Ottawa River

“ The Ottawa is so called not from the fact that the territory through which it runs was the home of the Ottawa tribe, but, because it was by its waters that they came to visit the French. The Ottawa river, that is, the river by which the Ottawas came. On the other hand the French 371river, which discharges into the Georgian Bay, was so called by the Indians, because it was the river by which the French came to their western domain. The length of French river is about 61 miles, and is a chain of lakes, connected by short rapids. Lake Nippissing is 69 feet above Lake Huron. ”

“ The natural navigation of the Ottawa River from the head of the Island of Montreal to Ottawa City--a distance of nearly a hundred miles--is interrupted between the villages of Carillon and Grenville which are thirteen miles apart by three rapids, known as the Carillon, Chûte à Blondeau, and Longue Sault Rapids, which are in that order from east to west. The Carillon Rapid is two miles long and has, or had, a fall of 10 feet the Chûte à Blondeau a quarter of a mile with a fall of 4 feet and the Longue Sault six miles and a fall of 46 feet. ”

“ Pardon this digression.—We are again on the Ottawa; as we advance, the river narrows and becomes studded with little islands covered with wild shrubs and forest trees, from whose stiff unyielding boughs the more pliant shoots droop playfully into the foaming stream below, like the children of Gravity coquetting with the family of Passion. Of course these islands form rapids in every direction: we soon, approach the one selected as the channel in which to try our strength. On we dash boldly—down rushes the stream with a roar of defiance ”

“ The long climb is well rewarded by the views from the top, which can hardly be surpassed on the continent. The country for miles around is at one's feet. Here can be seen 20 miles of the Ottawa river, the thread of the Rideau canal, the Gatineau and Rideau rivers, and the Chaudiere Falls, while the majestic scenery to the north and west have a fitting foil in the peaceful and more level land to the east and south. ”

“ The difference in level between the Ottawa river and Lake Ontario is 458 feet. This is overcome by 47 locks, the majority of which are 134 feet in length by 33 feet in width; of these, 8 are in the heart of the city. ”

“ The prophecy was made when in the company of the English Engineer officer who was sent to construct a waterway from the Ottawa river to the Great Lakes, and whose name is inseparably connected with the birth of the city. A still earlier epoch calls our attention. In 1613 Samuel de Champlain, the founder of Quebec, whose tercentenary was celebrated but recently, ascended the Ottawa river on his way to Lake Huron, and was unquestionably the first white man to stand on this site. ”

“ Lying high up and low down along the south bank of the Ottawa for more than a mile are 185 acres of one of the finest natural parks on the continent. Its picturesque winding avenues have left nature unchanged with its varied viws, both inland and river-wards. Looking through the trees and across the river the Laurentian range of mountains clothed with sombre verdure in the summer makes an impressive background for the little village on the opposite shore, seemingly almost at one's feet. ”

“ DETAILS OF THE OTTAWA RIVER DAM, AT CARILLON.
The construction of the dam and slide was ably superintended by Horace Merrill, Esq., late superintendent of the "Ottawa River Improvements," who has built nearly all the slides and other works on the Ottawa to facilitate the passage of its immense timber productions. ”

“ The only portion of the vast plain of Western Canada surveyed or effectually explored is included by a line drawn from the eastern coast of Lake Huron to the Ottawa River, and the northern shores of the great chain of lake and river; this is, however, nearly as large as the whole of England.
The natural features of Lower or Eastern Canada are unsurpassed by those of any other country in grace and variety: rivers, lakes, mountains, forests, prairies, and cataracts are grouped together in endless combinations of beauty and magnificence. ”

“ And the pine becomes a palm by the dark Egyptian water;
And the Nile's like many a stream we know that fills its brimming cup;
We'll think it is the Ottawa as we track the batteaux up!
Pull, pull, pull! as we track the batteaux up!
It's easy shooting homeward when we're at the top.
O, the cedar and the spruce line each dark Canadian river;
But the thirsty date is here, where the sultry sunbeams quiver;
And the mocking mirage spreads its view afar on either hand;
But strong we bend the sturdy oar towards the Southern land!
Pull, pull, pull! as we track the batteaux up! ”

