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The following diagrams illustrate the method: Les cartes ou les planches trop grandes pour dtre reproduites en un seul clich6 sont filmAes d partir de Tangle supArieure gauche, de gauche d droite et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images n6cesssire. Le diagramme suivant illustre la m6thode : 1 2 3 4 6 6 .^^^ .-vvu-^oiV ^^^^^"^-^'(^ Some Notes on the Rideau Canal, the Sources of its Water Supply, and its Early History. By A. T. Drummond, ^h T [ ( \ [ " Reprinted from tiie Canadian Record of Science, October, 1893." Some Notes on the RIdeau Canal, the Sources of its Water Supply, and its Early History. By A. T. Drummonu. A Homewhat careful investigation into the nature of the country bordering on the Hideau Canal, as well as of the lakes on its course and of its water powers — all inconnection with a line of railway now being surveyed — has led to mv ascertaining some facts of interest which I desire to here mention. It has further occurred to me that here also might be a fitting place for a short resumd of the facts — almost unknown now in tiii.s country — connected with the inception and construction of the canal. These facts I have abbreviated from the extensive manuscript notes — taken from the Dominion archives and other sources, as well as from personal recollection — of Mr. Andi-ew Di-ummond of Ottawa, whose association and close family connection with two of the leading buildei's of the canal and personal acquaintance, formed in 1832, with others who planned its construction, enables him to speak with not only some interest, but even some authority. The canal may be divided into the river and the lake divisions, the former comprising the Eideau Kiver which was the original outlet to the Ottawa of tne Upper and Lower Eideau Lakes lying beyond Smith's Falls. The lake division, besides those two lakes, includes Mud, Clear, Indian, Opinicon, Sand, Whitefish and Cranberry Lakes, to which may be added the long artificial lake, known as the "drowned lands," created between Washburn and Kingston Mills, by the erection of the Kingston Mill's dam. The waters of Upper Eideau Lake form the summit level of the canal system, and are admitted by the locks on either side of the lake to the Ottawa Eiver slope or to the St. Law- rence Eiver slope as the traffic on the canal requires. The immense importance of keeping a sufficient supply of water in this lake is so obvious that every means should be taken to husband the waters of its feeders. Clear, Wolfe and Sand Lakes, which empty into it at Westport. The forest coun- try around these outer lakes should be kept, as far as pos- 461 Some Notes on the Rideau Canal. Hiblo, in its vir«fin hIjUo by prolecting it from forest fires and absolutoly vvitlidniwing it from Hottloinont, in order to hold back' within those forests the accumulations from the melted snow and the rain which otherwise will be loo quickly < and near its outlet into Lower Hideaii Lake, it receives the waters of Otty Lake. Black Lake System. — Black Lake in North Burtjossand a small lake beyond it in North Cro.«»by. constitute an inde- pendent system which is also tributary to Lower Rideau Lake. Wolfe Lake System — ( 'loar Lake (No. 2) in Bedf'.- ,1 forms the summit, but Wolfe Luke and Sand Lake, the latter wholly in North (Jrosby, are the principal reservoirs and supply Upper Eideau Lake at Westport. Devils Lake Systim. — Knowlton, Mud, Otter and Desert Lakes in the township of Loughborough arc at the head- waters of this system. Desert Lake is joined fiom Bedford by the waters of (Jarter (or Garter), Canoe and Elbow (No. 2) Lakea and ihe system then expands into Birch Lake which also receives the outflow from Long Salmon Lake in the township of Loughborough. Mud (No. 2) and Devil Lakes in Bedford are further expansions of the system, which, after including Loon Lake in North Grosby, even- tually reaches the (Janal system at Mud Lake proper. Buck Lake System. — Draper is the largest of a small group of lakes in the township of Loughborough at the source of this systom. These along with Clear Lake (No. .'