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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est filmd d partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 -i^ ^ REPORT ox THE OTTAWA AND FREXl^H RIVER NAVIGATION PROJECT, ■VT'-A-X^T.-EP^ SI-I-A-lSTLir, CIVIL ET wINEER. SUHaII; IKP TO rUf', LEGISI.ATIVK VSSf.MBLV OK CAN VliA, AND f'kIN TT-.D KV , THlvIR ORIil R: JULV, 1S5S. Ottiiw . : KKl'RlNTKl) FV FAYNTER & ABBCTrT, 36 KI.GIN STREET 1900. •• :! ^#^ ^"W IU^P»#"*P»*W " 'I' '.*.-* .''.:, •"-?• 'H!k.fl>-i. mmrr> REPORT UN THE OTTAWA AND FRENOH RIVER NAVIGATION PROJECT. liV CIVIL ENGINEER. SUHMITIKD 1\) THIi 1.K(;1S1,A1IVE ASSKMBLY Ol' CANADA, AN'l) PKINTED BY THEIK ORDKK: JULY, 1858 Ottaiw^ : RKHRIN TKl) BY PAYNTER ^^ ABBOTT, 36 KI,(iIN STREET. 1900. », / % / 1 I 1 (./ 5C I t I i i > RKl'ORT ON Tiir; OTTAWA AM) FRFACH UWVM NA\ KiATlON l»lxM),IK(T. Toronto, :i-Jt(l Mmcli, i,s:),s. SiH, — I hav«' tho honor to ro|iort on the proposed line of iim\ ination tiom Montreal, by the Ottawa and Fivru'li Kiveis, to Lakt^ Huron, the cxaniiii- ation and svnvey of which wer<' connnitteil to n»y chin,'*; l>y th<' Cdimnis- sioners of Pul>lic Works in July,,lH5G. As an index to tlie work eniln'aeed in tin- eNph)ratioii und sinvcy ofso Iono;and varied a chain of waters as tf<» to make up tli-' loutf in ipKfsti.m. I *' will divide it into the following sections : 1st. Montreal to Ottawa City 110 niilcs. 2nd. Ottawa to Portai^e dii Fort '>') lhf\. Portage du F(n-t to Fort VVilliani GO ■% ■ 4th. Fort William to Mouth of the Matawan 80 oth. The Matawan and Lake Nippisingne ^o " (ith. Tjrtke Nippisingne and French River NO Whole distance Montreal to Lake Huron ^'M) miles. For particulars of the stejis taken for the cariying out of my instruct- ions, I would refer you to my rid infcrnii reports — more especially those of the l-Stli December, 185H, and 19th March, arid 25th August last year, while J will here merely recapitulate in general terms what in those docu- ments is given in detail, viz : that the original appropriation for meet- ing tho expcn.ses of the survey having l>een of veiy limited ainonnt, I decme<i it advisable to confine actual instrumental ophMations. in the I first instance, to those portions of ohe route which obviously jiresented the principal obstructions to the establishment of a continuous navii;!!- tion. The sections selected on these grounds were ; — 1st. That from, I'ortairedu B^1rt. at the head of the Chats Lake, to the toot of the noble stretch of navigable water above Fort Willinm, known as tJu; "J)ee}) Rivei," | — beintr No. H in the above index : — 2nd. From the mouth oi the Matawan I to Lake Ni{)pisingue, No. 5, in index. •> J t TIm' first. (IcscriliiHl <livisioii, ccvfMiiiif smin' sixty-live miles of th<' leiif^tli ti) W explnioi). is H\' far tli • iii')>.'t nhsti iir-ti'd |>(irti(tii o\' tlic niiiin Ottawa Hiver,an(lcons(M|Uontly tin- most tedious of survey ,iis it will I'ventually lio ilio most costly of improveiui'iit.wlii'u plared in . nuparisoii with any e(|ual portion of tlif routf above Hytown. A complete ami leliaMc survey of this section I (U'cmeil indispensahie toa correct ls.no\vlt>d^e of the capacity (if the Ottawa as a navit^alile lii^liway to the west. That an accurate chart ot the Malawaii, and a reliahle topo^rajihical map ot the dividins^ ridge l>etwe<M! it Mud i^ake Nippisirii^ue, werec(|ual- Iv indispensable to a correct solution of the problem with which I have to deal., must necessarily have struck any experienced engineer who had at all (riven his attention to the subject, that cnuistion involving a matter <if no less moment than the coi\nection, for purposes of commerce, of the waters c)f the gi'cat Ottawa River with those which choose their path to the Ocean by w'ay of the (ireat Lakes ami the Falls of Niagara. U must have been obvious, also, even in the absence of any previous know- ledge of itsconfovr, that in the region of tlie Matavvan, would have to be ilecided the all important (juestion of the supply of water to meet the exiirencies of lockage. Fi'om the confluence ot the M.dawan with the Ott;' vd to the month of the little " lliviere de Vase " on Nip])isingue. is forty-tive miles'. The surveys f)f these two divis'onsof the [HMJected (diain of navigation were comraenred in August, 1S.")(), and cariied on uninten-uptedly all through the severe winter that ensued,]iarticuiarly severe as it must neces- sarily ev:r be -'.i the northeily latitude in which they lie. Operations on the Matavvan were continueij until the following ^lay, when 1 received of- ficial instructions from vou that the two parties of enjjineors there enijarred weie to bt- called in. and that portion of the survey abandoned, or suspended -s'/ic die. Tho^e instructions lacteil upon at once, though witli reluctance.for the work had been approached so near to completion that three months' eontinnance of even one of the jiarties in the fieM would have secured all the re([uis!te data for the tiompilation of a finished and accurate chart of that singular and interesting rivei-as well iisof the adjacent shores of Lake Nippisingue. The lower division of tht> work, froui tlie Deep River to the head of Chats Lake, continu'Vl und(;i- survey until the end of January la.st, short- I .' previous to which time you notified me that it had been decided by the Commissioners, acting under an order of His Excellency the Gover- nor General in Council, to discontinue all further operations for the present. / / It is inncli to lie re(,'rettiMi, if I iii.iy Ix- pn init(<'<l ii. say so, tluit tin- necessity toi' IIm- .sns|)<!lisi<)ti <>f tllis siii-vcy slimilM li;i,vr ;ii-isi'ii just ulicliif dill, at !i |iuciii<l of tlu' ycnr ulitii tlu- icr art'>i(|s.siU'li I'acilitics lor soiiiiiliii;^ wirli rti'curaey an<l ('xpcditi'iii, ti'nl Inr olitniiiintc tlu^ otlicr nccfssHr\' ilahi. lor tinislir'l ami ('oicprcln'Msivc nmp.-. ami rluirts, ami «liii,li on tlu^ nt ii/n/ and preci/ri.fo'iis s/ioris ,\' d.M'p waters cannot at any utiicr scasoji lie liad with equal ccDiiotny aiid coircirtnc^v. The picscnl wiiibr. had the v/oik not boon iuti-i ruptrd, woiM hav'- r';sidtod in the acipiisiiion of f lie iioocs- sarv niatoiial i'or layiiijf down witli complotoiioss all tlu: Narviiiji' foatuir^ of sli(>i'o-lino, islands, and depths ((dating to tho sovcral i^lniinols into wiiich tliat intrif-ato section ot the Ottawa is divided hy the Allutintttes and Caluniot Islaiids, and the many little i.slets hetweon the (dand Cahi- niet Falls and Portage dii l''oi t In aocordance with tiie instructions last rtd'eired to, tlie Ottawa sin'v.\- was totally su>p''nded on the .')l^t January last. IS-jS), I should have mentioned that in addition to the two divisions of tie- route above ih-scrilied as compassing my liist scheme of operati<»ns. I have also s\icceeihid in olitainiiig a veiy e.Kcellont. though also still incomplete survey of a third division- -Lac <le> < 'lieiies — -tbriiiing part of section No. 2 in index, and extending from the foot of the Chats Rapid--, opposite Fitzroy Harbour, to the head of tie' < "haudiere Ra[iids. seven miles above the City of Ottawa. J)uringn)y explorations of theOttawa, in Norembei-. 1 Sot), learning that the works of the ( "hats Canal were on the eve of being sus[iendod, it struck UK! that the resident Kngineer of that work. Mr. Gallwew thus relieved of his ordinary duties might possiiily be spaicd to assist in the important survey which I had then recently connuenced. On making such a suggestion to tin; department, the Comnussioners at once res- ponded liy placing Mr. (Jallwey and his ])arty at my disposal : I accoi'd- ingly leiiuested him toconnoet. by regular .Mirvey, the already commenced canal at the Chats with the contem])lated one at the Chaudien;, This work, carried, on during the wintei- of iS.')(i-7, though not com- pleted, was prosecuted sufficiently far t- furrnsh a correct outline of Lac des CluMies. ami to add twenty-seven miles (the lengtii of the lake) id correct .soundings to oiu' store of information respecting the available depth of the waters umh-r exanujuitiun. From the moment of assuming the I'esponsibility of asci'rtaitnng and pronoui\cing on the merits of so bold a project as that of opetdng an entirely new ship or steamoi' comnniidcatio)i between the Lowei' St. Lawrence and the Lake ports of tlie West, I laid down the principle of having the work executed with the gi oat* st possible caiefulness and accuracy, desirous (as stated in a former report) of producing charts of 6 our i^fiainl uortlu^'n rivei as reliaWo in every |>artu'iilai' as those adinii*- ablf ones which will over associatti the name ol Raykikiji with the Great Lakes an<l the St. Lawrence. r apci>nlin;4ly a'lopteil thf trigori<>metri(!al systfiii ol' survey ; ami as lin- as the work has i,'ont'. ho paius have heonspareii to itisuie eorrectiU'ss, as well ill ilet M'uiininj; the shoro-liiie of the wate.'^, main laii'ls, ami islands, JUS in layiiij:^ down the sontnlini^n. The I'oUowiutr suininary. takinjr the sei;tions wl-.ich wei-e unflcr survey in the order in which they oeciir asceiidin*; the Ottawa, will servo to show at u Lrhuiet' what ]>r()portiou of tin* loute has l)een sul»niitted to the test ot itistnunental fxamination, tin? whole distance I'roiu Montreal to the mouth of the F'rench Kivcr lieinj;, as alrea<ly -itated, estimatfd at +:i() miles. 1st. From theChaudierc to the Chats Rapids. 'Lac des ( ■hones". 27 miles. •2nd. From F^)rtaj^e du Fort to the Deep River Ho '• :?id. Krom mouth of the Matawan to Lakr Ni})]nsiii<,qie 4;") " Total V)7 miles The trianifulation of all these seotions has been nearly completed, hut a larLi't' amount of field work, as has het-n hcforc mentioned, remains to 1.1' (loin* ill order to complete the tracinj; in of tlu; shore-lines, and the topoi^raphy of the hanks of the rivers and lakes. Soundiii;j;s have lieen taken throuiflnmt, generally at intervals of two hundred feet apart, .save in the actual rapids, andsume isolated spots liesidt-s, whei-e the waters did not friH'/e. The results of this department of the work may he ■^unmit'd up as follow : Jst. Ij<u' <lfs Chi'ihs. — For ahout three ipiarters o! a mile helow the foot of the (.'hats Canal, we have a serie-iof to-ky liisand shoals, which scarcel}' leave, at low water, a deptli ot iiioir rlmn seven ,. I a half feet available for navi<ration. There is. Iiow. vi. !ii e li (i.ip wuler over fif- teen feet) in that distance : and tli" t'oi'iiiiifio.i ot a e'l i;m' 1 twelve feet in depth or more, thouL,di it WiiuM involve considerable outlay, is perf- eetly within the scope of praetioability. The rem.iinder of Lae des Che- nes, twenty -seveti miles, has a broad, diiiM-t channel, with a minimum dei'th of twelve feet at low water, the averaiie sounilings beintr more than twenty feet, ami but one fortieth pnrt of the whole <listance less than fifteen feet. 2nd. The section from Poi-tage du Fort to the Deep River, 65 miles has been sounded throughout the northerly channel of the river, in- eluding Lac Coulonge, and presents generally an available depth of over fifteen feet, by far the lai-ger proportion of the distfuice having soundings of more than thirty feet. In tht? C!alumet Channel, from the head of the \ • i ' 7 island of tliat naint" to the (iiuinl Calinuft Falls, sfvoiitceii miles, wc iuuc SOUK! ten iiiilos (it slialkjw water, tVoiii six ti) nine toet. over slionls eoiii- poHcd otsaiitl (»r alluvial deposit. Tlie watei' in this ehaiitiel eaii. liy the simple eou.structioii ot uii easily foniuid (.lam at the Kails, he kept up pei- mauently to a l(;vel that would, \\'ith(jut dama^in^ any lau(ls imw avail- alile tor cuhivatiuii, i^ive a uiiniutuiu depth throue;h()Ut of nine feet, and u channel of twelve, of foi' that matter, fifteen feet in depth, can then easily he ohtaineil thriMiLfli the shoids liv dieiUing out from two to si\ feet of the soft (Jeposit of which the bottom is composed. •}rd. The .soundint^s (jf the Matawaii River are hi,uhiy .satistactoi y, oxtendiufi;, save in the few east's of " open water ' (nearly all soundint^s having- been taken from the ice;, from its ctniHui .. • with the Ottawa to ts head waters in the upper extremity of Trout J^a. • . distance 4-2 nnle.>^. In mid-chaiin(d the de}iths averat^e as follows : J5 feet an<l over o- .) Jcs 12 ■' and le.ss than l5 o " h» " and under •' "' or tile dee[> portions, that is to say i.fteen fceL and over, three fiiurths, or twenty-four miles, have more than ''{O feet .soundi.i.,s. In " Lac i'lcin (Jhant," a stietch of smooth water five miles in leni^th. not fur .diovt the mouth of the liver, the averaj^^e depth is more than eii'hty feet; in many instances bottom not beiiiij (iiscoveralile with thiee times that leuirtli ol line. Lac "Talon,' whieli we reach at eii^hteen miles from tiie mouth, and which j^ivesus eight miLs of still water, is also veiy dee}). ne\ ei- less than twenty ( 20) feet in mid-channel and connnonly more than one hundred feet. We then eon)e to La Toitue and Trout Lakes, twelve miles more of smooth water. In the former the luininmm soumciin^s are fifteen feet, in the latter thirty, while freijuently more than two hundred feet are found. Apart from theregulai- suiveyinif ojierations, Mr. Stewart, my princi|ial Assistant in the woi-k, took advantae;e of the gO(»d ice in the winter of 185U-7, to ascertain the depth to be depended on in the Chats Lake (the upper part of section No. 2 in index) from Portage du Fort to within three miles of the head of the Chats Canal. Consecutive and close soiindinys w-.e taken throu<rhout that lenuth. some seventeen adles. except for about two thirds of a mile of open water at the Cheneaux Kapn's, and resulteil in showing a minimum depth of about fourteen feet, the soundings generally ranging Vjetween thirty and sixty leet, while the lead at the end of thirty fathoms of line fre(|uentty announced " no bottom." 8 1 have thus liad soutulii.-uvs take-' over about one iiundred and tit'ty miles of the proposed chain of navigation, upwards of one-third of the whole estiniafced len<j;th, ati<l in the distance find only some thirty miles linchuliiig the Chats Canal) reip.ii-iuij artificial improvement to render eacii section continuously nuviorable in itself for vessels drawino- twelve or even fifteen feel, of water. As J procee i with this report I trust to be able to show tint, followinu' the route of the watsus propo-ed to be im- l)roved, fiom r<>'town to the (ieori^ian Bay, the points between which my whole held ot ojierations lay, there are at least one }iiind)-ed and twenty Juiles more of lieep and level water, in detached sections it may be. Imt rccpiirino- little or no aid from the hand of man to reniler them amenable to the pur[ioses of ship iiavii,fjition. The falls and I'apids of the surveyed and other [)oi'tious of the route will be touched on iiy and by when I come to enter on the ijeneral engineeiing features of tiu' whole scheme, ami will in that connection be exhibited in tabular foi'ui as an Appendi.K to this report. Besides the h yd rographical examinations endjraeed in the loreeoino- sunnnary of soutidings, a surxey has also been madi.- of ihe ridge of lanJ dividing 'I'lout Lake, at the liead of the Matawa.n River and the most westwar.Uy of ihe waters tribut.try to Ihe Ottawa, from Lake Nippisin- gue, whose outlet is by the French Hive:- to I^ake Huron ; ati'l the topographical features of the baiiiei' betwe.'U where the water.^ of two of the mightiest of .VmiM-ican )-ivers appi'oach almost, within ritle shot of one anothei', ha\e been ascertained with sutHcient areuracy to enable me to pi'onounee with contideiice on the practicaliilitN and probable cost of unit- ing them. Having sketched, as above, n)y course of [)inceedings towards the dis- charge <tf tilt.' trust counnitted to me, I will next, lielore enterin>'- on consecutive dt'tails as to harborage and lockage, distance and depth, exhibitory ot the engineering characteristics of the route, endeavor to give, for the information of those who, though interested in the project, may not t.ie familiar with the geography of the pi'oposed line of com- muiMcation, a ileM'ji[itive outline of the chain of watius wdnch are to liMin the Ottaw.x anm) Fuench Hivek N.vvkution. The great ( )ttavva River, which at the foot of the island of Montreal beeonies Hiiaily merged in the greater St. Lawrence, has a north-west- wardly course of probably sane Hve hundred miles, and may be said to ilrain all that portion ot the area of Canada comprised between latitude fo'-' and 49^ a:id longitude 7V' and IDh*^- Following the couise of this great artery for about three hundred miles from Montreal, and noting in the distance many large streams <) ^ ^ % » h 9 pouring into it from both si los, we come to a broarl, dee[) river, havincr rtti asceiidinr,' coarse to the w^st. Thi^ is the M.vtawvn, the widest and deepest of the western trilmtaries of tlie Ottawa. Turninir out of the main river, we follow up thi> branch, directly towards the settinj; sun, for a little over forty miles, when, far larf^-er at its sources than at its mouth, the Matawan closes abruj)tlv at the head of a deep lake, an'l, for the first time since startinjj; upon our journey, the waters seem to come to an end. Landincr, however, and crossintj a sandy rid^e. but little elevated above the level of the lake just spoken of, a walk of scarce three-quarters of a mile brings us upon a little rivei', wlr^re the current, whiijh has hitherto impeded the pi'ogtess ot our bark canoe, now assumes a contrary direction from that of the waters we havt^ It.