“ Twelve miles further south the river again forms two branches, including an extensive and beautiful island twenty miles in length; numerous rapids and cascades diversify this wild but lovely scene; thence to the foot of the Chenaux, wooded islands in picturesque variety deck the bosom of the stream, and the bright blue waters here wind their way for three miles through a channel of pure white marble. Nature has bestowed abundant fertility as well as beauty upon this favored district. The Gatineau River joins the Ottawa near Hull, after a course of great length. ”

“ The Western Sea, that had lured the restless sons of New France toward the setting sun, that had furnished a dominating impulse to her explorers, from Jacques Cartier to La Vérendrye, was at last reached by Canadians of another race--and the road that they travelled was the water-road that connects three oceans. In their frail canoes these tireless pathfinders journeyed up the mighty St. Lawrence and its great tributary the Ottawa, through Lake Nipissing, and down the French river to Georgian Bay ”

“ Anthony Trollope thus describes Ottawa and the Parliament Buildings: "It stands nobly on a magnificent river, with high overhanging rock, and a natural grandeur of position which has perhaps gone far in recommending it to those whose voice in the matter has been potential. Having the world of Canada from whence to choose the site of a new town, the choosers have certainly chosen well. The glory of Ottawa is the set of public buildings erected on the rock which guards as it were the town from the river. ”

“ It seems wonderful that after white men have used watercourses for canoe routes for a century or two, and when lumbermen have investigated the country, there are stretches of many miles together which are not indicated on official maps except by white spots. But this is true of over half a million square miles of British-American territory. The two lakes we traversed are called by Indian names which mean "Crosswise Lake" and "Old Man Lake." Out of the latter runs a river which falls into the Grand Lake Victoria. This lake is really an expansion of the Ottawa. ”

“ The river will run just as it has run during all the centuries while you were neglecting it, and the lake will stay where it has waited for you these countless years. The land-marks will not fade away. Few, indeed, have been the kings of earth who ever felt as jaunty and independent as the one white man and two half-breeds who left Hunter's Point for the far Upper Ottawa, on the 16th of October, last year. ”

“ Maurice or the Richelieu, the Lièvre or the Saguenay, the Ottawa or portions of the St. Lawrence, with the grim Azoic rocks, the turbulent rapids and the somber pines. What a superb river system it is! Tell them off on your fingers and you'll have to go on borrowing from them afterwards and then all over again. Think of all those rivers that cluster in the French Canada and feed the mighty Gulf of St. Lawrence. There are the Ottawa, the Gatineau, the Rideau, the Richelieu, the Lièvre, the Matanne, the Metapedia, the Métis, the Saguenay. Those are the ones we know. ”

“ Laurier Bridge, named after Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Premier of Canada, crosses the Rideau Canal and railway tracks at Laurier ave., in front of the Armouries, and connects the Sandy Hill district with centre town.
Union Bridge crosses the Ottawa river immediately below the Chaudiere Falls, and the finest possible view of the falls is had from the north end ot the bridge. Turning about is a most picturesque view of the Parliament Buildings and the Ottawa river. ”

“ The Ottawas claim this country, and hunt here, where game is very plenty. From hence we proceeded to the Ottawa village. This nation formerly lived at Detroit, but is now settled here, on account of the richness of the country, where game is always to be found in plenty. Here we were obliged to get out of our canoes, and drag them eighteen miles, on account of the rifts which interrupt the navigation. At the end of these rifts we came to a village of the Wyandotts, who received us very kindly, and from thence we proceeded to the mouth of this river, where it falls into Lake Erie. ”