{) and four smaller sheets of water are tributary to Buck Lake, which lies partly in Bedford, and whence the waters flow by the Mississagua Kivor to Mosquito Lake in South Crosby, from which they reach Mud and Indian Lake on the Canal route. Mock Jjake System. — This system takes its rise in the township of Loughborough but its larger sheets of water. Expedition, Upper Rock nnd Rock Lakes, aie in Storring- ton. It is ti'ibutary to the Canal system at Opinicon Lake. Jjoughborough Lake System. — This system is ti-ibaJary to the Canal near Brewer's Mills, and includes Troy, Little Cran- berry and Dog Lakes, all in Storrington, and Loughborough Lake which is situated partly in the township of Lough bor- I Canadian Record of Science. 460 I oiigh and partly in Storrington, and is the largest of the Rldeau Canal foedern. As. orii^inally, Cranberry Lake — then known as Cran- berry Marsh — appears to have had a connection with White- fish Lake, the waters of this systom may, in times of flood, have been also tributary to the (lananoquo River and have roachcd the St. Jiawi'onco at (Tananoquo as well as Tiako Ontario at Kingston. The duplication of names should l>o avoided by the (Jov- ernment renaming some of these lakes, the scanty popula- lation and small interests prosonti}'' involved, readily admitting of this being done. Other defects in nomenchi- ture also need pressing attention. EARLY III8T0RV OF THE CANAL. At the close of the war between K«-anceand Gieat Britain which resulted in French Canada becoming a British Crown Colony, the Ottawa valley had u few settlements as far up the river as (-aril Ion on the north side, but the south side was still an almost unbroken wilderne'*s. In J783, the Bi'itisl. Government, in pursuance of its policy of settling the United Empire Loyalists from the Uiiitec] States, and the disbanded soldiers, upon free gracit lands in Canada, sent Lieutenants French and Jones to explore the country, on either side of the Eiver Ottawa. Lieuienant Fi-onch pro- ceeded up the I'iver as fai' as ino Kideau Fulls and then diverging inland, followed the Jii leau River to the Rideau Lakes. (Joursing his way through the net-woik of lakes met with beyond this, he at lengtii reached the Gananoque Rivei', down which ho went to tlio St. Liiwrence. Lieu- tenant Jones pushed through the country bordering the River Ottawa, along its norlhorM b:iMks. until he reached the Chaudiore Falls, where he crossed to the other side and re- turned to Montreal by the south hank. Both officers found a large amount of land available foi- settlement. No special official action appears, however, to have been taken, at the time^ on these reports, and the course of settlement for 461 Some Notes on the Rideau Canal. years; afterwards continued rather to bo directed to the valley Qf the St. Lawrence. The construction of a canal to conne-^t the River Ottawa with Lake Ontario formed the subject of discussion fiorn time to time after this, but it was not until the breaking outof the war between the United States and Great Britain, in June, 1812, that the urgent necessity for such a canal became apparent both to the British Government and to the Canadian leaders. The transportation of ai-nis and supplies from Quebec and Montreal to the upper lakes by way of the St. Lawrence liiver involved gi-eat exposure to the enemy along the extended frontier of New York State. The expense arising from the Government's endeavor to avoid this exposure was enormous. The transportation of a 24-pounder cannon from Quebec to Kingston alone cost nearly one thousand dollars. The earliest official document dealing practically with the subject of a canal appeared on the 29th December, 1814, in the shape of a letter from Sir George Prevost, in command in Upper Canada, to Lieut.- Gen. Sir Gordon Drummond, at Kingston, enclosing some plans and reports, and asking for opinions thereon and for further information. Sir Gordon's reply, transmitting le- poi-ts from three of the local officers, gave his own opinion that the difficulties would be immense and the expense enormous. On the restoration of peace, however, Sir Gordon Drum- mond was instructed by Lord Bathurst, under date of lOlh October, 1815, to get " estimates of the expense of the La- chine Canal, and of the Ottawa and Eideau being made Tiavigable, in order that His Majesty's Government may decide as to the propriety of undertaking these works, either separately or simultaneously." According!