CHAP. I.
MONTREAL AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD.
The rural districts of Trois Rivières, so far as they lie northward of the St. Lawrence, form a continuation of the same kind of territory as that below, and are in general flatter, and capable of more uniform cultivation. To the westward, especially in ascending the river, it presents a succession of flourishing settlements and gay villages, occurring every eight or nine miles. These extend, particularly along the Lake of St. Peter, a wide expansion of the St. Lawrence, about twenty-five miles long, and from five to ten broad, but its depth in many places does not exceed twelve feet. Hence the intricate channels, through which alone large vessels can be navigated, must be marked by poles or other beacons. The shores are extremely flat, but numerous verdant islands enliven the western extremity, which also mark the boundary of the provinces. Near the eastern frontier, the Batiscan, with a village of the same name at its mouth, falls into the great river.
The district of Montreal, if not the most extensive in Lower Canada, is, at least, that which contains the greatest portion of valuable land. Commencing at the western boundary of Trois Rivières, it extends along the St. Lawrence, but in that direction terminates where Upper Canada begins, not far above the capital. It shoots, however, a long branch of the Ottawa, embracing all the northern bank of that river, till it is bounded along with the Lower Province, by Lake Temiscaming. This district, on the north of the St. Lawrence, comprehends the counties of Montreal, Berthier, Lachenaye, L’Assomption, Terrebonne, Two Mountains, Vaudreuil, and Ottawa, containing a population of 147,649. Another portion, nearly equally valuable, lies on the south side, and will be afterwards described.
Montreal, the chief town in this district, though not ranking as a capital, is equal to Quebec in magnitude, and superior in commercial importance. Its greatness is likely to increase, from its favourable situation, and the growing prosperity of Upper Canada, of which, as being the highest point of the St. Lawrence to which vessels of the first class can ascend, it always continues the emporium.
The site of this town does not present those bold and grand features which distinguish the Canadian metropolis, though its beauty can scarcely be surpassed. The river, in this finest part of its course, divides itself into two channels, inclosing an island thirty-two miles long and ten and a half broad, which forms one of the most favoured spots on earth. The soil, everywhere luxuriant, is cultivated like one great garden, to supply the inhabitants with vegetables and fruit. These last are of the finest quality, and the apples especially are said to display that superiority which so remarkably distinguishes them in the New World. Although the island possesses in general that level surface that fits it for a thorough cultivation, yet about a mile and a half north-east rises a hill, 550 feet high, commanding a noble view over the fertile country, which is watered by the several branches and tributaries of the St. Lawrence. Its face is covered with agreeable villas, and its wooded heights form a frequent resort to pleasure parties from the city; but the intention now understood to be entertained of erecting fortifications on its summit, will, if put into execution, banish in a great measure its rural character.
The city, built on the southern border of this fine island, is not crowded like Quebec into a limited space, which can alone be covered with streets and habitations. It has a wide level surface to extend over, so that even the older streets are of tolerable breadth, and several of them occupy its entire length. The principal one, Rue Notre Dame, considerably exceeds half a mile in extent, and contains many of the chief public buildings. There is an upper and lower town, though the difference of elevation is very slight; but the former is much the more handsome of the two. The seven suburbs are not, as in the older capital, detached and extraneous, but on the same level, and immediately adjacent. Their streets, continued in the direction of those in the body of the place, are regular, and display many handsome houses. The vicinity is adorned with beautiful villas.
The Cathedral, Montreal.