-f t behind, an<l is gliding .silently but suruly to the Wkst. Descending this .stream, known to the " Voyageurs " as " La Riviere de Vase.' rive miles of canoein^j over its ffraduallv widenintr siirface brings us out upon a noble expanse of water, Lake Nippisingue : acro.ss which, still keeping on our due west course, we find thirty miles of deep water ere agiin compelled to take the latul. which we do near where the dark waters of the lake are .seen to hurry tumultuously to som^ destined goal below, through a narrow (channel cut perpemlicularly in the hard granitic rock. Here a " portage " of scarce a quarter of a mile in length brings us once nioie to navigable water, iind our canoe floats securely on the placiil surfin-e of the Fhkn'c'II Rtver ; following who.se deep and beautifully terraced waters, and making thrtic t^hort '' portages " in its li'iigth of fifty miles, we emerge U|)on the Groikuan B\v ; having trav- elletl, as near as nuiv l»e, four hundred and thirtv miles from our startinsx point at Montreal, and to i-eacli which place of union with Ottawa waters those of the l''rencli Rivei-, which have just borne us out upon Lake Huron, have a journey before them of not less than one thousand miles ; forming an atom in the hugi', volume of water that takes the great leap of tlie cataract of Niagara. With so indii-oken a chnin of water eomm'uication, river an<l lake, between the lower St. Lawrence — the natural portal of (Janada - and the " land of promise " in the west, it is not to be wondered at that the route we have just come over should have been the earliest highway of Cana- dian Commerce. In the year 1015 a brave Frenchman a.sconded the Ottawa from where the C'ity of Montreal now stands, antl. under the guidance of his allies from among the Indians, who then swarmed on its banks, as well as on the now desolate .shore of Lake Nippisingue and the French River, he jfk followed the identical course that has been traced above, extending his ir 10 cxploratiotis far duwn Lake Huron. Hnioii wah thus tlir first ut uur wonderrul freshwater .seas evei" juazcil upon liy European eyes, ere yet the thunders of Niaiiara liail "reetoil KinoDimn cars. 'Pin? uaiui' of the iiallant voyaijeur was Samukl ( 'ham plain. ftnpellod liy the l.)ve of advont.irc, or th«' temptations of ti-athc. La Salle and others *|uicl<ly followed in tlw! fot^tsteps of <Jliaui[jlain, and for a long series of years, np to a eoinpaiativoly recent lu-riod, larj^e fleets of canoes, richly laden with the peltries of the North, ])eriodically, year by year, ascended the French Hivei , and, crossinu over Nippisin^ue nnd the " htjijrht of land, ' dri^pped dnwn the Ottawa to ^^ontreal, the hend- • piarters of tlie fur trade. Owing to I he falling oH in tha.t iuijioitant laancli of ei?iiun4n;e, in part hi'cause of the gi-adnal dccre;;se in the nninl)er of fnr-hear'ing animals in the region of Nippisingue and the Ottawa, in part l)eeause of tliLMjpening of other chaiuiels of conimuniiation, Init, aliove all. to the appearance of steamers (.)n ^hv great Lakes, an 1 ol Railways on their liorders, the French River and Ottawa r')nte fell into gradual disuse; save, as regards the latter river, for the purpo.ses of the. tiinlu'r trail- : and on the French River, Lak(( Nii)pisingne, and tlu; Matawan, whose echoes formerly res- ounded at not unfretpient interval-, to tin- smLfof the voyageur, his cheery Voice is now l>nt seldom luaid. tin' only iidialtitants of the solitary shoi'us consisting of some few do/.en Indi.m funilie-, of that self-.samo Algoni|uiii trilie ni whom hundreds gathered, womlering, roinid the ■' white; men " when, nearl\- two centuries suid a half ago, Champlain ami his companions first appeared among them. In reviewing the commeivial hearings of the piojeet under consider- ation, it nnist ho apparent ti» the most indiflerent looker-on, if he will only gi\c the suhjecl his serious attention for a little, that the claims uf such a route as has heen discrihed --water, it may i»e.sai<I the whole way, and nearly four hundred miles shorter iietween tide water and Lake MichigMii than that iiy the great Lakes, are at all events desei-ving of an impartial hearing. Setting asi^lc, therefore, tin.' engineering ohstacles to l»e overcome, and which, for aigument's sake, we will snp])()si; to he smoothed over in the meantimi'. I will procee(l to state the eas(; as simply and hricHy as I can for the consideration of the merchant. It is not my intenti(Ui to array great c.olunnis of statistics to show what the ])'jssilile trade from the west t<i the scaSoard may be some ten years he.ice, within which period such a navii>ation as is abovj forcishad- owed may heeome a i-eality. The increase of population and conuuerce in the western States and western cities has invariably outstripped tlie anticipations uf the theovist, and are perfectly certain to continue to do so for a long series of years to come. \ I i 11 1 t + I i I n Tt. would he almost in van. thon, to ."i]>eciiliite on wlint the next ten years of pr()(jies.s .shouM liriio forth ; Imt it may Ix- toirly Hs^e^t^;(l tluit lU'o'luciiiLj p )\vi'r'* ill til ; \vi',t, ami dt'in irid for it-. |t«.-0(lucts in tlic cast, arc increasing in such ra))i<l latio tiint any project which shall liavc I'or its end to diminish space and increase the facilities nl transpoi-t hy watci' can'ia<,a' will Hud s;ich f'nwuir in the eyes ot'thc mercantile community, that the restless sjiirit <>f Oommerce will neither .sliiMilcr nor sleep while ii |)o^.sil)i!ity rem.iins of t'lfcetin-j;- >nme rndieal improx-ement in the wa,ter (!ommuni('ati(»ti lictween the lake ports of the interior ami the sea ports of the Atlantic coast. Millinns will he fr<-ely coutiihnte*! jirid I'reeiy expended lor the furthernnec of such ii piu'p )se ere arioth.T decidt; has pas.se(l Mway The natuinl outlet of all that fiTtih' region t-ast of the Mississippi, which drains into the yreat Lakes, is. of course, their outlet the St. Lawrence ; and the prejxiudeDince of the trade ol' that immense area, as it assumes dimensions pi-opurtioueti to the vastness of th river, will settle into that channel as a mattci- of destiny. No wholly ai'tificial avenue can keep pace in increasinii," capacity with the gi<;antic ef)mmerce which is orowiri<f uj) to the west of Lake Michigan, and which will force UH ( 'anadiiins into holder uiidertakiiii^s than any we have yet emharked in. ( 'annda lies dii'ectiy across the leadinrr route from the far west to the Atlantic .seaboard, and over some portion of our territory the ijreat tide of western commt'ice must tor ever roll. To meet the incoming c\ii>'encies of that connnerce, puMie attention has already l)een directed to three ^reat jirojects. \iz : 1st. The cnliupfinient >t the W'elland Canal. 2nd. The eon.strnction of the Toronto and Geoi^jian Bay Canal, ."{rd. The establishment of the French River and Ottawa navii^ation. J use the term n'lrlfiitlioii rather than I'niuil. in relation to the last named scheme, becau.se, as before observed, it consists of tin almost un- interrupted chain of waters — river and lake — demanding, just as we all retnember the St. Lawrence did, certain detached •i<rlioiif< of rand to render the navigation continuous. The maf).s accompanying this Rei>ort will place clearly before the reader the relative geographical jiosition of each of the routes named. That by the Wellantl (.'anal is so familiar to all in any way concerned in the trade of the lakes, that the name is sutiicient to recall its importance and success. 'I'he enlaigement to ship proportions of that indispensalile connection between Lake Ontario and the upper Lakes will l)e the tirst accoinpli.shed of any of the three projects under consideration. With respect to the Toronto and Georgian Bay Canal, the lately published an<l elaborate report of Mr. Kivas Tully, Civil Kngineer, puts 12 us in possession of full and reliable data as to the constructive features otthat project, while my own explorations and partial surveys in connec- tion with project No. .S enable me to condense its salient features into tabular comparison with those ot its compeers : — DiNtaiires, Chifajju '" M<intiH;al. 1 i Welland Ciiiial. •i Toronto uid (Jt'oi ,'1 ui tia> 3 I Fretifh River and (.)tta«u Laku. River. e:inul. Total. 1 Mil^s. .Mjle.^. Miles. Miles. Ulfi V.i-> 71 1:M8 77*' l.V. 120 lOf.0 ST.'. :;47 - lt>)0 Up Keet. l.ncknue. I Down. ; Feet i .17.-. ! f.if. Total. Feet. SO.'i From these figures it appears tiiat in point of distance, JNo. 3, which may be tei'mcl, /Hir excellence, the " Canadian route," holds a very wiiie advantaoje over No. I ; and though pos.sessing in a lesser degree a similar advantage over No. 2, is so fai' itf= superior in reganl of lockage, as. c(efer>s parihu>i, to entitle it to at least an etpaal share oi attention. In the foregoing table, Chieago is taken as our point of departure from the west, Mt-)ntreal as the [lort of destination : with these ])oints as ter- mini, I will endeavour to show what the relative cost of transportation bv each of tlie three routes should be, and to that end will avail myself ot the calculations of the net mileage cost of transport by the several d(;- scriptions of water eariiage, lake, river and canal, given us in the al)le report of Mr. W. J. Mac.\lpine, on the canals of the State of New York. 1 also ask permis.sion of iMr, J B. Jervis to make uh(^ of some of the figures relating to similar matters set forth in his excellent treatise on the Caughnawaga Canal project. The following is Mr. McAlpimi's table : — TA15LE UK THE COST OF IKANSI'ORT PER fOV PRH Ml I.E. Long voyage 1 mill Short " 2 to + mills. Long " 2 Short '■ 3 to + Hudson, and ot sinnlar character '?.i " St. Lawrence, and Mississippi 3 Tributaries of Mississippi 5 to 10 " Erie enlargement -l " Other large Canals, but shorter T) to ti " " il]rie Canal, ordinary size 5 " With Creat Lo'^kage (I to 8 " Railroads. Transporting Coal 6 to 10 " " Not for coal, tavourable grades and lines 12^ " Steep Grades L5 to 25 " Ocean. it Lake. Rivera. « Canals. i \ i I L \ i F.J'p^''^ l"-'" -'1 '''^'' *'*'"''' "?'*'" '""'* ^'^ *^^'''^'J the tolls, which o„ the En. Ca.ml i., ,ts present i nenlarg.,! condition, sw.ll the cost of t"ansr.ort through .t to ahont U mills per ton per mile. Mr. J.rv^s maki^^r'i^ust allowance for the lessenin.j of tolls certain to U- a cor.sequence of the nu-rease of tr.nnara <lue to the la,.er capacity of our CaruUian canals when tested t,. the.r full capability, and lor the actual decrease m the cost oi transportation due to the larper class of vessels that their capabilitv w- 1 admit of being empl-.yed in the trade, assumes the cost of trans^)0i-t tolls included, m ship canals of ordinary cost, at 8 mills |)er ton p.r mile' which IS simply a.lding 4 mills for toll to Mr. MacAlpiue's 4 mills for transport. Mr. T. C. Clarke, in his excellent paper on the " AAcuues of Western irade, first published in '• Hunt's Merchants" Magazin,> '' and subse quetitly in the Report of the Commissionner of Public works fur last year, assumes, and justly, that the cost per mile of both the - Toronto and Georgian Bay. " and ' French River and Ottawa ' Canals will be far in excess of the average cost of the magnificent canals we can now boast of; an<l that, as a consequence of such increas- of outlay there would naturally be a corresponding increase of tolls,-, stinuite.l l)v him at double the ordinary rate.- which, however, he puts at o mills per ton l.or mile, against Mr. Jervis' 4 mills. Accepting Mr. Clarke's principle as .sound, I adopt Mr. Jervis' figure.s, though for the purposes to which I an. about to apply them, that ..f comparison, th,.- one rate would answer fully as well as the otiun-. Taking, therefore, Mr. MacAlpine's rate of 4 mills as the net cost of transport in large canals, and doubling Mr Jervis' tollnge of 4 milks, we have 1'2 mills as the cost of transporting a ton of goods through each mile of the two co.stly canals with which ] have to deal in comparing them as channels of trade with the Wnlland and other artificial links in the St. Lawrence line of navigation. The .several routes. Chicago to Moxtreu., will then compare as follow: 1st. iVelkind ami St. Lawrence Canals. Lake Navigati< a 1145 miles at 2 mills «•? 90 Kiver " i.S2 ' ;? - ."f,. Canal '■ 71 « .s «• t!! yj.ot N'et cost of movement per ton $3 26 2nd. Toronto and Georgian Bar/ Rmtc. Lake Navigation, 775 miles at 2 mills ^1 k,- Rivcr •• 155 " .s .< ^[^.^ Canal (T. & G. B.) 77 ' \'i ■■ ,;^1; Canal (St. L.) 48 • « " .■.■.■.■.■.■.';.■;.■; o.'gj Net cost of movement per ton $3 27 f ^ u .Srd. French River .n..! OHawa Houtr. Lake Navi<;atinn. 'u^ miles at 2 mills $1.1') Rivei " ;{+7 '* 3 ' 1.('4 ("anal " oN " 12 " • Ojit Xt't '■©st of mov(>ment pev ton .'if^.S!) In tliefuieijoino calcnlatinns Ihave assumed ^\x Mac A I pine's minimitni rate lor lake carnaj^'e ami liis muxiiioi m for lartjf rivers, so that tin- ecmiparison eannot lie eharcjed with heini; umlnly favourable to the Ot tawn route, which is lepresented as possessing a very much h'Si propor- tion of hiL'i' auil iiw nioie u\' riri>,- navigation than either of the other two, althoun'h iimch of what in it 1 have classed as river niio-ht justly he put down as lake, fully one-f<jurth the distance assigned to the former category having,' width and depth sutticient to aihnit of half a doztMi vessels as big as the " (ireat Kastern ' runniny' side l)y side, I will now submit a comparative statement of tlie time to be occiipinl in an onlinury voyage over eacli of these loutes, choosinL,^ the Propeller as the inscription ot vessel with which to experiment in tasking their respective nierils in that |-.aiticular. and will suppose three sneh vessels, of e.pial capacity in every respect, to clear froui Chica<j;o at the same time, all three having tl, ir manifests made o>it tor Montreal. They sail toe-ether pa-t the straits of Mackinac till abreast of the lower end of the (iieat Manifci.ulin Isjaiid when one of them keeping on a nearly due soutii .'(.niM- .|ou-n Lake Huion, lor the Weliand Canal, the other two >tce) ( aMwiu-.l, and in company, till, clearinu' <jape Hurd, they enter the <ieoi„;an Bay ; one ot them rhen heads nortwar(1 for tin; Fi-ench River, ♦■'> '••''<'• fhc Oltawa Honte, the other .southwardly to Nottaw^a.saira, the entrance of the Tor(»nto and tieiugian Bay Canal. 1 wUI as-imii' tor thi: rate of progress of all three vessels eight miles yw lioin through lak,' and river, three nules |,ei' hour in canal, and will allow one an I a I alf minute foi each foot of lockage. With these conditions the time occupied in the .several trips should result as foUowe : |-:t \V''I 'iitil I'll inil h',ah- [t'lilargfxi). 1277 niili> Lake and River Navigation 159 hours. 7 1 '■ Cinal '> 24 oHo feet Lockage 13 " Chicao,^ to Montreal (134S niilcx) 196 hours. 2nd. Toronto (I tul Gt'orgio II Hay Rmilf. 9oO nn'les Lake and River Navigation. ... llti hours 120 " Canal •■ 40 " " SO") feet Lockage 20 " i • i J Chiciigo to Montreal (1050 niilfH) I7fi Imurs. t i .■jrd French Rivi'r arr/ Ottawa Boufr. 922 miles Lake and River Navigation Ho hours. 58 " Canal " ]«) •• 698 feet Locka,^'(.• Chicago to Montreal ! fl.SU uiilcs) |52 hours, Ditiei'encc in favor of No. :i over No. 1 4+ hours. !><» ilo No. ;{ over No. 2 24 '• To render the eoniiiarisons still more coinpri'hensixc \vi' will now retrace our stejjs from Montreal to tin; foot of Lake St. Louis, and sui>posin,(.>' the Caughnawaga Canul to lu- /ai /<ii/ aav////>//, will takr ou)' propellers an.l their eai'goes l)y that route. Lake Chaniiilain and the Hu.lson, to New ^'ork. The cost of transportitii;- a ton of goods from Chicag(j to New York will then compare as follows, the ( 'hamplain Canal being assumed as enlarged to.slii, proportions, and the flud.sou improved for huge vessels to Waterford ten miles aho\-e Albanv. 1st. Wr'/jtix/ ('ii„al Ihuitc Chiea.go to Caughnaw.iHja as above, (dedueting Lacliine Canal t^l>:'i'g'^ ■ ■ ■ s:;,|!) Caughnawaga ( 'anal WW udles at 8 mills 8<>.2G St. -Johns to Wiiitehall, river and lake 12(' " S • d.rii; ' Cham|)lain Canal fj,", " ,s (»..')2 Hudson Hiver, Watei-ford to New York ).) 2^- " ().;!!) Ciiiea^oto \e\v \uyk, ,1721 miits) .*k72 2n I. Tiirdiilii il.'td (r oiyidii. linij lunlJc. Chieago It) Caughnawaga, as above .So. 20 Caughnawaga to New York, do i_.-,;} ^L7:} Chieago to .