"It may be to your interests to keep the Grand River from becoming settled," he said, "but you may bet your best beaver-skin on this, that there is at least five hundred thousand acres of uncleared land fit for cultivation on the banks of the Grand River."
In 1797 he again visited Canada, and examined the country from Quebec to Montreal, on both sides of the St. Lawrence, and then up the Ottawa as far as the Chaudiere Falls, studying carefully the navigation of the Ottawa, and its fitness for settlement.
In 1798 this enterprising but cautious man paid his third visit to his future home, and returned to Massachusetts with a full determination to commence a settlement. He failed, however, to inspire his neighbors with his own confidence in the scheme, and he therefore selected two respectable men from among them, and hired them to go with him the following summer to examine and report on what they saw. Their report, which was afterwards published in the Canadian Magazine of September, 1824, is as follows:
"We spent twenty days in October in exploring the Township of Hull. We climbed to the top of one hundred or more trees to view the situation of the country, which we accomplished in the following manner: We cut smaller trees in such a way as to fall slanting and to lodge in the branches of the larger ones, which we ascended until we arrived at the top. By this means we were enabled to view the country and also the timber, and by the timber we could judge the nature of the soil, which we found to answer our expectations. After having examined well the nature of the township, we descended the river and arrived, after much fatigue, at Montreal."
The report was so satisfactory to the people of Woburn that Mr. Wright was able to hire as many as he wished for the new settlement.
It was fully five hundred miles from Woburn to the Chaudiere, but the nineteenth century was hardly a month old when the little band braved the journey. Their leader assumed all risks himself, and with twenty-five men, five families, having a membership of thirty, fourteen horses, eight oxen, and seven sleighs loaded with mill irons, agricultural implements, carpenters' tools, household effects, provisions, left the quiet New England village. The route taken was the old stage road from Boston to Montreal, which passed through Woburn to Haverhill, thence to Concord, thence north-westward along the shore of Lake Memphremagog to Montreal, which was reached on the ninth day.
Montreal at that time was a very gloomy-looking little town, with a population of about seven thousand. It was surrounded by an old wall about fifteen feet high, with battlements and other fortifications. The houses were mostly built of grey stone, with sheet-iron roofs and iron window shutters, which gave them a prison-like appearance. The streets were narrow and crooked. Traineaux drawn by French ponies, and toboggans loaded with furs and drawn by several dogs in tandem, were frequently seen in the streets when this brave little band of New Englanders gazed in wonder upon the old historic French town.
The caravan then wended its way towards the north shore of the Ottawa. Its progress at first was slow, making only fifteen miles a day for the first three days, owing to the sleighs being wider than those used in Canada. On the third day they had reached the foot of the Long Sault and the terminus of the road. They were eighty miles from their destination, in a wilderness of snow and ice, and with no trace of a road.
"We proceeded to the head of the Sault," said Mr. Wright, in relating their experiences in the House of Assembly in 1820, "observing before night came on to fix upon some spot near water to encamp for the night, where there were no dry trees to fall upon us or our cattle. Then we cleared away the snow and cut down trees for fire for the night, the women and children sleeping in covered sleighs, the men with blankets around the fire, and the cattle made fast to the standing trees; and I never saw men more cheerful and happy, having no landlord to call upon them for expenses and no unclean floors to sleep upon, but the sweet ground which belongs to our Sovereign. We always prepared sufficient refreshment for the following day, so as to lose no time on our journey when daylight appeared. We kept our axemen forward cutting the road, and our foraging team next, and the families in the rear. In this way we proceeded on for three or four days, observing to look out for a good place for our camp, until we arrived at the head of the Long Sault, from whence we travelled the whole distance upon the ice until we reached our destination. My guide was unacquainted with the ice, as our former journeys were by water. We went very slowly lest we might lose our cattle, keeping the axemen forward trying every rod of the ice, which was covered with snow.
"I cannot pass over this account," continued Mr. Wright, "without referring to a sauvage, from whom we received great kindness. We met him with his wife drawing a child upon a bark sleigh. They looked at us with astonishment. They viewed us as though we had come from the clouds, walking around our teams and trying to talk with us concerning the ice, but not a word could we understand. We then observed him giving directions to his squaw, who immediately left him and went to the woods, while he proceeded to the head of our company, without promise of fee or reward, with his small axe trying the ice at almost every step. We proceeded in this way without meeting with any accident for about six days, when we arrived safely at the township of Hull. We had some trouble in cutting the brush and ascending the height, which is about twenty feet from the water. Our sauvage, after seeing us safely up the bank, spent the night with us and made us to understand that he must return to his squaw and child, and after receiving presents for his great services, took his departure."