Of the public edifices, the new catholic cathedral, completed in 1829, is undoubtedly the most splendid, and is, in fact, superior to any other in British America. Its style is a species of Gothic; it is 255 feet 6 inches in length, and 134 feet 6 inches in breadth. The flanks rise 61 feet above the terrace, and there are six towers, of which the three belonging to the main front are 220 feet high. It is faced with excellent stone, and roofed with tin. The principal window is 64 feet in height, and 32 broad. On the roof has been formed a promenade, 76 feet by 20, elevated 120 feet, and commanding a most delightful view. The interior contains 1244 pews, equal to the accommodation of at least 10,000 persons. There are five public and three private entrances to the first floor, and four to the galleries, so disposed that this vast congregation can easily assemble and disperse in a few minutes. The building comprises seven chapels, all visible from the front entrance, and nine spacious aisles. The high altar bears a resemblance to that at St. Peter’s at Rome, the pulpit to that of the cathedral at Strasburg. The large window is painted, but not in good style; it is intended that it shall be filled hereafter with stained glass. The other catholic edifices belong mostly to the order of St. Sulpice, by whose members, as formerly mentioned, Montreal was chiefly founded, and who hold the superiority of the whole island upon which it stands. Their seminary, which is a large and commodious building adjoining the cathedral, occupies three sides of a square, 132 feet long by 90 deep, and is surrounded by spacious gardens. To extend its benefits, the order have lately, at an expense of 10,000l., erected a handsome additional building, 210 feet by 45. In these establishments, the numerous students, attending all the branches of learning and philosophy, are taught at very moderate charges. There are two large nunneries; the principal one, called the Congregation of Notre Dame, contains a superior and sixty sisters, who receive boarders at a low rate, and send teachers to different parts of the district. The Sœurs Gris (Grey Sisters) consist of a superior and twenty-four nuns, who admit into their spacious apartments the infirm poor, and are said to treat them with great humanity. The Hôtel Dieu is a large conventual structure, occupied by a superior and thirty-six nuns, and is also appropriated to the reception of the sick and indigent. Its utility is limited by the smallness of its funds, notwithstanding occasional grants from the legislature. The Monastery of the Recollets, which occupies extensive grounds at the end of Notre Dame-street, is now demolished, though its church is still used for public worship.
Interior of the Cathedral, Montreal.
The English establishments, both for religion and education, are also very respectable. The Episcopal church in the street just named, is a very handsome specimen of modern architecture, and is surmounted by a lofty spire. The Scotch church is plain, but attended by a highly respectable congregation. In 1814, a most important donation was made by a wealthy individual—the Hon. James McGill—to found a college for the principal branches of education. The endowments consist of a valuable estate at the Mountain, with 10,000l. in money. It has not, however, yet come into operation, in consequence of a law-suit, which did not terminate till 1835, when the available funds in the hands of the institution amounted to 22,000l. It is to be conducted on the most liberal system,—individuals of every religious persuasion being admitted as students, and even as teachers. There is a Natural History Society and a Mechanics’ Institution, whose labours have been meritorious. The private establishments for education are also respectable. The limited means of the Hôtel Dieu are amply compensated by the more ample income of the Montreal General Hospital, which was built in 1821-2 by voluntary subscription, at an expense of nearly 6000l. It is said to be one of the best regulated institutions of the kind in America.
The harbour of Montreal does not seem to have received all the attention which its importance merits. It is somewhat confined, and has no wharfage, though close to the bank, in front of the town, is a depth of fifteen feet, sufficient for the largest vessels which ascend to this point. Its chief disadvantage consists in two shoals, and in the Rapid of St. Mary’s, about a mile below, which vessels often find it difficult to stem. Important improvements are now contemplated, and a grant for the purpose has been even voted by the legislature. The communication with the opposite sides of the river is carried on by means of ten ferries, on several of which ply a number of steam-vessels. A wooden bridge was once constructed from Repentigny, on the northern shore, but in the spring after its completion it was carried down by the masses of ice. It is still thought that one of larger span might be constructed free from that danger.
In considering the rural districts of Montreal, so far as they extend northward of the St. Lawrence, we shall begin with the tract reaching down to the province of Trois Rivières. It presents an aspect similar to that of the whole coast from Quebec, but still more level, and also more fertile and populous. It forms one uninterrupted succession of flourishing settlements with villages, on a larger scale than in the lower districts. Berthier, with 850 inhabitants, on a branch of the St. Lawrence, called the North Channel, is a great thoroughfare, being midway between Trois Rivières and Montreal, and supplying a variety of goods to the neighbouring seigniories. St. Eustache, on the channel called Jesus, or St. Jean, which seems to be a joint branch of the St. Lawrence and Ottawa, commands the route to the territories on the latter river; and, before the recent insurrection, had a considerable traffic, and a population of fully a thousand. The Isle Jesus, separated from the main land by this channel, extends parallel to that of Montreal for the space of twenty-one miles, and is six at its greatest breadth. It is throughout level, fertile, and highly cultivated; the original forest being almost entirely extirpated, except for ornament and fuel. In this quarter, on the small lake of the Two Mountains, are a couple of villages belonging to the Algonquins and Iroquois, containing altogether about two hundred houses.
Timber Slide at “Les Chats.”
(Upper Canada.)