\ew York, (1 42:5 miles) •".ril. (HI(Vi'i> mid Fi'.nr/, /^irrr lioiUc. Chieago tv) ("aughnawaga. as above ^'2s-2 Caughnawaga to New York, do 15;^ Chieago to New ^'ork. (lo.Ni miles) ^i.'Ary The foregoing ealcniatioiis sliould be suHieient, 1 think, to .show that the French lliver and Ottawa line (»f navigation pos.sesses in realitv such eonnnereial advantages as make it worth while to put its emdneerin"- merits on their trial. I will therefore proeued to ,set forth the difficulties to U^ enoountei-ed, an<l the hieilities for dealing with them, in grapplinf' 16 with vvliat must undoubtydly proven stiipeudoiis iindtn taking;, and in doirijr so I shtiU confiru, myself s'rictly to the facts elicited in the course of my explorations and surveys, " nuthinj; extenuating wherein they aie worthy,' and, \ dui'liino' for the eoi'iectne^ts of my premises, shall cheer- fully abide the critieisms of my professional uiv'.hren upon the conclusions J arrive at, h:noineeuin(; features of the rocte. I corinueiiced my examination at Penetanguishene, au<i made a careful reconnoissan(!e of the eastern I'oast of the Georgian Bay, from thence to its most uortherlv indentation, the Fn tieh River. Aseendinu- which stieain I noted all its ca])diilities for the purposes of a ship iiavimition ; and, continuing my route across Lake Nippisingue, exjtloretl its (toasts and inlet'', ei'ossed over the ridge of land separating its water-shed from that (»( the Ottawa, decended the .Matawan River, and so on down the Ottawa to the foot of the Grand Cidumet Falls, niakiu;'' a canoe V(jva"-e of nearly I'oui' liiimlred miles, and satisfying myself by personal oljser- vation that the plan of ojieratiou-i previously adopted, and herein alreadv flescribed, was rhat liest ealculaterl foi' the pioper carrving out of m\' instruction^. Previous to setting out upon my explorations! had endea\'oured to gatl'.er such reliable inforinationas was within my reach relatiii"- to the characteristics of the route generally,but more especially as regarded that important point, the TERMINAL HARLOR ON LAK K IILRON. And aseeitained that the prevailing opinion with respect t'j th<' cut lanei of the French River was not favourable to thw project ofopeniii:;- a navigable comnumication by tha": route with the Ottawa. It was represented that the apj)roacli to the river was so b;ured by reefs and rendered so intricate by the maxe oi islands multipl^-ing its outlet into innutuorable deltas, that only the most skilful Indian pilots co\ild thread its lal)yrintli of channels so as to steer their bark canoes into thi' main trunk of the ri\er. 1 have already in this re[)ort had occasion ti.> refer to Admii-ai IJay- field"s charts; of .lur Lake's, the accuracy of which is proverbial among those who '■ oecupy their business" in those "great waters. "' Singular- ly, however, an error or oversight in nomenclature on that portion of his cha)-t of Lake Huron which shows the outlet of the P>enjh River, goes to strengthen, if indeed it did not originate the opinion referred to as common among the casual visitors to that coast, viz., that the river is not accf ssible for any craft bigger than a birch bark canoe. > A, t J would direct your attention to sheet No. 8 of Bayfieild's Chart of Huron, and with it beiore you, t') a grroup of islands in tlie north-easter- ly angle known as th(. " Bustard Island.''. " Looking northwai'd from this point of oVnurvation you will .■seethe "Mouths of the Fronch River," tioted as conspicuous capitals, deVjouch- in:,'ainid a nunihi^r of litUo islands. Tinning dm; (.'a>t you will observe an inlet named the •' Kisy, " also Hgurinij^in capitals; while between it and tlie first named point is another indentation of the coast ; settin" up from which, but noti(!ed only in unpretcMidin^' italics, is a large river. The Indians (jf Lake Ni|»pisinii;ue in goini^ to and fro between their homes and Shebatiowhcnanintr and the S;iult de Ste. Marie, commonly enter or descend tin; French River by the " Mouths," so de.signat^'d by Hayfiolil, that route atl'ordin'^ the beat shelter for their canoes ; in goint' to or returning from Pei.et;ingnish(;ne they as commonly chose the pa^^s- age by the " Key", the wat ;rs of which, although thoy do not belong to, the French River, approai'h so near it at some distance up as to render it accessable for canoes by an (!asy " portage ". fn pursuing my examination of the coast I placed myself entirely in the hands of mypihjt, a .sagacious Algoiupiin oi' Like Nippisingue, perfectly familiar with every rocky ishui i and inlet of the myriads that stud and indent the inhospitalde coasts of the CJeorgian Bay, merely giving him to understand that my desire was to enter the river by its widest and deepest e.stuary. hissing tin- " Key ", which he indicated as the; shortest route to Nippi- tiingue, ray guide bent his course for the Bustard Islands, and from thence steered directly for the " large river" already referred to, the way into which from the islands being perfectly clear and unembarrassed. It thus for the first t.ime becHTi(> known to me that the French River had at least one outlet independent or those a>signed to it by the chart, and that the "large river ". which riKjst probably was cinsil(;red by Bayfield as a distinct stream, is in reality that arm of the former bj' which, if ever it is to be adapted to the purposes of modern commerce, vessels will have to enter it. As f(»r the other mouths f have ascertained that they were rightly pronounced to be inaccessible save, as before observed, by the Indian in his canoe. On reaching the month of the rive:' T landed, and looking back upon the bay over which I had jusc passed, it certainly did seem to fulfil all tho external conditions of the noble harbor. The Bustard Group completely protects it on the south and south- west, while a heavy sea, grinding angrily against a projecting headland 18 of granite on the iiortli-wiist, st'emcti tu announce somo shelter agninst the violent salen which so fVecjuei.tly assails the Lake from that quarter. The bay within was |.erfoctly smoi.tli and unriitfled, while without the water was .still hoavino nml swellini; i\nu the ijHects of a iii^ht of storn». The entiaiiee to the harbrjr i.s studded across, from the Bustards tow- ards the I'tain shore on the north, i.y a 'lew rocky islets, jri-eat broad channels between whieh jj;ive every indieation at' very deep soundini,'s. Ciorte under the Bu.stard Islands the chart n»arks sixty feet of depth : in the nio\ith of the river I paid out twenty feet of line witiiout touching liottoni. The interni Miiat.' iiay, doubtless, has sonic of tho.sc treacherous sunken rocks wldcb l>i.'setthe whole of th;i' coast, but the i;-eneral depth r)f water, i> orcat, an 1 deep channels of ample width exist throuj^limit the whole bfiy into tli- cntianec of the river. The reefs and sunken rocks referred to are almost sure to be ot the piniiacli.- form whieh char- aetei'ises the r(»ck-< luul islands «//;o/( water, and as tliey stand up like pyramids with deep soundiiiirs all .uoun.l tluni and therefore su.sceptilde of being removed without e.\trauidiiiar\- tldticultv or cost involving- a description of Work in fact, which, is it would be permanent in its results, would |»rove (jf less ultimate cost tlian the endless dredein-' of some of the ever siltinrj harbors of Lake.s Erie and (Jntario. A vessel of whatever class, steamer or sailimj craft, onee within the Georgian Hay, could, in any weather, at least as easily make the Bu.stard Islands as any of the moll,' southerly ports, (Jwen Sound, tJollinirwood. or Nottawasaga, while in the sweeping u'ale:. from the nortli-west. the seourge of Lake Huron, the run from Capo Hur«l to tlu; Bustards, havinu' the shelter of the great .Manitoulin Island, would assuredly be far safer than tiiHt to any three lower harbors named. Under the lee of the I5u.stard group vessels eould anchor or moor in tlu- n)0st Complete .sec- urity. t)low the wind from what ((uartei- it might, and to drop th.'nei! into the river, the depth and directness of the channel being a.ssumed as sufficient, would lie practical)le under almost any condition of weather slu^rt of actual storm. Icotisider tie; harb .r formcl by the Bay of the French Biver, deseri- lied above, as capable of being remlered in every respect suitable for the entrance of a gnat shi|) canal. The ordinary adjuncts of lighthouses and piers would, of course, be called for, and a careful survey requiretl to determine the proper site for such erections. It was my intention to have made such a survey in the summer of 18.57 had i been permitted to proceed witli the work embraced in mv first instructions. THE FRENCH RIVER. For more than a mile from its mouth upwards the river is broad, deep, and still ; in width from three hundred to four hundred feet ; in'depth 1 1!> t probably twenty tVei. The banks aro of bold jxranitc, that on th«> nortli sido presenting th»i ti\ pcarance of a ni mster artitii'ial bl.•llkwilt^M• or pier, rising perpendifularly many feet above tbe water and jntting out far into the lake, atlor liiiij t') the entranee eoinplot'^ proteoti<in from the blnsterinif winds of the north. At the end of a mile or more from tlie entry, uii rounding a .sudden bend, we come ui)on the first, or. more properly ■speaking, the la.»<t falls of the river, having a descent ofaljout si.\ ffet. and in form resembling an artificial wear; the width of the fall i>eing .scarcely om- lunidred feet, ami the <lrop fiom the higher to the lower level almost perpendicular. On the north side the granite I'ises up boMly from out the water, while on the south there lies a ftat table of tlu; same character of rock, its sur- face but little elevated above that of th<' water in the upper reach, anil the porta; ' over which fiom deep wnter below to deep water above the ca.scnde is not four hundred feet in length. This tal)le rock is admirably adapted for the reception of a lock. Such a structure, of the largest re- quired proportions, would almost occupy its whole area, for in width it can scarce l)oast of oiu' hundred feet when it is overshadowed by a beetling cliff of the same imperishable formation as that upon the oppo- ."ite side. • A dam across the head of this fall and the other outlets, carried up to a height sufficient to maintain the watei- permanently at a level of about one foot above ordinary high water mark, or aliout three feet above the stage at which I found it on the 16th October. ISofJ, would have the effect of creating a dead level from here to the next falls, some si.xtcen miles further on, and would completely drown oru.* oi two trifling inter- mediate rapids, without drowing any land. This elevation of the water would give us a lock of nine feet lift to construct, which, with the dams, about 1100 teet long by 15 feet high, embrace all the work required to render the first eighteen miles of the French River navigaV)le for vessels drawing from ten to twelve feet of watei-. I have been thus particular in describing the first fall encountered in the ascent of the river, and which is known by the name of " Les Petit(is Dalles," V)ecause the jreneral features of all the other falls to be surmounted are precisely similar. They are all more or less wear-like in their forma- tion ; and the mode of dealing with them, when " improvements " come to be considered, will in everv instance be identical : locks and dams being almost the only description of work required to render the river navigable throughout its entire length for an> draught of vessels that the harbors of T^ke Michigan can send out. 20 From the •' Dalles " to th^ n^xb falls above, " Le Grand Rectllet, " the distance, as has been said, is about sixteen miles ; the height of the Recollet Fall is seven feet, ami then a stretch of eighteen miles more of deep wide water, iiiteriuptrd by but one short lapid, till we reach the foot of •' Rapide de Parisien, " the tirst of a series ol four falls extending over a distance of as many miles and separated from one another by deep still ponds. Three locks and dams will com|iletely surmount these obstructions, which have an aggregate height of about eighteen and a- half feet. At the head of " Rapide des Pins, " the uppermost of the four falls just referred to, we find ourselves one-; again in one of 'hose lake-like expanses of deep water which constitute a principal characteristic of this river, and over the smooth surface of which, in this instance, we skim for eight or nine miles without intt'rru[)tion, till our progress is arrested by the " Chaudiere Falls, " one of the outlets from Lake Nippisingue. Here the ascjnt is nearly twenty -six feet to gain the level of that lake. The " Chaudiei-e " has a course of about a mile in length through a narrow channel enclosed bftween lofty and perp(nidicular w^alls ofgianite, resembling a eoml'in.itiou of niiglity locks, trora which the pent-up waters had swei it out the gates. Tc the southward of this channel a deep still bay sets up towards Nippisingue, appioaching to within a quarter of a mile of it. At the hea<l of this bay the portage is made, and at that point the facilities for connecting the waters are all that could be desir.-d. Twolncksanda few hutnlred feet of canal would effect a navigal)le link between twelve feet water above and twelve feet water below the Chauiliere portage. Fiom the entiaiice of the French Hiver, on the Georgian Bay, to its outlet from Lake Nipiasingue, the distance is as near as may be. ..50 miles. The ascent about 60 feet. Making the level of Nippisingue above the sea 632 feet. I estimate tliat the C(jnstruction of seven looks and eight dams, with not to exceed threequarters of a mile in length of rock cutting, ex- clusive of tliat required for the locks, emhraccs all the work necessary to admit of the transit from Laki Huron to Lake Nippisingue of vessels of one thnusand tons burden. It has ain ady been said that the mouths of the river are numerous and intricate. The river itself, though sometimes merging into one vast lake, is, throughout the greater part ot its length, divided into two main channels. M the head the waters of Nippisingue pass out through three distinct outlets, all similar in character to the < haudiere. The .channel I have endeavouied to describe is the southerly one ; the Chaii- difere rapid the furthest south of the triple outlet from the lake. *> 21 The French River might more properly lie described as a succession of lakes than as a coJitiiiuons river. The ascent is made in a scries of level terraces; the ra[)ids or falls between which are short ; assumincj in nearly every instance the cascade form. The depth of watei- between rapids is srenerally very great. I took sounding'i throughout with my own hand, and rarely lighted upon any i^pot where less than twelve feet of water was to bo had, thret; time" that depth being probably moie common. The lake i^ortions are studded with islands clothed to the water's edge with the cedar and the fir, and of every conceivable outline of beauty : while here and there vast l)ays indent the shores to such a depth that fleets of large vessels might lie moored within them unseen amono- the islands. The river portions are for the most part narrow defiles, from two hundred to four hundred feet in width, walled in by towering cliffs of the unchanging granite, or its kindred rocks, the syenite and the gneiss, close up to which 1 invariably found great depth of water. . Emergino- from theee detile.s, the lake scenery will again break upon the view, the islands appearing to be more numenms, the bays more varied, as we as- cend toward the sources of the river. The scenery of the Thousand Isles of the St. Lawerence is tame and uninteresting as -^omppred with the endle.ss variety of island and bay, granite cliff and deep sombre defile,, whicli marks the character of the beautiful, solitary French River. LAKE NIPPiSINGUE Lies just above the 46th parallel of latitude and across the 80th of longi- tude. In form it is very irregular, but has an extreme length, east and west, of about thirty miles, and a maximum breadth, north and south, of about twenty miles. Its aiea may be set down in round numbers at three hundred square miles. Its elevation above the sea is 632 feet. The northerly shores of the lake are .somewhat low, generally of flat granitic rock ; the water shoal upon a sandy bottom. On the southerly side, ecross wdiich our line of navigation lies, the primitive rocks stand boldly out of the water, which is de -p, as much as thirty fathoms some- times, and conmuuily three fathoms close up to the shores. For about ten miles from the head of the Uhandi^re Falls the character of the Jake is in close affinity to that of the French River, the way lying through myriads of islands. We then emerge upon the broad, open lake, across which is a clear, direct, unembarrassed course, of what sometimes proves stormy navigation, to the mouth of the little . ■>/ "KIVIERE DF VASE", -.- s...^', in itself an insignificant stream, but 0'. -msy adaptation to the purposb of an artificial oavigation. Its course lies through wide marshes of deep mud, maintaininjjr : tangled growth of dwaii" alder and willow, or between sloping hills of arid sand wooded with red pine. Canoes ascend the Vase, portaging thi'ee times, for five miles from it« month till wf reach THE SUMMIT RIDGE, where we attain a height above Lake Nippisingue of 35 feet ; above the sea 667 feet. Here the water-shed of the St. Lawrence and the Ot- tawa divides, and a portage of threequarters of a mile across the " height ot land " brings us to the head waters of THE M ATA WAN. which are enclosed in a beautiful basin of immense? depth — "Trout Lake" — in the bays of which, at one hundred feet from shore, we are in eleven feet of water ; at two hundred feet, in twenty feet : and then rapidly drop off into sixty, one hundred, and two hundred feet soundings. The length of this lake is eight and a half miles, and immediately below and separa- ted from it by a rocky bar of four hundred feet in length, is a similar basin —"Turtle Lake" — having a length of four and a quarter miles. This gives us some twelve and three quarter miles of smooth, deep water (Turtle being but one foot lower than Trout Lake) to start with on our summit navigation ; for, with the exception of the bar above refei-red t,, and some few other detached shoals, extending in all over a distance of about titteen hundred feet and chietly composed of needle rocks, the points of which (having seldom les.i thai.' eigiit feet of water over thetn) can easily be blasted off. the deptii throughout is ample, rarely less than three and generally over t^iK fntlioin^. The average width of these two basins may be taken at one mile, and their joint area at twelve square mile.