reached. Additional force is required to bring out the timber — over and above those engaged in making it — and if this is not on the ground when the streams open the golden op])ortunity is lost ; and if brought on too early the pt)rk and tea must sufler. The price in Quebec increases in [proportion to the quantity which " sticks" and is unable to reach the market. The con- sequence is there is very little sympathy among lumber- men, although necessity compels them often to " drive" logether. It is the interest of each that all other timber but his own should be left behind. In " driving," the greenhorns, as at a Court Marliai', are first put forward ; from sheer politeness, it is to be presumed,they are allowed to "put through" the booms first, — their timber conse- quently leads the van, it goes down, fills all the eddies,, occupies all the shoals, and the next timber, belonging to the old birds, having no place to loiter in keeos the channel through, and though last to start comes out the first. One of the disasters to which lumbermen are subjected in driving their timber, and one which induces them to go to great expense in forming a crib navigation where it can be obtained, is what is called a "jam." [I suppose because it is made with currents and is very sticky.] When the "driving" cannot be controlled, or if the water falls unexpectedly, certain shoals begin to " pick up" the timber, and stick after stick as it eomes down runs under those already grounded, and with the current for a power, acts as a lever in raising them above the water ; in this manner the lifting and wedging continues until many thousand pieces of timber are woven into a crow's nest, and raised perhaps thirty or forty feet above the water. The "jam" is frequently sustained by a single stick, resting against a ledge of rock, which when cuts away will free the whole mass. " Cutting away a jam" is one of the most daring feats a lumberman can f '■ i w ■■*,*;■; 4S . , THE OTTAWA. 69 perform. Like a forlorn hope it is left to volunteei's. The noble follows who risk their lives to save their employers from loss or ruin, bare their feet, strip to the waist, tighten their girdles, and with head uncovered .ind axe in hand leap upon the quiverins^ timbers. A rope, the fsnd of which is held by thinr anxious but admir- ing comrades on the shore, is fastened round the waist. Every blow of the axe is watched with intense anxiety, and when the timber begins to yield — without waiting to cut it through — the few favorable instants which intervene while the crackling and crashing mass is preparing to start are seized for escape. Flinging his axe into the water and leaping from stick to stick of the moving limber he reaches the land amid the cheers of Iris com- rades — or, borne down by the moving forest his mangled body in sorrowing silence is liauled ashore : — hi« last burden has been borne — his last portage has been made — the " tump-line" will never again compress his swollen and wearied temples — for he is drifting away in the gloomy haze of that endless lake where none but departing canoes are seen. The transport of supplies to the shanties is the heaviest charge upon the lumberman. Flour, before consumed, costs him about ^10 per barrel. Pork, ^25 to ^30. Oats, 5s. to 6s. Hay, $30 to !|40 per :i. Beaver hay costs p bout as much as good liay in agric > \\ districts, but is only worth half as much; and as some orses will not eat it, lumbermen are obliged to team up the cultivated hay at a charge for transport about equal to two or three times its first cost. In order to reduce these charges some enterprising lum- bermen have opened winter roads to the back Townships of Counties fronting on Lake Ontario. The pork and flour consumed above Pembroke are now carried up from Bytown, but the day cannot be far distant when these articles will be brought in from the shores of Lake .Sjmcoe. Another greatdraw^acir-te- the advantageous prosecu- tion of the trade is the want of roads and bridges. In ft n '' » I ' s 70 LECTURE ON p. I i ,1 country so thinly inhabited, where there arc so many unsold and unsurveyed public lands — and one which is so cut up with large rivers, lakes, mountains, and swamps, it is impossible either for lumbering or municipal enter- prise to construct the necessary roads or bridges. The snow and ice give to the lumberman the only roads and bridges to his distant limits : but these leave him just at the period when he is in the greatest need of them. The teams hired to haul his timber come from Glen- garry and the Lower Ottawa — and as the distance is great, if the snow disappear^^ it takes them weeks to return home ; and if the ioe breaks up they must swim their horses across the stream at the risk of losing them. On the first appearance of a break up in March there is a regular stampede amongst the teamsters — oti' they go, perhaps leaving a great portion of the timber in the bush, to be burned by fire before the next year's drive. The lumberman cannot bridge these streams — all their capital and enterprise being required for improving the character of the rivers for the passage of their timber. Vast sums have been expended by individuals and firms, in blasting rocks, and building dams, booms, slides, and piers. From a parliamentary return, it appears that no less than £150,000 have been expended by lumbermen, almost all within the last ten years, in these improve- ments. On the other hand, the Government derived a revenue from the Ottawa timber dues of £38,000 in 1852, and they have expended about £50,000 in slides and other improve- ments for the timber, which are almost the only paying public works in Canada — the gross revenue in 1852, being £9,682. Thus the revenue of 1852 has been nearly equal to the whole expenditure upon the Ottawa, on account of the timber. It is much to be regretted, that such good claims as the Ottawa possess for a share of the Provincial expenditure, should have been pressed with so little judgment, and granted by Parliament with such an incor- rect appreciation