}' Li^^ut. Jel Ii was, early in 1810, directed to ascend tne Cataraqui Eiver to the chain of lakes and thence continue down the Eideau River to the Ottawa, and to return by the same route, reporting on the land available for military settle- ments and on the navigation for batteaux. His report Canadian Record of Science. 468 recommended corlain dams to be constructed and certain channels on the Eideau Eivei- to be cleared of obstructions. It was immediately subsequent to this that the military settlements of Perth and Richmond were laid out, but not until 1819 that construction of canals was actively under- taken, by the Imperial Government, In this year the Gren- ville Canal was beurun b}-- the Royal Stall' Corps, although not completed until 1833. In 1821 the Carillon Canal was similarly commenced by the Slatf Corps and completed in 1834; whilst the Lachine Canal was undertaken by the Lower Pi'ovince, with some aid from the Imperial Govern- ment, and finished in 1824. In 1821 the interest of the people of the Upper Province was thoroughly aroused, and a commission under the pre- sidency of Hon. John Macaulay of Kingston, was appointed to consider the improvement of the internal navigation of the Province. The commission reported on the Rideau Canal on the 5th October, 1825, giving three estimates of cost ; that for a canal 5 feet deep, and with locks 80 feet long by 15 wide, being £145,802 stg. This report was apparently at once transmitted to the British Government, which in the same year sent out a commission, composed of Sir J. C. Smyth, Sir G. Hoste and Major Harris, C.E., to enquire into the cost of construction of a canal on the same scale as the Lachine Canal, which had been made 5 feet deep, and with locks 108 feet long by 20 feet wide. This commission in its report estimated the cost at £169,000 stg., and on this report being received by the Homo Gov- ernment the construction of the Rideau Canal was deter- mitiod on. On 30th May, 1826, Lieut.-Col. By, R.E., arrived at Que- bec from England, with instructions from Gen. Mann, inspector of fortifications, to superintend the building of the canal on the lines laid down by the Imperial commis- sion. Foieseeing the p().>^8ibiIitios of steam on the great river systems of Canada, and its importance on the canal as a motive power instead of horses, as contemplated by the 469 Some Notes on the Ridean Canal. commiasion, ho, on the 13lh July, 1826, ui'ged Gen. Mann to adapt the woi-k to the use of Hteam power, inchiding the enhirgement of the locks to admit vessels of 130 feet in length. This was vigoi-ously opposed by Sir J. C. Smyth, with the result that Ct)l. By was directed to commence construction oii the original lines. About the middle of September, 183(5, Col. By and his assistant, Lieut. Pooloy, reached Hull, and shortly aftei-- wards inaugttrated the work hy laying out the entrance of the canal at "Sleigh Bay," its present locatior under the shadow of the eastern block of the parliamentary build- ings. The importance of the occasion was signalized by the arrival, a few days aftci-wards, of the (rovernor, Karl Balhousie, who formally approved of the location selected. The first steps taken in actual constiuction consisted in the building of a bridge across the Ottawa Rivci* fronting the (Jhaudiiire Falls, on the site of the present iron bridge, in order to get in material and supplies, the erection of barracks for the men and magazines for stores, and the construction of a road from the Chaudiere Falls to Long r>^land, on the Eideau River. These works were completed by the close of 1827, excepting the bridge, which was not opened until a year later. In the construction of these works we first meet with the names of the men who built the more important structures of the canal — the Hon. Thos. iVtcKay of Bytown, John Redpath of Montreal, and Robei-t Drummond of Kingston. In 1827 the chief contracts were given out — Mr. Penny- father taking the excavation for the first eight locks at the Ottawa River end, Mr. McKay the construction of these eight locks, as well as those at llartweli's and Hogsback, Mr. Redpath the great works at Jones Falls, Messrs. Feno- lon & Henderson the earth excavation and grading from the entrance locks to Dow's Swamp and thence to Hogs- back, whilst Mr. Robert Drummond had the Kingston Mills locks and the extensive dykes and dam near there. On the 26th October, 1827, Col. By, with the experience Canadian Record of Science. 