«. The height of Trout Lake above Nippisingue it> 23 feet. " aiK)ve Huron...' 83 " " " above tli<' sea 655 " This is the summit water of our route. I shall take up the question of supply further on, but while we are on the summit the practicability of connecting the waters— between which, though so near to one another, nature has interposed a barrier — may pro- perly be discussed. For a canal between Lake Nippisingue and Trout Lake two routes pre sent themselves: The one is by tho Vase as already described ; and aesuraing the supply of water on the summit to be sufficient, I would pro- pose to flood the first two miles from the mouth ;if the river by raising *¥ \ ■•■vagi^'aia j . 2,^ I 4 Nippieinguc permanently to a height of about five feet above its highest natural level — a work very easy to be accomplished, and at little cost. This would reduce the extent of actual cuuallin^ necessary between the lakes to about three tnile.^, of which about three-fourths of a mile would have a tnaxltnum depth of cutting of not mure than twenty-four feet, with an averag).- of less than twenty feet ; the remaining flistance. two and it quarter miles, would average perhaps ten feet in depth of excavation. The material to be worked upo!) would be chiefly sand and boulders,though prol)ably the hard primitive rock would i)e struck ere reaching Itottom in tiie summit cutting. Two locU;^ w.iuld be required to overcome the ascent of sixteen feet fntm the laised surface of Nippisingue (1 here propose raisiuiT it seven feet al)ovo low water) to the level of Trout Lake. Seven feet would then be added to the lockage at the Chaudiere, from the French River to Lake Nippisfngue. The other route refei red to is by following another small stream, the " Ojibwaysippi,'"' which falls in a nn'le or so north of the Vase, and along the course of which thei-(! exists a chain of lagoons extending to within a short distance of Trout Lake.— no summit intervening Itetween them and it , and so nearly does the level i>f these lugoons correspond with that of the summit waters that it is in.t improbable that, althoagh now solely tributary to the Ottawa, they at one time found their way to Nippisingue by this channel. A canal i)y the Ojibwaysippi route would b(? more direct than one by tlu) Vase, and would have an entry on Trout Lake in a far finer bay than that wl ere the latter woidd terminate. The survey of the former was not com- pleted, — 1 cannot therefore speak with confidence as to wiiether on the whole it should be preferred to the l)ettcr known one by tiie Vase, but certain it is that by either route the construction of a canal would be an umlertaking of marked simplicitv, and perfectly feasible within moderate limits !.»f cost. Hefore coimnencing the descent from the summit eastwards, I will re- capitulate the works required toci»nq)lete the navigjition to that point, as- centling fiom the west: Assuming; Supply from Trout r,.iV;c. Natural NaviKfttloii. Canal Navigation. ToUl Disfanne. Height I .. , orercome. *'"•■^''■ .Vo, tJt r>Am>.. Milp«. Mile» Milen. feet. ' French Ki\er t'< 1 .id ' (17 .^ ,s l.aWe NipviBilieue ;lli •II' .» Summit Barrier •■' 1 . -. - - • 1- — Tit r> »!i ri» ; lu n '24 •The. dams in the French River would bo structures of inconsiderable magnitude, averacjin^ not more than 25i» tfet in length by twelve feet in height. Those on Lake Nipj)isin^]:ue would not exceed twice those di- mensions where largest. The greatest depth of cutting at any point in the canal portions of the route would bo under thirty feet. I now return U> the Matawan, the upper reservoir of which, formed by Trout and Turtle Lakes, has already been described. The outlet from Turtle Lake is throuirh a roekv river, irenerailv shallow and rapid, though having occasional ponds of deep and level water. The length of this neck is a little over four miles, when it d(ilivers its waters into another vast b;isiii — Lac Talon. Tiie fall between Turtle and Talon basins is about rhirry-two feet. Three iooks can be coMvcnently con- structed, and damming resorted to with good eft'ect to obtain the requisite depth of water, without recourse being had ro heavy excavations. Lac Talon is in letigth 7 miles. Its heigth above the sea is 622 feet. Its general <iepth is ver\- great, from ten to twenty fathom soundings prevailing over a large portion of it. Two bars exist near its lower ex- tremity, having from five to eight feet of water over them. Their com- bined length is about thirteen hundred t'ecit. and they stand.in both cases, on the verge of very deep water. Lac Talon discharges it.>^ water precipitously in a splendid f'A//Yt' of forty- tiu-ee feet height, \yixy narrow, and liound in by granite clids. lofty and perpendicular. From dee[) water above to i1ee|) watei' below the chute, there is about twelve hundred feet of length, and in a dee[» ravine upon the southerly side nature ha.^ i)lainly poinded out the site f'T future locks. Below the Talon chute there is a series (jf f>>ni' Ijasins or ponds, and three rapids ; the former oecu))ying a combined length of two miles, the latter three ipiarters of a mile. The descent is twenty-one feet. re([uiring twc* locks and dam.'^ to perfect the navigation. The uppermost and longest of tiie " ponds,'" a mile and a fifth in length, is very wide, and from twenty to one hundred and twenty feet in depth ; the otiiers are nowhere less than one hundred feet in width, and have a least depth in mid-channel of eight feet. We next come to the "Portage des Paresseux," where the water tumbles over in a fine cascade, thirty-four feet in he'fflit, the >vhole length of the interruption being about a .'juarter of a inih;. Here a thorough cutting through hard rock will have to bo resorted to in effecting a navi- gable pufisage from the head of the rapid to the foot of the cascade ; three lockB will also be required. The average depth of cutting will not exceed fifteen feet. 1 m. k Imme'liately belo.v tlie Paresseux fhute we are in verv deep water, and between bold and bt!etlin^ cliffs of the all pervading syenite : in a great fissure in tlio J'ock in fact, wliieli clothes in at one point till scarce eighty feet of width is left between its mural sides. The least depth of water in Miifi narrow defile is forty-three feet. You may suspend a plumb line upon the face of the rock, on either side of the river, and keep paying it out for that mnnOLr of feet ere the lead rests upon the bottom. The whole still water di^^tance from the Portage des Paresseux till we arrive at the next rapid l»eIow is somewhat more than three niiles,and over that length, save at one point, the depth of water is very great, and the width am[)le for all purposes of ship or steam navigation. The "narrows" already referred to as having some eighty feet of width, are vertj narrow as compared with the general width ui this reach of the river. The one point alluded to as shallow is where the stream is divided into two by "Les Anguillcs" IslaJids, the channels around which are impractical)le for the passage of any ciaft bigger than a five fathom canoe : natuie has however placed close at hand the means of reme«lyin<r this oltstruction. The shoal is not more than two hundred feet in length, when it at once drops off, above and lHk)W, into upwards of nine fathom soundings. From the foot of " Lac des Anguillcs " we have an alternation of rapids and pond? tor a little over two miles, the whole fall in that distance,to the foot of "Portage des Epines," being about eighteen feet. Two locks and dams will surmount all the obstructions encountered oa this section of the Mataw^"-, At the foot of "Les Epines" Rapids we enter "Lac Plein-Chant," a magnificent stretch of deep water. In length it is nearly five and a half miles, in width very variable, from two hundred U|) to two thousand f(>et. Its general breadth may be taken as between four hundred and five hundred feet. Where deepest forty-live fathoms of line failed to touch tlie botton). The general depth ranged over Hve fathoms ; the only ,s/wal spots that have been found to exist, being of inconsiderable extent, and having froin twelve to twenty feet of water upon them. The end of Lac Plein-Chant brings us to within about two and a half miles of the confluence of the Matawan with the Ottawa. That distance is broken by three rapids, having an aggregate fall of nearly twentv-ono feer. One half of that length has deep and level water ; the remainder may be put down as requiring to be canalled. Three locks should be ne- cessary. Having now reache<l the Ottawa, I will, before i)roceeding down that river, condense the features of the Matawan into tabular form, so as to shew at a glance what is the extent of artificial work required to render its length of forty miles, or more, continuously Jiaviyable on a scale proportioned to the capacity of tiie waters westward of the summit. 2(i TABLE OF MATAWAN KAPIDS. ■- sKLTiOK III' kivi;k. 11 a 25 ^1 = 1 it Z Z. "~ Trout and Tiirtli' Lake-. Miles. lli.Tti .Milca. o.or> Miles. 12 Tr. 4.20 Feet. Tiiitlc ku|iiils, 4.20 :i2,7r. ;[ :! Luc Talon 7.(Ki 7.(KI Talon C Imtf Kel Lake , ..'.'.'.",'.'.'.'.","'",' Si'iies of Kapids uiiij P.imls " ' ' " .','"_ 1 liutr (li- l'ar<'»iM'\i\. I.a^' do-. Aj;;uilli"., Knpiilsiles Al-iiill,-, l.a Kosf. I,e» iJiiiiaa II. -.;•-! 4'i.7r> 4 1 1.511 1.4K I..1I 1.4S ■!i!i:. •f 2 0.23 o.it .•i4.Ii :i 1 ■1.15 •I.ii •1.1.'^. 2.14 '1 lti..''i4 ':{ :i La'' I'li'iii ( liiitit . I'liMii Ciianr. and ..rli..r Ka|>id> h, Moulli .").40 l.-il M.- U.4U ■mr, •20.(1!) ■■■' :i Mi.m il.TIl 411,42 i 170.0(1 IS l:l A.>- it! tlir I-'ic'iu'li UivtT, the (iiinis will he .siuiplc! .«tructure9, not to exceed, where lar;Lref^t, two luiiulred leef in leii'^-tli by twelve in lieiglit. Of the cdiial portion, one third will be foniicd by riiij-iiiir the level of the water ; tiie other two third;;, enibraeinijc the hitcn of the locks, will be ex- cavated wholly ill r(K'l<, but at no point is it likely that the deptii of cutt- ing will exceed twenty feet. Coinbiiiiiig the above taijle with that on piige '2 \ it will be -seen that from the eiifrance of the Kremdi River to the mouth of the Matuwan. TIk; total listaiice is 125 ,*^ milcH. ascent and descent •_'.") 3 feet. " extent to be canalleil laf miles. nunilier of locks required 2S '• niiniber of daiii^ '24 I ha\e How to de;il with-tiie Ottawa itself, which at the niouth of the .Mutawan. more than three hundred miles above its union with the St. Lawrence, is still a noble river, about lifteen hundred feet in width and very deep. Trout Lake, our summit water, ha^ an elevariou above the sea (r/VA page 221 of (i.^o feet. The total fall of the Matawan is 170 " '.yaving tor the elevation of the Ottawa at this point 4S5 •' L; :,k-diat!y below where the Matawan comes in liiere is a rapid of Tivo text tall, where a lock and side cut of about » mile in lem>-th will ue rv luMVii ! sounded below the rapid and found twenty-four feet. Furcevi.iiUcii miles from the ••ALilawan liapidf ' the Ottawa continues very wide, direct, and deep, and. though with i decided current, is a splendid piece of natural navigation the whole \ray. The baidcs are foi.- the most part bold, precipitous, and rocky ; the ?ceuery very grand. ^% ^ 27 At nineteen miles below the Matawan we are at the head of a series of three great rapids, occupying a distance of three milcp : " La Veillf^e '■ " he Tron," and " Les Deux Rivieres. " The pitcli is tliirty-two feet tlie opportunities for locking and canalling highly I'livoraMc. From the foot of Les Deux Ilivirres we have ten miles of hroad deep water, which l)rings us to the head of the •• Uoeher-('a])itaiti(', " the grandest of the magnificent rapids of the Ottawa. The fall here is forty- five feet. On the north side of the river is a flat tahle-land, hut little elevated above the level of the water at the head of the rapid niid well adapted in form to the construction of a canal, the lengtii of which w.uiid have to be about two miles, with, at the foot, a tliglir of four lo(;l<s in combination. The excavations required here would, as far as extcrriiil indications justify one in determiniiiii:, i)e chietiv throuirh misses of lar"c boulders. Leaving the " Tiocher-Capitaine, " we are once again on the broad bosom of the Ottawa, and have sixteen miles of open navigation, unint- errupted save by some strong currents, to " Les Riipides des Deux Jon chims, " where in two miles there is a fall of twentv-eis2:ht feet. A care- ful survey would lie retpiired here to determitie tlie proper site for the canal, which must be on the north or Lower Canada side of the river. Two routes present themselves as practicable: the longer one, passing tlirouirh a ravine of .some three miles in length, and entering above near "'Ferres" Clearing," I have not thoroutihly exaniined. The other would enter ne<ir C'olton's farm, not far al)ove the head of the rapid, and would inxolve some heavy i-oek cuttings, ine nisideralile in length however, through '•idges crossing at right aiigles to the line of canal, The facilities lor fitting in locks near the lower end, and for forming most convenient entrances at both termini, are very good indeed. The descent at "Les deux Joachims" brings us into the " Dee[) River, a stretch of twenty-eight nnles of appai'ently motionless water, very wide, and of great depth. I have no soundings of this section of the luivigation, nor indeed, except to gratify curiosity, would there have been any occa- sion for testing the depth, which is immen.se. On the south of this superb piece of water, the general conformation of the country is that of an ele- vated and comparatively level |)lateau ; the prevailing character of the soil being dry and sandy, the forest nearly altogether of red pii.o ;iiid white birch. On the north side very bold mountainous scenery prevails ; all that can l»e seen of the country in that directiitn. as one pa8.ses down the river.being harsh and barren. witli thesyenitic rocks freijueutly tower- ing up perpendicularly -to vast heights above the surface of the deep water. 1^ 28 The -'Doep RIvcm" msiy be said to tertninatc a little below the Hudson Bay Coinpaiiy's post, P\)i-t William, where a fijroiipof islands multiplies the channels, unci foi' k-ss than a qiiaater of a mile renders the navigation intricate, Tin; soundings ot this part h;ivo iior Ixhmi completed, but I entertain little doubt of the existence of a dec]^ channel, though there is much shoal water over boulder /^aJ^^Iw/VA-, between the islands ; (dean'jig which we have live miles more of deep water, to the head of the '"Cul- bute" B^ill, on the north side of the Allumettes Island. As stated in the outset of this report, that section of the Ottawa lying between the mouth of the Matawnn atid the foot of the Deep River, was not submitted to actual survey. The description al)ove given is therefore the result of sucli general examinations as an exploratory voyage would admit of. For tlie fall of the river at tiic various rapids above "Les Deux Joachims," I am partly indebted to the maps of Sir Willian Logan ; the descent due to the current between rapids I estimate from the time occu- pied in the canoe jfturney between eacii, the whole being checked by the ascertained elevations at the mouth of the Matawan, and at the foot of the Deep River, which are as follow : Mouth of Matawan above the sea 485 feet Foot of Deep River 351 " The entire series of rapids over th \ wh »le route, their respective descents, and their relative distances apart, are exhibited in Appendix A. It has l>een mentioned on page 2 of this report, that by far the most obstructed portion of the Ottawa is that extentljng from Fort William, at the foot of the Deep River, to Portage du Fort at the head of the Chats Lake, a distance of sixty miles. To tliis section of the route surveying operations were mainly confined, and the results fully confirm the conclu- sion I had from personal observations prcviou:ily arrived at, namely, that on the north side of the river throughout the whole of this distance are presented the best facilities for improving the navigai^ion. The most striking feature of this part of the Ottawa is its severance for the greater portion of the way into, as it were, two distinct rivers. The "'AUnmettes" Island, conunencing six miles below Fort William, has a length of six miles, with an average width of perhaps four miles. To the south of thi.s large island passes the main river Ijy the Pembroke Channel and the Allumettes Lake, presenting long stretches of rapids and much shallow water; the fall of the river in the length of tlie island, being about nineteen feet. The northerly channel, much narrower than the other, tliough seldom less than one-tifth of a mile in width, concentrates nearly the whole fall ! V tk 2ft into two cascades at the head of the island — the "Culhuto" and "L' Islet" liripids: the length of broken water at which ■ less than two miles, the descent not quite eij^hteen feet. The remainder of the