The portion of Montreal district on the St. Lawrence extends to Pointe au Baudet, fifty-five miles above the capital, where it meets the boundary of Upper Canada. This tract, between the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa, forms the county of Vaudreuil; it is level, diversified only by a few gentle hills, and is also very fruitful. Vaudreuil and Rigaud are only villages; the chief importance being attached to the places which lie on the river. La Chine is about eight miles above Montreal, where the navigation is interrupted by the fall of St. Louis, to obviate which, the fine canal, bearing its name, has been erected, at an expense of 137,000l. This village, which originally received its appellation from the chimerical idea that it would afford a route to China, stills forms an important point in the navigation both of the St. Lawrence and the Ottawa, near whose junction it is situated. About twelve miles farther up, at the village of Pointe des Cascades, commences a series of formidable cataracts, which, with little interruption, extend about nine miles. There is nowhere any high fall; but the stream, filled with hidden rocks and covered with breakers, dashes like the waves of a tempestuous ocean. Yet the rafts, the Durham boats, and bateaux constructed for the purpose, can, under skilful guidance, be safely piloted through these dangerous rapids. The crews, however, are often obliged to unload the most bulky part of their cargo, and have it conveyed by land. Steam navigation, which ceases at one end of this obstruction, is resumed at the other; and the village of the Cedars, situated opposite to the rapids of the same name, is the chief depot for the land-passage. It commands a magnificent view of the foaming billows, and of the barks which steer through them their perilous course.
The Ottawa province, extending about 350 miles along the northern bank of that great river, forms, as it were, a very extensive wing, detached from the district and from Lower Canada, while the upper province extends opposite to it along the southern bank. Thus the boundary between these two territories, which at first runs due north, as soon as it strikes the Ottawa stretches first north-west, and then almost due west. This extensive tract is as yet by no means occupied or improved in proportion to its natural capabilities. The numerous obstacles to the navigation, though now in part removed, have doubtless greatly retarded its settlement.
The Lac des Allumettes.
The upper part of the river beyond the falls and Portage des Allumettes, is used by the fur-traders, who have a post also in Lake Temiscaming, more than 350 miles above the junction of the Ottawa with the St. Lawrence; but this tract has never been surveyed, nor even accurately described. Up to the Portage, it is regularly frequented by the lumberers, who find valuable supplies of pine and oak, which they contrive to float down in rafts, through all obstructions. At the Allumettes the stream separates into two channels, enclosing an island fifteen miles long, and forming three small lakes, called the Allumettes, the Mud, and the Musk Rat. On the latter is one solitary farm, said to be in a prosperous condition. Eight miles below the junction of these channels is Fort Coulange, where the Hudson’s Bay Company have a post, near which is one well-cultivated settlement. Four or five miles down, another division of the stream forms an island of about twenty miles long; but the two channels are much impeded by falls and rapids. The northern, which is the more practicable, has four portages within a few miles of the port of junction, and there is another five miles below it. The falls are not above eight or ten feet high, but they are much broken by masses of rock, and have a very wild appearance.
Junction of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence.
(near Cedars.)
For ten miles downwards the stream is beautifully diversified by wooded islands, through which it rushes with various degrees of violence. The banks, great part of the way, consist of white marble, somewhat soft and coarse; but farther inland, it is believed, a superior description would be found. At the end of this tract, Bisset’s chantier, a solitary log-house, with a few cleared acres, relieves the eye after the monotony of these vast solitudes; it affords also a welcome asylum to the fur and timber traders. Soon after, the view opens upon the magnificent expanse of the Lake des Chats, about fifteen miles long, studded with richly-wooded islets. On the south are one or two scattered mansions, and particularly Kinnell Lodge, the residence of the Highland chieftain, McNab. The northern side appears uninhabited; yet at a little distance from the beach is the settlement of Clarendon, formed in 1829, and in 1831 containing 257 inhabitants. The township of Bristol, in 1828, presented only a few poor hovels and 31 settlers, which number had, in 1831, increased to 96, and in 1836 to not less than 445. At length the lake suddenly contracts, and the rapids of the Chats, for three miles, dash in violent eddies, amid a labyrinth of islands. They terminate in the Falls des Chats, fifteen or sixteen in number, extending in a curved line across the river, and divided by wooded islands; but only from sixteen to twenty feet high. The northern coast, having a rocky and uneven surface, forms the township of Onslow, which in 1836 had 150 settlers.