470 of more than a your to guide him, as well as a personal acquaintance with the details of the work, made up for the Ordnance Department in London his own estimate of the cost of the canal. It reached the sum of £463,899 stg. This vast increase over the estimate of the commission of 1826 created an intense stir in the department, and resulted in orders being sent out to Col. By for the immediate stop- page of all woi'k wherever practicable, and in the appoint- ment of a commission, composed of Sir .Tas. Kempt, Col. Edw. Fanshaw and Col. Lewis, to investigate the character of the work and the cause of the extraordinary expend- iture. This committee, on the 28th .lune, 1828, reported, on the whole veiy favorable to Col. By, and recommended the canal to have a depth of 5 fee', at the lowest water and the locks to be of a si/.e to admit a steamer 10,8 feet long and 30 feet wide. On this report the size of the locks was fixed at 134 feet by 33 feel, and the work pressed on with Col. By's accustomed vigor. After much difficulty and repeated failures at the works at Hogsback and Dow's Swamp, near Bytown, and great loss of life at some points, particularly Kingston Mills, where about 500 laborers died fi-om malaria, necessitating the raising of the dams in order to flood the extensive swamps of the Cataraqui Eiver, the Canal was ready for opening in August, 1831. Another delay however took place. Mr. Merrick, of Merri(^kville, cut off the water at that point by a dam in order to make repairs to his mills. This act raised very serious legal questions which were not settled before the winter set in. In consequence, it was not until the 29th May, 1832, that the first steamboat the " Pumper " with Co!. By and his family on board, passed through from Ottawa to Kingston, and the Canal was formally opened to traffic. On the 8th January, 1831, in writing to Col. Grlogg, for the information of the Commander of the Forces, Col. By mentions that his estimate of the cost of the work as pre- sented to the Imperial Commission in June, 1828, was ^.' 19 s^ 4tl /Some Notes on the Rideau Canal. £693,449 st^. All of the oiticiul jiiipeivs connected with the Canal do not ajjpear to have been printed as parliamentary returns, but the last estimate published brought up the cost to nearly £800,000 stg. As the city of Ottawa owes its inception to the construc- tion of the Jiidoau Caiuil, it is interesting here to note that the first settler at Hull was Philemon Wright, the founder of the Wright family there, who on the 3rd January, 1806, obtained a crown patent coveiing lot 2 in the 3i-d range including the water privileges at the Chaudiere Falls on that side of the river. The original locatee of the corres- ponding lot and water pi'ivilege on the Ontario side was liobert Kandall, whose rights were however in 1820, bought at sheriffs sale bv Lieutenant Le Bieton, from whom, and from the large exposed areas here of level, Trenton lime- stone, the locality acquired the name of " Le IJreton Flats." In 1820, Earl Dalhousie bought for the government, the Fraser property, lying between the S rks and Besserer properties on the one side, and the Ottawa River on the other, and on instructions from him in the end of Septem- ber, 1826, ('Ol. By, laid out in town lots the upper part of this, and Dr. A. J. Christie became apparently, the first locatee of a lot upon the site. In 1827, the swamp then covering a considerable area oast of the Canal entrance, was drained, divided into lots, and became known as Lower Town, to distinguish it from the part surveyed during the previous year which was called Upper Town. The name of Bytown — in honor of Col. By — was then given to the two settlements, which were separated not only by the Canal but also by what was known as Barrack Hill, now the site of the Parliament Buildings. The name Bytown, soon became thoroughly established. Reference is made to it in the Imperial Commissioner's report of the 28th .June, 1828, and on the 18th July, 1829, a petition from "some of the inhabitants of Bytown " was forwarded to Sir James Kempt, complaining about the conditions on which town lots had been sold. Thus originated the present city of Ottawa^ s^ '}