distance, save for a short rapid with fifteen inches fall at tiie "Chupe^in/" is smooth water, deep throughout, except for some two and a quarter miles in detached shoals of gravel or silt, on which the soundincrs vary from seven to ei,i(ht . feet. By deej) water. I mean twelve feet and ovor : the general depth in ~ mid channel is from fifteen to twetitv-tive fe-it, soundings of forty, tiftv, nnd seventy feet even being not unfrequent. At the foot of the Allumettes Island the two arms of the river, by which it is encircled, come Together, forming "Lac Coulonge,'" across which we liave eleven miles of wide water. The northerly side of the lake, in continuation of the Culbute Cliannel, has been earefnily sounded and nine miles of the distance ascertained to have ample depth. The i other two miles, consisting of five shoals isolated from one another, and I varying in width between one half and one-fifth of a mile, have from j , eight to nine feet soundings over bars of silt, exeept at one point where I I a siiarp and narrow ledge of rock is found to prot-ude to within nine feet •i' of the surface. The fall of the lake o?i the line of soundings is one foot nine inches. ; Lac Coulonge terminates at the head of the ''Calumet" Island, when, as at the Allumcttesf, the main river .seeks the southerly side, passing down in a long and wild rapid through the '-Rocher-Fendue" Channel. The <)escent of the river from Lac Coulonge to smooth water l)elow Portage dn Fort, twenty seven miles, is about ninety-seven feet. On the northerly side of the island the water has a smooth and even flow from the heaii to the Grand Calumet Falls, for seventeen miles; the descant in that distance being but four feet. This part of the river, known as the " Calumet Channel, " resembles a great natural canal, the width of which ,' may be taken at an average of 000 feet. The depth for one-half the 4> distance varies from eleven to twenty feet ; for the other half, from six to nine feet ; the shoal portions being in banks here and there, alternating with pools of deep water. A dam at tlxe head of the Grand Calumet Falls, to keep the wat(!r permajiently from four or five feet abrve its lowest natural level, the datum to which the soundings refer, would at once reduci; the extent of shallow soundings from upwards of i eight to about four miles in length, and, as the banks, or bars, appear to consist wholly of deposits of silt, the dredge would soon effect the re- I i quird depth through the obstructed portions of the channel not remedied i I bv the raising of the water. The main fall of the river, from Lac Coulonge to the Chats Lake, A which in the southerly or Rocher-Fendue Channel is extended over a i;reat Iciigtii, takes place in the northerly (»r Cahiinet (.'hannel, within a distance of ten miles, comineiiciiifr at the Orand Calumet Falls, seventeen miles below the head of the island, and ending at Portage dn Fort. The entire descent i»i this distance is ninety-three feet, separated into six distinct falls, between which are level reaches, where the water can be conveniently dammefl up so as to obtain the requisite depth for navig- ation. The following is an abstract of the features of the northerly side of the Ottawa from the head of the Allumettes to the foot of the (/ainmet Island : Level <^f water at head of Cnlbnte Rapid, referring to the sea... 350 feet. " Chats Lake at Portage du Fort 232 " Whole descent from head of Culbute to Portage du Foit. The distribution of which is as follows : — 118 i (JuUiute aiitl L'Islt't Fiill«, six iiiiics below Fort Wllliiim... liCng'th to be caiiulled at those Rapids Fall of River, foot of L'laiet to OramI Calumet Falls DistAiici' <lo do (irami Caliiiiiet Fall Oaryis, llouiitaiii, Salile and other Kapids . (■land Cnlnniet to Portai;e du Fort— smooth watrr do do ra))id wafer Total fall . . . Total distancfi Fall. Feet, i 18 : Dis- tance. Miles. fl lis At the Grand Calnraet the fall is tiinkcd at s > n ,■ lirrje (li-.f,iiice in on the south side by a deep ravine, wliieh sets in from simtotli w.irur a siiorr way above the head of the rapid, and tenninates where the w'a'v, nffi'i' ;i descent of lifty-«ix feet, has regained its depth and tranquiility bi-low. Through this ravine a canal two miles ill leiigrh can apparenrlv lie led with a facility of which first impressions of the rock-bound and precipi- tous torrent give slight promise. The rapids below the main chute at the Calumet, five in number, will require as many locks, situated, relatively to one another, it average dis- tances of more than a mile apart. In the reaches between them the re- quisite depth for navigation, where not already existing, can mainly ble 31 1 1 4 ol)taiiietl by tlintwiiii; diiiiia acmss iibuve the locks, and the, curieit ruction of which will b«) much fat;ilitiited by the oxistence of nninberioss islands of bold and rocky ontlino. The amount of excavation to be encountered in inipi'ovin^r this section of the river will not be very iji-eat, The last of the above series of rapids i)rin^8 us to the villa"-e (d I'oi'- tH!<c du Fort, situated on a de(!|) bay at the head of " Lac des Chats, "' a stretch of ei<^hte(Mi irnles of iiaviirable water, tenninatinj; ar the (Miats rapids, where a canal, eonnectin;^- wifli tin; tu'xt lake lielow. lias ali-eadv iiecn commenced. Careful sorindin«is liave been taken from I'ortage du Fort to within a couple of miles oi the heiul of this canal, and but twoobstructiouh todecp water navii-ation found to exist The first is a bar, composed of <''ravel and rock, half a mile below the porta^'e. In len>;th it is about twelve hundred feet, the de[)tli of water upon it from six to ten fet^t. deepeiuiit>- immediately on either .^ide to seven and eii^ht fathoms. To cut a eliantiel of sufficient depth throu«i;h this bar would be a work (d' no ^^reat labor or CO-!:t. The other obstruction alluded to is '• Les Cheneaux " Jiapid, three miles below, where a sudden |>itch of eij^ht inches causes the main body of t!ie water to rush with irreat force throu<,'h a deep and narrow channel, the main breadth of the river beinf< ujarked by a r^f of rocks over which the water is broken and shallow. At low water the one steamer which plies upon this lake has much difHeulty in breastinj: tliis short rapid so as to ascend to l"ortai;'e du Fort. The (Mieneaux Rapid vnl;^-arly eailed '• Tiie Snows"; can be com- pletely obliterated by throwiui,' i dam or a series of dams across the head of the Chatg Hajjids. at the foot of the lake, where a muititiide of roekv islands, .•^■^atiered across the river, render such an undertakinn' already half accomplished by nature. The remainder of the Chats Lake, save the two miles (Uixt above the canal, not sounded because of the failure of the ice, has, as above observ- ed, been ascertained t(j be deep, often upwards of eighty and rarely undei' twenty-five feet, except at one or two points where it shoals to two and a. half fathoms ; and there is every reason for supposing that the deep water character continues close up to the entrance of the canal. The low water level of the Chats Lake referring to the sea is... 231 feet The fall of the Chats rapids at the foot of the lake i.s 50 i. The length of the Chats Canal •; .mII-.c '^ o miles, We then enter J.ac des Cheues, encounteiing a good deal of shoal water for the first half or three quarters of a mile after clearing the Chats Canal. and have then twenty-seven miles of wide direct navigation, deep through- ••{2 out except for uccasioriai short ljai> with twelve fi-ot wiitor on thern, to thohciidol the " ChaiKliero " i'a|)ids. aioiiii.J whicli t'uiir miles uf caoal and two miles of 'rivet iiuvi<i;atioii. with a doscetir of .sixty-seven feet, l)i'iiif<^d ns to that iiuio^niHcetit Itasin on which 9t;iri is rhe ('nv ok OrrAWA, formerly called I^ytown. From the month of tin; Matawaii liiver to Ottawa Cify is IS>5 miles. Tlie 'lescent of the water in thai distaniiu is 371 feet. Difttrihutcd as follows:- NAMKOK K.VI'Mi.A. .S.c. jutii:tioii of Mutawaii witti Ottawa MaMiwan Rapids . \latii«.i!i to Lii Vcillei; HapM l,« \eilk-e. Troll uiiil Dkux Rivicn* Keiix Ktvicres to Riicliir ('aintuiun- kocher CapitaiiK' and (iiarid .Marilxnit liapid. Rocher Ctt|)itaiiif tn Utux Joacliiiiig. . . . Detix Joiii'hiuis Iliipid!' (teep Rivertohfad of Cnllnilf ( !iilbiitp to risl«t Rapid" I.'ldlpf to Ciiluim't KallH . . liiaiid Calumet and othti- RapkU.. I.ar dt;.s ('hats Chats Hapi(ls I.ao doM ChiJiiei. t.haiidicre Rapids ... Ottawa Riv.'i-at thcCit.i or Ottawa « Total l.l.-H .vtK.- River and Lake Navi)(ation. Mlleii. ■ 17 1) III 11 10 n :m (I rl l-i II •I It Canal- N'uv iKUtioii, Kail ol RlVlT. Mlli'i. Ki'et. (1 1 r, u <l 1) ^ 4.-. « 1^ ■is II A .) 18 (1 ( it !t:i I :i .'lO II 4 ('.7 II li ti .•i7l KIrvatioii abovi' thi' sea. Keet. .•t.'.l1 ia isl tl4 iVt Ottawa, my e,\aiiiination of the chain of waters nniior coiisideration tri'iiiiiiated. it haviiiir heen my intention to have made tiie portion o"f the route thence to Montreal the s;ui)j(;et of ennniry dlll•in^■ the iirii.-eiif year, had the , survey not been suspended. Tlie general features of that section commonly termed the '■ Lower Ottawa "" may he stated as follow :-- < >ttawa to Orttuville— still water navii^ation 5i miles. Orenville to Carillon, do. do 4 miles. L)o. do. Canal, do 8 ' lli •' Lake of the Two Mountains, Carillon to St. Am.' ,. 20 " bt. Ann Rapids ;| Lake St. Louis— St. Ann to Lachine 15 " l.iachine Canal — Lachine to Montreal f^A " Total distance, Ottawa to Montreal 110 miles. Ami the rcquireii Lockage is : Orenvilleto Carillon, LongSault, Chute au Blon- deaii, and Carillon Rapids 54 feet. St. Ann Rapid 3 '■ Sault St. Louis, Lachine Canal , -1+ '• Total Lockage 1 01 feet. k The Lower Ottawa has lonsj heen in use as a channel of steam naviija- tion ; the rapids l)i!t\V(-oii (Ti-orivilU> anl Carillon having been c;analle<J for vessels of five anij a liaif feet draft (at ln-,v wator), and tneasur'ng 108 x ij feet, as far haek as thirty years ago, by tlie Imperial CrDverninent. and until withifi the last twelve years the Interchangii of commerce between Montreal and Upper Canada was mainly carried on through the instrn- montitlity of those works. During the season of navigation steamers of the above dimensions were eo?i>taiitIy ascending the Ottawa as far as By- town, where they enteied the Rideau Canal, and found their way by that route, through the heart of the couhtry, to the foot of Luke Ontario at Kingston. The downward trips of these vessels were made by wav of the St. Liwrciiee, —their ligl.t draft of water enabling them to run all the rapids with ease and safety, and thus to aecomplish the journey with deg- pr.tch. The completion (jf the St. Lawrence Canals, in 1^40, tlirew the Ottawa and IMdcau route into disuse sav(^ for the local trade of the circumjacent districts, to the convenience and development of which thobe pioneer canals of Canada continue largely to contribute. From the information I l)ave l)een able to gather concerning the depths of the Lower Ottawa, I incline to the belief that in it will be found to exist the most seri<,»us of the ditficuities to be encountered in carrying out the project which is the subject of this Report, and tiiose ditiiculti«s I apprehend incri^ase as wv descend. In the titly-eight miles of still-water navigation between (Ottawa and (irrenville, the shallow.s are likely to be occasioned by bars of silt and alluvial deposit, the removal of which would not bo attended with any great amount of labor or expense, nor would the enlargement oi the Ordnance Canals between (irenville and Carillon bean undertaking of extraordinary ditiicnlty, but it is to l)e feared that there does not exist through the Lake of the Two Mountains, a channel suffi- ciently direct and deep to promise the attainment there of a navigation df equal capacity to that wliich nature has proviilcu for in the Upper (Ottawa, the Matawan, M\d the French River.* The shaIi:)W8 of the Ijake of the Two Mountains are undoul)tei|ly over rock bottou'. f.nd in the course which the steamers plying between Cavillon and St. Ann commonly steer there are many slndlows. Tlie non-existence of a deep channel is. how- ever, by tuj means to be set down as certain on that account. The ob- structions above and below the lock at St. Ann have hitherto limited the draft of vessels to less than six feet, and those persons engaged in the trade of the river have been content to find water enough for their pur- " AeruoR's Note. Mr. T. C. Clarke's .Survey, niatk- two years subsequent to the writ- ing of the above, .shows a channel throughout the length ol the Lake of the Two Mountain.'-, with a least depth of thirteen feet at low water. — li'. S- 34 pose, in their accustomed path, witliont going out of tlieir way to ascer- tain fact:: iliat in no degree iitfect their interests;. In estimating the ex- tent of eanalling ro(iuired on the proposed line of navigation, I provide for three miles at St Ann, where there now is hut a single lock, with a few hundred feet of wing-dam at either end of it. Above the rapids of St. Ann tlic river divides around the Jsland of Montreal into two branches. The mail, vuhune jwsses down the north side through whut is called "La Riviere des I'rairies;' and over the Sault au liecollet Jiapid, till It finally merges in the St. Lawrence at the foot of the Island. On the south side, at a few miles below St. Ann, we entei Lake St. Louis, where the Ottawa meetn. though it will not mingle with the St. Lawrence. On a clear summer da}', when the surface of the Luke is culm, the line of demarcation between the dark waters of the north and the pale waters of the Great Lokes, nearly equally dividing its area be- tween them, is unmistakeably detined. Through Lake St. Louis to Lachine, once the shallows below St. Ann are passed, a channel for \essels of ten feet draft either exists already or is easily attainable. The Lachine Oanal, taking us past the Sault St. Louis to Montreal, is so well known to all eoncerned in the trade of the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa that it is hardly neeessary to allude to it; but as the last artificial link connecting tilt' Lower St. Lawrence and tlu; Ocean with the great chain of the interior wafers of Canada, it may be a.- well to state that The length of the Canal i> SJ, miles. The l..ockage 44 I\,l.|, and that its oa-tern terminus is in the ILirbor of .Montreal. Tiic depth of water for whidi the canal is adapted i.^ nine feet (<n the mitre sills of the locks, and the lock.-^ thr.,-uiselves are two hundred feet in length be- tween the sills, with a clear width between (|Uoii!s o^■ fortv-tive feet. rjaving noiv reached the termination of .-ur route, 1 will brietlv recap- itulate the distances, lockatre. k.v., which form the substance of the Tables on pages, L'.'-l. Sf), ;51 and l]2 of this Report. River and Lake Navigation 1^72 miles ^''"'"1 " (including the Lachine) .5S " Total distance, J.ake Huron to Montreal. 430 '• Rise Lake Huron to summit «;{ feet f.t'i'kage ;. ,.'■;.;■;;;;; 8.3 ^ " ball summit to Montreal (54.2 " Lockage "_ _ ...'.'.,"., .HI5 «' Total Lockage 6!>8 feet. i ^.WAtLH T I 36 I have now completed my sketch of the various waters which form the several links in tlie Ottawa and French River navigation ; but there still remain for discussion three important questions— supply, cai'A(ITY, and COST— ere a fiiuvl opinion can be proih-unced on thepraeticability of so great a project. Kaoii of these I will now proceed to touch upon in tlie fore- goin.ff order, and first, a.s regards the vital one of SUPPLY. It may at once be stated that the summit does not furnisli water suffi- cient to meet the demands of even afar inferior scale of navigation to that which the general character of the route \,ould warrant us in look- ing forward to. Standing upon the cliE* ovorhanging the Talon Ohnte, on the Mata- WAU, one sees nt a glance, rushing throngh the narrow gorge at hia feet, the whole of the water which the deep and land-locked basins above it receive from the surrounding country ; and. without resorting to experi- ment, a practised eye can quickly form a sutiiciently correct estimate of the discliarge to justify the conclusion that it is inadequate to the pur- pose in view, A canal of the size of the Welii.nd, witii locks 150x27 feet, average lift eleven feet, to pass fifty vessels per day, woiud draw up the sources of supply to the extent of 3,000 cubic fee.^ per minute. Increasing tiie dimensions of the locks to those of the St. Lawrence Canal, 2u0x45xlO feet, would double that consumption, making it equal to H,000 feet per minute. Even allowing for ihe large storage afforded by the twelve square miies of surface in the two summit reservoirs Turtle and Trout Lakes, and further allowing that storage capacitv to be doubled bv hoisting Talon Lake up tu the sunrnit level — which conid be easily done— 1 am satisfied that the -oiiroes of the Matawan could not be relied upon for more water than would be sufficient to meet the least of the above de- mands, while the minimum size of loc!