Portage des Chats.
Falls of the Ottawa at Les Chats.
About six miles below this point commences Lake Chaudière, an expanse eighteen miles long, and, like the former, terminating in rapids, succeeded by falls. These last, called the Great and Little Chaudière (Kettle), are on a larger scale, 60 feet high and 212 broad. The descending torrent, striking on a great circular rock, is thrown up in clouds of spray, which conceal the bottom of the fall, and often rise in revolving columns high above its summit. A great portion of the water being unaccounted for, is believed to escape through subterraneous channels. Immediately below, where the stream still rolls in rapid eddies, a bridge has been thrown across. The difficulties of the undertaking were overcome by dividing the structure into four parts, consisting of different materials. The broadest span is stretched by means of a hempen fabric, composed of three-inch cables, forming an inverted segment of a circle, the lowest point of which is only seven feet above the torrent. But at no time can it be passed without a feeling of peril.
A Shanty on Lake Chaudière.
(Canada)
The Owls Head.
(Lake Memphremagog.)
The township of Onslow is followed by that of Eardley, extending along Lake Chaudière, and having much excellent land, which is very imperfectly occupied by 200 persons. Below is Hull, the most flourishing of all the upper settlements on the Ottawa. Its front towards the river is level or gently undulating; but it rises behind into hills, some 900 feet high, yet finely wooded, or affording good pasturage. It is watered by the large river Gatineau, and contains valuable mines of iron and quarries of marble. This township was surveyed by Philemon Wright, an American loyalist, who in 1806 obtained a grant of 12,000 acres of it for himself and his associates. Having, by his pecuniary advances, secured the exclusive property of the greater portion, as well as of large tracts in neighbouring townships, he has become a most extensive landowner. By great exertions he has rendered it extremely flourishing, and has led the way in all the measures now taking for the improvement of this fine district. The town of Wright, situated immediately opposite to the great Rideau Canal, must rapidly grow in importance. Its population is already considerable, and it contains a neat church and comfortable hotel. The Chaudière Falls and the bridge immediately adjoin it.
Bridge at Bytown, Upper Canada.
The Rideau Canal, Bytown.
Locks on the Rideau Canal.
(near Bytown)
From this point to Grenville, sixty miles distant, the Ottawa affords an uninterrupted navigation for steam vessels. The township of Hull is succeeded by those of Templeton, Buckingham, and Lochaber. Large tracts were here granted to different proprietors, who unfortunately have not taken due pains to increase their value; and the space for new settlers has been further narrowed by the crown and clergy reserves. Steps, however, are taking to induce the owners either to improve or renounce their possessions, and to arrange the preserves on such a principle, that they may not interrupt the continuity of settlement. The population of all three, which in 1828 little exceeded 300, has since been greatly augmented. Buckingham, in 1831, contained 570; Lochaber, 236; Templeton, in 1836, supposed 390. La Petite Nation, a seigniory early formed, but as yet only partially settled, acquired a considerable accession of Irish emigrants, through the exertions of M. Papineau, the seignior, who erected extensive saw-mills on its eastern border. It has now 826 settlers.
The Ottawa River at Bytown.
The township of Grenville, which next follows, may be considered as commencing the densely-peopled portion of Lower Canada. This is not owing to its fertility, which is much impeded by the interruption of hilly ground, connected with the lofty range which traverses the interior. A branch from this gives rise to the rugged cataract named the Long Sault, which can be passed only by the most skilful voyageurs; and obstructions continue to occur as far as Point Fortune, where the river, opening into the Lake of the Two Mountains, becomes united with the St. Lawrence. To remedy this evil, a fine canal, called the Grenville, which will be more fully described afterwards, has been formed. Numerous individuals employed on this work have settled and taken farms in the township, which by these means had acquired, in 1836, a population estimated at 1450. Below is Chatham, which, through exertions commenced in 1806 by Colonel Robertson, Dr. Fraser, and others, has become one of the most flourishing settlements. Though traversed by some naked hills, it has extensive level tracts, and the public road is every where bordered by thriving farms and handsome dwelling-houses, built of brick. The population in 1831 was 2604. Chatham Gore, a rising township, has already 473, all Irish protestants. Here the Ottawa country terminates, Chatham being bounded by Argenteuil, the first of that range of old French settlements which extend along the river as far as Quebec.
Mill on the Rideau River, near Bytown.