of what it really needs. Canals are cer- THE OTTAWA, 1 lainly not required fur a dij^trict which has neither roads nor bridges, villages, manufactories, coal mines, wheat, Hour, pnjvisions, &c., for export — in fact, for a district without tralHc — if we except those supplies which can- not reach the shanties unless at that season of the year when canals are useless. There is a good jjroportion of arable land on the south side of the Ottawa above the Chats. The settlement of this region by immigration is much slower than that part of Canada west of Kingston, although from the demand for every description of agricultural produce caused by the lumber trade there is no better market for the farmer. A slow process of settlement is going on from the ranks of the lumberers ; every year a few of the provident among this hardy race, having learned the way of the woods, select some })romising lot discovered in their wanderings, take unto themselves wives, and permanently pitch their tents there. This neglect of the Ottawa by settlers is the result of the neglect of it by our Legislature, which has passed laws to tax all private lands, through the agency of tlie municipalities, for the general improvement — ex- cepting their own. Parliament is the great proprietor on the Upper Ottawa, and Parliament therefore should con- tribute proportionally, or hand over its estate to commis- sioners to be sold for the relief of the country as it is now done in Ireland. The municipalities on the Upper Ottawa have taxed tliemselves,for railway facilities, to three times the extent in proportion to their means of any other mu- nicipalities in the country ; in fact they have taxed themselves to an extent which none but men desperate from hope deferred would ever think of doing. The hopes of those who have imdertaken to aid ihe munici- palities in constructing these roads are based upon one item of commerce, the transport of sawed lumber, and also the carriage of the supplies which are now imported and which will hereafter be recjuired for the manufacture of this article. But the immediate line of the railway will alone be able to manufacture the lumber; the want of \l i I J !1 i I, r I . ! ) ,»■! '? 1 ,: 72 LECTURE ON \ i! good roads as feeders 1o the railway will cause the latter to be a disappointment to the municipalities and to the stockholders. Tlie municipalities have taxed tliemselves too heavily for the main road — the railway — to be able to build also the side roads. The great want of ihe Ottawa is Population. The Rideau Canal has not been able to remedy this, and the Ottawa Canal will as signally fail in doing so. The railways will in time remedy it, but even these to be efficient must be treated as other highways. If you want to increase the value of property in a street, to make it most useful, you o})en it through, you make a thoroughfare of it. The Ottawa even with railways will still be anil de sac. When a man goes two hundred miles up the Ottawa, particularly if an intending settler or capitalist seeking investment, he does not like t(^ retrace his steps, for at Pembroke he is only about 150 miles in a direct line from Lake Simcoe, and at Arnprior he is only about 100 miles from Belleville. The tendency of the age is to go-ahead ; no man likes " to take the back track," and I have always failed in inducing strangers to go up to the Ottawa becaust; they said to me, " there is no way of getting r;/?." The Ottawa possesses within herself all the means necessary for her own development, if we are only just enough and generous enough to give her lier own. The public lands are a financial basis broad enough to work out the development of the Ottawa, and it is not asking too much that a portion of ihem should be set apart for such a thorou>Thly domestic purpose, v^hen to those which have, all has been given. Public ^^aarantee for railways, plank and macadamized roads, bridges, and really useful and much needed although still unproductive canals — all have gone to the St. Lawrence. The Congress of the United States has made large grants of land to tlie Illinois Ccmtral and other roads— to routes much less in need of ])ublic aid than the Ottawa. A grant of public lands would secure a highway through the Ottawa THE OTTAWA 7S ^yt ^•^ •T:5.f\ :r'f ■- 'i:^ and would be a necessary inducement to the constrac- tion of a railway. The local trade of such a railway would be confined to the bringing out of sawn lumber until the country became settled, which it would in a measure become ^^y the process of construction ; but the means being at once secured of opening ihe road through to Ports on Lake Tluron, or in connection with the rail- ways around Lake Simcoe, it would have a through traffic which would sustain it until it became produc- tive. In conclusion, — no one can look upon the geographical position of the Ottawa without becoming convinced that unless thore be some positive disqualification, it is a dis- trict which ought not and cannot much longer remain a wilderness. Those who have iiad such glimpses of it as a trip up some of its beautiful tributaries afford, can certify that when o[)enc(l it w ill be second to no other part of Canada in the hoallhy character of its climate, the fertility of its innumerable and well watered valleys, the transparent purity of its trout filled lakes and gravelly brooks ; or in the magnificent panorama which is pre- sented by mountain, flood, and plain — decked out with ever-green and hardwood furring the sloping banks of her golden lakes, and affording under the influence of the autumnal frost one of the most gorgeous spectacles under the sun. Nor can the day be far distant when those valleys will be filled with their teeming thousands, and the sheep and cattle on a thousand hills shall every where indicate peace and progress— the happy homes of a people whose mission it is to wage war only upon the rugged soil and the gloomy forest, to cause the now silent valleys to shout and sing, and to make the wilder- ness blossom like the rose. f : 1^ Pi Fi : t H