- 1 would t ik of ailopring would l)e that representiPg the greater exigency. The season of navigation on the Welland Canal has been found, from sev^eral years' experience, to average as near as may be 200 days The number of vessels locked through in 185(1 was o^S?. 1S57 3<i04. And the greatest number passed in anyone month of t!ie latter year was in June, amounting to (j-fi Or nearly 25 'essles for a maximum (' v business. In basing my calculation of -ha supply of water to l)e provided for on the Ottawa route on double the above number of vessels per d;iy, ves- 36 sels, too, of more than doiiblf; tlic capicity of thoso to which tho Wclhuid is adapted, it may seem tiiat I am esti.riatiDcj in excess of any prol>al)le increase of the trade of the west. If I am. in error, the projecit of open- ing up the Ottawa route mii^iit be abandoned without farther discus- sion ; l)ut the quadrupling of tiie pre-seiit commerce of tl)e lakes is surely within the Hunts of certainty, as its arrival at those jjroportions within a moderate space of time is within tlie limits of probid)ility ; nor is it S))eaki!ig too iiopefully to predict that when that time l)as arrived, Western Civilization, still ad"ancing with giant stiitios towards the Pacific, will still industriously heaping up the mateiials of a mighty commerce for which Eastern Entkrprise will have, through force of pressure, to provide tiie means of transit to the ocean. With such a future in prosjtect, the supply of water on the summit has been stated to be insutlicient. and, unless artificial means c;!n be resorted to to make up the deticiency, the project of our Ottawa navigation on a large scale is, of course, at an end . Foitunately, however, such means of assistance are at hand, and are to be rendered amenable to our purposes in the following manner : Lake J^ippisingue is twenty-three feet lower than Trout Laice — the summit, I propose Ity means of dams thrown across its outlets to raise it to the latter level, and thus at once increase the storage capacity of the summit reservoir from twelve to unward of three hundred s(puue miles. lu speaking of ihe Chaudiere outlet of Ldce Nippisingue into the French River (v. page li)). 1 have said that the passage is through a narrow channel Itetween lufty walls of rock " resemlding a combituition of mighty locks from which the pent-up watei's had swept out the gates." The other two outlets are of similar format ion^ presenting great facil ties for the coii-^truction of dams to any recjuired height. In tin's way the lake can be raided twenty-three feet above its natural level, and an inexhaustil)le supply obtained to fVed l«>th ways from the summit; for even setting aside the enormous storage capacity of its innnense area, the acces.-ion of water which Lake Nippisuigue receives from its many tributaries is ample to guarantee a sutiiciency for whatever drafts may be tnade upon it, for any possible purjjoses of lockage in the most distant future.* On the north and northwest come in the '• Stuigeon " and " Widow Rivers, '' on the south and south-east the " Namanatagohn^ '' and "Wassi- *AuTnoR's NoiK. — Mr. T. C. C'arke, in his liepurt u( 2n(l January, i860, rcconiniends raising Nippi inguc hut .sixteen feet, and loweiiim 7 rout Lake sti^en fent an(i in that way bring- ing the two on a level, instead of, as propused above, raising Nipjiisinguc the full twenty three teet. I am not prepared to pron>Hin(:e decidedly as to which of Uie two modes of derling with the summit wa'ers may, on final examination and suivey, prove to be best adapted to the emer;4ency.— AK S, i 37 ] • I \ Wissiiig" : aiaiiy niiiior' streams, besides, contributiDg at various points aioii^ tile coiist to swell tlie measure of its waters. The objecti()iial)!e feature in tliis mode of obtainiuir the necessary supply of !o(;ka,ii-e water it; tlie drowning of tlie circumjacent lands. This effect M'ould not be produced to any considerable extent on tlie soutlierly and easterly borders of the lake, but around the northerly and north-west- wardlj shores vast tracts of land would be submerojed ; unfortunately.too, the beet lands wliich are to be found in its immediate vicinity. Admittinsr liowever, tlie nu^i-its of the project as a whole to be such as t have endea- vored to show tliem to be, I ap]M'chend that few will be found to ar^J'ue that this necessity for the swamping of untenanted lands, a mere patch \: the rnrcclaimed wilderness, should be allowed to stand as a veto on its attainment. The iaisin.ij of Lake Nippising-ue would reduce the actual canalling between it and Trout Lake to less than half what would be required were the latter body of water capable of furnishing the neeessary supply ; and at the cost of one mile of canal would be more than that of all the dams together, it follows that the cost of the whole work on the plan proposed will be considerably less than if the supply were drawn from the natural summit. As works of art, the dams would be of inconsiderable magnitude whei compared with some of those stupendous structures of that class which are to be seen on the Rideau Canal —enduring monuments of ihe indom- itable perseverance and high engineering skill of the late gallant Colonel %■ I now come to the question of the CAPACITY Of the route as ;i continuous line of navigatiou between the lower iSt. Lawrence and the Western Lakes ; in other words, with a view to the arLOiuodation of what class of vessels should" improvements" be designed. ft is as a steam navigation, and more especially for that denomination of steamer known as the " pn^peller," that I believe the Ottawa and French River route is dcHtinod to liold a first place as a channel of trade. For vessels of that description the character of the waters, and of the region on ;>ither side of them, is peculiarly fitted. Laml-locked for the greater proportion of tlie way. the route will nt.t in that respect be as advanta- geous for sailing craft as that by the g, jat lakes, but the im}xliaustible supplies of wood at all points along it, and the facilities for takinj; their fuel on board at frequent intervals, will forever render the cost of working steam .essels lower on this than any equal length of navig;;- 38 tion on the continent. Here, too, the propeller can keep " the even tenor of its way, " heedless of the storms which, sweepi'if; across the lakes in the autumn of each year, cause such immense destruction of life and property.* Mr. J. B. Jervis, in his report of the projected Caughoawaga Canal, furnishes much valuable information respecting the propeller craft in use upon the lakes ; and subscribing as I do, in the main, to the soundness of his conclusions relating to the size of vessel best adapted to the trade of those waters, I cannot, in adopting, better convey his opinions than by quoting his words. lie says : " I have obtained a list of forty-eight propellers with their jirincipal dimension.-. Only eleven of thesi propellers can pass the locks on tiie Wellrtnd Canal : most of them ar f'r'> "',yed in tlie navigation of the upper lakes. There are but, two or under 300 tons burden,— the largest 850 tons. The greater ])ortioi. ,ii!ge from a few tons under 400 to a few above 600. The greatest length is 234 feet— the " Iowa, " — and her actual tonnage is 720,— draws 11^ feet, loaded The "Oriental' is 234 feet ; actual tonnage 850, (2^ feet more beam); draws laded 10^ feet of water. The " riymoutli " is 225 feet in length, (loaded draft not ascertained,) and carries 700 tons. These vessels can only carry full car- goes when the lakes are at their greatest height. There are times, oc- curring every year, when ves.sels with over 'Jh feet draft of water cannot pass the St. Clair Flats : consequently those of greater depth musL load lighter than their capacity, or depend on lightening when they reach the Flats, or have occasion to enter harbors of similar depth of water. The two most important lake ports for outward bound tonnage are Ohicatjo and Toledo. The entrance into the harbor cf Chicago is kept open by excavation, so that vessels drawing ten feet of water can, for the greater portion of the season of navigation, enter the harbor. TolerJo is on the Miamee River, and i> feet water is as much a'- can usually be depended on, though at times they can go in with JO,^ feet. Detroit liiver affords better water, and vessels that can pass the St. Ch\ir Flats easily make Detroit. *• In the enquiries I have been able to make as to the draft of water that vest-els could carry and make the harbors with safety on the upper lakes, I ha^'e found considerable diversity of opinion among navigators. The range of opinion has been 8^ to 11^ feet. It is admitted by those that advocate 11 J i'eet that lightening will often be necessary, and this is considered to injuriously alfect the profit of and cause delay in the voyage. It is an important fact that the most usual time for higla water (not re- * See appendix " C " foi staliintni of Lake disasters, including loss of life and properly, in year 1856 and 1857. h! 39 1 ^ardin^ those rises and falls that occur in a series of years) is in mid- summer, and lowest in spring and autunm, — the latter are the seasons of fjfreater pressure in freight. It is considered, generally, that the largest vessels can only make full loads when the lakes are most favorable, and then only to the port having the greatest depth of water, So far as I have heen able to ascertain, it appears the most prevalent opinion that the largest class of propeller, both in relation to lengtii and draft of water, has not I)een so successful in economy of transport as those of less dimensions. The greatest weight of opinion I have been able to obtain is that a draft of 9 or 9| feet is as much as can profitably be adopted for general use, and that 10 feet Is the extreme draft that should in any case be adopted, and only for ports of best water. In the opinion of several very experienced navigators, the propeller ''Portsmouth," in her main features, is the best pattern for general use and economy of transport; she is 175 feet long, and draws 9k feet water ; carijo 5.000 barrels of Hour. Some would add 5 feet, others 15 feet to her length — this last addition would make her 190 feet long, and with a small increase of beam would enable her to carry 6,000 barrels. Objections are made to greater lengtii on account of the increase of weight that is required to give the requi- site strength on a vessel of, so small depth as must be adopted for lake navigation.'' The beam of the largest of the propellers instanced by Mr, .Tervis, (the " Oriental, ") is .'54- feet; that of the medium size, such as the '• I'orts- mouth, " ?S feet; and as the result of his en(}uiries and observations he recommends locks of two hundred feet in length by thirty-six feet in width, with depth of w.iter to admit the passage of vessels of 0^ feet draft, as the iriost judicious size to be adopted for the Caughnawao-a Canal. When the Commissioners did me the honor to entrust to me the exami- nation of the Ottawa chain of waters, I entered upon the task with the conviction, growing out of previous knowledge of the generf;! capacity as to depths of the harbors of the lakes, that ten feet of water was as much as it was desirable to seek for in ascertaining the capabilities of the ronte. It was my belief, also, then as it is now, that if nine feet depth was found to be obtainable throughout, I might speak with favor of the project, and predict its success. That the harbors of the lake ports are not, as a general thing, adapted for ten feet draft of water, I was well aware, and it must be obvious to any one who has at all studied the subject, that the vessel whicli can at any stage of the lakes obtain or deliver her cargo in the greatest number of the principal ports must be a more profitable one to employ in the trade than the larger craft, which, from her excessive draft, 4(» must limit her intercourse to one or two of the deeper harbor?, or else, more unprofitable still, make her trips with light load.-:. L am not of those who believe that sea-going vessels will ever bu frtMghted to Any con- siderable extent in our lake ports: and in that conviction had an addit- ional reason for adopting ten feet as the available !i;axinnun deptii that there was any occasion for attempting to obtain. That depth (with a reservation as regards tiie lower Ottawa;) I believe to be practicable throughout, and upon it I shall base mv estimate ol COST. The cost of eanalling, or improving river navigation incieascs in rapid ratio as we seek for increased depth : ainl fr,,iu a li'oncral estimate I have made, I would not venture to set down the ditl'erence in cost between the forming of a ten feet and a twelve feet navigation through the Ottawa, Matiiwan and trench Rivers, at a less sum than five nullions of dollars, a useless expenditure when the ie^«er draft is so obviously sufKcient. I would recommend, then, that the mitre sills of all locks henceforward to be constructed on the Ottawa ai.^ "th'- w .ters in the <diain, be calculated for a le;ist depth of ten feet. Nine and a half, or even nine feet, would doubtless answer all purposes for a long time to come, but whenever the gi eater draff may become a necessity, let there be no ])u!ling down of solid masonry or ripping up of costly fonndations in order to obtain it. On the question, then, of the draft (d' vessels Ix'st adapted lo the commerce of the Upper Lakes, to attra.ct which is the common object of the Ottawa Canals and the Canghnawaga, Mr. Jei'vis and myself ar(; of .-nc opinion : but as relates to his other dimensions, whib' freely admit- ting that he has made out his case as applying specially to the latter, I cannot agree to adoj)t them as i(ni;dly suitable to the former project, and for the following reasons : The Ottawa route possesses certain distinctive features which entitle it to other considerations than those incident to a mere channerTor merch- andises. IVmetiMting tlu; heart of our country, it can boiistof niagnifi^M.'nt scenery, which, as it becomes acc(fs,-ibie and known, cannot fail to attract the tourist, as well European as American. Tin; waters consist to a great extent of a succession of noble lakis. between which, as the couid:ry be- comes inhabited, and civilization turns its resources tc> account, inti'rnal in- tercourse will ^.i)ring up, creating a trade ajiart (Uitirely from tlu; dull routine of western tratlic. [)ro|)eller folli-wing propeller with their eternal cargoes of grain an. 1 flour. To prohibit by a deliberate act, and for all time to come, the use on Ottawa waters of the paddle-wheel steamer, with her commodious upper cabin and promenade deck, would be a mistake. I propose, therefore, to fix such dimensions for Ottawa locks as will admit the passage of vessels of that denomination, superior in some points to those which, as passenger boats, now use the St. Lawrence Canals. B ■4 I have before statod the size of the St. Lawrence locks at 200 feet long by 45 feet wide. The depth of water on thf mitre siils is nine feet. Tiiey are not justly proportioned. I)eing too siiort for their width. The largest of the passenger steamers now in use, the '* Arabiiin, " for instance, i-o completely fill the chamber of the lock as to require considerable nianceu- vering to get them in, and to close the gates behind them when they are in. The process of locking is thus rendered more tedious than it need have tieen were there a litth; more " play " for the vessel. It is well known, too, that these vessels are short in proportion to their beam and that with from 25 to 30 feet more length they could have all the speed neces- sary to give them equal rank with tlie larger lake steamers ; while now, though having to compere with those for the lake business, they only rank as river boats. In short, while not sufficiently 'arg'- properly of fulfil the purpose for wiiich they are designed, they are too large for the canal locks. It is not likely that much more than ib feet would ever be required for vessels intended to combine the attributes of lake-craft and river craft; but assuming that as the extreme width of vessel, the lock should cert- ainly be iis much wider, say five feet, between the gate quoins, as would allow of her entering it with ease; :\m] dii-patch, and without lifting her fenders. For the extreme length of vessel to be accommodated, I would assume as my standard tiie longest propeller now in use upon the upper lakes, the " Iowa. " Her length is 242 feet ; to which I propose to add ei-'ht feet, to make up the length of my lock. With the above additions, the dimensions I recommend for the Ottawa locks are as follow : Clear length between the mitre sills 250 feet. Clear width I)etween the gate (juoins 50 " Depth of water on the mitre sills 10 " And here 1 think we have a well proportioned lock to whicli no ex- ception can be taken a century hence. ESTIMATE OF COST. Under any circumstances the creation, as it wei'e, upon any scale, of upwards of four hundred miles of internal navigation must be a matter involving large outlay, and my estimate of the cost of carrying out the French River and Ottawa navigation project on the scale above laid down, amounts to the very large figure of twenty-four millions of dollars, or about five millions of pounds sterling. The proportion of actual canalling on the route is not large; being about twenty per cent, less (Lachine Canal included) than on the Wei- aJ.^iiBi»H!»ljWMita*""!