“ Lawrence River. It was incorporated a city in 1854 by the name of Ottawa; and when the Dominion 450 Confederation was formed in 1858 there was so much contention about the claims of rival cities to be the capital—Montreal, Toronto, Kingston and Quebec all being urged—that Queen Victoria, to finally settle the matter, selected Ottawa. There is a population of about sixty thousand, but excepting from the noble location of the magnificent public buildings, the political importance of the city does not attract the visitor so much as the business development. ”

“ The Ottawa is a deep blue. The Otonabee looks black, from the dark limestone bed over which it foams and rushes. Our own Moira is of a silvery or leaden hue, but the waters of the Niagara are a bright deep green; and did any painter venture to transfer their singular colour to his canvas, it would be considered extravagant and impossible.
The new Suspension Bridge at Queenstone is a beautiful object from the water. The river here is six hundred feet in width; the space between the two stone towers that support the bridge on either shore is eight hundred and fifty feet ”

“ And Wyman who was seldom serious,
Poor fellow! in life's manly bloom
He slept in an untimely tomb.
Time fails me, or I fain would tell
Of many more remembered well,
But end I here my present strain
Till memory wakes it up again.
CHAPTER III.
I cross the Ottawa once more.
From Hull again to Bytown's shore.
And for a moment I behold
The river as it was of old,
Swelling, majestic in its pride,
A glorious stream from side to side!
A "Grand River" was Ottawa then,
The pride of ancient lumbermen,
By slabs and sawdust undefiled. ”

“ Ottawa, like La Salle, is a real bona fide town, with houses and inhabitants. Its age is some twelve or fifteen years, and the number of its people from twelve to fifteen hundred. I found the situation so peculiarly agreeable, and the hotel so comfortable, that I determined to remain awhile, and amuse myself with making little excursions about the neighborhood, than which nothing can be more beautiful. The town stands at the junction of the Fox River with the Illinois. ”

“ These canals have a minimum depth of 14 ft. on the sills, and are open to Canadian and American vessels on equal terms; the equipment is in every respect of the most modern character. So great, however, is the desire to shorten the time and distance necessary for the transportation of grain from Lake Superior to Montreal that an increasing quantity is taken by water as far as the Lake Huron and Georgian Bay ports, and thence by rail to Montreal. Numerous smaller canals bring Ottawa into connexion with Lake Champlain and the Hudson river via Montreal ”

“ This river is a post of trade, containing a population estimated at three hundred and eighty-two souls. The lands are fertile, and afford in connection with Ottawa Lake, and the adjacent country, a good location for a mission and school. The river originates near the head of Long River of the Red Cedar Fork of the Chippewa, to which there is a canoe portage. It expands at unequal distances, beginning at its source, into Lac Vaseux, Rice Lake, and Yellow Lake. Wild rice is one of its productions, and is among the means of subsistence on which the natives rely. ”

“ The locks are a Government work, of solid masonry, well built, and the fissure divides Ottawa into the Upper and the Lower Town, pretty bridges being thrown across it on the lines of the principal streets. The Rideau Canal follows the Rideau River upwards southwest to the Lake Ontario level, and in the whole distance of one hundred and twenty-six miles to 452 Kingston, overcomes four hundred and forty-six feet by forty-seven locks. ”

“ High up above the water, on the river banks, stand many beautiful buildings, where all the business of the government of Canada is carried on. Ottawa is a beautiful place for a home and the children who live there should be very happy. They have the winter sports of Quebec, while on the hot summer days they can sail in and out among the islands of the river, or picnic under the trees of the forests only a short distance away. ”

“ Reuben Smith, a Mission scholar of the Algonquin lineage, determines to leave his temporary employment at the agency, and complete his education at the eastward.
5th. Ossiganac, an Ottawa, who was formerly interpreter at the British post at Drummond Island, says that Ottawa tradition points back to the Manitouline Islands, as the place of their origin. They call those islands Ottawa Islands, and Lake Huron Ottawa Lake. They call Lake Superior Chippewa Lake. All the Ottawas, he says, of L'Arbre Croche, Grand River, &c., came from the Ottawa or Manitouline Islands. ”