CHAPTER XXXV
1721-1748
SIDE LIGHTS OF CIVIC PROGRESS
II
THE FIRE OF 1721—BUILDING REGULATIONS—STONE ENCOURAGED—TOWN EMBELLISHMENT—CITY PLANNING—THE FORTIFICATIONS—PEW RENTING—CHATEAU DE VAUDREUIL—TRADE WITH NEW ENGLAND FORBIDDEN—ILLICIT LIQUOR TRAFFIC—DEATHS OF DE RAMEZAY AND DE VAUDREUIL—EVEN NATURALIZED STRANGERS FORBIDDEN TO TRADE—DESCRIPTION OF INDIAN LIFE AT MONTREAL—MONTREAL IS FOLLOWED BY QUEBEC IN THE REFORM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES—VERENDRYE'S EXPEDITION FROM MONTREAL—RELIGIOUS ASYLUM FORBIDDEN—FIRST SAILING VESSEL OF LAKE SUPERIOR—THE "OUTRAGED CRUCIFIX"—SORCERY, MAGIC AND SACRILEGE—THE LEGEND OF THE RED CROSS—PUNISHMENT OF "BREAKING ALIVE" IN THE MARKET PLACE—CARE OF FOUNDLINGS—SULPICIANS FOUND LA PRESENTATION—SKATING IN THE STREETS; FAST DRIVING. NOTES: THE DISCOVERIES OF LA VERENDRYE—CHATEAU VAUDREUIL.
A disastrous fire having occurred on June 19, 1721, an ordonnance was prepared by Intendant Bégon, who was in Montreal, to regulate the reconstruction of the buildings. The preamble gives us an insight into the architectural construction of the town. "On the representation to us by Sieur de Léry, King's engineer, after the examination made by him, it has been noticed that the greater part of the houses were only of wood, or of framework, and roofed with carpentry, and this has increased the spread of the fire, and that like accidents so prejudicial to the inhabitants of the town, could be avoided to the further good of the town, by making the streets regular, for they are not large enough nor straight enough; that while this cannot be done without individuals suffering, yet at the present moment, seeing that there are only ruins in the streets, it would be easy for individuals, before rebuilding, to conform with the alignment which shall be drawn up by the Engineer, the following precautions should be observed...." The employment of stone is greatly encouraged. In the living part of the town only buildings of stone and of two stories should replace the burned ones.
This added to the beauty of the town and we are gratified to learn that the example of Montreal led the Intendant Claude Thomas Dupuy, on June 7, 1727, to issue an ordonnance for Quebec and the other towns, to take similar precautions against fire, adding that this would also be a means to beautify this town (embellir cette ville). A further ordonnance on fire prevention was issued by Gilles Hocquart, the intendant, when present in Montreal on July 12, 1724.
HOCQUART