™H»JWil! 42 land and St. Lawrence line of iiavigati(»n. The quantities of material, also, to he excavated and removed will average less, mile for mile, on the former than wan involved in the carrying out of the latter aeries of undertakings. So far, then, the average of physical advantages would seem to be in favor of the new project, and would be largely so in reality were it not that the geological structure ot the region watered by the Upper Ottawa and its tributary the Matawan, by Lake Nippisingue and its outlet the French River; is such as to far more than counterbalance all the apparent facilities for c instruction which the proposed route presents as compaied with the existing one. The greater ditliculties to be encountered on the former consists, first, in the hard unyielding Jiature of the material to be worked upon :— the granite rocks — chiefly (according to the classidcation of Sir William Logan) syenite, gneissoid-syenite and gneiss, thrusting themselves for- ward harth, naked, and rcpellant, over the who'e of the more distant portions of the line. On the nearer sections, from the Chats Rapids to St. Ann, th^ formation to be dealt with, though of less impracticable character than that, named above, is still rock, —rock everywhere. The second great difficulty that presents itself in considering the im- j)rovement of those distant waters, where the major portion of the first named and principal ditficulty exists, lies in the innccessibil'ty of the region which they penetrate, the whole of which, in so far as lelates to the sustaining of human life, may be called non-producing, little or none of it being as yet settled. This is a feature that must be kept in view as one that will adil largely to tlie cost of the undertaking, just as it now does to the cost of "making lumber" on the I'pper Ottawa and its tributaries. Where so comparatively small a portion of this long chain of navi'^a- tion has been submitted to the test of instrumentafi survey it would, of course, not be possible to present an accurate and detailed estimate of the (piantity of work to be executed at each point of interruption. General examination, however, joined lo the results of the surveys as far as carried out, have enabled me to make such an estimate of the anjount of excavation to be encountered as, allowing for all known difficulties and probable contingencies, warrant me in stating the cost of establishing the communication, tht'owjk, from Montreal to Lake Huron at the amount already named. The leading denomination of the work involved in the undertaking are, let, Rock Excavation ; 2nd, Dams : 3rd, Locks. i' , 43 I have eousiderod all excavation tioin St. Aim upwards as rock, and estimated the oo.st of reinoviiio- it at from ^2 to $4 per (Mibic yard. The dams, of timlier and stone, after our CJanadian fasliion ol -'crib work," I place at $4 per cubic yard. A large portion of the canallini;; will be accomplished by means of these dam.s, and that too without incurriuii; the disadvantatco so often a consequence of that mode of improviu*.? river navigation — the dn^wning of valuable lands. As a general thing, save in the great hoist proposed to be given Lake Nippisingue. the raised waters will merely wash their rocky boundaries at a higher level without acquir- ing any material increase »f surface area. The locks, of masonry n<;)t in- ferior in quality to tlie higliest standard on our existing canals, are i)ro- vided for at an average of $10,000 per foot lift. Engineers who have had experience in the carrying out the bydraulie works of this contiuent,and those mori' especially who have gathered such experience on our noble St. Lawrence navigation, will, in comparing the above prices with the actual cost of similar works elsewhere, credit ine with libe-ality in my \ lews of the probable cost of constructing the works pertaining to the Ottawa and French River navigation scheme. The cost of lockage on the main Ottawa River will be not a little affected by the necessity that will exist for providing lofty gu-rd-locks at the entrances of some of the canals because of the ijreat fluctuations of tlie water ; the difference of level htetween extreme high and extreme low water reaching in some places to twelve feet: on no section of the river is it tnuch less than six feet. Before concluding on this question of cost, I will touch briefly on one other point bearing upon it in no small degree, viz : the facilities present- ed for procuring the materials requisite for construction. The granitic formation, such as pervades the greater portion of the route, is not likely to furnish much material for those portions of the lock masonry, such as quoins, coping, ifee., v.'hich will require to be finely cut ; though the gneiss projHn- nuiy be found well suiteil for the interior and many parts of the face works of the walls. The Great Mauitoulin Island, in Lake Huron directly facing the m .mths of the P'rench River, abounds in limestone of superior quality. From there the stiuctures on the river can be conveniently suppli'd with cut stone of any rerpiired dimensions ; the •'backing'" and certain portions of the face stone being, as suggested above, procurable from the necessary excavations for thelocks,or inclose proximity to them. It is more than likely that much of the material for the Matawan locks would also hav(^ to be transported from Lake Huron, and that could only be effected within reasonable limits of cost, after the conqjletion of the French River works. 44 At two points only l)etween the Georgian Bay ;uul the continence of the Matavvan vvitii the Ottawa, do 1 i<no\v of the liine.-^ront' croppinj^ ')ut. ( )ii "Iron li^iund," (sj named l)y Mr. Murry. Assistant GeoIo^ist/i in Lake Xippisiniji-.e, and near the "Talon Chute," ii|)()ii the Matawau. In neither itistanee does it present itself in strata of sufficient amplitude to promise much assistance towards the construction of the loekt^, uidessin furnishiuii; lime for such portions of the masonry .is may not recpiire to be laid in hydraulic cement moit.tr. B'or the works upon the Ottawa, from the Matawan to Portai^e du Fort, I am not prepared to say where appropriate buildinir stone may he most conveniently obtained. There are, however, (juarries of fine lime- stone n Lac des Chenes. below the Chats Rapids, whence, as the several sections of canal advance towards completion, ascendin<; the stream material for the more distant improvements, at Les Deux Joachims, Le Rocher-Capitaine, Les Deux Rivitres, vtc, may be carried at reasonable expense, provided no nearer source of supply should be discovered. This is the most unfavorable view that can be presented of this phase of the undertaking. The probability is that suitable material is to be found very much more convenient to the several points above nanied, and tliat portions of the Matawan im|)rovements al&o maybe supplied from not far distant quarries on the Ottawa. Fur the Chaudiere Canal at Bytown, and for all the works on the lower Ottawa, l)uilding stone of unexceptionable quality is to be had close bv; After the locks, the dams are the parts of the work which will absorb the largest amount in wrought material, but fortunately, inn) one instance will it be necessary to go to a distance for the timber and stone which form the main elemtuits for their construction. These are on the spot, in inexhaustible quantities, and labor only has to be provided for tins class of work — the cost of which 1 have estimated at as high a rate as I have ever known similar work to ajuount to where the raw material formed a large proportion of the expense" The St. Lawrence and Welland Canals cost per mile, not far ff«'" $150,000 The fifty-eight miles of Ottawa Canal (enlargement of La chine included) I estimate at upwards of )?n37(i,000 per mile; and for the removal of shoals, hereinbefore referred to, I allow two and a quartei' millions more, swelling the whole cost to $24,000,000 equal in sterling money to £'4 931 .50(5 That the raising and expenditure of this large amount of capital sliould be entered upon all at once it is not the object of this report to recommend. i t 45 1 f i TIk! j.robecu ion of the '' Ottawa ami Vl\•u^:\^ lli\or navigation ' sdieiia' must be a /,'r.i<lual and pru<<rer>sivo work, advancing towards completion as wo grow in wealth and national resuiirceti. It is not, liowuver. tiio money cost of the enterprise that will he so difti- cnlt to deal with in endeavoring to procure an impartial consideration of its merits as tlie ren)otene.-s and present inaccei-sihility of the district which it penetrates. Ihit an atom of our i)opulation belongs to the valley of the Ottawa : and to the mass of the people the whole of the region drained by that great river and by the basin of Lake Nippisingue is a ierrtr inmynlta, sni>posed to be enveloped in frost and snow for tlie greater part (»f the yeur, and, therefore, unsuited for the habitation of civilize(J man. Inditference to the facts of tlie case and conse(pient ab- sence of correct information engender unbelief. The very name of '■'Canada" was wont bnt a few years since to suggest similar ideas to the people of New York and Massachusetts. Viewing the project in detachment will disarm it of many of its terrors. The canals of the lower Ottawa for instance, from fJytown to Montreal, have to be eidarged — not made Je novo. This section covers more than one-fourth of the whole )oute and embraces more than one-third oi all the canal ling. • Above the City of Ottawa (Bytown)tlie first cnnal--f(mr miles in length — to conjiect the lower Ottawa witli Lac des (.'hene,"— has long been in contemplation, and a money appropriation has, in fact been made foi- its commtmcement. There are none but ordinary difhculties in the way of its construction, and no one having a know- ledge of the locality can doubt that it nmst ore long lie undertaken and carried out. Beyond that again is the "Chats" canal— three miles long— to connect Lac des Chenes with Lac des Chats .• This has ah'(.'ady been commomced, and the works, though temporarily suspended, tar advanced towards completion. The finishing of tliosc two links in the chain will render the river continu(jusly navigable for fifty-tive miles fr-n the City of Ottawa upwards, to Portage du Fort. From Portage du Fort to the" Orand Calumet" five miles of canal are Vi^anting, and further on, at the "Culbute," two miles The; coi»struction of these seven miles will not be more difficult than that of the eipial length embraced in the Chats and Chaudiere sections, and will add .seventy-eight miles to the continuity of the chain, bringing us to the head of the "Deep River," 143 nule.s above By town or 258 miles above Montreal ; considerably more than half the entire distance covered by the project. mmmmmm 46 The head of the Deep River, at Les Ranides des deux .loachims, is alsit the head of steamer navigation mi the Ottawa, and aiinoHt the last out- post of settled habitation. There are a few isolatcil patehes of settlement beyond but th()U<2;h "luniberiiij,'' operations are lar^'ely curried on to a fjieat distance further up the river, the sole means of transit an- the i-aft and the canoe. Seven miles of canal at and above "Les .loachims" would enable the forest-born steamer, now plyint? on the Deep Ri\er to ascend to the Mata- wan, 305 miles from Montreal ; seven miles at an<l below the '• Culbnte '' would allow her to descend into the Chats fiuke ; as re;yriirds the Ottawa itself, then, these fdvirteen milee tVjrm the only portion of the proposed improvements which have not yet been recoi^nized by some decided ac- tion of the Lei^^islature as necessary to the well-being of the commerce of that section of the Province. It is diflicult to imagine that when the half finished canal at the Chats Rapids is completed we shall have reached the limit of our expansion in that direction. Distant and inaccessible as tlu; region of the Matawan, Lake Nippisin- gue, and the Frencli River may now appear to us, it is in reality no more difficult of access than was the forest country between Bytown and Kingston«when first pierced, some thirty years ago, by Colonel By, in the construction of the Rideau Canal ; nor, comparing now with then, are the obstacles to be encountered, generally, in the project under consideration of equal magnitude with those which h.,- so bravely grappled with, and so successfully overcame. The pr:icticability of the Cauglinawaga Canal project is no lono-er a matter of opinion. We have surveys and estimates of cost, which place its entire feasibility beyond doubt. As a consequence of its construction, the people of the State of New York would be cotnp(dled to etdaro-e their "Champlain Canal" to corresponding iliiiH/nsions ; thus openino' a com- plete water communication betw<ien the St. J.awrcnce abi)Ve Moiitieal,and tiie Hudson abox-e Albany ; and, with the Otta\im inq)rovemeni,s also completed, ai» unbroken stc'i„i<-r ixirhjut'ion from Chlaujo to New York shorter by loO utiles tlxm the t^rlfitintj irnler rente between those points via Buffalo and the Erie Cawd. I would not like to assert that there are among us any commercial men taking broad views of the future of Canada ii. its connection with the trade of the west, who dou^it for a moment that the Lake Champlain line of communication is destined to be established : and yet it will involve the coastruction of upwards of thirty miles more of canal than the route herein reported on as between Montreal and Lake Huron, besides tlie dec.'pening of .some ten miles of th Hudson River. There is no scepticism as regards the feasibility of th e the N 1 47 Jt s \ former project, 'Von among those who may question its utility, simply be(-au.se it lelatf.s to a sectiou of the country with which we are all nioi'e or lesH familiar— wliere the forest haa disappeared before the march of civili/.Htioii ; an<l where we have hitherto allowtMl ik. difficulties to arrest our progress in tin; mission of enterprise. I have already stated the dimensions pru|)oted for the iocLs of the Ottawa and French River navi<;ation. For the ntnats, 100 feet wide on V)ottom is calculated in long reaclii^s — (10 feet in short reaches, where vessels need never seek to pass one another. The surface widths of water, the excavations being all in rock, would be about ten feet greater than the bottom widths ; the depths to be from ten to eleven feet. The deepening to full depth of mutrh of the shallow portions of the waters might bo gradiially carried out, but as hereinbefore observed, the sills of all locks should be laid at ten feet below the level of the lowest water ; each successive .ste[) in tlie advancement of the und<'rtaking being regarded Itut as a link in a great uniform and well-digested scheme of navigation. CLIINIATK, SOIL, Arc. At each of the camps a careful meteorological record was kept, not- ing the temperature three times each day. The rain-fall and snow-fall were also recorded. Appendix B gives a summary of the result of those observations. The winter of 1856-7 was one of more than av(?rage .severity all over Canada, and it will be seen from the tallies that on the 28rd January, in the latter year, the mercury had descended to the point at which it freezes, .SO°—zei-o of Fahrenheit, and the cold on these occasions was estimated at from six to seven degrees lower. Not anticipating such extreme severity of temj)eiature, the camps were only furnished with the onlinary quicksilver thermometers. The mean temperature of that, the coldest month, was: 7 A.M. 1 I'.M. 11 I.M. On Up))er Matawan — ■").1.5+ (;.27 — 8.87 " Lower Matawan — S.0()4- 8.85 — 1.08 " Ottawa below Fort William —().74.+ 18.00— -2.49 The periods over which these records extend are as follow : On Upper Matawan from 1st November, 1856, to 15th June, 1857. " Lower " " " 31st May " Ottawa " ' 28th Feb., 1858. 48 We had thus biu one winter ,s experience on the Matawan, and that a particularly severe one. On the Ottawa, in the region ot the Allumettes Island, the records embraced nearly two winters ; the second, that of Ib57-N, proving, as was the ease throu<;hout the Province, very much milder on the whole than the first. For instance, in .lanuaiy, LS58, the mercury fell hut once as low as — l?*-'. In J'^ebiu.uy, which, as it com- monly is, was the coldest month in the year, the extreme, and on but one day, was — 25*^ : the average of the weather in that i)artlenlar month (1858) having been moi-e severe than in the corresponding nionth otthe previous year ; which^ notwithstanding the general severity of the win- ter, was, in the western parts of the Province also, sintfularly mild for February. The table shews : Mean temperature, February, 1857 17^.39 1858 11^.74 As regards the bearing which this ijue^'ition of temperature may have on the navigation in limiting its peiiod of duration, I took much pains to ascertain tor what portion of the year open water may l)e reckone<l on throughout. The conclusions arrived at are ; that the ice on the French River is never particilarly strong ; that the river is generally quite clear before the 1st May, and rarely closed till some time in Dec- ember. That Lake Nip))isinguo is always open all thiough November, and the ice seldom st.'oug enough to bear till tovvards the close of the following month, but (»nee it "takes" it coniinues iee-l)outid to anadvanc. ed perio'I in the spring, and has been crossed on toot as late as the 15th May. This, however, is a very rare occurence, my Indian informants liaving beerk able to recall but one such instance. From the 1st ro the 5th May may be assumed as tlie oniinary perioil of ilissolution ot iee in Lake Nippisitigue. The Matav;an was enUrely open by 5th May, 1857, which, as already observed, succeeded a winter of more than eoeunr.n sevei-ity. The Ottavva is generalh' entirely free by the first of May,'and often from a wnck to ten days before that time. The St. Lawrence Canals below Prescott, it will be remembered, are seldom ready for na .'igation sooner than the first ot May. Thi-ough the kindness of Captain Cumming of Aylmer, on the Ottawa a gentleman of long experience in the iiavig« bion of thai, river, 1 have obtained a tel-able return of the dates -.tt which, for eleven years past, steamer navigation has commenced and closetl each year. The earliest ojjening was in 1848, wl.en the boats commeticed thei)- trips on the iMth April. The iatest closing was in 1854, on the 1st December. The average for the elevc^n years i-efened to, 1847 to 1*^57 inclusive, is .