The earliest settler at the portage around the Chaudière Falls of the
Ottawa was Philemon Wright, of Woburn, Massachusetts, who came along
in 1800, and not getting on successfully, sold out about twenty years
later to cancel a debt of $200. Subsequently there was established at
the confluence of the three rivers, Ottawa, Rideau and Gatineau, by
Colonel By, a British military post and Indian trading-station, around
which in time a settlement grew which was called Bytown, distant about
a hundred miles from the St. Lawrence River. It was incorporated a
city in 1854 by the name of Ottawa; and when the Dominion
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
lumber trade makes the first and greatest impression; landing among
boards and sawdust, walking amid timber piles and over wooden
sidewalks, with slabs, blocks and planks everywhere in endless
profusion, the rushing waters filled with floating logs and sawdust,
busy saws running, planing-machines screeching, the canals carrying
lumber cargoes, the rivers lined with acres of board piles--an idea is
got of what the lumber trade of the Ottawa valley is. The timber is
almost all white and yellow pine. Alongside the Chaudière Falls at the
western verge of the town are clustered the great sawmills, while
capacious slides shoot the logs down, which are to be floated farther
along to the St. Lawrence. There are also large flour-mills and other
factories getting power from this cataract.
[Illustration: _Chaudière Falls, St. Lawrence_]
The Chaudière, or the "Cauldron," is a remarkable cataract, and the
Indians were so terrified by it, that to propitiate its evil genius we
are told they usually threw in a little tobacco before traversing
the portage around it. The rapids begin about six miles above,
terminating in this great boiling cauldron with a sheer descent of
forty feet, which is as curious as it is grand. Owing to the peculiar
formation of the enclosing rocks, all the waters of the broad river
are converged into a sort of basin about two hundred feet wide,
plunging in with vast commotion and showers of spray. Efforts have
been made to sound this strange cauldron, but the lead has not found
bottom at three hundred feet depth. The narrowness of the passage
between the enclosing rocky walls, just below the falls, has enabled a
bridge to be built across, connecting Ottawa with the suburb of Hull.
Here is given an admirable view of the foaming, descending waters,
clouds of spray, and at times gorgeous rainbows, flanked by timber
piles and sawmills, sending out rushing streams of water and sawdust
into the river below. Near by a chain of eight massive locks brings
the Rideau Canal down through a fissure in the high bank to the level
of the lower Ottawa, its sides being almost perpendicularly cut by the
action of water in past ages. 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 Kingston, overcomes
four hundred and forty-six feet by forty-seven locks. Much of the
suburb of Hull and a considerable part of Ottawa, with enormous
amounts of lumber, were destroyed by a great fire in April, 1900, a
high wind fanning the flames that were spread by the inflammable
materials.
Upon Barrack Hill, at an elevation of one hundred and fifty feet,
surrounded by ornamental grounds, and having the Ottawa River flowing
at the western base, stand the Government buildings. They are
magnificent structures, costing nearly $4,000,000, the Prince of Wales
having laid the corner-stone on his visit in 1860. They are built of
cream-colored sandstone, with red sandstone and Ohio stone trimmings,
the architecture being Italian Gothic, and they stand upon three sides
of a grass-covered quadrangle, and occupy an area of four acres. They
include the Parliament House, the chief building, and all the Dominion
Government offices. The former is four hundred and seventy-two feet
long, the other buildings on the east and west sides of the quadrangle
being somewhat smaller. All are impressive, their great elevation
enabling their towers and spires to be seen for many miles. The
legislative chambers are richly furnished, and Queen Victoria's
portrait is on the walls of one House, and those of King George III.
and Queen Charlotte upon the other. The Parliamentary Library, a
handsome polygonal structure of sixteen angles, adjoins. The
Governor-General resides in Rideau Hall, across the Rideau River.
From a little pavilion out upon the western edge of Barrack Hill, high
above the Ottawa, there is a long view over the western and northern
country, whence that river comes. To the left is the rolling land of
Ontario province, and to the right the distant hills and looming blue
mountains of Quebec, the river dividing them. Behind the pavilion is
the stately Parliament House, its noble Victoria Tower, seen from
afar, rising two hundred and twenty feet.