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.