• ■«»i«~»-i!i"«««)ii'!»*»»f-*j»tr-'' ■tffTtf'-J^^'-'-' i ] 40 I Commencement of Navigation 27th April Closing of " 27th November And, as a general thing, the steamers mighc have continued to run dur- ing part of DeccmlKr had the trade of the river warranted their owners in not laying them u[). The season of water-bornt- trathc bctwfcn Montreal and the Western Lakes is at present governed, as to duration, by tiie pei-iod at which the lower links in the St. Lxwrence improvenienLs— the Beauharnois and Laehine Canals to wit— open an.l close. The farmer [-eriod is not often efulier than the 1st of May ; the latter as seldom reaches the lOth of Dec- ember. It will be obseiv.-d, then, from the dates already given, in refer- ence to the as>^umed season of open water on the Ottawa and French River route, say from ")th May to 1st December, that the balance against it in the actual nundxn- of days navigation in the year cannot be very great; while pra<:ticallv, and in point of availalile time, it can claim ain advantage over the lake route, fiom the fact that, owing to the lesser distance to l)i' travelled, a vessel could tJiake i\ least three trips mote in the season between Chicago and Montreal b;- the former than it could by the latter route. In Canada an.l the neighboring States the season of canal navigation is commonly consi,lered to be 2'"' days. From an average of eio-ht vears, I find the VVelland Canal to l)e open i09 'lays in the year .'Sui.day b.'ino- a dies non), and tlv- Krie Canal, in the average of the same years, 18.50 to 1857 inclusive, tor 11)5 days. 1 do not venture to calculate on more than ISO days for the navigation of the Ottawa line ; but, as I have en- deavored to .-.Iiow on page 14 of this Kep<.rt, it should have on each trip again in point of tim- )f forty-four hours over the VVelland and twenf,y- four hours o\er the Toront) and ('^'Mirgian Bay route. Appendix, D gives th(^ dates of opening and closing of navigation on the Welland, Lachine. and Erie Canals, and on the used portions . f the Upper Ottawa for a iniml^or of years imtnediately precedint' the current one. In its agricultural capabilities the viilcyofthe Ottawa presents a striking and unfavorable contrast to the almost uniformly fertile aspect of the country watered by the St. Lawrence and bordering the Great Lakes. From St. Ann upward.s, the Lower Ottawa exhibits varied features of fine cultivable lands and bold mountain scenery. On the up[)er section of the river also, for one hundred nn'les above the city which bears its name, a fair proportion of well-tilled farms and com- I 50 fortalik' liomesteatls meet tho eye ol:" the iDivclk'r, td^'etlior with tracts of wilt] 1,111(1 that will icpav the labors ut the settler. From the westerly limits of the County of Renfrew, the last outjxvst of surveyed settlement <ni the soutli siile, ridges of aiid sand, or fr«nvnint; rucky nioiuitiiins, I iiuler the v\ateis. Forests of jiiue. fiom which the large timher has already heen chiefly eullnl out, prevail everywhere, savt: where the cold, iitikid granite refu.-es even tlie seanty notirishment that sut^iees to a stnnti-d grov,th i>f the Norway tiv, nr its hartly companion the white birch. The trnveller, hnwever, who jndges the coimtj'v iiily by what can be seen t)t it from the rivi'i- a.s lie glide.s past in Ids entioe, does not form a fair estiniat? of its adaptability t(j the uses of civilization. The worst of it is along shore uu bntb sides, Tlr; interiur possesses large tracts ofgootl liiirdwoiid land in the valleys of the nmuiitauis on tlic north .->ide, or stretching in broad belts, towards ttie lake eonnti'\'. on the siaitli. .Still the imjiartial chionieler, wlien he has completed his tour of the river, must leeord his opinion, that tlie destiny of the valley of the Ottawa is not to be a parallel one to or of the same inviting charaeter as that of the St. Lawrenec \'alley, with its rich alluvial oil and broad wheat-growitig dislj-icts ; but. having faith ii: tlie futttie of his eouuiry, he u ill at the .-aine time pi<dii-t that tlie foriuer section has awaitin" it a destinv' not .second in nati(.>nal importance to that of the more favour- ed region, as to soil and climate, whi(;h ctmstitutes the' lattei' se('tion : and that, with our great northern I'iver \\,\- tlie spinal coiumn, (\iiiad.i must gi-adually attain the .strength and vigour whieh length without bi'eadth can never confer. As yet. we ie[]re.seiit Itut an attenuated IVoiitier settlement, fringing ;i thousand miles oj' i>;poscd jnid im|iroL< eteil eoast liut our position on the' map o| the eontineiit is a distinctive ;uid im]»reg- nable one. 'I'lie lakes and the noble St. Liiwre'nee tietining our lindt o| expansion to the sotith the polar regions bouniiiiig us ir. Kar. w,. jdv the "Northmen of America < hn- national o'rovvth may be slow, but it will be healthy and enduring. lb'i-(« the surplus p(.)j)nlation of the Jhitisli Isle.s may, f'U' eenturie^ to come find ^(•ope tor theii eide'i'piiM' and in- dustry, and— transplanting with them tei '-ongvnial soil tiie laws and principles ot the Mothei- Country — here forever may "ll"i (rtTiliKii ■.|ir(Mil \uiii.'\L'rL'il ;ui<l icicne" A striking feature in the co-tiformation of the Ottawa i'^ the eoncen- tration of the greater jirojiortion of its descent into shoi-t.Mbru|it ia)iids,or aimopt perpendicular fali.s, at tlisoances of from fifteen to lilty miles ai.art, over the entire length embraced in the pro[)osed scheme of ini- 51 provement ; rbrmirifi^ at each point water power of singularly easy adapt- ation to manufacturing purposes, anil fif unlimited extent. In tlv eity of Ottawa alone the availiUtle pnwi'r almost dnHi's computation ; the whole volume of the mighty river le.'ie i>ouiing over a natural wear or flam of forty ieet in height ; while into the basin helow the cataract flow two lar^e tributaries The ''Hideau," entering from the south, falls perpendieulai'ly from a height of Hfty-Four feet. On the north the 'Gatineau" comes in, j>resenting mill siti' attiM mill site ;is it stretches far away into the nnexplorcl forest 'I'liis rising eity, the future metroi>o]is of I'nited Canada — of Tnited British North America perha]is — with the Ottawa and French River navicration comi)lettHl, would be nearer by at least one hundred miles to Chicago than Hutlalo is by wa^ of the lakes, and with n branch of the Grand Trunk Railway direct to Montreal, it would also be nearei' by at lea.st thirty miles to an Atlantic port (Portland), and over a <-ontinuous line ot rail, than Buffalo, the "Queen City" of Lak.' Erie, is to New York. The Ottawa country aliounds in iron on; of the richest description ; its forests of pitu^ are inexhausttible ; .ts water power, as already stated, not onl\ unlimited in capacity bat available to its full extent at mnnber- less stages upon the route. By the opening "f the projectrd navigation this great manufacturing agent would be brought into comparative prox- imity to the granaries of Lake IVLichigan, and woulu numediately Ije turn- ed to account in preparing the cereals of the west for the markets of the east. With such a condiination of advantages in i)ossession or in pros- pect, it is surely not difficult of belief that the valley of the Ottawa is destined to be not only the worksho)- of Canada 'out one of the chief manufacturing districts of America. The country bordering the Matawan. Lake Nippisingue, and the French River.ccri-esponds very closely in character to that on the upper- most sections of the Ottawa ; all that can be seen from the waters^ is harsh and barren, but in the interior are broad tracts of good land The whole region is beautifully watered and in the highest degre.- healthy; fever and ague, those scourges of the new settlements in the rich allu- vial districts ahmg the (ireat Lakes and on the prairies of the west, being wholly unknown, in tine, like tiie granite regions elsewhere up- (m this continent, the granite regions of Canada are capable of produc- ing and mauitaining a hardy, industrial, enterprising, and .self-reliant race of men. T have before said, that in investigating the important question sub- mitted to m. by the Commi,ssioners of Public Works it was not my in tentioii to entor largely into the compilation of statistics, deeming that 1 would host follow out my iiistiuctioiis by conllning- myself chiefiy to the acquisition of tl'.e muteiials necessary to etial)K' uv.' to ])ronounce on the piaot'cability of the undertaking; and I trusl that I have, to some extent, succeeded in slewing that the interior of oiu' i (uintry is not wholly without lu)|)e in the hitnie. 'rotiiose who hiive made the laws that covern the movements of \\e.-Li')'n tr.itiic their stud> . I leave it to estim- ate the height to which Canada would lie ••ii.\atc<l, in connnereial im- portatice by ojiening through the heart of hci- Uoniinion m continmais navigatiiiU, shoitening by fully one hundi'cd a)id lifty miles the shoit- est water cnununication that now does or ever can exist be- sides, between Tide- Water, iv/u'ther ia the Gulf of St. Laivrence or the csiuury of the Hudson, and the broadest extent of grain-growing coun- try in the world, With the commerce of a continent pouring down the valleys of our two great rivers (by rail as well as by water), and centering in Montreal, that city and Quebec could not fail to hecano the principal entrepots of imported merchandise tor the north and west ; and our eastern lines con- necting them with one another and the sea-bord, would then cease to be stigmati ed as unproducti\'e .ipp.nidages to our national railway. In concluding this report, 1 would beg leave to observe that the survey, entered \ipon with a view tu comjn'ehensive result.-', having been brought to a somewhat abrupt termination, the work necessarily remains in an untinislied condition, The greatest pains have, however, been taken to fix permanently on the ground th'^ principal points in the triangulation ; so that, at any time for some years to come^~fch(; .several portions ot the survey, commenced and abandoned, mry bo tak^n uj) wlicre left off, and continued to completion without the necessity ofgoing over again with the instruments ground that luxs already been carefully triangulated, and Waters that have been once aecuiately sounded, at great ex|>ense. My principal assistant in the geneial management of the surveys was Mr. James Stewart, a gentleman whose skill and expciionce as a Hydro- graphical Surveyor have Iteen long known to tin; Department. Mr. George H. Perry had innnediatc charge of the section between Fort William and Portagi- du Foit, and during two severe winters and one liot summer displayetl \nitiring energy and /oal in pushing forwaid the work. The two parties on the Matawan were in chargii of Mr. H. Munro Mackenzie and Mr. Robert Shanly, respectively. The former gentleman comploteil the triangulation and soundings ot the river from the mouth to the head of Lake Talon, and is familiar with it in all its bearings in that distance of twent3'-.six miles. The latter knows the river intimately in it.-^ ontiie liingth, having run the levels throughout, and made the surveys of its upper section as well as of the dividing ri(Jge between its waters an<l those which How to the west : with the topography of the summit Ijanier and of the fdjacent shores of Lake Nippisingue he is also thoroughly acquainted. All of the geutleiiiun above named took the deej)est interest in the work, continuing, under all the trying conditions of camj) life in the forest, the thermometer ranging from forty-tive degrees below to ninety- seven degrees above zero, to discharge the duties assigned them with a zeal, ability and patience, to which [ bear most willing testimony. The whole respectfully submitted : and I remain, Sir, your obedient servant, (Signed) W. SHAXLY, T. A. Begly, Esq., Secretary Public Works, Toronto. .S5 .\n^KNI>IN A. Section of Waters on French River and Ottawa route — Laite Huron to Montreal. Names «if l-rfkffs, ki'.'ti^. anti Kapul^. Lake U iiKui . French Rivei, (still water) ^ Lo Heiites Dalle's Fall ', Freiuh I!iver, (current) ' Craiid kea.llet Fall - French River, (current) I Iraiid Faiis^e Isle Rapid t,. I)e^ Piiu Kapids French River, i«till water). . Cli.uulieru Rapid , .... . . .) ' Lake Niipi\inguc '\ Rivie.e de \ ase, (still walerl | do (ciiiienO Rapid . . Riviere de Vase, Isiill walei) Rapid Rivif re de Vase, (I'.urrciit). . . Creek, (iiirretit) Rapid I .agoc n . j Suiiiinit Portagr From thence to Irdiit Lake, I distant c ahoui 4C0 feel. ..J Tfiut Lake 1 oiincctiiii; Rapid at Inrtle Lake-; River NL.itawan— Rapids with reaches of still water . L.ii; Talon I'alon C'hute I r>l Lake .■ : ■ I River .Matawan -Rapid^ with reaches of still water 1 Pan's.<fcii.v Rapids and Chute. . . ' Lac Dfs .Mijnille-. . Rapid des Aiguilles I River Matiiwan, (current) . , | Rapid de la Rose t River Maiaw.'in, (still water) Rapid des Kpines . , I .ar Plein Chants . | Itiver .Matawan Rapids with reaches of ■.till ! water to tiiouth j Rapids ,in Ottawa at nioulh of Matawau ^ River OtlaM'a, (current) . . La Veillet, Vr .11 and I'ett.s Rivieres Rapids . River Ottawa, (current) Richer Capitaine Rapid Rivef ()tl:iwa. (current) Joai-luni's Rapid River Ottawa, " Deep Kiver" |jfrctptil)lc cuf leiitat fi.ot of loacliiiii's Rapid only. River Ottawa, (carrimt) Culhnte and L'ls'et Rapids River Ottawa. (Ijy L.ike Coidonse ami Calu- met Chaiuicl (cnricnt generally) t Irand Ca niiiet Rapids ... Kivcr Ottawa— Raiiids with reaches of still water to I'oriaye du I'ort Lac des Cliais Chats Raids Lar de Chenes Chaudiere Rapids anfl Lake. . . . ._ Ri\'er O'.i.iwa lOtlawa to Grenville) Long S.tult Chute an Blundeau and Carillon Rapids River Ottawa (Lake of the \.\\o Mountains, still water) St. Ann Rapid. Lake ."si. Louis Lachiiie Canal to Montreal ai 1il«i«n' 111 Mile. ; IR + ^ +1 7 16 iS i 1 T 6i Hita.l-, Rlw in l.'.i. "i T itaK. "J 5 4s iS 7 IllMMIIT rmiti Monlr«fll 43} 5f> 44 El«v«t|on abdve Tldf Watur 4,i'> '■T 4>8K 57--' ^l&'4 .■>78>* 4i-<'4 599S 4>a.'^ ^m J94i 39oi .^ss ho6 .i»>J f,o(i ^i\ nt/ ;!ft' fiij .i5'> 6,*-' 349i 637J ;49l 647 M9 647 .t4'.' 651 34S 656! .MfiJ Mb% 6i8 M*> fesS; .■4:,.J f>57 .i4.si b55 ii'i 653i I..* f>-i2i v..i t)2Jj .i-'i^ 579 >= 320 .579^2 .u8^ 5584 V3K 5^41 '.vV ^•'4i i'S jibi 3 >3 5>7J ILil Si't 5'i;* j«:! =■01)4 .10714 <QyS )^5 48.S <o:! 4bo i8ri 47' ^8,? 439 .*■/ i 434 'T 3«9 ^Sh J8t ■1.53 3 S3 i!o K' JIO 350 ■J 17 ..\;j '7' 3-^1 ■7.1 j6u iCii •!!-: 14/ ijl 144 110 18, '.'4 f)0 1 57 56 AFI'ExNDIX'b s. ? is^-^- i ■fc c - T o :;g^2 7;g^ "1 1 1 , _. ( t-^-Coo ■ I ao -»^ ( I m i/> ■ n ■ IT. *c i-^^c ■ o f^ I x.** 5. r S ^'5 2 « ;; < /' .)( Al'I'ENIMX <•, Staif.vikm if Mariiif (>isa-.iiTs on the Li'^es and the kivcr S-. I..-iwrenof in the year 1S57. February, March, April, May. June, July, August, Septeiulier, October, Novcmlier, I'lopcrty Livt's Lost TciiaU, $ 41.S50 12,500 52,580 S2,56o ij9.279 26,cj5o 79.3'7 '^9,47 5 276,079 597.549 Lost. $'.387,935 I 42 19 270 S 1 1 22 43 490 N. B. — In the loss of life recordfil in June are included the lives lost by the hurnin!3; df ihe steamer " Montreal," near t^'uehec ; in which disaster 264 pers'jns )ierished. RKCAl'rrUI..\TION, AND COMPARISON WITH NEAR 1856. Total value of property lost in 1856, Do ilo. do in 1857. nccrea.se in 1857, . . Loss on Hulls, Sleamer■^, in 1857, Do. Cargoes, do do Total lovs hy Steamers, Loss on Hulls, Sailing Vessels, in 1857, Do. Cargoes, do do Total l(>ss liy Sdling V'essels, 1S57, Total losses in i8.'i7. Anumnt of Steam Tonnage totally lost in 1857, . . Do. Sail do. do. do Total Tonnage I0..1 in 1S57, Total loss of Life in 1857. Do. do. in 1856, Increase in 1S57 . Total Tonnage on Likes in lall of 1857, Total value of Lake \essels do $3,126,744 1,387.935 $1,738,809 $ 393.647 ^*<4.49S $478,142 $ 570,57s 339.215 909.743 $1,387,935 4,781 tons 10,658 " 400 407 15.4J59 tons 8j 388,863 ti ns $15, '95.490 The above figures are taken from the Report, for 1857, of I). P. Dobbin, Esq., Secretary to the Board of Lake L'n lerwriters. .As regards the casuidties on the " River St. Lawrence." as distinguished from "The Lakes," the above statement rovers only such as relate 10 the inljind trade of the river, ahove Quehfc. lb»1 o V i 1 c * U u c 'Ja c n X < ^ Ml "> c 'b u o 7) O 'J ')S .1 ^ >5 -3 •o 1^ * r. ••n N rj •^ N PI ^ , c > ^ , > • ■• V ■• - z; z , lO Lri o 'n I>. r>. ■" " <-n vN u > (J > ■* ■* ■• Q u e ^> ;« Q y. »^ X CO -" M f^ -i- U". vO (^ *t ^ ^ in tn ir^ in i/^ ir-, in lo •< _ 'O 0\ r- OS O PI ri ri N ^^ — c «* — ' "1 f^ O " -5 — " - ri- ce I a. - M ■_■; _ x: I < o in in •n in ■^^r" •rc \